Vietnam’s coffee capital, the Central Highlands, is looking forward to partnering with other developed centres and localities around the country in long lasting, specific cooperation projects to fully tap its potentials.

Future partnerships are expected to be set up during a conference on investment promotion and social welfare in the Central Highlands, which is scheduled for April 12 in Pleiku city, Gia Lai province, it was reported at a press briefing in Gia Lai on April 1.

The conference also looks to bolster the linkages among localities in the region towards a robust socio-economic growth for the entire area, which has a total land area of 54,461 square kilometres with 5.1 million people and holds a key strategic position in the national economy, politics, security and defence.

It will hear economic organisations and investors’ opinions regarding local management and administrative procedures for further improvement, said Tran Viet Hung, Deputy Head of the Central Highlands Steering Committee.

At the press briefing, Hung also reported that t he Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) will invest 6 trillion VND to develop farm products and coffee tree plantation in the Central Highlands.

This is one of the projects on sustainable social welfare development and investment attraction in the region, the work that will see the involvement of other commercial banks, Hung noted.

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) plans to sign contracts worth 7.3 trillion VND with regional businesses while the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) has committed to providing almost 40 billion VND for social welfare programmes in the region.

The Central Highlands is home to five provinces, namely Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong.

In 2012, the region made a GDP growth of 11.8 percent, with per capita income averaging 26.9 million VND (1,287 USD) and export revenue recording a year-on-year increase of 11 percent.-VNA