Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam speaks at the working session. (Photo: VNA)Lang Son (VNA) – Singaporean Ambassador toVietnam Jaya Ratnam paid a working trip to Lang Son onNovember 8 to explore cooperation and investment opportunities in the northern border province.
During a working session with Ambassador Ratnam and his entourage, Secretary of the provincialParty Committee Nguyen Quoc Doan briefed the guest on the potential and strengthsof Lang Son, stressing that the locality has become an attractive destinationfor domestic and foreign investment.
According toDoan, Lang Son shares over 231km of borderline with China, and holds a crucialrole as a gateway connecting China with ASEAN countries. It also serves as thestarting point for two important economic corridors – Nanning (China) – Lang Son- Hanoi - Hai Phong (Vietnam) and Lang Son - Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City - MocBai. The locality has two international border gates, one bilateral bordergate, and nine auxiliary border gates.
In recent years, the local authorities have paidspecial attention to improving the investment and business environment andspeeding up administrative reform to facilitate the activities of investors andbusinesses.
Since2021, the local authorities have issued investment certificates and given in-principleapproval to 57 projects worth over 12.3 trillion VND (504.8million USD), including major projects, such as Huu Nghi -Chi Lang border gate expressway, Dong Dang (Lang Son) - Tra Linh (Cao Bangprovince) expressway; and VSIP Industrial Park and industrial clusters.
The infrastructure construction and business investmentproject at the VSIP Lang Son Industrial Park with a total investment of nearly 275million USD, which was given greenlight in May this year, becomes the largest investmentproject in Lang Son, and the first one invested by Singapore to date. Thisproject’s first phase is expected to be completed before September 30, 2025.
Doan expressed his hope that the provincial People’s Committeeand the Singaporean Embassy in Vietnam will work closely to speed up the implementationof the project.
He called on Singaporean firms specialising in infrastructuredevelopment, supply chain and logistics service, green economy, and agriculturalproduct processing, to invest in industrial parks and clusters, and border economiczone in Lang Son.
For his part, Ratnam spotlighted the flourishing development of cooperation andfriendship between the two countries.
The VSIP (Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park) model has beenquite successful with an occupancy rate of 83%, attracting 18.7 billion USD ininvestment and providing employment for over 300,000 labourers, he said.
As of June 2023, Singapore maintained its leading position in ASEAN and ranked second among 143 countries and territories investing inVietnam, with 3,200 projects worth 73.4 billion USD in 51 localities nationwide.
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) will send a delegation to Lang Son inearly 2024 to explore local investment attraction policies, herevealed./.
