Son La urged to strengthen competitiveness

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the conference - Photo: VGP

The event, the largest ever of its kind in Son La, aimed to promote the province’s potential, advantages, preferential policies and projects calling for investment to both domestic and foreign investors.

Talking with hundreds of businesses in attendance, PM Phuc highlighted the spirit of “one Son La, three destinations”, reflecting the northwestern province’s three outstanding advantages, namely unique sub-climate zones, spectacular natural landscapes and unique local characteristics.

He highly appreciated Son La’s strong transformation over the past time, with the province attracting nearly two million visitors, both at home and abroad, in 2016 as well as initially developing high-tech agriculture, the medicinal material industry and the manufacturing industry following an investment wave in the locality.

The leader reiterated the need for constructing a sensitive and facilitative administrative apparatus in service of the people and enterprises, asking authorities of Son La to mobilise the entire political system’s involvement in administrative reform work, towards creating favourable conditions for investors.

The PM spoke highly of Van Ho district’s encouraging development model, hailing it as a good example for socio-economic development in isolated and remote localities. Despite being one of the poorest district in Son La and in the northwestern region, Van Ho has attracted two large-scale projects, worth VND2.3 trillion (US$101.2 million), invested by TH True Milk in 2017, with many inclusive growth targets, generating sustainable social and environmental values.

He asked Son La in particular, and northwestern provinces as a whole, to focus on preserving and ensuring border security as well as social order and security.

The province was encouraged to accelerate goods production in line with the market mechanism as well as to strengthen linkage models and promote the will to start a business and to rise above difficulties among residential communities, particularly ethnic minorities. Ethnic minority communities should be seen as forces for development, not as policy beneficiaries, PM Phuc stressed.

Son La needs to facilitate ethnic minority communities to boost local tourism, as well as pay attention to developing soft resources and smart infrastructure, such as capabilities, skills and the profession of public servants, in addition to information and Internet accessibility, he said.

The Government leader suggested a number of development targets for Son La in terms of tourism and hi-tech agriculture, assigning the province a target of striving to welcome five million tourists by 2020, particularly young people and foreign visitors.

At the conference, Son La province granted investment licenses to 25 projects with total investment capital of VND8.56 trillion (US$376.64 million), and signed memoranda of understanding with investors of 17 projects worth over VND14.93 trillion (US$656.92 million).