Over the past years, Da Nang's investment attraction activities have made a bold mark in the city's overall socio-economic achievements, thereby significantly contributing to fundamentally and comprehensively changing the face of the city as well as improving people's lives.

Engineers working at the SMT high-tech electronics manufacturing and assembly factory (Trungnam EMS) located in the Da Nang Hi-Tech Park. Photo: NGUYEN DANG KHIEM

Lien Chieu District, which successfully transformed itself from a land with more than 80% of the population living mainly on agricultural production and small-scale services and with backward infrastructure into a key industrial locality in the northwest of the city with such large industrial parks as Hoa Khanh, expanded Hoa Khanh, and Lien Chieu.

Also, a number of major tourism projects have been carried out in the district. Included are Nam O eco-tourism area, Mikazuki Hotel & Spa Resort, a night market combined with a Japanese-style walking street, Nguyen Tat Thanh tourist route, and Van Tourist Village.

Mr. Nguyen Ha Bac, Secretary of the Lien Chieu District Party Committee, said that the aforementioned remarkable achievements were mainly attributed to positive results from investment attraction activities.

Meanwhile, investment attraction activities in Hoa Vang District over the past times have focused on exploiting effectively the district's advantages, that is, developing high-tech agriculture, and ecotourism.

In addition to 7 high-tech agricultural production areas, the Hoa Vang District authorities have planned to develop ecotourism in association with agriculture in Thach Nham Tay Village in Hoa Nhon Commune, and the Tuy Loan Village in Hoa Phong Commune.

Notably, community-based eco-tourism tours have been launched in the Ta Lang and Gian Bi villages in the district's Hoa Bac Commune. The district is now on track to develop the Thai Lai Cultural Ecotourism Site in Hoa Nhon Commune.

Playing a strategic role in the city's investment attraction activities, over the past two decades, investment attraction activities in the Da Nang Hi-Tech Parks and Industrial Parks (IPs) have achieved many positive results.

According to Mr. Pham Truong Son, Head of the Authority of the Da Nang Industrial Parks an Industrial Parks, Da Nang is now home to 6 IPs, 1 Hi-tech Park and 1 Dedicated Information Technology Park with a total area of ​​2,325.92ha.

Up to now, the city's IPs, Hi-tech Park, and the Dedicated IT Park have together attracted 504 valid projects. 376 of them have been domestic projects worth VND27,607.9 billion in total, and the remaining 128 are FDI projects with total investment capital of US$1.837 billion.

Mrs Huynh Lien Phuong, the Director of the municipal Investment Promotion Agency, acknowledged that, over the past two decades, investment attraction activities have made an important contribution to the city's economic growth, particularly shifting the city's economic structure in the right direction towards service - industry - agriculture.

She also highlighted the significance of investment attraction in changing the urban appearance of many districts, and improving the living standards and creating jobs for locals.

Mrs Phuong added investment attraction projects have created a spillover effect, thereby contributing to improving the competitiveness of enterprises and the quality of human resources,  promoting international integration, and developing the city's brand name, and establishing development cooperation ties in many fields with other localities and cities worldwide.

Moreover, investment attraction activities have made an increasingly important contribution for the city's GRDP growth rate as well as the city's budget revenue.

Particularly during the 2016-2020 period, the contribution proportion of non-State investment to the city's GRDP was an average of 53.67%, whilst FDI investment's contribution accounted for 11.6% on average.

Also during that period, the total State budget collection in Da Nang was estimated at VND118,180 billion. In which, the non-State sector in the local economic structure reached VND23,197 billion, accounting for 19.62%, whilst foreign-invested enterprises generated VND21,921 billion, equivalent to 18.54%.

Da Nang aims to attract US$3 billion worth of registered investment capital in the 2021 - 2025 period and about US$4 billion in the 2026 - 2030 period.

The proportion of enterprises using advanced technology, modern management, environmental protection, and high technology will have increased by 50% by 2025 and 100% by 2030 as compared to 2018. The localization rate will increase to 30% by 2025 and 40% by 2030.

The percentage of trained workers in the employment structure will reach 75% by 2025 and 80% by 2030. Top priority fields for investment attraction will include high, advanced and environmentally friendly technologies, clean energy, renewable energy, medical equipment manufacturing, education and training, high-quality tourism, financial services, logistics, hi-tech agricultural production, and new industries on the basis of industry 4.0.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the city will give its top priority to issuing a number of specific policies and mechanisms on investment, finance, budget and management decentralization. The focus will be on setting up financial centers; non-tariff zones; shopping malls, duty-free shops, value-added tax refund points, research and development (R&D) centers, innovation centers; and a international yacht center in the city.

Importance will be paid to perfecting logistics infrastructure in service of production and business activities, preparing the land fund for the development of supporting industries, and high technology and information technology sectors to welcome capital flows, accelerate the completion of infrastructure of new industrial zones and clusters, and develop a system of social housing and socio-cultural institutions in order to improve the spiritual life of workers.

Heed will be on renewing and diversifying forms of investment promotion in combination with advertising Da Nang as an attractive destination for investors through the media, forums, seminars and conferences in both home and abroad.

Greater efforts will be made to effectively support existing investors, accelerate administrative reform, and build a team of professional and dynamic civil servants.

Reporting by KHANH HOA - Translating by M.DUNG