Dong Nai (VNA) - The southernprovince of Dong Nai attracted over 1.3 billion USD in foreign directinvestment (FDI) this year, 300 million USD higher than the set target.
According to the provincial industrialzones’ management board, it has attracted 1,733 FDI projects, so far, withtotal investment of 31.3 billion USD. Investors from 45 countries andterritories have invested in the locality.
The Republic of Korea is the largest foreigninvestor in the province, following by Taiwan (China) and Japan. The board saiddespite laying down stricter conditions for investment projects, FDI capitalthat poured into the province still increased this year. In particular,disbursement reached 1.1 billion USD, equivalent to 88 percent of the totalregistered capital.
In recent years, Dong Nai has givenpriority to FDI projects using hi-tech, skilled labourers and environment-friendly.
Mai Van Nhon, deputy head of the board,said investors believed in the province’s support for businesses.
The provincial Department of Industry andTrade also said the province’s export turnover this year reached 17 billion USD,posting 11.8 percent year-on-year increase. It achieved trade surplus of 2billion USD, while the country’s total trade surplus was expected to reach 3billion USD.
Some export products reported high exportturnover in 2017, such as garment and textile at 2 billion USD, or 15 percentincrease from 2016; rubber at 49,000 tonnes; cashew at 350,000 tonnes; andcomputers and spare parts at 590 million USD.
Duong Minh Dung, the department’s director,said the high export turnover was because exporters found new markets whileeffectively exploiting traditional ones.
In addition, firms have effectively takenadvantages of FTAs to expand production and increase productivity.
The province’s industrial production thisyear also saw stable growth.
Dinh Quoc Thai, chairman of the provincialPeople’s Committee, said its index of industrial production this year wasexpected to rise by 8.6 percent from 2016. The industrial production value was 731trillion VND, or an increase of 9.1 percent from the previous year.
In 2018, Dong Nai has targeted enhancingits economic restructuring, promoting economic growth with higher productivityand increasing businesses’ competitiveness. It will also further improve thebusiness environment and focus on high quality human resources training.
The People’s Committee forecast that itseconomic growth in 2018 would continue to be positive thanks to increase inmanufacturing, trade, construction, retail and tourism.
Thai said investment in key projects suchas the Ben Luc-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Highway and the upgraded Long Thanh InternationalAirport would facilitate the province’s development.
Dong Nai has targeted GRDP of 8-9 percent,average income per capita of 94-96 million VND and export turnover increase of9-11 percent in 2018. -VNA