The journey to build a foundation for economic development

Before the merger, the economy of Quang Nam province and Da Nang city (old) both had impressive progress. Thereby, it promises that in the coming term, the new Da Nang city will become the growth pole of Vietnam, entering a new era of national development with the whole country.

Da Nang is oriented to develop towards an ecological, modern, smart, international urban area with its own identity. Photo: QUOC TUAN

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The resonance of Quang Nam - Da Nang not only comes from the connection of available resources, but also thanks to the unique and outstanding mechanisms that have been applied to the old Da Nang city area, which will now be extended to the new city area. This creates a great competitive advantage for the city on the regional development map in the coming period.

(Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council).

“Bright spot” of regional development

Both Da Nang city (old) and Quang Nam province (old) are located in the Central Key Economic Zone. In the 15 years before the merger, both localities had made great movements, creating outstanding marks to gradually affirm their pivotal role in promoting economic development in the Central region.

Besides Da Nang, which has balanced its budget early, this period witnessed the strong rise of Quang Nam to balance its budget and have it regulated by the Central Government (since 2017).

In the period 2011 - 2015, the potential and scale of Quang Nam's economy began to increase significantly. The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in this period increased by an average of nearly 11.5% per year.

During this period, Chu Lai Open Economic Zone alone had 55 licensed projects with a total registered capital of over 1 billion USD. Enterprises operating in Chu Lai Open Economic Zone have created over 12,000 new jobs, contributing an average of over 60% of the total annual budget revenue in the province.

The effective operation of Chu Lai Open Economic Zone has created a large source of budget revenue for Quang Nam province (old), making an important contribution to helping the locality balance its budget. Photo: QUOC TUAN

For Da Nang city (old), the period 2016 - 2020 marked a great milestone when Da Nang received Resolution No. 43-NQ/TW of the Politburo on building and developing Da Nang city to 2030, with a vision to 2045 and Decision No. 339/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister approving the Adjustment of the Master Plan for socio-economic development of the city to 2020, with a vision to 2030 as a foundation.

Accordingly, Da Nang is oriented to develop towards an ecological, modern, smart, international urban area with its own identity, focusing on developing three main pillars: Tourism; high-tech industry; marine economy.

In the period 2015 - 2020, Da Nang attracted more than 77,000 billion VND of domestic investment capital, nearly 1.4 billion USD of foreign investment capital, the number of enterprises in the area increased more than 2 times and the capital tripled compared to 2015.

Next, promoting the city's economic growth is identified as one of the three breakthrough tasks of the Resolution of the Da Nang City Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term.

Through the implementation of many large, strategic solutions, the city's economy has gradually recovered and is one of the localities with relatively rapid growth after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Economic structure shifts positively

After nearly 30 years of separation, the economies of both Quang Nam and Da Nang have had positive developments.

Besides the service sector playing a key role, Da Nang has recently made great progress in the digital economy. Photo: XUAN SON

The economic structure of Da Nang (old) by 2025 will have a slight shift towards expanding the service sector (from 66.4% in 2021 to more than 70% in 2024); narrowing the scale of the two sectors of industry - construction and agriculture - forestry - fishery.

Meanwhile, Quang Nam's economic structure is more spread out with the agriculture - forestry - fishery sector accounting for about 12.9%; industry and construction accounting for 34.9%; services accounting for 34.5%; product tax minus subsidies accounting for 17.7%.

In general, the economic structure of Da Nang city in the period of 2021 - 2024 continues to shift towards services - industry - agriculture. In particular, in 2024, the proportion of the city's service - industry - agriculture sectors will be 54.42%, 25.40% and 7.32% respectively.

The bright spot of Quang Nam is that the proportion of the agriculture - forestry - fishery sector has decreased sharply from more than 48% (in 2000) to about 13% (in 2024). The service and industry - construction sectors have both had impressive growth, leading the local economic growth, bringing Quang Nam from one of the most difficult localities in the country in 1997 to the group of provinces and cities with budget regulation to the Central Government.

In particular, with the old city of Da Nang, in addition to the service sector playing a key role in building the brand of a livable city, it has also witnessed the rise of the digital economy in recent times.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the Department of Science and Information Technology, the digital economy accounts for 24% of the city's GRDP in 2024, soon exceeding the set target of reaching 20% ​​in 2025.

It is estimated that by 2025, the total revenue of the entire information technology, post and telecommunications (digital technology) industry of the new Da Nang city will reach 43,600 billion VND; software export turnover will reach about 185 million USD.

The Da Nang Department of Finance said that in the first months of 2025 and since the merger, Da Nang city has continued to maintain its economic growth momentum. The resource factors contributing to growth are mainly in width, depending heavily on development investment capital.

The positive point is that according to the economic structure of the components, the non-state economy and the economy with foreign investment capital are accounting for an increasing proportion. In the photo: A corner of the golf course in the Nam Hoi An resort complex (a project with foreign direct investment capital). Photo: QUOC TUAN

According to the three-sector economic structure, service industries are the main contributors to economic growth.

The positive point is that according to the economic structure of the components, the non-state economy and the economy with foreign investment capital are accounting for an increasing proportion, demonstrating an increasingly important role in the city's economic growth.

According to the general assessment from experts, during the separation period, Quang Nam and Da Nang have both affirmed many things, successfully completing their missions. And the merger of the two localities is the right decision to help the new Da Nang city make a strong breakthrough.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council, said that the big advantage when Da Nang - Quang Nam merges is the scale and ability to integrate resources.

With its outstanding total area and population, this region converges all the elements: mountains, sea, plains, coast; abundant treasure of development resources such as seaports, airports, tourism resources and industrial and urban spaces...

“The synergy between Quang Nam and Da Nang comes not only from the connection of available resources, but also from the unique and superior mechanisms that have been applied to the old Da Nang city, which will now be extended to the new city. This creates a great competitive advantage for the city on the regional development map in the coming period,” said Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/chang-duong-gay-dung-nen-tang-phat-trien-kinh-te-3302863.html