As part of Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung's official visit to China, from March 29th to April 1st, a delegation from Da Nang, led by Vice Chairman of the People's Council Tran Phuoc Son, engaged in discussions in Shanghai and Hainan. Their aim was to gain insights into international practices for establishing and developing free trade zones.
On March 29th, the delegation met with the Management Committee of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Pilot Zone.
Mr. Xiao Jian, representative of the Management Committee of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Pilot Zone introduced and exchanged some experiences in building the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone.
The two sides exchanged experiences on building the Shanghai Free Trade Pilot Zone and discussed key aspects of establishing free trade zones to facilitate investments and pilot regime testing.
The Management Committee provided insights into the general benefits of free trade zones for national and local economic and social development. They also shared strategies for attracting resources and analyzed existing residential models within free trade zones.
In Shanghai, on March 30th, the delegation visited AstraZeneca's Global Research and Development Center and the Jing'an CciC & iCampus International Health Science Innovation Center, as well as the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.
From March 31st to April 1st, the delegation traveled to Hainan, where they met with the China Communications Construction Company's Hainan Port Construction Company, the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, and the Office of the Hainan Free Trade Port Working Committee. Discussions revolved around Hainan's selection as a free trade zone.
The relevant agencies warmly welcomed and shared many contents about the selection of Hainan to become the Hainan Free Trade Zone, the overall planning of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the three-stage development direction: by 2025 - Successfully establish the framework of policies for the Hainan Free Trade Port; by 2030 - Complete the most open province in the country; by 2050 - The free port has regional and global influence; 60 important policies to implement. Accordingly, Hainan also achieved impressive targets such as: by 2023, the GDP growth rate ranked first in the country (increasing by about 9%), commodity trade increased by 15%, service trade increased by 30%, tourists visiting the locality increased by 50%, tourism revenue increased by 72%.
Further explanations were made on the policies to attract investment to Hainan, the differences and advantages compared to other free trade zones, focusing on clarifying the independent legislative rights; high-quality human resources, necessary talents from identification of beneficiary groups to policies to attract, support, sponsor, and subsidize; priority sectors for attracting investment to Hainan, enterprises that are given priority benefits; advantages in capital, investment control in/out, domestic/foreign compared to other localities.
Both sides exchanged and discussed the difficulties in forming and developing the Hainan Free Trade Zone such as: low investment growth rate, competition with other free trade zones, the stability and continuity of overall policies not meeting expectations, and the investment business environment not being superior...
As a result, some recommendations for the development of free trade zones in Vietnam were proposed: participating in the global free trade port partnership alliance; continuing to promote cooperation in trade, transportation connectivity, especially seaports, and airports (Da Nang, Hai Phong...), new energy sectors.
These are quite specific and similar models and experiences that Da Nang city can refer to, study, build, and propose in the formation and development of free trade zones and the socio-economic development of Da Nang city in general.
On April 1st, the delegation visited the local government of Hainan province. Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Liu Xiaoming received and worked with the delegation. Mr. Liu shared the process of forming and developing the Hainan Free Trade Port and some recommendations for cooperation with Vietnam. Both sides shared the friendly relations and cooperation between Vietnam and China in general and Hainan in particular.
