Vietnam’s coffee capital, the Central Highlands, is looking forward to
partnering with other developed centres and localities around the
country in long lasting, specific cooperation projects to fully tap its
potentials.
Future partnerships are expected to be set up during a
conference on investment promotion and social welfare in the Central
Highlands, which is scheduled for April 12 in Pleiku city, Gia Lai
province, it was reported at a press briefing in Gia Lai on April 1.
The
conference also looks to bolster the linkages among localities in the
region towards a robust socio-economic growth for the entire area, which
has a total land area of 54,461 square kilometres with 5.1 million
people and holds a key strategic position in the national economy,
politics, security and defence.
It will hear economic
organisations and investors’ opinions regarding local management and
administrative procedures for further improvement, said Tran Viet Hung,
Deputy Head of the Central Highlands Steering Committee.
At the
press briefing, Hung also reported that t he Vietnam Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) will invest 6 trillion VND
to develop farm products and coffee tree plantation in the Central
Highlands.
This is one of the projects on
sustainable social welfare development and investment attraction in the
region, the work that will see the involvement of other commercial
banks, Hung noted.
The Bank for Investment and Development of
Vietnam (BIDV) plans to sign contracts worth 7.3 trillion VND with
regional businesses while the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for
Industry and Trade (VietinBank) has committed to providing almost 40
billion VND for social welfare programmes in the region.
The Central Highlands is home to five provinces, namely Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong.
In 2012, the region made a GDP growth of 11.8 percent, with per capita
income averaging 26.9 million VND (1,287 USD) and export revenue
recording a year-on-year increase of 11 percent.-VNA