Singapore explores cooperation, investment opportunities in Lang Son
Lang Son (VNA) – Singaporean Ambassador to
Vietnam Jaya Ratnam paid a working trip to Lang Son on
November 8 to explore cooperation and investment opportunities in the northern border province.
During a working session with Ambassador Ratnam and his entourage, Secretary of the provincial
Party Committee Nguyen Quoc Doan briefed the guest on the potential and strengths
of Lang Son, stressing that the locality has become an attractive destination
for domestic and foreign investment.
According to
Doan, Lang Son shares over 231km of borderline with China, and holds a crucial
role as a gateway connecting China with ASEAN countries. It also serves as the
starting point for two important economic corridors – Nanning (China) – Lang Son
- Hanoi - Hai Phong (Vietnam) and Lang Son - Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City - Moc
Bai. The locality has two international border gates, one bilateral border
gate, and nine auxiliary border gates.
In recent years, the local authorities have paid
special attention to improving the investment and business environment and
speeding up administrative reform to facilitate the activities of investors and
businesses.
Since
2021, the local authorities have issued investment certificates and given in-principle
approval to 57 projects worth over 12.3 trillion VND (504.8
million USD), including major projects, such as Huu Nghi -
Chi Lang border gate expressway, Dong Dang (Lang Son) - Tra Linh (Cao Bang
province) expressway; and VSIP Industrial Park and industrial clusters.
The infrastructure construction and business investment
project at the VSIP Lang Son Industrial Park with a total investment of nearly 275
million USD, which was given greenlight in May this year, becomes the largest investment
project in Lang Son, and the first one invested by Singapore to date. This
project’s first phase is expected to be completed before September 30, 2025.
Doan expressed his hope that the provincial People’s Committee
and the Singaporean Embassy in Vietnam will work closely to speed up the implementation
of the project.
He called on Singaporean firms specialising in infrastructure
development, supply chain and logistics service, green economy, and agricultural
product processing, to invest in industrial parks and clusters, and border economic
zone in Lang Son.
For his part, Ratnam spotlighted the flourishing development of cooperation and
friendship between the two countries.
The VSIP (Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park) model has been
quite successful with an occupancy rate of 83%, attracting 18.7 billion USD in
investment and providing employment for over 300,000 labourers, he said.
As of June 2023, Singapore maintained its leading position in ASEAN and ranked second among 143 countries and territories investing in
Vietnam, with 3,200 projects worth 73.4 billion USD in 51 localities nationwide.
The Singapore Business Federation (SBF) will send a delegation to Lang Son in
early 2024 to explore local investment attraction policies, he
revealed./.