South Korea is one of Da Nang’s key partners with strong financial and technological capabilities. Therefore, the city is always willing to roll out red carpet for South Korean businesses to invest into the city's information and communication technology (ICT) sector.

Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Tran Phuoc Son made that statement at a Tuesday’s webinar via Zoom platform on promoting investment from the Republic of Korea (RoK) into Da Nang’s ICT sector.

Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Tran Phuoc Son (second left) chairing the webinar in Da Nang. Photo: THANH LAN

The online event was jointly organized by the Da Nang People's Committee and the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications. Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam chaired the event at the bridge point of Ha Noi.

The webinar saw the participation of representatives from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the Korea Information Technology Cooperation Center (KICC), and more than 200 potential businesses and investors in Viet Nam and RoK, plus Mr. Ahn Min Sik, Consul General of RoK in Da Nang.

Delivering his speech at the webinar, Vice Chairman Son remarked Da Nang is proud to be one of the country’s leading cities in the field of ICT, which has been recognized and highly appreciated by many domestic and international organizations.

Specifically, the city has secured its top position in the Viet Nam ICT Index, the rankings on the readiness for information and communications technology (ICT) development and applications for 12 consecutive years. Da Nang was honoured with the Viet Nam Digital Awards 2020, the Viet Nam Smart City Award 2020, and the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) Smart City Award 2019.

Despite the negative impact of COVID-19 pandemic over the past 2 years, the city’s ICT industry has still recorded a good year-on-year revenue growth with a total revenue of US$1.3 billion. The software export turnover reached nearly US$ 90 million during that period.

RoK has been one of Da Nang’s important partners in the aspects of investment, trade and tourism. In the years before COVID-19 began, there were a total of 19 international air routes between RoK and Da Nang, with the frequency of 214 flights per week. Accordingly, about 1.5 million South Korean tourists arrived in Da Nang, accounting for more than 50% of the total number of international visitors to the city. This showed that many tourists and businesspeople from RoK have chosen Da Nang as their ideal destination for their tourism as well as business activities.

With its development orientations to 2030, with a vision towards 2045, Da Nang targets to turn itself into a smart eco-city, a startup and innovation hub, and a liveable coastal city in Asia by focusing on 3 main pillars: tourism, hi-tech, and marine economy. In particular, IT, electronics and telecommunications associated with the digital economy will continue to be the city’s spearhead economic sectors.

Da Nang is expected that its ICT sector will achieve US$2.34 billion in revenue by 2025, and will contribute about 15% of the city's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) by 2030. To achieve this goal, the city has been preparing infrastructure, human resources, and living-working environment, as well as focusing on developing smart infrastructure, platform and data.

Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Tran Phuoc Son (third left) presenting souvenirs to tsome delegates at the forum. Photo: THANH LAN

"Through today's forum, we hope to welcome more South Korean businesses to seek investment opportunities in Da Nang. We are committed to always creating the best favourable conditions for South Korean investors to visit Da Nang to learn about the city’s investment environment" emphasized Vice Chairman Son.

In his opening speech at the webinar, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam affirmed that the huge participation of delegates showed the great interest of South Korean officials and businesses in ICT sectors of Da Nang, and Viet Nam as a whole.

Viet Nam is now home to 58,000 ICT enterprises, and the figure is expected to reach 100,000 by 2025. Currently, Viet Nam has been named among the world’s top 10 electronic product exporters, and has been the second largest exporter of phones, and the ninth largest exporter of software outsourcing in the world.

RoK is the largest foreign investor in Viet Nam with over 9,000 valid projects worth over US$71.5 billion, including nearly 500 investment projects in the ICT field with the presence of the world's leading technology corporations such as Samsung and LG.

To welcome more investments from the RoK, the Vietnamese Government has been perfecting models, mechanisms and policies to create breakthrough development for concentrated IT parks in key economic centers.

Most notably, Da Nang is likened to a "silicon valley of Southeast Asia". The municipal authority is working with the central agencies to build a digital ecosystem, giving priority to attracting foreign-invested projects in IT and high technology, towards developing the central city into a destination for global digital technology corporations.

Reporting by THANH LAN - Translating by M.DUNG