He made the statement during a local conference on June 19to promote investment and launch a start-up campaign, which attracted 650corporate representatives, domestic and foreign investors, and economists.
The PM expressed his delight at seeing business deals worthup to 6 billion USD committed by domestic and foreign firms at the event.
As Soc Trang has three estuaries facing the East Sea,comprising Dinh An, Tran De and My Thanh, giving it a business advantage, theleader suggested the province develop hi-tech agriculture in adaptation with climatechange, clean aquaculture, processing industry and ecological tourism.
He highlighted other local advantages from religions andbeliefs, cuisine to festivals, notably Ok Om Bok (moon worship) festival and GheNgo (Khmer boat) race.
Stressing education as key to development, the PM asked theprovince to attract talented people to contribute to the homeland, consideringit a driving force for rapid, sustainable and inclusive development in SocTrang and the southwestern region as a whole.
According to him, the Trung Luong – Can Tho highway willcreate an important driving force for the region, including Soc Trang, once itis completed.
At the event, he proposed building a value chain andmanufacturing process under the model of connecting farmers, State, investors,banks, scientists and distributors as well as switching to farming with higheradded values.
The province was also urged to narrow gaps in businessclimate to make it more attractive to domestic and foreign investors whiledepartments and agencies must join Soc Trang in the fight against climatechange.
The leader also asked Soc Trang to offer all possiblesupport to investors, adding that incentives need to be exchanged for corporatesocial responsibilities.
Cooperation agreements on agriculture, trade and investmentpromotion, power grid and credit supply between Soc Trang and ministries,agencies were signed at the event.
On the occasion, the province granted investment licencesand memoranda of understanding on investment cooperation for 47 projects worthover 122.8 trillion VND (5.45 billion USD).
Certificates of merit and funding were also presented tostart-up and innovative firms.
Last year, Soc Trang granted investment licences to 29projects, up seven against 2016, at a total cost of more than 4.15 trillion VND,or a 3.5-fold increase from the previous year.
In the first five months of this year, investment licenceswere presented to 12 projects worth over 2.8 trillion VND.
More and more domestic and foreign firms have eyed majorprojects in the province in the fields of real estate, hi-tech agriculture,ecological tourism, milk processing, and hi-tech milch farming.
Soc Trang has also established a working group to handleissues regarding investment procedures or offer consultancies to the provincialauthorities in the effort.-VNA