The delegation of government officials, led by Mr. Tran Van Son, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office, conduct san inspection of the production and business activities in Ninh Binh province

Our reporter had an interview with Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy Ngan, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, Ninh Binh province, on this issue.

In recent years, Ninh Binh has made impressive achievements in economic development, investment attraction and business climate improvement. What solutions and activities has the Department advised and implemented to contribute to those achievements?

Implementing the policies of the Provincial Party Committee and the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Planning and Investment has focused on advising the Provincial People's Committee to carry out consistent tasks and solutions to boosting economic development, ensuring social security and further promoting investment attraction. Key solutions include:

First, always closely following Party and State policies, guidelines and laws, the directions of the Government, the Prime Minister, the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee; ensuring close coordination, upholding the spirit of responsibility, solidarity and unity, promoting democracy, and steadfastly pursuing development goals with the primary principle of "clear people, clear work, clear results, clear time, clear responsibility"; proactively advising the Provincial People's Committee to develop a long-term socioeconomic development plan, setting high goals and great aspirations to overcome all difficulties and challenges in the way; sticking closely to practical situations, flexibly and effectively handling its work, especially sudden and emerging ones; clearly identifying resources that need to be prioritized in advising on socioeconomic development.

Second, working with relevant agencies and consultants to develop the Ninh Binh Provincial Planning for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister in Decision 218/QD-TTg dated March 4, 2024.

Third, consistently carrying out solutions on economic restructuring, focused on investment restructuring. Accordingly, in public investment, the department advised the Provincial People's Committee to allocate and integrate investment resources, especially public investment capital, with emphasis on key, important projects with widespread impact; urged and accelerated the completion of investment procedures for newly started projects; and effectively executed tasks and solutions to accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital. Therefore, in recent years, Ninh Binh province has always been a top disburser of public investment in the country.

Promptly advising and supporting all economic sectors to tackle difficulties and helping them to boost business development, with focus on developing the private economy. Accordingly, every month (on the last Thursday of a month), leaders of the Provincial People's Committee directly meet, dialogue and discuss matters of concern with businesses. In addition, the department organized conferences with tenants in industrial zones and FDI firms to encourage, share, listen to their difficulties and obstacles, receive their recommendations and proposals, especially during the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and volatile world political and economic developments. It also reformed investment promotion and attraction activities in a multidimensional, multimodal, substantive and effective manner together with speeding up administrative reform and digital transformation.

Hence, since the beginning of the current administration, the province has granted first-time investment registration certificates to 78 projects with a total registered investment of VND6,700 billion; handed revised investment registration certificates to 167 projects with a total registered revised investment capital of VND65,684 billion; and licensed 2,264 new corporate establishments with a total registered capital of VND42,955 billion. By the end of 2023, the province had nearly 6,000 active enterprises.

Tam Coc-Bich Dong is part of the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural and Natural Heritage

Given its potential advantages, after the approval of the Provincial Planning for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, and the preparation of mechanisms, policies and human resources among others, what sectors, fields and locations will Ninh Binh focus on attracting investment for? What is the scale and quality of projects that the province aims for?

Ninh Binh Provincial Planning for the 2021 - 2030 period, with a vision to 2050, is the foundation to expand room for investment attraction. The overall endpoint of the province is to focus on attracting strategic investors to invest in projects using high technology, modern technology, clean technology and environmentally friendly technology and generating value-added products, thus contributing greatly to the budget; projects using less land and less labor; projects with strong spillover effects, connected to global production and supply chains. The province will specifically target the following industries and fields:

Industry: Focusing and prioritizing high-tech development, taking the automotive engineering industry as the driving force of development; developing green, clean, eco-friendly industries, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), green energy, urban development and services; attracting investors to build and operate synchronous industrial zones, logistics infrastructure for mechanical engineering, automobile manufacturing and assembly, electronics, new materials, high-tech materials, and processing industries for agricultural production.

Service: Focusing on attracting service and trade projects associated with tourism and for tourism development, enticing visitors to stay and use local services; prioritizing the development of commercial centers, shopping malls, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and high-end resorts; developing tourism projects with their brands and images associated with the potential and value of Hoa Lu Ancient Capital and the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex, outstanding landscapes and natural beauty spots; concentrating on attracting four main tourism product groups: (1) cultural and historical tourism with distinctive characteristics of Ninh Binh tourism; (2) landscape sightseeing; (3) ecological, leisure and medical tourism with high-class resorts, marine and forest ecosystems, and hot mineral sources; (4) creative tourism with innovative thinking and smart content, featured by three supporting tourism product categories: (1) Thematic tourism to feature natural discovery, festivals and cuisine; (2) Interdisciplinary tourism: MICE tourism (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions & Exhibitions), agricultural tourism, sports tourism, educational tourism, community tourism and filming experience tourism; and (3) inter-regional tourism.

Cultural industry associated with creative economy and heritage economy: Developing unique cultural industry, creative economy and heritage economy with advantageous products of high brand value (such as film studios, television, cinema, sports economy, souvenirs, gifts, events and festivals, multimedia arts, visual arts, creative designs, architecture, advertising, museums, handicrafts, software and digital entertainment games and brand economy).

Agriculture: Building an ecological, organic, safe, circular, multi-value agriculture, applying high technology, developing digital agriculture and tourism agriculture; focusing on developing specialty, endemic, and characteristic agricultural products (OCOP) to serve tourism, locally advantageous crops and livestock products; developing chain-closed projects: Forming concentrated commercial production areas; developing agricultural processing and preservation to meet domestic and export market requirements, sustainably connecting with global agricultural value chains.

Ninh Binh Provincial Party Secretary Doan Minh Huan, accompanied by a working delegation, conducts a survey of the progress on the Nam Song Van Irrigation Cluster project, Feb 2024

To achieve the above goals and turn Ninh Binh into a centrally run city, a millennium heritage city, a creative city, what key solutions will the province focus on?

Ninh Binh Provincial Planning approved by the Prime Minister clearly features the “One strategy” based on “Three Foundations”, “Four Pillars” of economic development and seven key, breakthrough tasks as follows:

“One Strategy”: Achieving basic criteria of a centrally run city by 2030 and making Ninh Binh a centrally governed city by 2035, characterized by a millennium heritage city, a creative city.

“Three Foundations”: (1) Cultural - human - natural values, especially the quintessence of the old capital’s culture, high-quality human resources and beautiful natural scenery; (2) Synchronous, modern, smart, connected strategic infrastructure, including transport infrastructure, digital infrastructure, service infrastructure, urban infrastructure and “green” infrastructure; (3) Local governance institutions for development, especially competitiveness, administrative reform, and public service integrity.

“Four pillars” of economic development: (1) Tourism development as a spearhead; (2) High-tech industry and modern automobile engineering industry as driving forces; (3) Cultural industry associated with creative economy, heritage economy as breakthroughs; and (4) Multi-value ecological agriculture as a support.

“Seven key, breakthrough tasks”: (1) Developing automobile engineering industry, high-tech industry and environmentally friendly industry as the driving force for growth; developing tourism and cultural industry as spearheads associated with unique high-class branded products and services; (2) Fostering innovation, applying scientific and technological achievements, administrative reform and digital transformation, building a synchronous digital government and digital economy; enhancing competitiveness, improving the investment and business environment; training and developing human resources to meet structural transformation and socioeconomic development requirements; (3) Comprehensively developing culture and society; attaching importance to grassroots culture, building a civilized lifestyle; preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of Hoa Lu people; focus on preserving, renovating, restoring and promoting the heritage of Hoa Lu Ancient Capital and the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex; (4) Organizing and zoning development spaces and reasonably; sustainably developing the urban system; harmonizing the development among regions and between urban and rural areas; building new modern rural areas together with multi-value ecological agriculture; (5) Investing in building modern, synchronous infrastructure and effectively using land funds; developing civilized, modern urban areas; implementing strategies for development of millennium heritage city, creative economy and heritage economy on the basis of restoration, preservation and promotion of historical and cultural values, natural landscapes, environmental protection, proactively responding to natural disasters and adapting to climate change; (6) Developing the economy of the Kim Son coastal area into a driving force, space and new growth pole of the province; and (7) Strengthening international cooperation and integration, and ensuring national defense and security.

Thank you so much, madam!