NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaking at the conference (photo: qtv.vn)
Nhan Dan – National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan has advocated the ‘special economic zone’ as a new model for Vietnam and called for the experience and advice of international partners and experts.
The NA vice chairwoman, also a Politburo member, made the remark at the ‘International Conference on Developing Special Economic Zone – Experience and Opportunities’, which was held on March 20 in Ha Long, Quang Ninh Province.
Vice Chairwoman Ngan called the conference an important event for delegates to discuss and share valuable lessons on building special economic zones around the world—lessons that can be applied to Vietnam.
She went on to say that Vietnam is on the way to restructuring the economy and renewing its economic growth model; thus the Party Central Committee outlined a plan to establish three special economic zones in three regions to create incentives for regional and national economic development. The special zones are the Van Don Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Quang Ninh, the Van Phong SEZ in Khanh Hoa and the Phu Quoc SEZ in Kien Giang.
Vuong Dinh Hue, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, said that Vietnam should quickly build and adopt the Law on Special Economic Zones or the Law on Special Economic – Administrative Zones, which are already on the agenda of the 13th National Assembly.
Andrew Grant, director of McKinsey & Company’s Global Public Sector Practice based in Singapore, said that 50 percent of special economic zones established around the world have ended in failure, and that there are many challenges to overcome when developing a sound special economic zone.
Those in attendance also discussed international experiences in developing special economic zones and free economic zones with the focus on institutions, administrative organisations and policies related to tax, finance, land and human resources. They pointed out benefits and challenges to development under the model. These experiences will be the basis for applying the development of special economic zones in Vietnam, particularly in Van Don Special Economic Zone and Mong Cai border-gate Economic Zone.
More than 300 domestic and foreign delegates—scientists, experts, managers and lecturers—attended the conference.
The two-day conference has been co-organised by the province’s steering committee for organising international conferences and the China Centre for Special Economic Zone Research under the Chinese province of Guangdong’s Shenzhen University.
Đăng ký: VietNam News
