Over recent years, Da Nang has gained numerous positive results from its economic diplomacy activities.  In addition to its traditional partners, the city has established new bilateral friendship and cooperation with many countries and territories worldwide.

The Director of the city’s Department of Planning and Investment, Mr Tran Van Son, granting an investment licence to a representative from a Japanese business

To date, the city has attracted 437 FDI projects from 38 countries and territories.  As of November, the city had welcomed 75 delegations of international guests, and representatives from the city authorities had also been on working trips to Japan, South Korea and some European countries in order to promote bilateral cooperative ties with these foreign partners.  Most notably, some of the city’s high-ranking officers paid visits to localities in southern Laos during October.

In addition, importance has been attached to promoting bilateral friendship and cooperation with some international organisations around the world.  The city has entered into cooperative agreements with the Korean Environment Institute (KEI), the Association of Directors of French Technological Institutes in Universities, and other foreign organisations. 

In an attempt to promote local economic diplomacy activities, the city authorities have found effective ways to advertise the city’s image to domestic and international friends.  Da Nang has great geo-economic and geo-political strengths, especially its strategic position as being the Pacific gateway for the East-West Economic Corridor, being an economic hub in the central region, and an environmentally-friendly city with rapid growth.

Recent years have seen numerous fruitful results from attracting ODA capital, and the city is now home to 5 ODA-funded projects, worth 390 million USD in total.  

The Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, Mr Huynh Van Thanh, said that appeals are also being made for ODA capital for local strategic projects.  Included are the Lien Chieu Port, the Hoa Lien Commune water supply plant, the relocation of the city’s railway station to Lien Chieu District’s Hoa Minh Ward, water environment improvement, and transport infrastructure development projects.

Since the start of this year, the city has successfully sought aid from foreign NGOs with a total committed funding of over 7 million USD.

Special attention has been paid to promoting cultural diplomacy activities including the 2016 Viet Nam-Japan Cultural Exchange Festival, and the Viet Nam-Korean Culture and Cuisine Festival.  Effective measures have been taken to ensure a close link between cultural and economic diplomacy in appealing for more domestic and FDI inflows into the city, promoting exports, and bolstering the development of local tourism.

Also, the implementation of people-to-people diplomatic exchanges between the city and foreign localities has helped to enhance the spirit of solidarity with foreigners worldwide.

In the years ahead, the emphasis will be on fully tapping the efficiency of the fruitful bilateral political relationships with foreign countries in order to make even more breakthroughs through cooperative programmes in economics, trade, science and technology and education, especially large-scale projects involved infrastructure, energy and services.