Dutch investors explore opportunities for agriculture, logistics cooperation in Can Tho
Can Tho (VNA) – Tran Viet Truong, Chairman of the People’s
Committee of Can Tho city, on June 5 hosted a reception for businesses
from the Netherlands and Vietnamese enterprises who are involved in
import-export activities to discuss cooperation opportunities relating
to the import and export of agricultural products and logistics.
Can Tho has more than 114,000 hectares of agricultural land,
accounting for about 80% of its natural land area. Of which, over
78,000ha are cultivated with rice with an annual output of over 1.3 million
tonnes and nearly 31,000ha of fruit trees with an output of 170,000 tonnes
of all kinds.
There are 40 rice processing enterprises in
the Mekong Delta city, along with 45 seafood processing facilities for
export and about
478 agricultural and aquatic product production and processing
establishments for domestic consumption. Its major export items are
rice, aquatic products, fruits, and other processed agricultural
products.
According to Truong, the logistics infrastructure of
Can Tho city and the Mekong Delta is still limited. Due to the
sedimentation at Dinh An estuary, ships of over 500 tonnes cannot enter
local ports. Therefore, the Government has advocated dredging the
estuary so that ships from 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes can dock at Hoang
Dieu port in Binh Thuy district and Cai Cui port in Cai Rang district,
he said.
The city leader also said that Can Tho boasts an
international airport but it mainly carries passengers, logistics
services have not been developed, affecting the import and export of
agricultural products of the city as well as the Mekong Delta region.
Thus, the city is inviting investors with strengths in logistics and
aviation sector to come to the locality to explore investment
opportunities.
Can Tho has planned to set up a logistics centre
for linkage, production, processing and consumption of agricultural
products in the region, which will cover an area of 3,300 ha, Truong
said, adding that the project is expected to be approved by the Prime
Minister next month.
He also said that Can Tho wishes to promote
trade cooperation and export its agricultural products to the Dutch
market in particular and Europe in general.
At the reception,
representatives of Dutch investors and Vietnamese import-export
enterprises said that they will conduct further study to have a better
view of projects in this regard./.