Strategy offering investment incentives is outlined

Lang Son (VNA) – A two pronged strategy offering investment incentives and
fast-track procedures was outlined on May 20 at an investment promotion conference
in northern border Lang Son province.

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said the move was an opportunity to make
full use of the province’s untapped potential and help the local people escape
poverty.

Duong Thoi Giang, the deputy chairman of the Lang Son People’s Committee, said
in addition to the investment incentives applied nationwide, investors interested
in pouring money into the impoverished province’s economic zones would enjoy a
land lease tax as low as 1 percent of the normal rate.


Giang said that investors would enjoy simplified business procedures as the
province had instigated single-clearance at many of its public offices. The
Department of Planning and Investment also began offering investors on-line
registration and easier access to information.

Keun-Hyung Park , senior deputy director of the Korea Trade-Investment
Promotion Agency (KOTRA), on May 20 said the lack of access to information and
increasingly high costs for operations were major difficulties facing foreign
investors in Vietnam .

“Other difficulties include confusing and complicated administrative procedures
and a lack of skilled workers,” he said.

Lang Son, 154 km northeast of Hanoi , has a populations of 750,000 and is home
to two international border gates and seven bustling border markets.

But despite its location, which is advantageous for cross-border trade, the
province has never been a favourite investment destination, partly because 80
percent of its land is mountainous, which makes developing infrastructure
difficult.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Truong Van Doan, said foreign
investment in Lang Son has remained low, with some 30 projects worth 86 million
USD.

“This is a very limited figure when put into the context that Vietnam
attracted a record 64 billion USD in foreign investment in 2008, triple that of
2007,” Doan said.

A 1.4 billion USD project to build a highway linking Hanoi with Lang Son’s Huu
Nghi international border gate will soon be implemented and a railway connecting
Lang Son and three other cities in Vietnam with China ’s Nanning is now
in the pipeline. Both projects would make Lang Son more attractive to investors,
said the deputy minister.

Also at the May 20 conference, Lang Son authorities handed over investment
certificates to five local investors and entered into Memoranda of
Understanding (MOU) with four domestic businesses.-Enditem