The Mekong Delta. (Photo: VNA)
For Can Tho alone, as of the end of May 2019, the city had 82 FDI projects capitalized with about USD719.95 million. Of this, Singaporean partners poured capital into 10 FDI projects with registered capital of about USD129.24 million.
In the Jan-June period, the Mekong Delta had 4,704 enterprises formed and 1,313 enterprises recovering operation, raising the total number of ongoing enterprises to 50,000. Export turnover of the region reached USD8.74 billion, while import turnover was USD4.59 billion.
Ms. Trang said that economics (including agriculture, marine economy, food processing industry and garments); natural resources (fertile land and valuable cultivation); and geographic location, with the strategy as the center of Southeast Asia, are the three potential elements of the Mekong Delta, so total retail sales always grow well and account for a high proportion. Can Tho and An Giang have the largest retail sales in the region.
In addition, regional economic growth hit 7.53% in the six months, in which Tra Vinh, Vinh Long and Bac Lieu had the highest growth rates.
Ms. Doan Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Trade Promotion Agency, said that ASEAN is the most important trade partner of Vietnam over the past years, with Singapore and Malaysia being among the biggest partners in the region.
Specifically, in 2018, export and import turnover between Vietnam and ASEAN reached USD56.29 billion. “In the first quarter of 2019, ASEAN is the fourth biggest export market of Vietnam with turnover of USD6.3 billion, a year-on-year rise of 6% and is the third biggest import market of the country with USD8.2 billion, a year-on-year rise of 10.1%.”
Ms. Thuy stressed that the welcoming of business delegations from Singapore and Malaysia to Can Tho to study potentials and cooperative opportunities aims to boost trade cooperation relations between Vietnam and the two countries./.