Minister Nguyen Hong Dien: Developing Lao Cai into a growth pole of the region and the whole country

According to the Minister of Industry and Trade, Lao Cai province has many advantages, converging all potential advantages to develop to become a growth pole of the region and the whole country. Lao Cai has many advantages to become a growth pole of the region and the whole country. Concluding the working session with Lao Cai province on the morning of August 30, on behalf of the working delegation, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien highly appreciated the seriousness and openness of the Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee in preparing the working content with the working delegation. Minister Nguyen Hong Dien assessed that Lao Cai is a border province considered as the " fence of the Fatherland ", with a land border length of more than 182 km adjacent to Yunnan province (China); holding an important strategic position in terms of economy, politics, military, and foreign affairs of the country. 5 mottos "preserving forests, preserving water, preserving the environment, preserving people, preserving borders".

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien concluded at the working session.

Located in the center of the midland and mountainous region of the North; belonging to the area of ​​2 major economic corridors (Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh and Lao Cai - Hanoi - Lang Son) , Lao Cai is identified as the gateway connecting Vietnam and ASEAN countries with China. This shows that its geo-economic, geo-political and geo-defense position is very important. Besides, Lao Cai is also the place of "headwater rivers, top mountains" with famous and branded tourist destinations (such as Sa Pa, Phan Xi Pang peak, Bac Ha); in the future there will be 3 major international border gates (currently there is 1 Kim Thanh international border gate, 2 border gates are being planned); multi-modal transport infrastructure development including road, rail, waterway, air (in the near future there will be air routes) ; rich in mineral resources with many precious, high-quality and large-reserve minerals (apatite, iron, copper, ...); along with a diverse culture, with its own unique identity of 25 ethnic groups... " Lao Cai has favorable conditions and converges full potential and advantages to become a growth pole of the region and the whole country, especially in the development of clean energy, mining industry, mineral processing, border gate economy, goods trading, logistics services; Ecotourism, resorts, cultural tourism... " - Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized. According to the Minister, in recent times, Lao Cai province has effectively exploited its potential and advantages, with a vision beyond time and with great efforts and determination, so the local Party Committee, government and people of all ethnic groups have led, directed and strived to achieve very outstanding results. The proportion of industry, trade and services accounts for nearly 80% of the province's GRDP. In the first 7 months of this year, the main indexes in the industrial and commercial sectors continued to achieve high results, growing over the same period last year and higher than the national growth rate. Notably: (i) Industrial production index increased by 10.7% (the whole country increased by 8.47%) , ranking 8th in the region and 24th in the country; (ii) Total retail sales of goods and services increased by 14.2% (more than 2 times higher than the national average) ; (iii) Export turnover (according to data from the General Statistics Office) increased dramatically, more than 2 times (the whole country increased by 15.7%) ; Import turnover increased by 50% (the whole country increased by 18.5%) . "Thus, the import volume is not only imported for Lao Cai but also imported for the whole country. That proves that raw materials for production and export to the world through this border gate are increasing, this is a very encouraging sign" , the Minister of Industry and Trade affirmed. However, the Minister also frankly pointed out that, besides the achieved results, the industry and trade sector of the province still has limitations and weaknesses that need to be focused on overcoming. Although industrial production has a relatively high growth rate, it is not sustainable; especially technology is still slow to innovate; The internal structure of the industrial sector is still unbalanced ( the proportion of processing industry is still low; while the proportion of mining industry is high; mining is high but the added value is small and environmental issues are also challenges . Border gate economy, import and export activities still depend heavily on the Chinese market, have not expanded to many other markets; taking advantage of market opening opportunities from free trade agreements, especially new generation FTAs ​​of which our country is a member, is still limited. The domestic market has low purchasing power (partly due to the small population size, of which about 66% are ethnic minorities). If there is a more effective way, this will not only meet the needs of Lao Cai province but also be a convergence place, becoming a market of the region. The distribution system and trade infrastructure have not developed synchronously, the scale is still limited. In the past time, the province has been focusing on overcoming the limitations and violations accumulated from previous years, which have been pointed out by the authorities. out, somewhat affecting the psychology of civil servants and public employees. Urgently implement the national sectoral plans in the fields of energy and minerals in the province. The Minister said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade highly appreciates the vision and plans of the locality in the development orientation in the coming time, at the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade basically agrees with the tasks and solutions proposed by the locality, the motto "1 axis, 2 poles, 3 regions, 4 pillars, 5 solutions" is worth referring to. From the perspective of the industry and trade sector, the Minister suggested that the Province pay attention to and focus on directing the following contents: First of all, continue to do a better job of thoroughly disseminating and effectively implementing the Party and State's policies and guidelines on socio-economic development in 2024 and the following years, especially a number of new policies that have come into effect, such as: (i) Land Law, Housing Law, Real Estate Business Law and related Decrees on land prices, compensation (ii) New regulations on 2% VAT reduction, policies on exemption, reduction, and extension of payment deadlines for taxes, fees, charges, and land use fees; (iii) Especially, new breakthrough policies issued in the energy sector such as the direct electricity purchase and sale mechanism, the mechanism for developing self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power... have been opening up new opportunities for localities, including Lao Cai, with the potential to develop clean energy and small and medium-sized hydropower. Second, Lao Cai Provincial Planning was approved quite early compared to other localities (March 2023). However, the new Regional Planning was approved in May 2024 and many national Sectoral Plannings were approved at the same time or after the Provincial Planning was approved; therefore, there will certainly be many Sectoral Plannings and Regional Plannings that have not been updated in the Provincial Planning. Therefore, the province needs to urgently and proactively review the Provincial Planning to adjust and update Regional planning, sector planning, national sector planning must be synchronized with their own planning; at the same time, the development of land use planning and plans, especially the land use plan for the period, must also be synchronized. Third, urgently implement national sector planning in the field of energy and minerals in the area. Accordingly, by 2030, the province is planned to have: 28 MW of rooftop solar power; 30 MW of biomass power; 1 MW of waste-to-energy power; 25 small hydropower projects with a total capacity of 223.5 MW; 01 Duc Giang Cogeneration Thermal Power Plant project, capacity of 100 MW; 11 power grid projects; 26 mineral mines; 03 rare earth processing projects. Thus, Lao Cai has many conditions to implement projects. If implemented, it will not only increase the capacity of industrial production, trade and services in the area but also awaken the potential of the locality, promoting the development of other economic sectors. development. In particular, for the mineral industry, it is necessary to pay attention to directing not only exploitation but also focusing on deep processing; must support and create conditions for enterprises according to the rolling formula to achieve two goals: both increasing the added value for the mineral exploitation and deep processing industry, and creating clean land to attract investment. Promote industrial restructuring Fourth, promote industrial restructuring towards modernity, large scale, green industry, circulation, sustainable development. Focus on industrial development, deep mineral exploitation and processing , building Lao Cai into a major metallurgical, mechanical and chemical center of the country; in which, priority is given to attracting investment in mineral exploitation and deep processing, meeting the demand for input materials for the manufacturing, materials, chemical, fertilizer, mechanical engineering and electronics industries, while minimizing the impact on the environment, ensuring sustainable development. Focus on developing deep processing industry of some agricultural products with strengths of the province (such as tea, cinnamon, medicinal herbs, etc.) to increase export value and meet the requirements of demanding markets (such as the US and Europe). Pay attention to developing clean energy sources and developing supporting industries associated with the existing advantages of the locality. In particular, the province needs to promote the restructuring of the internal industrial sector , especially the clean energy, processing and manufacturing sectors towards promoting groups of industries and industrial products applying high technology, with high added value, clean technology and export production. Focus on reviewing and perfecting local policies and mechanisms, ensuring synchronization and feasibility; promote public investment to lead and mobilize social resources for investment in developing technical infrastructure, especially connecting traffic infrastructure and infrastructure of industrial parks and clusters to promote investment attraction in the province, especially industrial production, trade and service projects. Proactively implement the 2024 Land Law to develop clean, large enough land funds, creating conditions to attract investors has financial capacity, technology and management experience, implementing large projects, creating a "push", spreading impact to the satellite business network not only in Lao Cai but also in localities in the region, even the whole country.

As a locality with a relatively high forest coverage rate (nearly 60%), Lao Cai also needs to focus on exploiting this strength to form and develop a market for buying and selling carbon credits to help businesses in the province and the region have green certificates for production and export. "However, Lao Cai is one of the localities with a large forest area in the country, so in the direction of production and export of wood and wood products of the province, it is necessary to pay attention to the European anti-deforestation regulations, which will be applied from January 2025; accordingly, Europe will ban the import of products produced on land originating from deforestation and forest degradation belonging to 7 groups of agricultural products (livestock, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soybeans, wood and wood products), so it will have a significant impact on the development of the province's forestry processing, pharmaceutical and wooden furniture industries," the Minister noted. Supporting businesses to make good use of opportunities from FTAs ​​Fifth, in terms of trade development, the province needs to focus on guiding and supporting businesses to access and implement trade and service infrastructure plans for both traditional and current trade, especially "the potential for exploiting logistics in the locality is unmatched anywhere else like Lao Cai" . The province needs to focus on supporting businesses to make good use of opportunities from FTAs ​​to which Vietnam is a member, especially new-generation FTAs ​​to develop production and expand export markets. At the same time, proactively develop trade promotion plans suitable to the needs and capacities of businesses; promote digital transformation and the application of information technology in trade promotion to support businesses to expand markets, develop new export products and markets. Lao Cai has strengths in developing resort tourism and cultural tourism. Therefore, the province needs to promote trade development associated with tourism, considering this the most effective form of on-site export. If Lao Cai develops the night economy, it will not only sell local products but also be a local tourist destination, goods produced nationwide can be gathered in Lao Cai. This is the best opportunity for Lao Cai to develop, not only promoting local production but also promoting trade in the whole region and the whole country. Focus on investing in logistics infrastructure, warehouses, and yards, especially in the Lao Cai Border Gate Economic Zone, facilitating the development of goods circulation and effectively exploiting the border gate economy, contributing to building Lao Cai into a center connecting trade between Vietnam and ASEAN countries with the Southwest region - China and further Eastern Europe. Consolidate and develop goods distribution channels in a civilized and modern direction; harmoniously combine the development of traditional trade forms with the development of e-commerce. Promote the construction and promotion of the image, brand of industries and typical products of the locality. Pay more attention to investment in developing trade infrastructure in rural areas, aiming to narrow the gap in trade development between urban and rural areas. At the same time, the province is requested to urgently implement the Consumption Stimulus Program from now until the end of the year according to the Prime Minister's Directive. Regarding the 13 proposals of Lao Cai province mentioned in the report and 2 additional proposals at the working session related to the fields of energy, minerals, domestic market development, import and export, logistics and amending and supplementing a number of mechanisms and policies under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, representatives of units participating in the Working Group discussed and basically answered the recommendations of the province. The Minister said that after this working session, the Ministry will document the official conclusion, including specific answers to the recommendations and proposals of the province to serve as a basis for localities to implement. In addition, there are a number of other recommendations related to the functions of other ministries and branches and the authority of the Government, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will synthesize and forward to relevant ministries and branches for consideration and resolution according to their authority. "The Ministry of Industry and Trade, with its functions, tasks and powers, fully supports and assists Lao Cai to develop" , Minister Nguyen Hong Dien once again emphasized.

Previously, within the framework of the working trip, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and the delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade visited Kim Thanh International Road Border Gate No. II, Lao Cai City, Lao Cai Province. The working session with Lao Cai Province is part of a series of activities of Minister Nguyen Hong Dien to work directly with localities in August 2024. Previously, on August 7-9, the Minister visited 3 provinces of Kon Tum, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh; on August 15, the Minister visited 2 provinces of Thai Nguyen and Bac Kan to visit and inspect a number of economic establishments and production enterprises in the area.

Source: https://tapchicongthuong.vn/bo-truong-nguyen-hong-dien--phat-trien-lao-cai-thanh-cuc-tang-truong-cua-vung-va-ca-nuoc-125931.htm