Quang Ninh (VNA) – The People’sCouncil of the northeastern border province of Quang Ninh has approved aproject proposing the establishment of Van Don special administrative-economicunit at its sixth meeting of the 13th tenure in Ha Long city.

Secretary of the provincial Party CommitteeNguyen Van Doc said after the Politburo announced a project on rapid andsustainable socio-economic development and the pilot construction of Van Donand Mong Cai special administrative-economic units in October 2012, theprovince has actively coordinated with relevant ministries and centrally-run agenciesto build a project in the field.

Based on the ConclusionNo 21-TB/TW issued on March 23, 2017 by the Politburo on projects building VanDong special administrative-economic unit (in the northeastern province of QuangNinh), Bac Van Phong (in the south central coastal province of Khanh Hoa), andPhu Quoc (in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang), the three localitieshave joined hands to build a draft law on special administrative-economicunits, which was submitted by the Government to the ongoing fourth session ofthe 14th National Assembly for further discussion.

The Van Don special administrative-economic unitproject defines key industries of tourism-service, industry and agriculture.In the first phrase (2018-2022), the projectwill focus on casino entertainment tourism, seaport, aviation, trade,international shopping centers, innovation technology, and start-up centers,while the second phrase (2023-2026) will feature parks, fisheries, aquaticprocessing, logistics services, education and training, financial services, andhealthcare. The third phrase (2027-2030) will aim at biological technology,green technology, and hi-tech agriculture.

Van Don is a district comprising more than 600islands. It is approximately 175 km from the capital city of Hanoi, 80 km from thenorthern port city of Hai Phong and 50 km from Ha Long city. It boasts rich ecosystems, beautiful beachesand islands, which hold a lot of potential to become a world-class maritimetourism destination.

Special administrative-economic units are magnetfor investment, high technology and advanced management mode for the formationof a high growth area that generates more resources and accelerates localeconomic restructuring and development.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment, which is in charge of drafting the Law on SpecialAdministrative-Economic Units,expected that with preferential incentives, the three special zones - Van Don,Bac Van Phong, and Phu Quoc - would attract investment worth dozens of billionsof dollars, which would generate huge sums in terms of added value and boostaverage income to 12,000-13,000 USD per capita.

It estimated that the special zones would contribute billions of dollars intaxes and fees to the State budget.

Vietnam has 17 coastal economic zones, 26 border economic zones and 328industrial zones, which altogether have attracted some 153 billion USDinvestment, accounting for 52 percent of registered foreign direct investmentin Vietnam, created three million jobs and contributing 42 percent toindustrial production and 52 percent of exports.

𒅌 Globally, there are some 4,500 special economic zones in 140 countries, andmost countries have laws regulating these zones, according to the ministry.-VNA