Binh Duong builds long-term development strategy for supporting industries

Binh Duong (VNA) – The southern province of Binh Duong has carried out a lot of mechanisms and policies to help enterprises operating in the supporting industries solve difficulties and grow further.

Facing difficulties in materials during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses now acknowledged the importance of using the supplies of domestic firms.

Although the capacity of Binh Duong’s supporting industry sector improves remarkably, it only meets 40-45 percent of demand of the garment and textile and footwear sectors,  10-20 percent of under-nine-seat car manufacturing and assembly, 15 percent of electronics, computing and telecommunications, and five percent of dedicated electronics and high technology.

Binh Duong, therefore, is facilitating the development of supporting industries in order to meet local production needs and reduce reliance on imports.

Supporting industries not only played a very important role in the industrial development process but also helped improve the added-value and competitiveness of major industrial products, Director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Van Danh said.

Binh Duong province has formed industries producing materials for garment and textile, leather and footwear and components for engineering, machinery and equipment as well as electronic sectors. That helped to increase the localisation ratio for industrial products while reducing dependence on imported materials, Danh added.

Statistics from the department revealed that the province is now home to 2,277 businesses involved in supporting industries, including 442 in the garment and textile sector, 172 in leather and footwear, 953 in wood processing and 710 engineering firms.

According to Vice Chairman of the Binh Duong People's Committee Mai Hung Dung, the province will continue to improve the investment environment and encourage the development of each group of supporting industry products.

It will also focus on establishing industrial zones and clusters to produce spare parts and components for industries, and support small- and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the production of supporting products.

The committee has issued a decision on the list of investment priorities for socio-economic infrastructure development during the 2017-21 period including infrastructure for supporting industries. Earlier, the province had developed a 1,000-ha zone in Bau Bang district to call for more investment in supporting industries.

In addition, the province will build a system of technical standards for product quality according to international standards, provide support for businesses in research and development, and promote technology transfer. Strengthening cooperation with associations to understand business needs would be also included.

The department will also coordinate with management boards of industrial zones to organise goods supply-demand connection programmes in order to create favourable conditions for supporting industry businesses to meet domestic and foreign partners, exchange information and share experience so that they can join global supply chains.

Defining supporting industries to play an important role in the development of other industries, Binh Duong province has been building a long-term development strategy for the sector.

Specifically, the province assigned the provincial Department of Industry and Trade to implement a project on supporting industry development so as to help the People’s Committee complete the legal framework and investment stimulus programme in supporting industries in the localities.

Dung said the department has been tasked to work closely with business groups to better understand their demands and with industrial parks to help supporting industry businesses network with domestic and foreign partners, and improve their capabilities.

COVID-19 is affecting manufacturing industries that rely on imports, and businesses are realising the importance of using domestic materials, the department said.

Binh Duong is among the top five provinces and cities in the country in terms of supporting industries, with around 2,300 such businesses and having domestic businesses that are linked up with foreign businesses to gain access to modern technologies./.