Pilot Free Trade Zone and the take-off expectation of "Living City"

(Dan Tri) - In addition to the proposal to pilot the establishment of a Free Trade Zone, many new specific mechanisms and policies for Da Nang were also reported by the Government to the National Assembly with the expectation of bringing breakthrough development to the city.

On the morning of May 31, the National Assembly will hear a report on the Draft Resolution amending and supplementing Resolution No. 119/2020/QH14 of the National Assembly on piloting the organization of an urban government model and a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Da Nang city, before discussing this content in groups in the afternoon of the same day. Talking to Dan Tri reporters on the sidelines of the National Assembly, National Assembly delegate Tran Chi Cuong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, said that the drafting of this resolution aims to amend and supplement a number of mechanisms and policies to implement the urban government model as well as pilot additional mechanisms of a specific and outstanding nature to overcome shortcomings, limitations and bottlenecks when implementing Resolution 119. "This will create conditions to unlock resources, promote and create new impetus for the development of Da Nang City, creating an effective legal basis to promote potential and advantages, create breakthroughs, and resolve bottlenecks and bottlenecks in economic development - "The City's society", Mr. Cuong emphasized.

National Assembly Delegate Tran Chi Cuong, Vice Chairman of Da Nang City People's Committee (Photo: Hong Phong).

Great expectations when piloting Da Nang Free Trade Zone

This time, the Government proposed specific mechanisms and policies to be amended and supplemented in 2 groups with 30 policies. Group 1 includes 9 policies on the organization of urban government in Da Nang city. Group 2 includes 21 specific policies proposed for piloting to develop Da Nang city. The proposal to pilot the establishment of a Free Trade Zone in Da Nang, according to delegate Tran Chi Cuong, is one of five new policies proposed by the locality in the draft resolution submitted to the National Assembly this time. In Vietnam, there is no system of legal documents regulating the Free Trade Zone model, but Mr. Cuong said that about 150 countries in the world have implemented the Free Trade Zone model and they often have mechanisms and policies to create competition to exploit this model. "Da Nang boldly proposed and was supported by the Government as well as ministries and branches to pilot the establishment of a Free Trade Zone to promote and exploit all the potential from the conditions, geographical location, nature and people of the city," said Mr. Cuong.

Son Tra Peninsula is considered the "precious gem" of Da Nang (Photo: Hoai Son).

The Vice Chairman of Da Nang City emphasized that the gradual exploration, piloting and bold implementation of the Free Trade Zone in Da Nang will promote the development and best and most effective exploitation of the local potential and advantages, thereby fulfilling the mission and core role of Da Nang in promoting the dynamic economic region of the Central region. "The establishment of the Free Trade Zone is the initial foundation, from which there is a practical basis for building and perfecting the legal system on Free Trade Zones so that other localities can apply, gradually forming Free Trade Zones suitable to the economic development conditions in Vietnam", the Vice Chairman of Da Nang commented. The draft Resolution stipulates the pilot establishment of the Da Nang Free Trade Zone associated with Lien Chieu Seaport and identifies the Da Nang Free Trade Zone as a functional area with defined geographical boundaries, established to pilot policy mechanisms aimed at attracting investment, finance, trade, tourism , high-quality services, and high technology. According to the Government's assessment, Da Nang is a locality that meets the criteria for piloting on a small scale, from which to learn from experience and replicate on a larger scale due to its readiness in terms of planning, land, technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, human resources, international trade connections, investment environment, etc. "The establishment of the Da Nang Free Trade Zone is the basis for strongly attracting FDI capital flows into Da Nang and the Central dynamic region, promoting socio-economic development of the region and the whole country; diversifying trade and tourism activities associated with the central role of the City", the Government assessed.

Danang Administrative Center (Photo: Hoai Son).

National Assembly Representative Tran Hoang Ngan (HCMC) also supported the proposal to pilot the Free Trade Zone in Da Nang because the legal basis for this was included in the conclusion of the Politburo . More importantly, Da Nang is currently a destination of interest to international tourists, if there is a Free Trade Zone, it will be more attractive, meeting the needs of people and tourists coming to Da Nang. Mr. Ngan proposed to soon legalize specific mechanisms and policies and focus on the direction of increasing decentralization and delegation of power to localities to promote proactiveness, dynamism and creativity. Also supporting the proposal to pilot the Da Nang Free Trade Zone, Representative Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi) analyzed that Da Nang has very unique advantages such as having an international port, not only for the exchange of goods but also for the exchange of international tourists. This is also an attractive point for investors not only domestically but also internationally. "If there are attractive investment programs and a good business investment environment, Da Nang will develop even more rapidly," said Mr. Cuong. With the advantage of being a coastal area with an international port, an international airport and many international tourist areas, delegate Cuong said that the specific mechanism for Da Nang "can even be opened further", such as an open economic zone to attract investment resources from outside. The delegate emphasized the need to create an attractive mechanism, environment and space for Da Nang with a Free Trade Zone with incentives on land, taxes, administrative procedures, import and export of goods, etc. Furthermore, Mr. Cuong said that Da Nang can open a mechanism to turn the Free Trade Zone into a place to attract tourists to spend money and buy goods there.

Attracting strategic investors in the semiconductor industry

Another policy that Da Nang has high expectations for, according to Vice Chairman Tran Chi Cuong, is the formation and development of the semiconductor industry. "The world is shifting towards this type. Meanwhile, Vietnam has the conditions to develop the semiconductor industry but has not developed much, has not met expectations, desires and has not fully exploited its potential," said Mr. Cuong. According to the Government 's assessment, Da Nang needs a new impetus for growth and development, in which the development of the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors is identified as a top priority. The basis for organizing the implementation of this goal is, in the immediate future, the institution for implementation. To develop the semiconductor industry, high-quality human resources are a decisive factor, so it is necessary to attract leading experts in the country and the world to Vietnam and Da Nang to research, teach and start businesses.

The Government is submitting a project to train 50,000-100,000 workers for the development of the semiconductor industry. Mr. Cuong said that Da Nang is also developing a policy with a number of specific mechanisms to develop the semiconductor industry, focusing on design, testing, and packaging - extremely important steps in the semiconductor industry. In addition, semiconductor chip production is also one of the factors of interest in this policy to attract strategic investors and foreign enterprises to invest in Da Nang in particular and the whole country in general in the development of the semiconductor industry. In addition, as a locality with advantages in tourism development, Da Nang has recently exploited many factors in terms of geographical location, economic conditions, nature and people to gradually turn the city into an attractive tourist destination both domestically and internationally. This is also a goal, one of the five development directions of the city that Resolution 43 of the Politburo has set out, turning Da Nang into a high-quality national, regional and international tourist center.

"The issuance of tourism development policies is integrated into each policy group content of the draft resolution, aiming to promote more effectively the tourism destination of Da Nang in the coming time, including attracting investors, creating mechanisms for them to build a destination foundation for more complete tourism products," Mr. Cuong shared. According to him, both the political system and the people of Da Nang hope that this resolution will be passed by the National Assembly to help the locality take off and create many breakthroughs. In particular, Mr. Cuong affirmed that if the National Assembly grants new specific mechanisms and policies, Da Nang will solve two major groups of problems. One is to perfect and more effectively implement the urban government model to work with a number of other cities in the country to implement specific regulations on this model. The second is to unlock resources to create conditions and promote Da Nang's development in areas of strength. Besides, Mr. Cuong expects that from the implementation of new mechanisms, people's lives and incomes will be improved, at the same time opening up new development directions not only for Da Nang but also for the whole country.

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/thi-diem-khu-thuong-mai-tu-do-va-ky-vong-cat-canh-cua-thanh-pho-dang-song-20240530193454237.htm