Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province has for many years been an ideal destination for foreign investors. — VNS Photo

Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, one of eight provinces and cities in the Southern Key Economic Zone, has for many years been an ideal destination for foreign investors thanks to its natural advantages and comprehensively developed infrastructure in addition to attractive incentives.

Investors flocking to the province often invest in preferential sectors such as industry, ports and logistics, supporting industries, tourism and high-tech agriculture.

To attract more local and foreign investors, province authorities have kept improving the investment climate by adopting policies and solutions to strengthen administration and competitiveness.

The year 2019 is a clear example of these efforts with many resolutions and programmes being put in place.

The province announced an action plan to deploy the Government’s resolution No02/NQ-CP dated January 1 on solutions to improve the investment environment and competitiveness.

An action plan was also announced to deploy the Government’s resolution No139/NQ-CP dated September 11 on cutting enterprises’ expense.

Also in 2019 the province has promulgated a number of regulations to identify investors who want to invest in high-tech and organic agriculture.

A document to guide their selection where land use is involved was also issued.

Besides, Ba Ria-Vung Tau has focused on solutions to improve its position in the provincial competitiveness index.

The People’s Committee has assigned departments to organise programmes to support local companies investing in the province.

The province’s efforts to improve the investment climate has been welcomed by investors.

“Authorities in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, such as the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Industrial Zones Authority, and others, are active in attracting foreign capital and offering one-stop services,” Kazama Toshio, deputy general director of the Phu My 3 Industrial Zone, said.

“This has helped speed up the investment licence application and approval process, which is a great back-up for attracting foreign capital.”

In addition to promulgating new regulations and action plans, local authorities also routinely meet with business executives to help solve difficulties faced by their companies while doing business in the province.

Vo Trinh Trieu, director of the provincial Investment, Trade, Tourism Promotion Centre, said: “Recently we have been paying attention to providing information to investors, connecting investors by organising conferences and meeting with investors.”

The province has been stepping up investment promotion activities by strengthening co-operation with international organisations like Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), American Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam (AmCham), and European Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam (EuroCham) so that they could apprise investors about key investment projects in Ba Ria-Vung Tau as well as sectors it is focusing on, according to the official.

Thanks to these efforts, the province had a fruitful 2019 in terms of attracting investment.

This year the province has issued investment certificates for 38 new projects and permitted 27 others to increase their investment.

The total investment this year has been worth US$2.35 billion, $500 million in new projects.

The Southern Oil Refinery Complex has increased its capital by $1.4 billion.

Domestic investment was worth VND13.037 trillion ($579 million) in 58 new projects. Eight others increased their capital by VND1.63 trillion ($71.5 million).

2020 strategy

Next year Ba Ria-Vung Tau will selectively choose projects based on criteria such as prioritised sectors and nations to ensure things go smoothly.

It will focus on promoting major projects that use advanced technology and are environment-friendly, with sectors including logistics, supporting industries, high-tech agriculture, and tourism being prioritised.

It will identify major global corporations for soliciting investment.

Activities to promote investment, trade and tourism will be undertaken together with partners such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, North America, Russia, and ASEAN.

Efforts will be made to further improve the business climate.

Provincial authorities have assured they would provide comprehensive information about legal amendments and policies to attract investment in 2020.

To improve its competitiveness, the province will strongly boost integration into the international market.

Regular reviews will be done to handle overdue projects.

Next year the province will also undertake programmes to assess the efficiency of sectors and wards to improve their transparency and management.

Information technology will also be used to improve their management. — VNS