Positive signals from Khanh Hoa - San Diego Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Forum

On June 3, Khanh Hoa - San Diego Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Forum took place in San Diego (California, USA). Attending the conference were Vietnamese Consul General in San Francisco Hoang Anh Tuan; Nguyen Hai Ninh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee; Ho Van Mung - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nha Trang City Party Committee; Tran Hoa Nam - Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee and leaders of a number of departments and branches of the province. On the San Diego side, attending the conference was Kenia Zamarripa - Vice President of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, representatives of more than 120 businesses and investment funds in San Diego and surrounding areas.

* Promoting the image of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa

At the conference, Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee Tran Hoa Nam gave an overview speech about the potentials and advantages of Khanh Hoa. Accordingly, Khanh Hoa has a strategic location, with the advantage of synchronous and seamless road - waterway - air and railway transport infrastructure connecting intra-regionally and inter-regionally; plays a particularly important role when located near international maritime routes and the gateway to the East Sea. Khanh Hoa has the advantage of developing marine economy associated with 3 bays: Van Phong, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh. The province has expressways, inter-regional roads and coastal roads, strongly promoting trade and tourism... Khanh Hoa has convenient air routes, connecting with localities and economic regions throughout the country  and to the world, with Cam Ranh International Airport as one of the ports with the leading growth rate in Vietnam, Cam Ranh International Seaport as one of the famous deep-water ports, providing maritime services, ship repair, and welcoming many international ships, including US Navy ships.

Recently, Khanh Hoa has received special attention and support from the Central Government. Specifically, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 09 on building and developing Khanh Hoa province until 2030, with a vision to 2045; The National Assembly passed Resolution No. 55 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Khanh Hoa province. And now, the Prime Minister has approved major planning projects of the province. The Central orientations and specific mechanisms for Khanh Hoa province, and approved plans are the basis and important premise for Khanh Hoa in realizing the goal to become a city under the Central by 2030.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Hoa Nam emphasized that Khanh Hoa province desires to cooperate and seek investors in the fields of seaports, petrochemical refining, renewable energy development; urban development, tourism, education, high-quality healthcare, high-tech manufacturing; information technology, software production, artificial intelligence, semiconductors; high-tech marine farming and seafood processing. The province also hopes to cooperate with US investment funds in urban development with strategic investors such as Sungroup and Vingroup.

Next, representatives of US businesses watched a short film introducing Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa and listened to the leader of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment present about the fields the province attracting US investors as well as preferential investment policies. Business representatives also listened to leaders of the Van Phong Economic Zone Management Board introduce an overview of the economic zone and investment cooperation opportunities; representatives of some businesses in Khanh Hoa introduce their products and look forward to having opportunities to cooperate with many partners in the United States.

Talking about the potential and advantages of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa, Vietnamese Consul General in San Francisco Hoang Anh Tuan emphasized that this place has many favorable conditions, converging the factors that US investors are looking for owning to a transparent investment environment, open investment policies, high quality human resources, developed infrastructure, modern planning and many similarities with San Diego. He hoped that at this forum, investors from the two sides would exchange cooperation opportunities in fields such as refining and petrochemical industry, seaports and international logistics; urban development; resort tourism combined with medical treatment; new technologies and so on.

Through images introducing Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa, Aron M. Davidson - Director of San Diego and Imperial, Department of Commerce of the US assessed that the information in the video about Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa is very impressive and helpful, showing that the government’s well preparations in expanding cooperative relations. They are very interested in tourism and he has found many similarities between the two cities of San Diego and Nha Trang. He thought that Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa is an attractive destination, that is well worth to invest in. He will connect with many businesses and transfer necessary information to Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa so that businesses can find investment opportunities here. Ms. Kenia Zamarripa said she was very impressed when she saw the images of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa. She hopes that through this forum, it will enhance the cooperative relationship between the two localities, opening up new cooperation opportunities for investors in San Diego in particular and the United States in general.

* Many important contents discussed

At the conference, representatives of many US businesses asked questions about areas of interest, especially opportunities to promote investment attraction between the two localities, as well as Khanh Hoa's preferential policies for for investors. Some Vietnamese-American businessmen want to have more information about Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa to return to seek investment opportunities, contributing to promoting cooperation between the two localities.

Representatives discussing at the conference

Talking to businesses about preferential investment policies, Mr. Tran Hoa Nam emphasized that Resolution No. 55 of the National Assembly allows Khanh Hoa to pilot a number of preferential mechanisms and policies, specifically with 11 policies. These policies will help simplify procedures and shorten administrative processing time for investors. At the same time, Khanh Hoa province has established a specialized team headed by provincial leaders to accompany investors to support the timely resolution of difficulties and problems during project implementation. In addition, investment projects in Van Phong Economic Zone and industrial zones also enjoy better regulatory incentives than other areas, such as incentives on land rent and corporate income tax. …

Answering questions from businesses about investment opportunities in Khanh Hoa from investors in San Diego, Chau Ngo Anh Nhan - Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment shared the success stories of 3 large enterprises investing in Khanh Hoa, those are: HD Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding Company Limited (HVS), Sumitomo Corporation with Van Phong 1 BOT Thermal Power Plant and Australis Vietnam Seafood Company Limited. He said, there are many fields that investors can invest in such as wind power, solar power, storage batteries, green hydrogen...

Representatives of Vingroup - VinUni discussed with investors interested in the field of education and said that US investors can absolutely invest heavily in this field because Vietnam is in dire need of promoting the training of high quality human resources; many Vietnamese families are willing to invest and create conditions for their children to study abroad.

With many similarities between the two cities of San Diego and Nha Trang, many investors are especially interested in the tourism, especially when at the conference they saw the potential and advantages to develop tourism of Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa. Ms. Julie Coker - President and CEO of San Diego Tourism Authority commented: "Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa is truly an attractive destination in terms of living environment, with many tourism products and many cooperation opportunities . This is a plus point to attract US investors in general and San Diego investors in particular."

* Opening up many prospects

At the conference, in the presence of representatives of the two localities and the Vietnamese Consul General in San Francisco Hoang Anh Tuan, representatives of Vietnamese businesses presented investment cooperation agreements with US businesses. Sun Group signed with WATG Design Consulting Company; The Hai Yen signed with Kea Trading Company; Tictour International Travel Company Limited signed with CAVI Tour Company Limited; DT Group signed with HGP USA CORP; IC Group Investment and Development Joint Stock Company signed with KK Trading LLC... The signing of cooperation agreement between businesses in the two localities has opened up new prospects and is an important foundation for businesses to promote their business for long-term cooperation system. Representatives of some businesses in San Diego expressed regret that they could not find partners at this conference and hoped that there would be more promotion conferences like this in the future to have opportunities for cooperation in many potential fields in Khanh Hoa. They also hoped that the information from the conference and the commitments of the Khanh Hoa government in attracting investors will open up many prospects for them to find in new investment opportunities  in Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa.

Sungroup has signed agreement with US partner

Speaking at the forum, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Hai Ninh expressed his joy when Khanh Hoa's investment, trade and tourism promotion conference held in the city for the first time in San Diego has brought many positive signals as well as many connections between the two localities. He also emphasized that Khanh Hoa has special preferential policies for investors, has a long-term vision in planning work and is always ready to accompany investors in areas that Khanh Hoa wants to attract investment, such as refining and petrochemical industry, seaports, logistics, infrastructure development, tourism associated with health care, technology and innovation... On this occasion, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Hai Ninh thanked the enthusiastic help of Vietnamese Consul General in San Francisco Hoang Anh Tuan; thanked for the hospitality and respect of San Diego and the support of local businesses helped Khanh Hoa's Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Forum to be held successfully. He hopes that this initial success will set an important milestone to lay the foundation for a long-term and sustainable friendly cooperative relationship, possibly moving towards implementing a twinning between the two localities in the future.

Le Hang – Van Duc

Translated by T.T