Cao Bang (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hasassigned the mountainous northern province of Cao Bang to develop a mountainoustourism trademark for the country, which is also one of the directions serving thelocality’s future socio-economic development.

He was addressing the investment, trade and tourism promotion conference of CaoBang province on November 25, one day after he had a working session with the provincialofficials.

The event brought together businesses from other localities and economic andtrade organizations from China’s Guangxi province, which borders Cao Bang.

Local authority called for investments into 32 projects in tourism, hi-techagriculture, farm-forestry-aquaculture processing, infrastructure, andtransport, committing to always maintaining political-security stability andconsistency in investment attraction and support policies, and the ways ofserving enterprises and the locals.

“We are determined to figure out strategic springboards for Cao Bang’s economicdevelopment,” PM Phuc said, pointing to tourism service, high-tech agriculturaland forestry processing and border gate economy as major directions for theprovince’s future socio-economic growth.

He stressed tapping the huge potential possessed by bordering Guangxi province,saying commodities produced by Cao Bang and Vietnam in general can access otherChinese provinces and ASEAN countries via the locality.

Though having a bustling investment and trade climate, Cao Bang still has ahigh percentage of poor households and underdeveloped transport connectivityand that is the reason for the PM to make the second working visit with theprovince after the first one in 2017, the leader said.

Regarding tourism, Cao Bang needs to turn the sector into a spearheadeconomic sector with its characteristics, tapping owned special nationalcultural and relic sites, especially the UNESCO-recognized Non Nuoc Cao Bang Global Geo-park, in service of the life of local residents, PM Phuc said.

“Cao Bang’s tourism should be a combination of cultural, historical, andpatriotic values, natural landscapes, and cuisines that make its first visitorstalk about it many times then,” he said.

The leader suggested the province following organic farming methods, applyinghigh technologies in farming and processing, and fostering connectivity betweenvalue chains and sectors when regarding the development of agriculture-forestryprocessing.

He especially advised the locality to focus on developing the exports ofplanted timber, which is the key and advantageous export line of Vietnam.

He pointed out that border-gate economy is the key for the province’sglobal integration and development.

“Cao Bang needs to seriously follow the principle of promoting peace,cooperation for mutual development, win-win interests, and respect torespective sovereignty. It needs to pay heed to trans-border trade cooperation,especially with the world’s most populous market (China), and see its strategicopportunities in it,” he noted.

The leader asked investors to realize their investment commitments and socialresponsibility towards the local people. Apart from economic profits,investments should generate jobs and incomes for the locals, he said.

At the conference, the province handed over papers on investment intentions andinvestment certificates for 14 projects of local and foreign investors worthnearly 3.6 trillion VND; and 18 memorandums of understanding on investmentpartnerships in various fields worth over 28.5 trillion VND.

And, four commercial banks pledged to continue providing credits worth nearly 2trillion VND for the province’s six socio-economic development projectsengaging in energy and tourism.-VNA