Industrial and economic zones have not only played a major role in attracting domestic and foreign investment capital but also significantly contributed to the country’s socio-economic development, the Vietnam Economic News reported.

As of September 2014, Vietnam had 295 established industrial zones, including 207 operational industrial zones with an average occupancy rate of 65 percent. In addition, the country also had 15 economic zones.

To date, industrial and economic zones have attracted 5,591 FDI projects with total registered capital of 118.1 billion USD, accounting for 49 percent of total FDI capital in Vietnam. In the first nine months of this year, industrial and economic zones attracted more than 600 FDI projects with total registered capital of 7.8 billion USD, accounting for 70 percent of total FDI capital in Vietnam.

Domestic investment in industrial and economic zones in recent years has also increased. Statistics showed that industrial and economic zones had attracted more than 512.028 trillion VND, accounting for more than 50 percent of total domestic investment capital. In the first nine months of this year, industrial and economic zones attracted 75.074 trillion VND, an increase of 16 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, thanks to attractive incentives for investment projects, in the coming time, investment capital in industrial and economic zones is expected to increase.

Tran Duy Dong, Director of the Economic Zone Management Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, was quoted as saying that industrial and economic zones had played a major role in the country’s socio-economic development. These zones have contributed 25 percent to the index of industrial production and accounted for more than 20 percent of Vietnam’s export value. In addition, these zones have created jobs for more than 2.3 million employees and this figure is expected to increase in the coming time.

Industrial and economic zones have recorded strong growth in business and production activities in the beginning months of this year. Total revenues of enterprises in industrial and economic zones reached over 55.7 billion USD. Export turnover stood at more than 35.7 billion USD. Meanwhile, import turnover totalled 34.7 billion USD. In the first nine months of this year, industrial and economic zones contributed more than 42 trillion VND to the state budget.-VNA