Garment products are made for export at Bắc Giang Garment Corporation LGG. — VNS Photo

BẮC GIANG — The northern province of Bắc Giang will continue to enhance economic diplomacy to serve its socio-economic development in the time to come, said director of the provincial Foreign Affairs Department Ngô Biên Cương.

Bắc Giang is striving to become a developed industrial province with Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) among the country's top provinces. It considers economic diplomacy and international economic integration as the focus in cooperating with foreign partners, attracting and effectively using domestic and international resources to serve local development, Cương said. 

It will focus on strengthening the implementation of projects, programmes and plans on foreign affairs, including a project on promoting the province's cooperation with foreign localities between now and 2025; and another one on encouraging Vietnamese living abroad to introduce and consume Vietnamese goods and develop distribution channels for Vietnamese goods abroad until 2024. 

In addition, the locality will seek cooperation opportunities with foreign localities, targeting those with traditional economic relationships, similar cultures and mutual strengths, such as Japan and South Korea, he said. 

Besides expanding relations with diplomatic representative agencies in Việt Nam, international cooperation agencies, and representatives of international organisations in Việt Nam, his province will also advertise its potential, strengths, planning and development orientation, Cương added. 

Endless efforts 

To facilitate economic diplomacy, Bắc Giang has issued and implemented a project to connect and attract Vietnamese resources abroad towards the province and a plan to implement Directive 15-CT/TW of the Secretariat on economic diplomacy in the 2023-26 period. 

At the same time, the Bắc Giang Department of Foreign Affairs has advised the provincial leaders to participate in high-level working delegations of Party and State leaders to several countries such as Laos, South Korea, Russia, the Swiss Confederation, Singapore and the US. During these trips, leaders of Bắc Giang Province have joined economic forums and seminars, while signing memorandums of understanding on economic cooperation with foreign partners.

The department has also coordinated with other relevant agencies to carry out economic diplomacy, investment and trade promotion activities such as promoting the consumption of lychees and key agricultural products of the province in the Chinese and US markets, and accelerating the export of lychees to the Japanese market.

Through these foreign affairs activities, the image and position of Bắc Giang, a province with many development advantages and a safe investment destination, has become known to international businesses, contributing to promoting the province's international cooperation, facilitating the export of agricultural products and attracting foreign investment. 

A manufacturing line of the South Korea-invested Hana Micron Vina Co in Bắc Giang Province. — VNS Photo

An economic bright spot in 2023 

In 2023, Bắc Giang continues to be a bright spot in the country's economic landscape with GRDP expected to grow by 13.45 per cent, ranking first in the country.

According to local authorities, the province's industrial production is estimated to surpass VNĐ541 trillion by the year-end. The foreign-invested sector is still the main contributor to local development, with an industrial production value of over VNĐ439 trillion, accounting for 81 per cent of the total. 

Meanwhile, its trade value is estimated to reach US$52.4 billion in the whole year with $27.4 billion from exports mainly including textiles and garments, leather and footwear, computers, electronics, phones and components and electrical equipment. Among the province's major trade partners are mainland China, South Korea, India, Taiwan, Japan, Spain and the US. 

Kamitani Naoko, Director of the Japan Information and Culture Centre at the Japanese Embassy in Việt Nam, said bilateral relations between Bắc Giang Province and Japan have increased at many different levels. 

In terms of investment, local authorities have always created favourable conditions for Japanese firms while they are doing business in the locality. At the same time, lychees and longan, two specialty fruits of the province, have been exported to Japan and have become very popular, she said. 

"We look forward to further strengthening the relationship in the coming time," she said. 

Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Dương Văn Thái said he hoped that US businesses and investors would come and study investment opportunities in his province as he joined the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to the APEC Summit in the US.

Bắc Giang was willing to accompany, support, and create the best conditions for US businesses investing in the province, he said, calling for support from US partners in promoting the export of high-quality agricultural products to the US market. — VNS