At a working session with the municipal Party Committee’s Standing Board on June 26, PM Phuc said that, despite its strong performance in the first half of 2017, Hai Phong has yet to meet requirements as the major industrial hub of the country and the driving force for socio-economic development of the northern coastal region.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) at the working session. Photo: VGP
The government leader asked Hai Phong to mull over development orientations to deserve its position as the third largest city
of the country and develop itself into a green, modern port city, and a big
centre of services and industries with high competitiveness edge.
To contribute to the country’s economic growth of 6.7 percent this year, Hai Phong must strive to achieve a 14 percent GDP growth rate in 2017, he said.
The PM suggested that Hai Phong coordinate with domestic and foreign agencies in completing its development planning to make it a leading seaport centre of the country and the region.
At the same time, Hai Phong should continue improving its investment environment, enhancing its competitiveness through speeding up administrative reform, and complete its infrastructure system for tourism, turning tourism an important economic sector of the city, he said.
Statistics released at the working session showed that in the first half of 2017, Hai Phong saw the highest gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth in the past 10 years.
The total volume of goods handled by Hai Phong port reached 43 million tonnes, up almost 13.8 percent, while total social investment was 23.9 trillion VND, an increase of 22.56 percent. The city’s budget collection topped 35 trillion VND, a rise of 10.7 percent.
Hai Phong remained one of the top 10 most attractive investment destinations with 24 foreign-invested projects licenced in the first six months of this year, while 20 existing projects permitted to increase their investment, with a combined capital of 617 million USD.
The city also disbursed over 3.7 trillion VND as public investment, equivalent to 40.8 percent of the annual plan. The number of newly-established firms in the first six months of 2017 was 1,598, 23.7 percent higher than the same period last year, with a combined capital of over 7.4 trillion VND.
Source: VNA