According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi, the plan to merge coastal provinces and cities with provinces in river basins will bring about efficiency in developing the marine economy.
As an expert on marine economy, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi - Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Fisheries Association, Member of the 15th National Assembly - affirmed: The plan to merge coastal provinces/cities with provinces in corresponding river basins will certainly bring efficiency, effectiveness and efficiency in developing the marine economy.
His sharing below with reporters of Industry and Trade Newspaper will clarify this issue.
The sea is an advantage
- Sir, what are the outstanding features of Vietnam's geography and how has this affected the country's economic development policies?
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi : Three parts of Vietnam are sea, for every 1 km2 of land there is nearly 3 km2 of exclusive economic zone; for every 100 km2 of land there is 1 km of coastline; more than 114 river mouths flow into the sea from our mainland territory and every 20 km of coastline there is a large river mouth. Along with more than 3,000 large and small islands distributed in clusters and island lines in coastal waters and two offshore archipelagos, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.
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| Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi - Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Fisheries Association, National Assembly Delegate, XVth term. Photo: Pham Thang |
This is a basic characteristic of the territorial differentiation of our country, creating diversity in landscapes and marine-coastal natural resources, creating the premise for the ability to develop a strong and sustainable marine economy.
Throughout the history of building and defending the country, the sea has always been a space for survival and development of the nation, closely associated with our people for generations and today continues to be the direct livelihood support of more than 20 million people living in coastal areas and on islands.
Promoting advantages, our Party and State always identify the sea as an important and inseparable factor in the strategy of socio-economic development and ensuring national security and defense.
As a large maritime country located on the coast of the East Sea - considered the "crossroads" of the world, Vietnam has a narrow horizontal land territory (nowhere is more than 500 km from the sea). According to the horizontal structure, the entire land territory of Vietnam is affected by "sea factors", including both natural and development factors, creating a "frontage" advantage towards the sea, favorable for trade and international economic integration, but also important in terms of security and defense from the sea.
50% of the population in coastal provinces
- What are the characteristics of living space, economy and culture in regions and localities from the above characteristics, sir?
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi: Administratively, the country currently has 28/63 provinces and centrally-run cities with sea, 12 island districts and 53 island communes, of which 10 are coastal island districts and 2 are offshore island districts, Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.
The natural area of 28 central coastal provinces/cities accounts for about 136,887 km2 , equal to 35.6% of the country's natural area, with a population of nearly 50 million people, accounting for about 51% of the country's total population, of which there are about 25 million workers (in 2020).
Of the total number of islands mentioned above, only about 70 islands are inhabited (not counting tourists) with a total population of more than 300,000 people, the average population density on the island is 100 people/ km2 compared to the national average density of 315 people/ km2 .
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| Fishing villages were formed in the Truong Sa archipelago. Photo: Thu Huong |
The remaining large number of islands are inhabited only by living organisms and many small islands are still in a pristine, wild state with high conservation potential and favorable conditions for the development of ecological economy and green marine (island) economy.
In particular, many of the above-mentioned island districts have important legal positions because they have points in the system of landmarks determining the "baseline" to calculate the width of our country's territorial waters.
The above-mentioned residents form close-knit communities, contributing to the formation of a unique Vietnamese maritime culture and the exercise of "civil sovereignty" over the seas and islands of the Fatherland.
Thus, according to the territorial differentiation perspective, our country has 3 essential and interconnected development spaces: Mountains and forests, plains, sea and islands.
In addition to the two international and regional deltas of the Red River and Mekong River, there is also a narrow strip of plain running along the coast, which is an integral part of the coastal zone - a place identified as the country's dynamic economic region, with a deep influence spreading into the mainland economy. And, the island districts are considered offshore economic-service centers combined with the construction of defense units at sea, as an "extended arm" to link the development of the marine economy with ensuring national defense and security of the sea and islands.
The above-mentioned viewpoints and development policies are clearly mentioned in the Strategy for sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, and continue to be realized in the context of the Revolution to arrange and streamline the apparatus of our country's political system to prepare for the era of national development.
Facilitate regional connectivity
- With the policy of merging provinces and localities, how do you view the provinces and coastal areas?
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Chu Hoi : Recently, with the spirit of "running and lining up at the same time", in an unprecedentedly short period of time, under the drastic and effective direction of the Politburo, the Secretariat and General Secretary To Lam, the organizations and apparatus of the Party, the National Assembly, the Government, the Fatherland Front and mass-social organizations... nationwide have been consolidated, achieved the set goals, and gained the people's consensus and trust.
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| Marine economy becomes the main driving force for growth and development in coastal provinces. Photo: Thu Huong |
With a synchronous, comprehensive, and thorough approach, the Party Central Committee has promptly summarized and drawn lessons and is directing the "lightning-fast" implementation of the arrangement and streamlining of local levels (provinces and communes) and not organizing at the district level.
In essence, the arrangement of central provinces and cities (and grassroots level) this time is an approach to "reorganizing the territory" for fast, effective and sustainable development in the context of a "flat world" with increasingly strong intervention of digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI).
The choice of merger option is based on the principle: Taking advantage of regional advantages, respecting core values, promoting connectivity and interaction between natural-ecological units (for example: River basins associated with coastal and island areas)... to create a new space and development space, minimizing conflicts in the use of resources and conflicts of interest due to overlap or division by different administrative entities.
How to merge to facilitate regional linkage in development, cultural integration, liberate existing resources and facilitate decentralization, promote "four on-site" and enhance the ability to link economic development with environmental protection, ensuring security and defense "from mountainous to coastal areas".
Based on the above principles, the plan to merge coastal provinces/cities with provinces in corresponding river basins will certainly bring efficiency, effectiveness and productivity in developing the marine economy.
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| Mergers contribute to increasing the resilience of the marine economy. Illustration photo: Thu Huong |
It creates a new territorial unit with similarities, capable of enhancing regional values, exploiting the transboundary nature of natural-ecological regions in regional linkages and reducing the "development syndrome" in some coastal provinces.
This also helps to unify state governance of newly merged coastal provinces, creating open, free space and attracting more investment for marine economic development in the coming time.
Thank you very much!
Source: https://congthuong.vn/sap-nhap-tinh-goc-nhin-tu-kinh-te-bien-378907.html
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