As a gateway to the Mekong Delta, Tra Vinh province is reportedly endowed with enormous potential and advantage to attract investment flows. Could you please introduce the investment attraction results of Tra Vinh to date?

Tra Vinh has a 65km long coastline. Dinh An Economic Zone, covering 39,020 ha for various industries, is one of 18 coastal economic zones in the country. Tra Vinh seaport system is planned to be a first-class seaport in Dinh An Economic Zone in 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. The port has a channel for large ships to enter the Hau River, which plays a vital role in trade with other Mekong Delta provinces and with the world by waterway. This is a favorable condition for Tra Vinh province to strongly develop the marine economy.

Regarding agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture, Tra Vinh has very rich potential for development of three regions: saline, brackish and freshwater. The province has a arable rice area of over 209,000 ha; 24,963 ha of coconut area, yielding over 315,800 tons a year; 6,000 ha of food vegetable area and 30,600 ha of commercial vegetable area; 13,700 ha of short-day industrial crops and annual crops; and 35,100 ha of fruit trees, yielding nearly 577,755 tons a year. Aquaculture develops strongly, led by black tiger shrimp, white leg shrimp, crab, giant freshwater shrimp, clam, blood cockles, oysters, pangasius and snakehead fish, cultured on a total area of over 55,000 ha. Total aquatic output is estimated at 220,000 tons a year. At the same time, the province has of 80,000 ha of rice area, 25,000 - 30,000 ha of coconut area, and over 31,000 ha of aquaculture. Together with favorable conditions in weather and climate, investment environment and policies are an opportunity for investors to choose Tra Vinh to invest in hi-tech agriculture and aquaculture, clean and green agriculture, eco-shrimp farming, organic shrimp farming and high-tech shrimp farming for export.

On electricity development, the province utilizes the advantages of a 65km coastline and 45,536 square nautical miles of sea surface for nearshore and offshore wind power and solar power development. In 2021, the power supply was ensured by Duyen Hai Power Center with four plants with a total capacity of 4,498 MW, 140MW solar power and five out of nine wind power projects in commercial operation with a total capacity of 256.8/322MW, bringing the total production output to 1,102 million kWh, an increase of 1.7% compared to 2020. For the national power development plan in 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2045, the province proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to include wind power, solar power, biomass power and gas power projects with a total capacity of 46,505.13MW in Tra Vinh province into the Power Plan VIII.

Furthermore, Tra Vinh is endowed with a beautiful natural landscape; a synchronous traffic system, abundant human resources trained by universities, colleges, intermediate schools and vocational training facilities, ready to meet recruitment needs of enterprises.

To date, the province has attracted 385 valid projects (42 FDI projects with a total registered capital of US$3.1 billion and 343 domestic investment projects with VND135,791.42 billion). Wherein, 85 projects are located in industrial zones and economic zones (15 FDI projects with US$2.7 billion and 70 domestic investment projects with VND102,297.98 billion) and 300 projects are invested outside industrial zones and economic zones (27 FDI projects with US$400 million and 273 domestic projects with VND33,493.44 billion).

Tra Vinh province is defined to be developed into an energy center, a processing industry center and a trade center.

Tra Vinh has always been rated to have a good business and investment environment. So, to increase investment inflows, what specific policies has the province taken to support businesses to invest and carry out their projects?

To accompany businesses and investors to invest and carry out their projects, provincial leaders directed provincial and local agencies, led by the Department of Planning and Investment, to provide support services before and after project licensing to facilitate them to invest and do business in the province. The province will accompany them from investment research to project operation.

Specifically, during initial planning and survey stages, investors need necessary information for their projects, meet with provincial and local officials as well as local enterprises to discuss the business environment and capture the overview of the province. The Department of Planning and Investment will specifically assign its employees in charge of surveying to help them understand local strengths and potentialities. In the stage of project establishment, investors need a lot of support to complete administrative procedures for approval of investment policies and permits related to project implementation. Hence, the department is a lead agency which is connected with other agencies to support investors. It also determines their current and future needs to provide better, prompt support for them when they establish projects. In the stage of project implementation and post-investment support services, after their investment projects are put into operation, investment authorities must be active, friendly and keep regular contact with them to know their project progress and emerging difficulties faced by them and suggest measures to support or persuade them to expand production and business activities.

Particularly in early 2021, the province established an investor support panel, chaired by the Vice Chairman of Tra Vinh Provincial People’s Committee. Given its assigned tasks, the panel has captured information and exchanged with enterprises and investors to solve their difficulties and provide them with the best conditions to do business.

In addition to business support policies, how are administrative procedures reformed, the business environment improved and PCI raised to create an open investment environment in the province?

Looking back on the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) of Tra Vinh province over the years, especially in 2020 when its PCI rankings climbed 10 places over 2019, the province achieved important results in improving the quality of economic administration and building of a business environment in support of business development. The awareness of PCI roles increased significantly and clearly. Provincial and local agencies seriously developed plans to coordinate and implement indicators and targets they are responsible for. Administrative procedures for enterprises are handled in the single-window service, with information technology applied to procedures of Level 3 and Level 4 to help businesses easily deal with those procedures without less time and mobility. The time for dealing with administrative procedures for businesses is reduced, with many slashed by half. The responsibility of public employees and responsible agencies in handling administrative procedures and dealing with emerging hardships faced by enterprises was raised. The Tra Vinh Public Administrative Service Center periodically monitors and evaluates the settlement of administrative procedures conducted by responsible bodies.

A business meeting in Tra Vinh province in 2022

To improve the investment and business environment and raise the PCI Index, based on Resolutions 19 and currently Resolution 02 of the Government, the Department of Planning and Investment has actively advised the Provincial People's Committee to guide all levels, branches and localities in the province to focus on implementing their tasks and solutions.

To raise the business environment, the Department of Planning and Investment will work with relevant bodies to work out and advise the Provincial People's Committee to launch an action plan for implementation of Resolution 02/NQ-CP dated January 10, 2022 of the Government on main tasks and solutions for better business environment and higher national competitiveness in 2022 and coordinate, integrate and propose solutions to tackle emerging matters arising out of the implementation of this plan. The department will also launch the annual District and Department Competitiveness Index (DDCI) to measure competitiveness of provincial and local agencies to put forth solutions and counsel the Provincial People’s Committee to complete institutions and create a driving force for continuous reforms to have the most favorable environment for businesses and investors.

The Department of Planning and Investment will also advise and propose tasks, solutions and scenarios to achieve socioeconomic development goals in 2022; continue to study and propose sector restructuring in line with the general development plan; effectively implement public and business support policies to restore production and business and overcome negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; continue to build the startup ecosystem for Tra Vinh province; and foster the role of the Investor Support Panel in Tra Vinh province.

Thank you very much!