Following the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress, Tay Ninh province maintained good socioeconomic indicators, even better than the plan, in 2016 and in the first six months of 2017. These are living proofs to the strength of great solidarity of the Party, the people and people of Tay Ninh and illustrate the bright prospect of the province on the path of industrialisation and modernisation. In an interview granted to Vietnam Entrepreneurial Culture Magazine, Mr. Tran Luu Quang, Secretary of Tay Ninh Provincial Party Committee, said, to successfully implement the 5-year development plan from 2016 to 2020, the Tay Ninh Provincial Party Committee will focus on effectively leading the province to unlock potential advantages, mobilise and use resources for the cause of industrialisation and modernisation, and join forces for a better future of Tay Ninh on the path of integration and development.
Could you briefly introduce Tay Ninh province’s peculiar economic development advantages?
As one of eight provinces in the southern key economic zone, Tay Ninh holds a plenty of advantages to draw investment capital for economic development. The province is situated on the intersection of major traffic routes in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and has 14 border gates with Cambodia, with Moc Bai and Xa Mat being the largest international border gates in southern Vietnam. Besides, terrain, soil, climate, land and water sources are also very favourable production development.
Currently, Tay Ninh has a relatively rapid industrial development in Vietnam. It has five operational industrial parks with complete infrastructure, vast land fund and low rent rates to serve tenants. Agriculturally, the province grows sugarcane, cassava and rubber with acreage, productivity and output being among the biggest in the country. The availability of these crops is convenient for the province to lure farm produce processors.
Another huge potential is tourism. Tay Ninh has a variety of resources for developing historical, religious, ecological, convalescent and shopping tourism. In addition to Ba Den Mountain National Tourist Area, the province can easily develop trade and connect travel tours with Cambodia and other ASEAN countries on the Trans-Asia Economic Corridor. For the time being, it is focusing on promoting tourism investment, particularly for infrastructure, services and products, to gradually turn tourism into an important economic sector by 2020.
Could you tell remarkable achievements in socioeconomic development after carrying out the Resolution of the 11th Provincial Party Congress?
2016 was the first year the province implemented the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress and played an important role in creating momentums for achieving the 5-year development plan from 2016 to 2020. With the active engagement of the entire political system, Tay Ninh province attained very important results in the year, with the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) rising 7.6 per cent to VND57,670 billion, a reasonable growth rate in the context of ongoing hardships. State budget revenue grossed VND7,144 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 11.6 per cent. The production value of agricultural, industrial and service sectors continued to expand, with industry and service beating outlined plans. Export value climbed 20 per cent year on year to a record of US$3.3 billion in the year. In particular, provincial leaders directed agricultural development toward cleaner agriculture to increase added values in agricultural value chains to expand domestic and global markets.
By promoting achievements in 2016, Tay Ninh province continued to have optimistic economic performance in the first six months of 2017, with GRDP rising 8.3 per cent from a year earlier to VND20,850 billion, of which the industry contributed VND30,294 billion, equal to 48.6 per cent of the full-year plan and up 15.2 per cent from a year ago. The province signed memorandums of understanding on construction of processing plants, on cooperation in planning and consuming agricultural products in Tay Ninh and on development of raw material areas for export. Besides, social and cultural aspects also made positive progress like social cares for policy beneficiaries, poverty reduction and social security.
The 10th Provincial Party Congress was seen to have innovative thinking with the aim of enabling Tay Ninh province to achieve rapid and sustainable development. What measures will Provincial Party Committee take to realise this objective?
Currently, Tay Ninh province continues to carry out three ground-breaking programmes, namely socioeconomic infrastructure development, human resource development and public administration reform in 2016-2020. In addition, the province will further improve the investment environment, raise the quality and efficiency of investment, particularly in the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector, socioeconomic development cooperation programmes signed with Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai province, Long An province, Hanoi City, Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam Rubber Industry Group (VRG). It will further step up agricultural restructuring to increase added values, develop green agriculture and ecological agriculture, apply high technology to both crop cultivation and animal husbandry, and gradually form high-tech agricultural – industrial – service complexes. Tay Ninh will develop trade, service and tourism in the direction of integrating and utilising local strengths with the southern key economic zone.
According to economic experts, to fully tap all potential advantages, Tay Ninh actually needs support from the central government. As the head of the Provincial Party Committee, how do you think about this?
After more than 180 years of construction and development, the face and position of Tay Ninh in the Southeast region have been gradually asserted. Given local conditions, Tay Ninh province indeed needs the support from the central government, particularly specific policies on finance, budget, high-tech agricultural development, border economic development and security assurance, to achieve rapid and sustainable development and basically become an industrial province as the 10th Provincial Party Congress put forth. It also expects valuable supports and cooperation from provinces and cities in the country. Tay Ninh welcomes and pledges to assist and facilitate domestic and foreign investors and enterprises to do business in the province and hopes that they will in turn help the province to approach their partners to invite them to the locality to explore investment and business opportunities. Tay Ninh hopes they will join forces with the province to fully tap local potential and advantages and create ripple effects of its economic development on the southern key economic region.
Thank you very much, sir!
Cuong Nguyen
