A forum to expand South Korea - Viet Nam investment and cooperation in information and communication technology (ICT) in Central Viet Nam took place in Da Nang on Monday morning.

Delegates attending the forum

Co-organised by the Consulate General of South Korea in Da Nang and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the forum informed over 40 attending South Korean businesses about the ICT investment environment, as well as investment prospects of Korean ICT enterprises, in the central region of Viet Nam.

In his opening speech at the forum, Mr. Kang Boo Sung, the newly-accredited Consul General of South Korea in Da Nang, highlighted that the forum opened up opportunities for many South Korean ICT businesses to invest in Central Viet Nam, as well as fostered close cooperation between ICT businesses of the two countries.

South Korean ICT businesses are actively operating in Central Viet Nam, especially Da Nang which is home to the region's leading universities in training IT human resources, including the Viet Nam - Korea University of Information and Communication Technology (VKU), he remarked.

Mr. Kang Boo Sung voiced his hope that more ICT enterprises from his country will invest in Central Viet Nam, and the cooperative relationship between Vietnamese and South Korean ICT enterprises will make positive developments, in the coming time.

He asked for help from authorities of Vietnamese localities to support the operations of Korean ICT businesses and further expand cooperation between the two countries in the high-tech field.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thanh, Director of the Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, informed that South Korea took the lead in the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the city with 279 projects and was the 5^th largest source of FDI capital into Da Nang among countries and territories investing in Da Nang, with total investment of US$ 382 million.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thanh, Director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, speaking at the forum

Recently, the Politburo issued Conclusion No. 79-KL/TW dated May 13, 2024 on continuing to implement Resolution No. 43-NQ/TW of the Politburo (term XII) on building and developing Da Nang by 2030, with a vision to 2045, with a focus on developing Da Nang into a centre for innovation and entrepreneurship, and a centre for training high-quality human resources in semiconductor and artificial intelligence (AI) industries.

Notably, the importance is attached to expanding development space for the city to successfully implement the goal of completing smart urban construction, synchronously connecting with smart urban networks in the country and the ASEAN region by 2030.

In order to achieve goals and implement effective the abovementioned activities, the city has been proposing and building groups of policies and solutions, with concentration on three groups of solutions on infrastructure, human resources,and preferential policies to attract investment waves.

Regarding infrastructure, Da Nang has been preparing land fund, infrastructure at high-tech parks, centralized IT parks, and software parks for ICT businesses to deploy projects in the city.

International fiber optic network, electricity, transportation and logistics infrastructure fully meet the requirements of investors involving ICT, microchips, semiconductors, and AI.

As for human resource training and development, Da Nang has 37 establishments training human resources for the IT industry. An annual average of 5,700 students graduate from IT major and other microchip and semiconductor-related majors such as electronics and telecommunications, mechatronics, and automation.

At the same time, universities in Da Nang have set up close cooperation with reputable international partners in the US, South Korea, and Taiwan (China) to improve the quality and quantity of training according to international standards in the fields of ICT, semiconductors and AI.

Within the framework of the forum, there was a one-to-one trading session between South Korean and Vietnamese ICT businesses, thereby enhancing opportunities for connection and investment cooperation between the two sides.

Reporting by M.QUE, C.THANG - Translating by M.DUNG, T.TUNG