Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ratified a master plan on the socio-economic development of the northern key economic area by 2020, with a vision to 2030.
The area consists of two sub-regions, namely an urban zone including Hanoi and the provinces of Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Hai Duong, and a coastal zone encompassing Hai Phong city and Quang Ninh province.
The newly-approved plan aims to make the region the heart of the whole nation in terms of politics, economics, culture, and science and technology. It also sets out to make the economic area a gateway to the wider world in trade, thus significantly improving Vietnam’s image in the international arena.
Along with this, the plan aims to make the area a hub of financial development through the implementation of economic restructuring, growth model renewal, industrialisation and modernisation.
Under the plan, the region is scheduled by 2020 to reach 5,500 USD in average income per capita and to fulfil the proportion of agriculture, industry and services respectively accounting for 5.5 percent, 49.1 percent and 45.4 percent of GDP.
With regard to culture and social affairs, it is expected to have 80-85 percent of workers trained, annually cut down the rate of poor households by 2 percent and reach 80 percent of communes meeting national standards regarding health services.
In terms of services and tourism development, the economic area prioritises spiritual cultural tourism and will accelerate services exports, upgrade infrastructure and create a healthy business environment along with strengthening finance-banking services with the focus on turning Hanoi into a prestigious finance-banking centre meeting international standards.
The region pays heed to developing industries of strength and capable of integrating into the global value supply such as information technology, telecommunications, machine manufacturing, shipbuilding, garment and textiles, among others.
Industries with high technology and low emissions, and the industrialisation of agriculture are also now a top priority.-VNA
