As part of the ongoing 33^rd ASEAN Summit from 11 - 15 November, the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2018, revolving around the theme of ‘Building Tomorrow, Connecting Today’, took place in Singapore on 12 and 13 November.

Da Nang’s exhibition booth at the ABIS 2018 aiming at appealing for more investment into its Hi-tech and dedicated IT parks

In his remarks at the opening ceremony of the ABIS 2018, Da Nang People's Council Chairman Nguyen Nho Trung said, with a population of more than 95 million people, the annual economic growth of 6% - 7%, and the prominent rise of the middle class in recent years, Viet Nam presents an attractive choice for businesses in the ASEAN region, and around the world as a whole.

As the driving force of growth for the central regional key economic zone, Da Nang has pioneered in developing the synchronous infrastructure, and creating a smooth connection between the central and Central Highlands regions, and the ASEAN region, and the world as a whole.

It is noticeable that Da Nang now boasts such investment attraction advantages as its strategic geographic position, modern infrastructure, abundant skilled human resources, and a friendly investment environment.

Chairman Trung also emphasised that Da Nang is currently striving to make itself a smart city through the application of information technology (IT) and the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) achievements into local social and economic aspects, hereby motivating the city to achieve its sustainable development goals.

In July 2014, an e-government system was officially put into operation in Da Nang with the application of the ‘one-stop-shop’ mechanism, and software on managing government employees and administrative dossiers.

Despite its breakthroughs, Da Nang is now facing many challenges in the deployment of the smart city building project amid the fact that Viet Nam's economic scale remains modest. Da Nang has performed well in terms of data connection and storage. However, analytical processing, decision support and control functions have yet to be synchronous and efficient.

Presiding over a discussion session entitled ‘Urban Development and Smart City’, Khoo Teng Chye, the Executive Director of the Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC) based in Singapore, highlighted that Da Nang is now one of the fastest-growing cities in Viet Nam and one of the 26 members of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN).

In 2012, the Da Nang government and the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) jointly started the deployment of the smart city building project, with a focus on effectively applying ‘smart’ technologies in various aspects.

Since then, Da Nang’s smart city building project has been implemented in 17 priority areas under the 6 main pillars, namely governance, economy, environment, life, citizens, and transport.

Currently, Da Nang is cooperating effectively with the Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF), Sakae Holdings Ltd, and Surbana Jurong Private Limited to develop a general planning consultancy services for the city, with one focus on integrating smart city building consultancy plans into the development of Da Nang into a liveable and sustainable city.

Now, Da Nang looks forward to exploring future cooperation opportunities for the development of its new city management models.

Appeals are also being  made for  domestic and foreign investment into IT infrastructure development projects, including the upgrade of a metropolitan area network (MAN), wireless network, sensor system and software solutions applied in such aspects as medical management, education, transportation, environment, and food.

Within the framework of his working trip to Singapore, Chairman Trung met with Singaporean investors to listen to their ideas and recommendations, as well as to learn about the difficulties facing them when they seek investment opportunities in Da Nang.

Also, results from the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation, signed on 26 April between the Da Nang People's Committee and the (SMF) and Sakae Holdings Ltd, was reviewed carefully.

As ASEAN’s premier annual business and investment event, ABIS 2018 placed focus on the discussion of important initiatives of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC).

Included were cooperative ideas in connecting the region’s smart cities; dialogues amongst leaders to promote the issuance of policies that link businesses as well as endorse initiatives to facilitate enterprise integration; and effective measures to boost cooperation with large partners like the US, Australia, India, Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea.