Hai Phong should try to attract investment and foreign partners to become a mechanical engineering and shipbuilding centre of the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at a working session with key officials of the northern port city on October 3.
He urged Hai Phong to continue with restructuring efforts and to make full use of major infrastructure projects in the region,−which are nearly completed−to maintain its growth impetus.
The PM said the Cat Bi Airport, the Hanoi-Hai Phong and Hai Phong-Quang Ninh Highways and the Lach Huyen international port are expected to create new breakthroughs in socio-economic development in not only Hai Phong but other localities as well in the Hanoi-Hai Phong-Quang Ninh development triangle.
According to the municipal People’s Committee’s report, the city recorded a GDP growth rate of 7.86% in the first nine months of this year and is likely to achieve an 8.3% growth for the year. Export earnings in the period reached nearly US$2.5 billion while FDI attraction is estimated at nearly US$1.2 billion. Hai Phong port, one of the largest in the northern region, handled nearly 45 million tonnes of cargo in the nine-month period.
