Dak Lak to seek investment at upcoming conference

Hanoi (VNA) - The Central Higlands province of Dak Lak will introduce 15 key projects that require investment from domestic and foreign investors at a conference to be held in Buon Me Thuot city on March 11.

These projects, expected to cost some 22.7 trillion VND (nearly 1 billion USD), will cover a wide range of sectors, including hi-tech agricutlure, industry, construction and tourism, baodautu.vn quoted the provincial Investment Promotion Centre as saying.

Statistics from the Foreign Investment Agency revealed that the province attracted only 13 foreign-invested projects, worth 136 million USD, as of February 20, ranking 51th among 63 localities nationwide in term of investment attraction.

To attract more investment, local authorities are offering a number of favourable policies and streamlining administrative procedures to provide optimum conditions for investors, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

The province has always considered administrative reform an important factor in attracting investors, the department said.

The province is deversifying investment promotion efforts, including regular meetings and interactions with large domestic and international companies to introduce local potential and investment climate.

Top priority is also being given to improving training for human resources, ensuring public order and creating conditions in which businesses feel secure about investing, it said.

Futher, Dak Lak is improving coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies, both at home and abroad, so that the province can accquire up-to-date information on its partners, ultimately optimising the promotion of investments, the department noted.

The 13,125sq.km. province has an airport and a fairly developed road network, with many important national highways passing through it.

It has more than 600,000ha of forests with timber reserves of more than 50 million cu.m.

With nearly 540,000ha of agricultural land, the province grows high-value commercial crops, such as coffee, rubber, and pepper, suitable for developing a processing industry around them.

Livestock and poultry farming have developed rapidly in the province, providing investors a good foundation for investing in industrial-scale animal breeding, feed production and animal and poultry meat processing plants.

The province also has potential in minerals such as feldspar, lead, sand and gravel for construction, meaning investors can develop processing industries.

It has an abundant workforce with more than 900,000 workers, 400,000 of them trained, to basically meet investors’ human resources needs.-VNA