An Giang (VNA) – Accelerating administrative reforms, improvingbusiness climate, and enhancing competitiveness are parts of the Mekong Deltaprovince of An Giang’s efforts to attract more investments.

According to Director of the provincialDepartment of Planning and Investment Le Van Phuoc, domestic and foreigninvestors have registered 45.35 trillion VND (1.9 billion USD) in 211 projects inthe province during 2015-2020, up 1.2 times in capital and 20.75 percent in thenumber of projects as compared to the 2011-2015 period.

However, Phuoc said that the figures are a far cry from the locality’spotential which has not been taped for agriculture and tourism development.

In the past time, besides flexible tax and land lease policies, the localauthorities have created the best conditions for investors to complete businessprocedures, and supported them with site clearance as well as capital and humanresources access.

The duration of processing an administrative procedure is shortened to 16 workingdays instead of 35 days as regulated. Meanwhile, time for granting aninvestment licence is only one working day, and it takes investors only one dayto complete business establishment procedures.

Regarding the agriculture development policy,the province has backed investors in renting land from local residents to carryout large-scale agricultural projects. Investors will also enjoy exemption ofland use fees for a couple of years before returning to the locality forhigh-tech agriculture development.

The business support boards at provincial and district levels have beenestablished to remove bottlenecks for local firms. Furthermore, businessdialogue model is maintained twice a year, and the “businessmen coffee” eventis held weekly, helping local authorities and investors exchange urgent issuesfor timely settlement.

The province is ramping up activities in preparation for the investmentpromotion conference scheduled for December 15 to advertise local potential andcompetitive edges. At the event, the local authorities plan to presentinvestment decisions to 23 projects worth around 32.4 trillion VND (1.38billion USD). The projects will be carried out in 2018 or early 2019.

Also, the province has signed investment commitments with giant investors likeFLC Group, Phu Cuong Group, TH Group, and T&T Group, who hold strengths inagriculture, tourism and urban development.

Phuoc said that investment capital plays an important part in localsocio-economic development. Private and foreign investments account for 48percent of the total social investment and triples public investment.Large-scale projects in agriculture and processing industry have been put intouse, serving as a motive to promote economic growth and economic structureshifting.-VNA