An important factor that has significantly contributed to driving Da Nang's economic growth over the past 5 years has been a dramatic increase of domestic and foreign direct investment (FDI)channeled into the city.

Over recent years, Da Nang has witnessed a significant growth in the production of hi-tech products. Picture taken at the Trung Nam Electronics Manufacturing Services JSC-developed the SMT assembly and manufacturing plant located in the Da Nang dedicated IT Park.

Data published by the Da Nang Investment Promotion and Support Board show that, during the 2016-2020 period, Da Nang received 163 domestic investment projects totalling over 76,100 billion VND (more than 3 trillion US$), and 530 foreign-invested projects valued at 1.040 billion US$, all delivering jobs for more than 93,100 people.

All these impressive results were mainly attributed to great efforts made by Da Nang government in creating an open, fair, transparent, and healthy investment environment for domestic and foreign investors.

Over the 5-year period, Da Nang government issued 14 legal documents and policies to attract new projects to the city in tandem with amending and supplementing some investment policies and mechanism that no longer appeal to investors.

In addition, Da Nang already made reasonable adjustments to the master urban plan for its progress to 2030, with a vision to 2045, with a focus on the development of eco-industrial parks or clusters, and the dedicated Information Technology Park and the Da Nang Hi-tech Park both in Hoa Vang District.

Also, the simplification of 112 administrative procedures involved in the establishment and operation of domestic and foreign companies in Da Nang, the renewing of business registration certificates, and the changing of business registration contents was accelerated, hereby saving a lot of costs and time for local citizens and businesses.

A specific roadmap for renewing investment promotion strategies was built up to continue to attract investment to Da Nang.

The emphasis was placed on diversifying marketing channels, as well as hosting a series of annual seminars and events for investment promotion such as Investment Forum, Talk of Spring, and the annual 'The Year of Investment Promotion' campaign.

Many large-scale projects have been implemented in the northwestern part of Da Nang , importantly, helping the city attract FDI in the time to come

Greater efforts were made to strengthen the cooperation with such foreign countries as Japan, South Korea, the USA, Thailand and Singapore, as well as to enhance bilateral the cooperation with international organisations like JETRO, KOTRA, AMCHAM, AUSCHAM, SBF, IE Singapore and AHK.

In light of global Covid-19 crisis, Da Nang organised a series of online seminars for investment promotion in a bid to attract FDI into the city’s priority sectors, namely hi-tech, IT and high quality services.

However, Da Nang faced some certain challenges in investment attraction. One of the most serious problems was that the majority of domestic projects in Da Nang were mainly involved in real estates, and holiday resort services. Meanwhile, the volume of domestic investment inflows channeled into Da Nang’s industrial parks and Hi-tech Park accounted for only 10% of Da Nang’s total investment inflows.

Besides, FDI projects with small and micro-registered capital accounted for a high proportion of the total FDI flows poured into the city.

One of the city's weaknesses is its non-synchronised transport network, especially between air and water transport systems, resulting in increasing time and shipping costs for enterprises.

Most noticeable, Da Nang’s labour market has been still facing a severe shortage of human resources, especially the highly-qualified. Even though many programmes have been set up to develop human resources, the reality still seems grim as the recruitment requirements are not being met.

In an effort to overcome its current difficulties and challenges, and obtain greater achievements than the past’s in investment attraction in the years ahead, Da Nang has outlined a series of specific solutions for welcoming a new wave of domestic and foreign investors.

In detail, all-out efforts will be made to speed up the development of industrial clusters in Da Nang, and the construction of such key projects as the Lien Chieu Port, railway station removal, the dredging of the Co Co River, the Software Park No 2, and the 2^nd stage of the dedicated IP Park.

Additionally, Da Nang plans to take back leased land in industrial parks in the city if the tenant fails to put or delays putting the land into use according to commitment items in the land lease contracts.

Greater efforts will be made to boost cooperation with international partners, strategic investors and multinational corporations in the coming time.

To enhance the efficiency of investment promotion activities, Da Nang will pay special attention to promoting on-site and online investment promotion activities, and assisting Da Nang businesses to drive their post-pandemic recovery.

In addition, focus will be paid to providing active support for domestic and foreign investors to operate effectively in Da Nang, and developing more innovative strategies for the attraction of new wave of investors.

Heed also will be paid to stepping up the building of Da Nang’s own brand identity, simplifying administrative reforms involving investment activities, and ensuring that 100% of online public services will be put into used at levels 3 and 4.

By PHONG LAN - Translated by M.D