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A section of the Tra Noc Industrial Zone in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho. A comprehensive inter-regional system among Delta provinces is required to attract investment and increase socio-economic development. — VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ky |
Closer links would bring practical benefits for sustainable development and improved living standards, Dung said. The Delta region played a key role in the country's socio-economic development strategy, Dung said.
The region includes 13 cities and provinces with a population of 18 million, has a coastline of 700km, and contributes 20 per cent of the country's GDP.
Its annual growth rate averages 10-12 per cent during 2006-10.
The Delta was also Viet Nam's leading agricultural and seafood-producing region, accounting for 90 per cent of total rice exports and 60 per cent of seafood exports, he said. The region's annual economic growth reached from 10 to 12 per cent in the 2006-10 period.
But the region had not yet fully exploited its potential and advantages, Dung said, with an economy that was mostly developing horizontally and remained slow to apply new technology.
The quality and competitiveness of products and enterprises were still poor and the quality of infrastructure and human resources were failing to meet the requirements for development.
Dung said the conference was an opportunity for authorities and enterprises to exchange information on investment policies and potential projects in order to encourage investment and remove obstacles to business.
He urged provincial authorities in the region to intensify their efforts to review and update plans, boost administration reforms, and create policies to lure more investment and facilitate investors in doing business effectively.
Dung affirmed the Government would encourage and create favourable conditions for domestic and foreign organisations and individuals in the Delta, as well as in the nation generally.
Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said the Delta region still had a long way to go in developing transportation infrastructure, irrigation systems, and the quality of vocational training and human resources.
European Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EuroCham) vice chairman Ashok Sud said Delta cities and provinces should have specific plans to clearly define which types of industries they wanted to develop.
He said he believed in the region's capacity to attract investment and predicted that there would be a new wave of both domestic and foreign investment.
Can Tho People's Committee vice chairman Tran Tuan Anh said the conference, with the theme Connectivity and Development, was focused on measures to realise intra-regional development.
The connection would not only be transportation links but also links between the State and private sectors, between central and local leaders and policymakers, between producers and consumers, and among Delta provinces in selecting projects in order to avoid waste and promote efficiency, Anh said.
Luu Phuoc Luong, deputy head of the Southwest Steering Committee which is in charge of Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta development, noted that the Government had been investing in infrastructure and human resources in the region.
He called for more investment in the agriculture and aquaculture industries.
Infrastructure development, including ports on the river and nuclear and satellite urban centres in the region, also needed lots of investment, he said.
"There is huge demand for developing border-gate economic centres that facilitate trade with Cambodia and Thailand," he added.
Victoria Kwakwas, World Bank country director for Viet Nam, also encouraged private and foreign sectors to do more for the Delta given that the region has not benefited much from foreign direct investment in recent years even though it is actually "feeding the country and the world".
"The private sector should recognise new opportunities and adopt new approaches for the Delta," she said. "They should move the focus from volume to quality and build the Viet Nam brand on the global market."
She recommended local businesses to adopt a new development model with emphasis on moving up the value chain in manufacturing and improving supply chain efficiency.
The region should be more connected with the rest of the country and the world to enhance its competitiveness given that high shipping costs posed a major challenge to its development.
She also called for inter-regional co-ordination and multi-sectoral planning to avoid heterogeneous application of rules and regulations so that ‘changes in the central level is reflected in the provincial level'.
Hugely ambitious
In the meantime, Deputy Minister of Transport Ngo Thinh Duc described a hugely ambitious infrastructure master plan for the Delta to dispel investors' concern over its inadequate transportation infrastructure.
The plan was underway and some elements had already been completed, facilitating traffic and transportation in the region, he noted.
The road system was made up of five vertical axes and up to 10 horizontal axes, including a high-speed road from HCM City to Ca Mau Province, a no-ferry national road to the southernmost district, a coastal road that links seaside provinces, a border corridor in the west, roads in the north and south of both Tien (Front) and Hau (Rear) distributaries of the Mekong River, a high-speed road running across the southernmost provinces among others.
Two international airports would be built in Can Tho and Phu Quoc, while a high-speed railway is being considered to link HCM City and Can Tho, and a series of ports were expected to receive ships exceeding 10,000 tonnes, he said.
Within the conference, 10 memoranda of understanding were also signed between local and foreign investors with provincial leaders in sectors like energy, infrastructure, urban settlement, tourism, education and aquatic product processing with total investment of more than US$900 million.
Organised jointly by the Southwest Steering Committee, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Can Tho City People's Committee, the conference attracted the attention of leaders from all 13 Delta provinces, foreign diplomatic missions in the country, economic experts and almost 1,000 local and foreign business executives. — VNS
