In 2020, due to economic slowdown and raging COVID-19 epidemic outbreak, Quang Ngai province paid special attention to investment promotion by actively supporting businesses to deal with emerging obstacles to speed up their project implementation and fostering local investment promotion to enhance the quality and outcome of investment attraction.

Facing adverse impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on the domestic and world economy, Quang Ngai province quickly changed its approach and reformed investment promotion, built a better investment environment, and created new appealing forces. For the time being, the focus is local investment promotion, active support and guidance for settlement of hardships and obstacles for enterprises to complete registration procedures and carry out their projects.

This year, the Quang Ngai Investment Promotion Center worked with, supported and welcomed new business and investor delegations to study the local investment climate; instructed investment procedures for many projects like Thach Bich Resort invested by T&T Group Joint Stock Company, ecological tourism and urban projects invested by Vingroup, and Nam Kim steel product trade, service and showroom area of Nam Kim Organic Farm Company.

In addition, the center promoted investment at conferences and seminars to this effect organized by the Government, ministries and industry associations, such as conference on international integration and sustainable development in the new context; the Prime Minister’s online meeting with enterprises to remove difficulties, facilitate business operations, and revive the economy in response to the Covid-19 epidemic; online conference on SME support to grasp opportunities and effectively carry out the EVFTA; and Korea Meeting in Hanoi.

As a result, in 2020, the province licensed four new FDI projects with a total registered funding of US$64,112 million and permitted 10 existing projects to change their registered investment value (four projects increased their funding by US$41.5 million in total); and revoked five projects with US$9,367 million. The disbursed fund was US$250 million, down 3% from 2019. Currently, 35 out of 62 projects have been put into operation, 23 projects are under construction and four projects are on hold. For domestic investment, the province granted investment certificates to 57 projects with a total registered capital of VND2,897 billion and witnessed VND20,000 billion disbursed by investors (equivalent to that in 2019). During the year, 15 projects were brought into operation. To date, Quang Nam is home to 676 valid domestic investment projects with VND297,962 billion of registered investment capital.

Regarding the investment promotion program in 2021, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of Quang Ngai Investment Promotion Center, said, to unlock local potential and advantages, the focus of investment promotion this year will be high-quality projects, with priority given to petrochemical, high-tech, seaport, logistics, clean technology, smart agriculture, urban infrastructure, tourism and services. In addition to industries and fields that the province has comparative advantages, particularly those relating to deep-water seaports and land-intensive projects, this year's program will bolster communication activities; actively support enterprises to deal with emerging difficulties and obstacles to speed up their projects; and increase localized investor communications to raise the quality and outcome of investment promotion. At the same time, the province will target its investment promotion in countries with industrial advantages that it needs.

To boost the outcome of investment promotion and attraction, Quang Ngai province will give priorities to stronger improvements of the business and investment climate and speedier reforms of administrative procedures. The province will continue to support companies and investors to deal with difficulties and obstacles to create a favorable and healthy business climate so as to draw medium and large-scale investment projects to the locality. In particular, special attention will be paid to supporting industries of locally comparative advantages and projects using cutting-edge eco-friendly technologies to ensure sustainable development, environmental protection and social security.