THÁI NGUYÊN – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has asked the northern province of Thái Nguyên to strive to become a leading hub of industry, service and innovation in the northern region and the country as a whole.

Addressing Thái Nguyên’s investment promotion conference yesterday, the PM suggested that the locality should take advantage of the Republic of Korea-invested Samsung Thái Nguyên as a driving force for local socio-economic development, especially in boosting the growth of the electronic industry in a sustainable manner.

He noted that Samsung had contributed to raise the province’s industrial production by 15 times over three years, adding that exports of the province also increased from US$245 million in 2013 to $23.5 billion in 2017.

"Thái Nguyên needs to focus on building a trademark for its specialty tea by building trademark, image and geographical indications for the product, thus boosting the product’s exports," he said.

At the same time, the province should work harder to establish a tourism complex at a national and international level by promoting Hồ Núi Cốc and Tam Đảo’s eastern mountain side and other historical and cultural relic sites such as Định Hóa safety zone and Tân Trào relic site, with links to Ba Bể Lake in Bắc Kạn.

PM Phúc also asked Thái Nguyên to complete its socio-economic development plan with closer links to other localities and international partners, while ensuring social equality, thus boosting inclusive growth.

He pledged that the Government would supervise and support Thái Nguyên through restructuring its economy, improving growth quality, stabilising the macro-economy, improving investment and the business environment and ensuring transparency.

During the conference, Thái Nguyên called for investment in 65 projects in various fields, including industry, agriculture, trade infrastructure, culture, tourism, sports, transport, healthcare and education. It also aimed to lure investors to five industrial parks. Currently, Thái Nguyên hosts 6,318 enterprises with total investment of VNĐ79.5 trillion ($3.49 billion) and 130 FDI projects worth $7.3 billion.

At the event, the province granted investment certificates to 50 projects worth VNĐ46.78 trillion. Commercial banks also handed over VNĐ12 billion to Thái Nguyên as social welfare support to the province. The banks also co-ordinated with investors to verify and sign credit contracts for 27 projects with total loans of VNĐ10.19 trillion in the prioritised sectors of agriculture, export, small-and-medium-sized enterprises, supporting industry, and high technology industry.

On the occasion, PM Phúc also visited and presented gifts to Hero of the Armed Forces, Phạm Viết Đức, in Thái Nguyên City.

Three pillars

PM Phúc recommended that Thái Nguyên should develop its economy on three pillars of hi-tech agriculture, tourism-service and clean agriculture.

At a working session with provincial authorities on Saturday, the PM said the province had achieved comprehensive development across all fields, from economy, social affairs to national defence-security and external relations. Thái Nguyên is also a bright example in the northern mountainous region in attracting foreign investment.

However, the private sector in the province is small in scale and weak in competitive capacity, PM Phúc said, noting that the province also needs to improve its indices of market participation and enterprise development. In particular, the agro-forestry processing industry is a weak point of Thái Nguyên, as is tourism, despite the great potential of the locality, which is a former revolutionary base with many historical relics alongside beautiful landscapes.

Thái Nguyên should pay attention to promoting tourism and services in order to fully tap local advantages and potential, the PM said.

A political and economic centre of the northeastern mountainous and midland region, Thái Nguyên has six large-scale industrial parks with an occupancy rate of 65 per cent.

In 2017, the province posted an average growth rate of 12.75 per cent, nearly double the country’s average. Local per capita income reached VNĐ68 million ($2,978.4), higher than the national average. In the first six months of this year, the local economy expanded by 9.85 per cent. — VNS