Da Nang authorities opened a conference yesterday to convince foreign investors to shell out US$800 million for 54 projects the central coastal city wants to get off the ground.

Authorities have already licensed three foreign invested projects this year, worth $31 million, compared to eight projects worth $52 million which were registered last year.

"As head of Da Nang's executive body, I am giving my full support to and facilitating the business of international investors and entrepreneurs through a variety of incentives and an open and favourable investment environment, " chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Nguyen BA Thank said during the conference's opening session.

"We are fully aware of the impact foreign direct investment has on the city's economic development, the improvement of residents' living standards and the city's preparations for active integration with the global community, "Thank said.

He said Da Nang authorities are offering a raft of incentives to attract more foreign investors, including simplified administrative procedures, preferential corporate income tax treatment, and lower rent for land, inland water and sea surfaces.

They are also offering to pay the costs of site clearance and compensation and land leases for plots inside and outside industrial parks.

Between 1997 and 2002, the city's gross municipal product rate grew 10.6 per cent, manufacturing output grew 19.12 per cent, and export turnover grew 15 per cent per year.

Last year, the city's gross product per capita reached $581, and the value of manufactured good increased by 18.7 per cent. Agriculture, trade, tourism and services also experienced positive growth.

Deputy Minister for Planning and Investment Nguyen Xuan Thao said the city was well positioned to improve investment.

"Da Nang is considered one of the economic hubs in the central region and Central Highlands of Viet Nam, with an economic structure of industry, trade, services, tourism, fishery and agro-forestry and has relations with other countries in the east-west economic corridor and other ASEAN countries," ThAo said.

Senior economics expert at the Asian Development Bank in Viet Naps, Alexandro Pio, said Da Nang could play a crucial role by providing access to domestic and international markets for surrounding rural areas.

As a primary urban centre, he said Da Nang also had the capacity to increase its population, lessening demographic pressure on Ha Noi and HCM City.

He said Da Nang could help promote co-operation and integration within the greater Mekong sub-region - completion of the Hai Van Pass tunnel will link Da Nang to Hue and to the east-west corridor which will link central Viet Nam with Laos, Thailand and potentially Myanmar.
"As this transport corridor evolves into an economic corridor, Da Nang's function as a port and industrial centre for the sub-region will increase," he said.

General Manager of Foster's Viet Nam, Patrice Calmes, said the company's sales for Bierre Larne, produced at Fosters Da Nang, have been growing by 30 per cent per year since 1997.

"In this success story, our investment in Da Nang and the support of the Da Nang people has been the key factor in our development," Calmes said.
Director of Keyhinge Toys Viet Nam, Daniel Lee, said between 1996 and 2001 his company exported a total of $52 million worth of toys from a Da Nang plant. The company's staff numbers rose from 675 in 1996 to 4,000 and it will create another 4,000 to 5,000 jobs once they start production at a new plant.

"The same number of new jobs would be insignificant if they were created in China, but for Da Nang, it means a 1.5 per cent rise in the local employment base," Lee said.

Tourism is another sector which authorities are hoping will entice investors.

"There is no doubt that tourism in Central Viet Nam, with DA Nang as the travel hub, has unlimited potential. Tourism growth here is one of the highest in the world and is only limited by transport and the number of tourism-related facilities such as hotels, resorts and others, "general manager of Furama Resort Da Nang, Paul Stoll, said.

"I believe that this positions Da Nang to become a major travel destination in the future, compared by the Asian Wall Street Journal with Langkawi (Malaysia), Cebu (the Philippines) and Hainan Island (China) for investment."

(Source: Vietnam News)