Information at the Central Coast region workshop: "Improving the investment and business environment towards a green economy and sustainable development", Mr. Pham Ngoc Thach - Deputy Head of the Legal Department, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) said that the North Central and Central Coast are important strategic areas in terms of politics, economy, culture, society, national defense and security. This region has many potentials and advantages for developing the marine economy, connecting the East-West economic corridor with international maritime and aviation routes.

According to the specific target by 2030, the average growth rate of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) will reach about 7.5 - 8% in the period 2021 - 2030. GRDP per capita at current prices will reach about 165 million VND, equivalent to 6,485 USD.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Thach - Deputy Head of the Legal Department of VCCI said that the Central Coast region has plans to develop digital economy, circular economy, green economy,...

Along with that is the development of a sustainable urban system, the urbanization rate reaches over 48%, striving to develop at least 01 urban area on par with the region and the world,... In addition, the region also identifies the development of digital economy, circular economy, green economy on the basis of strengthening digital infrastructure, data infrastructure, digital transformation.

Regarding the environment, the rate of urban solid waste collected and treated according to standards and regulations reaches 90%, the rate of treatment through circular economic models reaches about 40%. The region aims to have 100% of facilities causing serious environmental pollution thoroughly treated, 100% of industrial parks and export processing zones in operation have centralized wastewater treatment systems.

The Central Coastal Region also strives for 100% of economic zones, industrial zones and coastal urban areas to be planned and built in a sustainable, ecological, smart direction, adapting to climate change, rising sea levels, controlling, preventing and minimizing environmental pollution in marine areas, coastal areas and on islands, etc. Along with that, 75% of plastic waste at sea will be reduced, 100% of marine protected areas will be free of plastic waste, 100% of hazardous waste, domestic solid waste, and plastic waste in coastal areas will be collected and treated to meet environmental standards.

Regarding the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), Mr. Thach said that VCCI recorded nearly 190,000 businesses responding over the past 19 years. According to PCI records over the past years, the quality of economic management of localities has tended to improve

“The Central Coast is the region that ranks first in the Market Entry component index, the conditional business licensing procedures are highly appreciated and the transparent business environment is the strength of the region. In addition, the quality of information on the electronic information portals of the provinces in the region is assessed by businesses as relatively good, the support programs related to FTAs are also a bright spot of the region”, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thach informed.

Dr. Dang Hong Hanh - Co-founder and CEO of Energy and Environment Consulting Joint Stock Company (VNEEC) said that green growth is a complex task and requires cooperation from many stakeholders.

However, Mr. Thach also said that the Land Access Index still has many difficulties for businesses, and localities need to remove bottlenecks in expanding premises. Along with that, provinces also need to improve the efficiency of administrative procedure settlement and reduce the burden of inspection and examination for businesses, continue to make efforts to cut informal costs for businesses, and create an equal business environment for small and medium enterprises.

Another recommendation, Mr. Thach said that localities need to maintain and promote the dynamism and pioneering of the government apparatus and focus on improving the effectiveness of implementation at the department, district and town levels. Continue to improve the quality of environmental governance towards sustainable development through PGI results.

Talking about sustainability, Dr. Dang Hong Hanh - Co-founder and CEO of Energy and Environment Consulting Joint Stock Company (VNEEC) said that to achieve the net-zero goal, green growth is a complex task and requires the cooperation of many stakeholders and many levels, sectors, businesses and communities, in which the role of localities is essential.

In particular, localities need to identify solutions and criteria for achieving net-zero and green growth suitable to local conditions and issue corresponding policies and action plans, issue policies and plans to attract investment and promote initiatives/innovations related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and low-carbon technologies.

“Along with that, it is necessary to issue policies and plans to respond to and adapt to climate change in accordance with local impact forecasts, promote cost-effective adaptation solutions, and strengthen regional and national linkages for adaptation. At the same time, integrate policies and plans to increase efficiency and reduce implementation costs. Issue policies and criteria to monitor implementation and reduce negative impacts on different population groups, especially vulnerable groups," said Dr. Hanh.

Regarding the reasons for implementing green transformation, Dr. Dang Hong Hanh affirmed that localities and enterprises will save resources, increase competitiveness, improve social welfare and equity, ... At the same time, it will minimize environmental risks and ecological destruction, creating momentum to promote innovation in policies, mechanisms, and methods of social governance.

Dr. Hoang Hong Hiep - Acting Director of the Institute of Social Sciences in the Central region, acknowledged that production activities in economic zones and industrial parks in the Central Coast region have a strong "brown growth" character.

“Green transformation will promote energy efficiency and clean technology,... from additional goals to one of the main development goals, will protect natural capital, and use resources effectively. For localities, it is necessary to build a set of monitoring indicators and regularly evaluate implementation results to be able to improve, supplement, and amend in time with actual changes, in addition, it is possible to allocate budget for green transformation”, Dr. Hanh proposed.

In the same discussion, Dr. Hoang Hong Hiep - Acting Director of the Central Institute of Social Sciences said that enterprises in the Central Coast region are mainly small and medium enterprises (97.8%). Of which, the majority are micro and small enterprises (accounting for 95%), low capital scale, low ROE, ROS profitability. According to Mr.Hiep, the growth momentum of the Central Coast is tending to rely on heavy industries with high emissions, which have many risks of polluting the regional environment (natural and social).

“Production activities in economic zones and industrial parks in the Central Coast region are characterized by “brown growth”, and not many localities have shifted towards green and ecological development. Climate change has a huge impact on the economic growth of localities in the region (growth variables). However, this variable has not been integrated into local socio-economic development policies,” said Dr. Hiep.

According to Dr. Hiep, it is necessary to design a breakthrough development policy (high level) for the Central Central dynamic region, specifically the policy needs to ensure scientific and practicality, timeliness and high compliance and implementation. In particular, there needs to be a special mechanism to promote rapid economic accumulation and concentration in the dynamic region (high-speed railway, expressway, ...), redesign the FDI attraction policy, improve the efficiency of use, and spillover effects of state investment capital.

"Local authorities need to focus on improving provincial competitiveness, especially improving the business environment: strongly improving the time and cost of administrative procedures, business support services, and labor training support for businesses. Local authorities should focus resources on improving the quality of vocational training, especially focusing on building a system to train a team of skilled technical workers with modern learning content and practice facilities, with training occupations that are suitable for the province's economic development strategy, and the comparative advantages of the whole region and sub-region," Dr. Hiep recommended.

In particular, it is necessary to eliminate the mindset of "growth at all costs", attracting investment "at all costs"; bringing sustainable development and green growth thinking into all economic activities, especially in attracting investment, developing port economy and tourism. At the same time, it is necessary to develop a set of criteria to measure green development for a number of key sectors and fields of the locality, and develop a policy mechanism to encourage the conversion of economic zones and industrial parks towards green and ecological.

Dr. Hiep also proposed that localities need to strictly control and strictly handle environmental violations to enhance the seriousness of local environmental laws. At the same time, it is necessary to integrate the improvement of climate change adaptation capacity into socio-economic development policies, focusing on developing social policies in parallel with economic development policies.