Quang Tri, 17 April 2016 - The People's Committee of Quang Tri Province coordinated with BIDV to hold the first conference on investment and tourism promotion in Quang Tri, rendering efforts to develop the province into a key tourism hub in North Central Vietnam.

​Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the conference on his first trip to visit localities since taking office. The conference welcomed the attendance of 450 participants from government ministries and embassies, including Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore, as well as JETRO, ADB, JICA, KOTRA, and FDI enterprises, economists, investors, and local and international media.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Chinh, Chairman of Quang Tri, said: “Quang Tri is the first point on the East-West Economic Corridor, featuring a uniform traffic infrastructure system, and holding potential for development in key areas including tourism, forestry, mining, building material processing, hydropower, fisheries, industrial parks. Quang Tri is considered one of the provinces with the most favourable investment environment in Vietnam, making it an attractive and feasible destination for investors at home and abroad.”

Addressing the conference, Prime Minister Phuc spoke of his appreciation of the initiative and effort rendered by the Quang Tri authorities and BIDV in organising the conference. The Prime Minister asked the authorities of Quang Tri to design a specific agenda for implementing projects as soon as possible, in order to foster the socio-economic development of the province. Furthermore, he directed the ministries to liberalise mechanisms and policies as well as to allocate financial resources to challenging but potential provinces such as Quang Tri, focusing on them as key tourism areas in the North Central Region of Vietnam.

The Prime Minister urged the Quang Tri authorities to focus on three key objectives. First, building a tourism brand in Quang Tri; second, developing appropriate mechanisms and allocating land stock for tourism development within the province; and third, developing a responsible tourism model in order to build a clean, green and community-friendly tourism environment capable of attracting tourists.

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Deputy Director General of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said, “Given the socio-economic difficulties of the province, which suffered heavily from the devastating consequences of the war, as well as limited human resources, Quang Tri should focus on its outstanding strengths to attract investment to enable development. Tourism should be chosen as one of the key economic sectors of the province, the development of which will allow other sectors to expand.

BIDV played four roles at the conference, namely, initiator and co-organiser; focal point to call for investors and enterprises to study and invest in Quang Tri; sponsor; and lender for projects. The bank has more than ten years of professional experience in organising investment promotion conferences.

Mr. Tran Bac Ha, BIDV Chairman, said BIDV is committed to accompanying and partnering with businesses investing in the province. BIDV provides funds and services to businesses not only in their early stages but also throughout their business process, giving preferential interest rates and offering the longest term loans.

Quang Tri Province called for investment in 19 key projects in areas including general infrastructure and industrial zone infrastructure; trade and tourism; industrial manufacturing; agriculture; garments; culture and sports.

Currently a number of investors are implementing major tourism projects in Quang Tri. These include Quang Tri Trade Corporation, investing in Phase 2 of Cua Viet tourism centre project (Resort Sepon); Song Hien trade and tourism company’s Ru Linh eco-project, Delta Vina Company’s amusement project on Hieu river, and eco-resort projects receiving funding from Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

At the conference, Quang Tri Province granted licenses to 18 projects with total investment of nearly VND10,650 billion (USD473 million). Among them, BIDV signed an agreement to finance five projects with a total value of VND5,120 billion (USD227.5 million), including Huong Linh 2 wind-power plant project; Khe Sanh industrial dairy project; Cua Viet tourism centre project - phase 2 (Resort Sepon); seaport dredging and construction complex project, and shop-house project in the city of Dong Ha, Quang Tri Province.