Towards the 14th Party Congress: Exploiting the marine economy of special economic zones

Photo caption — Dong Beach, Tho Chau Island Commune, Phu Quoc City. Photo: Hong Dat/VNA

The "fence" of the far South and the potential of the marine economy

The three special economic zones of Kien Hai, Phu Quoc and Tho Chau are the "fence" protecting the southwestern sea of the Fatherland, contributing to maintaining territorial sovereignty and national security.

Phu Quoc is the largest island in Vietnam, with an area of over 575 km², and is both a tourism , service, and marine economic center of the region and the whole country, and an important international trade gateway, playing a strategic role in national defense, security, and foreign affairs. This Pearl Island is known as the heart of Vietnam's tourism and marine economy, ready to welcome the global event of the APEC Summit 2027, and is striving to become an international ecological, resort, and creative center.

Accordingly, the marine economy has developed remarkably, contributing to Phu Quoc's high economic growth rate in the 5 years (2020 - 2025) with nearly 20%/year, stable and sustainable. In addition to budget autonomy, Phu Quoc makes a large contribution to the provincial budget; of which, in 2024, it accounted for 51.6% of the total budget revenue of Kien Giang province (old). Tourism revenue in the first 9 months of 2025 reached 31,138 billion VND, an increase of more than 90% over the same period, exceeding the annual plan by 32.5%. Seafood exploitation, seaport services, logistics are being expanded; modern infrastructure with international airports, deep-water seaports... connecting globally.

Next, Kien Hai has a total sea and island area of over 3,350 km², with more than 23 large and small islands, famous as Hon Son, Nam Du, Hon Tre... located in the Southwest sea, forming a network to control and protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands. Kien Hai is considered as "Ha Long of the South" with great promise for developing sea and island tourism thanks to the islands with pristine beauty, clean beaches, primeval forests... The two economic spearheads of tourism and marine aquaculture, clean environment, favorable for sustainable development of Kien Hai. Tourism infrastructure is being improved, attracting investors in accommodation services, maritime transport and seafood exploitation.

Kien Hai plans 21 aquaculture locations with 11,956 hectares. The special zone currently has 215 farming households, with 1,189 cages, total volume over 756,000 m³. Kien Hai has piloted 15 HDPE cage models using industrial feed combined with growing carrageenan, contributing to achieving an average marine farming output of 1,200 tons/year.

In particular, Kien Hai attracts investment in marine farming. Currently, there are 2 groups: Mavin Group and Australis Vietnam Company, which have surveyed and selected concentrated industrial marine farming areas in Nam Du archipelago, which have been approved by the province for investment policy. On the other hand, the province has approved a list of calling for 4 industrial marine farming investment projects, applying high technology in the sea of Nam Du archipelago, opening up opportunities for Kien Hai's marine farming industry.

Besides, Tho Chau is the southwesternmost point, with 8 islands: Tho Chu, Nhan, Xanh, Tu, Cao Cat, Cai Ban, Da Bac, Kho and some reef islands. The special zone has a historical sea area adjacent to Cambodia and Thailand, more than 100 km from the center of Phu Quoc special zone, about 220 km from Rach Gia ward, which has important significance for national defense and security in the sea and island defense strategy.

Tho Chau has a sea area rich in marine resources, favorable for aquaculture and exploitation, allowing the development of fishery logistics services, renewable energy and ecotourism. In particular, island ecotourism, with pristine islands, has the potential to become a destination to explore the unique nature and culture of the islands.

The leaders of An Giang province emphasized that sustainable marine economy, comprehensive digital transformation and frontline defense are the three strategic pillars that Kien Hai, Phu Quoc and Tho Chau special economic zones have identified for the 2025 - 2030 period, aiming to maximize advantages and potentials, turning the sea and islands into a new growth engine, reaching regional and international levels.

Sustainable development of marine economy

In the 2025 - 2030 period, all three special economic zones will clearly define the direction and breakthrough to effectively exploit potential and advantages for sustainable development of the marine economy.

Chairman of the Kien Hai Special Economic Zone People's Committee Chau Hung Ky shared that in the next 5 years, Kien Hai Special Economic Zone will be built to strongly develop the marine economy. The special economic zone prioritizes the service, tourism and marine farming sectors with breakthroughs: Focusing on solutions to implement the strategy for sustainable development of the marine economy; improving the quality of human resources, implementing the application of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation; building synchronous infrastructure, associated with new rural construction.

Kien Hai focuses on breakthroughs in high-quality tourism and high-tech marine farming. The special zone promotes the development of high-tech aquaculture, striving for a total seafood exploitation and aquaculture output of 211,000 tons in 5 years (2025 - 2030), with an average output of 42,200 tons/year. Kien Hai plans farming areas, guides safe and effective marine farming and forms sustainable aquaculture areas using high technology.

Regarding tourism, Kien Hai identified this as a strong growth driver, aiming to welcome a total of more than 3.8 million visitors by 2030, with tourism service revenue of about 4,045 billion VND. The special zone studies the location of land reclamation to create land for development and identifies areas where beaches can be created on the islands to serve the development of eco-tourism and high-quality tourism.

At the same time, Kien Hai special economic zone is upgrading human resources and digital transformation, identifying this as a new driving force. The goal by 2030 is to carry out comprehensive digital transformation in all fields, with the expectation that 90% of work records will be processed online in administrative reform. The special economic zone also focuses on developing digital economy, green economy, and circular economy.

Regarding the Pearl Island, Chairman of the Phu Quoc Special Economic Zone People's Committee Tran Minh Khoa said that the special economic zone aims to build this Pearl Island into a center of high-quality services, eco-tourism, and island tourism of national and international stature. Phu Quoc's development strategy is determined to be green, digital, and deeply integrated, taking digital transformation, circular economy, and marine economy as the driving force for innovation in the growth model.

Phu Quoc aims to develop tourism into a spearhead economic sector. The special zone focuses on exploiting its special advantages and cultural and historical values to attract investment, with the target of increasing the number of tourists by 16.47% annually; of which international visitors increase by 14.87%/year.

“The event creates a golden opportunity for Phu Quoc as the special zone is chosen to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) in 2027. This is a great opportunity for Phu Quoc to complete its infrastructure and strengthen its foreign relations and international integration. The special zone calls on every Phu Quoc resident to be a tourism ambassador to best prepare for APEC 2027” - Chairman of the People's Committee of Phu Quoc special zone Tran Minh Khoa emphasized.

On the other hand, Phu Quoc develops its marine economy in conjunction with environmental protection, maintains forest cover at 62% or more, and strictly protects Phu Quoc National Park. The special zone prioritizes waste and wastewater treatment and achieves the goal of zero plastic waste on rivers and coasts.

Along with green development, Phu Quoc has made a breakthrough in digital transformation and built a smart government. Digital transformation is prioritized in key areas such as marine economy, trade - services, tourism, and at the same time, popularizing English for Phu Quoc people.

For Tho Chau, this special zone sets two special tasks: building a special zone that develops quickly and sustainably, while at the same time perfecting the defense system of the Southwest outpost of the Fatherland.

Mr. Lam Minh Hien, Party Secretary and Chairman of Tho Chau Special Zone People's Committee, said that Tho Chau aims to achieve an economic growth rate of 13-15% in the period of 2025-2030; average income per capita of 67 million VND/person/year. The special zone restructures its economy in the direction of prioritizing the strong development of marine economy, services - eco-tourism, fishery logistics and high-tech fisheries. The special zone calls on businesses to invest in forming services for processing, trading, farming and catching aquatic products.

Particularly important, Tho Chau mobilizes resources to invest in synchronous infrastructure as a key breakthrough. The special zone focuses on building socio-economic structures, especially land use planning, transportation, breakwaters, lighting, clean water, education, healthcare, telecommunications, etc. At the same time, it aims to build a Tho Chau special zone without plastic waste.

The leaders of An Giang province emphasized that, with its position as a frontier fence, Tho Chau identified national defense and security as an inseparable core task. The special zone has done a good job of building a national defense foundation associated with a solid people's security posture. Tho Chau closely coordinated with the armed forces in patrolling, controlling, and being ready to handle situations at sea and on islands, in order to maintain the sovereignty and security of the sacred sea and island borders of the Fatherland.

The development strategy for the period 2025 - 2030 of the three special economic zones of Kien Hai, Phu Quoc and Tho Chau focuses on the core pillars of marine economy, human resources, digital transformation, creating a combined strength, affirming the role as important driving forces for socio-economic development of the region, and at the same time being a solid shield to protect the sovereignty of the sea and islands in the Southwest of the Fatherland.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/tien-toi-dai-hoi-xiv-cua-dang-khai-thac-kinh-te-bien-cua-cac-dac-khu-20251012114127385.htm