Vietnamese DPM calls on countries to develop East-West Economic Corridor
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
HANOI, Aug 28 (Agencies): Countries in the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) should upgrade infrastructure, preserve cultural value, improve business environment, and develop manpower to foster the EWEC's development, said a Vietnamese deputy prime minister.
The countries in the 1,450-km corridor, which goes through 13 localities of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, should improve transport, telecommunications and energy, and facilitate transport of people and cargoes, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times Monday quoted Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem as saying.
Meanwhile, localities should improve the business environment to lure more investors, enhance trade, and foster tourism, creating an economic link in the corridor, he said, noting that donors should offer more assistance to them in not only upgrading infrastructure, but also developing manpower.
Vietnam, with the three central localities of Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Da Nang in the corridor's eastern part, is the gate to the sea of countries in the corridor, which can play an important role in beefing up economy in the region.
The EWEC week is scheduled to open in Da Nang city Monday, aiming at promoting the corridor's potential, and drawing stronger attention of investors and sponsors.
The EWEC was ratified at the 8th ministerial meeting of the Greater Sub-Mekong Region in 1998 with the main goals of enhancing cooperation, accelerating poverty reduction, narrowing development gaps, and strengthening economic linkages in the sub-region and Southeast Asia.
Main cooperation fields in the EWEC include transport, trade, tourism, energy, resources and land exploitation, environment cooperation and human resource development.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's industrial production rose 17 per cent in the first eight months of 2007 against the same period last year, an estimate from the communist government said tody.
According to the general statistics office (GSO), the total value of industrial output was more than 377,000 billion dong or 23.56 billion dollars in the January to August period.
Vietnam, a developing country of 84 million people with annual economic growth above 8 per cent, joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) early this year, boosting foreign trade and the inflow of investment.
The non-state sector led in terms of production with 20.5 per cent year-on-year growth, but the foreign-invested sector topped production value with 9.1 billion dollars, the GSO estimated.
The state-owned sector booked 10.2 per cent growth, at 5.7 billion dollars.
In the period between January and August, 814 new foreign investment projects were licensed in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 7.1 billion dollars.
South Korea topped the list in both the number of new projects, at 238, and total investment value of more than 1.7 billion dollars. It was followed by Singapore and the British Virgin Islands.
Also in this period, foreign investors poured 1.2 billion dollars into 247 existing projects. Therefore, the value of new and ongoing foreign investment in Vietnam reached a record 8.3 billion dollars, said the GSO.
The countries in the 1,450-km corridor, which goes through 13 localities of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, should improve transport, telecommunications and energy, and facilitate transport of people and cargoes, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times Monday quoted Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem as saying.
Meanwhile, localities should improve the business environment to lure more investors, enhance trade, and foster tourism, creating an economic link in the corridor, he said, noting that donors should offer more assistance to them in not only upgrading infrastructure, but also developing manpower.
Vietnam, with the three central localities of Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue and Da Nang in the corridor's eastern part, is the gate to the sea of countries in the corridor, which can play an important role in beefing up economy in the region.
The EWEC week is scheduled to open in Da Nang city Monday, aiming at promoting the corridor's potential, and drawing stronger attention of investors and sponsors.
The EWEC was ratified at the 8th ministerial meeting of the Greater Sub-Mekong Region in 1998 with the main goals of enhancing cooperation, accelerating poverty reduction, narrowing development gaps, and strengthening economic linkages in the sub-region and Southeast Asia.
Main cooperation fields in the EWEC include transport, trade, tourism, energy, resources and land exploitation, environment cooperation and human resource development.
Meanwhile, Vietnam's industrial production rose 17 per cent in the first eight months of 2007 against the same period last year, an estimate from the communist government said tody.
According to the general statistics office (GSO), the total value of industrial output was more than 377,000 billion dong or 23.56 billion dollars in the January to August period.
Vietnam, a developing country of 84 million people with annual economic growth above 8 per cent, joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) early this year, boosting foreign trade and the inflow of investment.
The non-state sector led in terms of production with 20.5 per cent year-on-year growth, but the foreign-invested sector topped production value with 9.1 billion dollars, the GSO estimated.
The state-owned sector booked 10.2 per cent growth, at 5.7 billion dollars.
In the period between January and August, 814 new foreign investment projects were licensed in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 7.1 billion dollars.
South Korea topped the list in both the number of new projects, at 238, and total investment value of more than 1.7 billion dollars. It was followed by Singapore and the British Virgin Islands.
Also in this period, foreign investors poured 1.2 billion dollars into 247 existing projects. Therefore, the value of new and ongoing foreign investment in Vietnam reached a record 8.3 billion dollars, said the GSO.