Quang Ninh (VNA)🐼 – The northern province ofQuang Ninh will be the destination for a two-day field-trip of delegates to theWorld Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF ASEAN) 2018, which it considers a goodchance to attract more investment from the Northeast Asian region.

Many of Quang Ninh’s important investment, trade and tourismpartners are located in the Northeast Asian region. Out of the 120 validforeign-invested projects in the province, 79 are run by firms from NortheastAsia with total investment capital of 2.1 billion USD. China has 66 projects capitalised at 1.7 billion USD inQuang Ninh, mostly involving tourism-hospitality, service, industry, mining, constructionmaterials and fiber production. Japanese investors have poured more than 380 million USD in7 projects in Quang Ninh, focusing on industry-construction and agriculture. Investors from the Republic of Korea have 6 projects with 33million USD operating in agriculture, trade and service. Since 2012, nearly half of 127 investor delegations visitingQuang Ninh to look for investment opportunities are from the Northeast Asianregion. In the field of tourism, Quang Ninh set up ties with severalChinese localities such as Guangxi, Fujian, Yunnan and Hainan in as early as1995. The province became a member of the East Asia Inter-Regional TourismForum (EATOF) in 2006, which gave a boost to linkages in tours, tourismpromotion, product development, brand building and experience sharing betweenQuang Ninh and 12 provinces in East Asian countries which are members of theforum. Total trade turnover between Quang Ninh and the threeNortheast Asian countries of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea surpassed 1billion USD in the first half of 2018, with Quang Ninh’s exports valued at 537million USD. Pham Ngoc Thuy, Director of the province’s TourismDepartment said the Northeast Asian region is the most important market forQuang Ninh’s tourism, accounting for two thirds of the number of foreignvisitors to the province. Arrivals from this region during 2013-2017 increasedby 48 percent compared to the previous five–year period. Despite such figures, economic experts are of the opinionthat Quang Ninh has not fully optimised available opportunities. They pointed out that investment into the province mainlyconcentrated in tourism, service and industry, with only a small fraction goinginto agriculture and forestry even though those two sectors have greatpotential and offer many incentives for investors. Agriculture and forestryhave so far attracted only 6 out of 79 projects of Northeast Asian investorswith 61.7 million USD, which caused an imbalance in the economic structure. While Japan and the RoK are the two leading investors inVietnam, Quang Ninh has so far failed to catch the attention of companies from thosetwo Northeast Asian economic powers. In the first six months of this year, Japaneseinvestment in Quang Ninh stood at only 43.4 million USD, and that from the RoK31.4 million USD. In addition, a majority of projects by Northeast Asianinvestors in the province are of medium and small scale. Among the 79investment projects by investors from the region, only 10.1 percent haveregistered capital exceeding 50 million USD. Deputy Director of Quang Ninh’s External Affairs DepartmentVu Dinh Xung said the province will work to intensify its partnership withlocalities in the Northeast Asian region in trade, investment and tourismpromotion. The province has reviewed its investment promotion in orderto find shortcomings and seek suitable solutions. Xung added that a series of major transport projects havebeen or will be put into operation soon, such as the Hai Phong-Ha Long-Van Donhighway, the Van Don international airport and the Hon Gai international port, greatlyimproving Quang Ninh’s connection with the world. He said Quang Ninh willoptimise its advantages to create a breakthrough in wooing partners over theworld in general and in the Northeast Asian region in particular. The WEFASEAN 2018 will receive more than 1,000 delegates, including high-rankinggovernment representatives and executives of regional and world-leadingcorporations.

It is scheduled to take place in Hanoi fromSeptember 11 to 13 under the theme of “ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship in theFourth Industrial Revolution”.

The forum will feature an open forum on ASEAN4.0 for people’s benefits, an opening ceremony of the plenary session onSeptember 12, and 60 in-depth sessions and discussions.

ꦕ On the sidelines, an innovative startup forumis scheduled for September 11, the Vietnam Business Summit 2018 on September 13,and a two-day field trip to Quang Ninh province and its world-famous Ha Longbay starting September 13. -VNA