Ben Tre endeavouring to improve business climate

The agreements inked two years ago at the conference have mostly been successfully implemented

According to the Provincial Competitiveness Index 2018 initiated by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ben Tre was ranked fourth out of 63 cities and provinces, and third out of 13 in the region for competitiveness. Ben Tre was also listed in the group of localities with strong management.

Recently, Ben Tre has welcomed over 250 local and foreign investors coming to explore opportunities in the province. It has also ­provided consultancy and investment procedure instructions for over 530 business arrivals.

To attract funds, Ben Tre has established a public service group at the province’s Centre for Investment Promotion and Startups under the Department of Planning and Investment.

Upon requests from financiers and enterprises, the group will help them complete administrative procedures quickly, so that their projects can be implemented as soon as possible.

In 2017, the province successfully organised a large-scale investment promotion conference chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, in which many ministries and agencies took part, as well as nearly 750 delegates, including over 350 business leaders.

At this event, the provincial leadership granted decisions and signed MoUs with investors worth VND53 trillion ($2.3 billion). The deals involve investment certificates for 33 key projects registered at VND25 trillion ($1.08 billion), and many other big projects worth VND28 trillion ($1.22 billion).

Since then, almost all projects have been implemented and become operational, significantly helping to generate employment and fuel economic growth in Ben Tre.

Investment promotion activities have been organised effectively in various forms. Moreover, Ben Tre has also frequently co-operated with other provinces and Ho Chi Minh City in organising events in order to introduce and promote its advantages and great potential to and among financial backers. Ben Tre has also launched investment promotion trips to nations such as China, Japan, Malaysia, and Thailand.

Thanks to such efforts, over the past few years, Ben Tre has attracted 93 domestic projects registered at more than VND29.1 trillion ($1.26 billion), reaching 65.2 per cent of its target, and lured in 11 foreign-invested projects with total registered capital of $413.6 million, hitting 82.8 per cent of its target.

According to Ben Tre People’s Committee, the province will continue attracting investment into intensive processing of agricultural products, such as shrimp, fish, coconuts, and other fruits. Money will flow into the sectors of high technology, the supporting industries, and industrial sectors with high added value, as well as environmentally-friendly sectors.

Besides healthcare and education, Ben Tre is also inviting investment into tourism thanks to its rivers and orchards, historical sites, and cultural tradition.

Currently, in addition to Vietnamese backers, those from South Korea, Japan, the US, the EU, and other Southeast Asian nations are pouring money into projects in Ben Tre, thanks to a series of free trade agreements.

However, all these ­economic achievements would be impossible without the province’s efforts and potential.

Ben Tre, which is 87km from Ho Chi Minh City, has fertile soil and a mild climate with rainy and dry seasons, making it ideal for agricultural production, especially industrial trees such as coconut, fruit, and ornamental trees. Ben Tre boasts more than 70,000 hectares of coconut trees, with its fruit used for the processing industry, art products, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical products.

Furthermore, in addition to the development of renewable energies, Ben Tre sources numerous types of products from the sea, which have helped the province develop its own maritime-based economy.