External affairs imprints of Vinh Phuc province
Despite the complicated developments of COVID-19 in the region and the world, Vinh Phuc province has successfully performed external affairs activities, contributing to the implementation of the “dual goals” of pandemic prevention and control, and socio-economic development.
Latest
Promoting international cooperation and exchanges
In the implementation of the Party and State’s foreign policies and guidelines, over the past time, Vinh Phuc has conducted many practical and effective external affairs activities, including expanding relations and cooperation with localities of countries worldwide; stepping up investment promotion activities; actively integrating into the international economy; and promoting the image of the province to international friends.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, the province did their utmost to overcome the difficulties caused by the disease. External affairs activities have been maintained. Leaders of the Vinh Phuc provincial Party Committee and People’s Committee welcomed more than ten ambassadors, heads of foreign diplomatic representative missions in Viet Nam.
Meanwhile, in order to boost international exchange and collaboration, Vinh Phuc has flexibly and quickly shifted the face-to-face form of information exchange with foreign localities, international agencies and organizations to online versions, in line with the current context.
In addition, the province expanded and established ties with new partners while maintaining and developing cooperative relationships with traditional ones. Vinh Phuc currently collaborates with Chungcheongbuk province of the Republic of Korea (RoK), Akita and Tochigi provinces of Japan, and Northern provinces of Laos.
Especially, the province has supported medical equipment and supplies, totalling nearly 900 million VND, for the three Northern provinces of Laos, including Luangnamtha, Louangphabang, and Oudomxay, in the spirit of joining hands against the pandemic, promoting the tradition of sharing difficulties and helping each other between the two peoples in general, and Vinh Phuc and these localities in particular.
Besides, Vinh Phuc also bolstered the implementation of cultural diplomacy activities and boosted information dissemination on external affairs in order to promote and introduce cultural identities, potentials and strengths of the province to domestic and international friends through various methods such as hosting cultural exchange activities, publishing printed matters and special issues on the province and attending exhibitions and expos with the participation of foreigners...
 |
| Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Hoang Thi Thuy Lan awarded the decision on investment policy of the project of Logistics Center ICD Vinh Phuc (SuperPortTM) to Mr. Do Quang Hien, Chairman of T&T Group on November 14, 2020. |
In addition, Vinh Phuc prioritized consular affairs and citizen protection, working closely with the Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to direct functional agencies to quickly assess the situation and make timely proposals on consular affairs, immigration assistance, and quarantine for relatives of foreign experts working in the province.
At the same time, the province also kept close contact with embassies and the Consular Department in a timely manner to assist the province’s native citizens living abroad who were facing difficulties due to the pandemic, help bring citizens home, and undertake quarantine procedures for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) returning home.
So far, it has allowed over 50 entries of accompanying relatives of foreign experts in 2020 and nearly 200 cases from the beginning of 2021, as well as assisting to take nearly 900 Vietnamese citizens back home and quarantined in line with regulations in the province’s facilities.
According to statistics, there are almost 1,000 Vinh Phuc nationals living and settling in 36 countries and territories in the world, such as the United States of America (USA), Germany, the Czech Republic, Russia and the RoK.
With the OVs’ sentiment towards the fatherland, over the past time, the Vinh Phuc expatriate community has held many activities to donate, support money in cash and medical equipment and supplies for their hometown with a total value of billions of VND. Their contributions are valuable, expressing noble deeds, solidarity, as well as determination to combat the pandemic.
Enhancing economic diplomacy to attract more big enterprises
Vinh Phuc is home to a large number of industrial parks, attracting a significant amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) capital. Many major groups such as Toyota, Honda, and Piaggio set up their factories and production lines in these zones.
Hence, the province has attached importance to promoting economic diplomacy to facilitate businesses’ operations, showing its determination to not let the pandemic cause disruptions for supply chains and manufacturing processes.
Under the implementation of the Government’s and Prime Minister’s “dual goals,” Vinh Phuc has consistently prioritized the fight against the pandemic, particularly in industrial parks, industrial clusters, and companies, so that people and businesses may keep up with their production and business.
To attract new investors to Vinh Phuc, local authorities have proposed a number of economic strategies in line with the province’s socio-economic development trend, such as accelerating administrative reforms; prioritizing investment resources to build infrastructure system; improving the investment environment; quickly helping businesses remove impediments; and creating all favorable conditions for investors to run their business...
 |
| Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Phuc Province Le Duy Thanh handed over the Investment Certificate to General Director of TOTO Vietnam Co., Ltd. Hiroyu Suzuki, on October 19, 2020. |
With a series of drastic measures, Vinh Phuc achieved impressive outcomes in economic development and investment attraction. Despite the pandemic's impacts, Vinh Phuc’s gross domestic product (GRDP) increased by 14.21 per cent in the first half of this year, ranking first in the Red River Delta region and third in the country.
As of November 25, 2021, the province lured 50 new projects, including 30 FDI projects with a total investment capital of 790 million USD, while recording 13 trillion VND in domestic direct investment (DDI) capital, respectively up 37.6% and 44.7% in comparison with the same period last year.
As a result, the province has 433 valid FDI projects with a total registered investment of 7.1 billion USD and 822 DDI projects with a total investment of more than 106.4 trillion VND. Notably, the RoK remains by far the largest foreign investor in Vinh Phuc, followed by Taiwan (China) and Japan.
Actively, flexibly improving foreign affairs’ efficiency
The global and regional situation in the coming time is expected to be more complicated and unforeseeable due to the consequences of the economic downturn and non-traditional security challenges, especially the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the province should strengthen its external affairs to better implement the “dual goals,” which include the following tasks:
Firstly, it needs to maintain cooperative relations with traditional partners such as Laos’ Northern provinces, Chungcheongbuk province, and Akita and Tochigi provinces; promote the signing of international agreements with foreign localities, giving priority to localities in European and North American countries.
Secondly, Vinh Phuc has to better its policies to lure investment discriminatingly; maintain traditional markets of Japan and the RoK; beef up investment promotion activities in the world’s top developed countries like the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
Moreover, the province should focus on developing business community, improving quality of investment climate, and enhancing the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) rankings; regularly participate in investment promotion fairs hosted by friendly provinces and cities; strictly maintain the dialogue mechanism between local authorities and functional agencies with businesses and investors, and dramatically fostering administrative reforms.
Thirdly, Vinh Phuc should continuously work together with relevant organs of the Consular Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as successfully direct its affiliated localities and functional agencies to deploy citizen protection for Vinh Phuc people aboard; and further, popularize the Party and State’s guidelines and policies on external affairs as well as the province’s potentials and strengths.
Last but not least, the province should strictly implement cultural diplomatic programs under activities of political diplomacy and economic diplomacy, while effectively providing information on external affairs by the province and disseminating its image to international and domestic friends via different forms and measures.
Chairman of the provincial Party Committee of Vinh Phuc
