Attending the meeting, on the side of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, there were representatives of leaders of some functional units under the Ministry. Also joining the working delegation were representatives of leaders of the following corporations: Vietnam Electricity; Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industry and representatives of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group.

On the side of Quang Ngai province, there were Ms. Bui Thi Quynh Van - Secretary of Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee, Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council; Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giang - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee and representatives of local departments and branches.

Quang Ngai has potential and advantages to develop industry, trade and services.

At the meeting, Mr. Tran Phuoc Hien - Vice Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee reported on the development of industry and trade in the first 7 months of the year, key tasks for the last months of 2024 and the implementation of the national sector planning on energy and minerals in the province. Accordingly, Quang Ngai province has the conditions, potential and advantages to develop industry, especially marine and energy industries and trade and service sectors. In the province, there is 01 Dung Quat Economic Zone, the core of development is Dung Quat Oil Refinery, with a capacity of 6.5 million tons of crude oil/year, currently being invested in upgrading and expanding the capacity to 7.6 million tons of crude oil/year, Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Complex (capacity of 6 million tons/year) and Hoa Phat Dung Quat 2 Iron and Steel Complex (design capacity: 5.6 million tons/year).

In addition to the 3 industrial parks in Dung Quat Economic Zone that have come into operation, the province also has 2 industrial parks: Quang Phu (92.147ha); Pho Phong (planned area of ​​157.38ha) and 20 industrial clusters that act as satellite industrial parks and clusters for Dung Quat Economic Zone.

Secretary of Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee Bui Thi Quynh Van speaks at the meeting

According to the report of the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province, in the first 6 months of 2024, Quang Ngai province's economy grew quite well. The total state budget revenue in the province reached 15,279 billion VND; revenue from the oil refinery alone was 4,795 billion VND; revenue from import-export activities: 6,272 billion VND.

Regarding the implementation of key industrial projects, the Department of Industry and Trade is currently coordinating with relevant agencies and units to support investors in speeding up the implementation of large-scale projects that have a spillover effect on attracting investment and promoting socio-economic development of the province.

Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Hoang Giang speaks at the meeting

At the meeting, representatives of the Departments and branches of Quang Ngai province also shared about the difficulties and obstacles and proposed recommendations for the Ministry of Industry and Trade to support in removing them in order to promote industrial growth again, contributing positively to the economic development of the whole province. Regarding the recommendations and proposals of the province in the fields of energy, industrial development, trade, environmental safety, etc., representatives of the functional units participating in the Ministry of Industry and Trade's working group discussed and basically answered the recommendations of the province.

5 solutions for Quang Ngai to effectively exploit its strengths and promote growth

Based on the comments and conclusions of the working session, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized that Quang Ngai is one of the growth poles in the Central region, holding an important strategic position in economic development in the region and the whole country.

“With the advantages of a long coastline (130 km), Dung Quat deep-water seaport; multi-modal transport infrastructure development by road, rail, waterway, and air, Quang Ngai has great potential for marine economic development (especially heavy industry development with key industries being petrochemical refining, steel rolling, shipbuilding), energy development and trade, logistics services, sea tourism... In particular, Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai has become one of the country's strategic energy centers " - the Minister assessed and added that, in recent times, the Party Committee and government of Quang Ngai province have exploited quite well the potentials and advantages to create a driving force to attract investment, promote growth, shift the economic structure in a positive direction, increase the proportion of industry and trade services to account for nearly 80% of the province's GRDP.

In the first 7 months of 2024, the main indicators in the province's industry and trade sector basically increased significantly compared to the same period last year (except for industrial production); some growth indicators were higher than the national average.

However, in addition to the achieved results, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien also pointed out the difficulties, obstacles and limitations in the field of Industry and Trade of the province that need to be focused on overcoming and the causes; thereby suggesting to the province development orientations to exploit the potential and strengths of the locality.

Second, the Quang Ngai Provincial Planning was approved on November 23, 2023, so in principle, there is a basis for integrating the National Master Plan, Regional Plan, and previous Sectoral Plans. However, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien noted that the province still needs to proactively review the overall Provincial Planning, ensuring consistency and connectivity with the National Master Plan, Regional Plan, and National Sectoral Plans; at the same time, review and supplement the Planning and land use plans in accordance with the Provincial Planning to have a full legal basis, ready to receive and implement investment projects, creating space and new growth momentum.

Third , urgently implement national sectoral planning in the field of energy and minerals in the area. Accordingly, by 2030, the province will have 20 power source projects planned (04 gas-fired power projects; 14 small hydropower projects; 02 self-consumption solar power projects); 15MW of waste-to-energy; 39MW of solar power; 20 grid projects and 35 mineral mines (including Titanium, Gold, Iron, Tin, Wolfram; Graphite, Kaolin, hot mineral...). Up to now, the province has had all the conditions to implement the above projects, so it is necessary to speed up the selection of qualified investors to implement, ensuring the projects are put into operation on schedule according to the approved plan, contributing to promoting the local economy.

Fourth , promote the restructuring of the industrial sector towards modernization, increase the contribution of industrial production to local GRDP. In particular, on the one hand, focus on developing key industries such as petrochemical refining, high-quality steel smelting, shipbuilding industry, etc.; at the same time, pay attention to promoting local industry to solve jobs and income for workers, while exploiting the potential and strengths of the locality for local economic development. Focus on developing petrochemical industry and high-quality steel smelting, industry, energy. At the same time, pay attention to promoting local industry to solve jobs and income for people and exploit the potential and strengths of the locality.

Focus on reviewing, amending and supplementing local policies and mechanisms to ensure consistency and feasibility; at the same time, flexibly apply effective investment models (such as public investment - private management, private investment - public use...) to mobilize social resources for investment in infrastructure development, especially connecting traffic infrastructure, logistics infrastructure and infrastructure of important industrial parks that have been established.

Proactively promote the connection between Dung Quat Economic Zone and Chu Lai Open Economic Zone to form a key coastal industrial center of the Central coastal region and the whole country; at the same time, build Dung Quat into a National Oil Refinery and Energy Center in the spirit of Resolution 26 of the 13th Politburo on socio-economic development of the North Central and Central coastal regions to both promote socio-economic development of Quang Ngai in particular and the whole region in general, while contributing to ensuring national energy security and protecting the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland.

“ To carry out the tasks assigned by the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will continue to closely coordinate with the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province to develop and implement the Project of the National Refinery, Petrochemical and Energy Center in Dung Quat Economic Zone ” - Minister Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed, and at the same time requested two units under the Ministry, the Department of Petroleum and Coal, the Department of Industrial Safety and Environment, to continue to closely coordinate with the locality during the implementation process.

The Minister also suggested that Quang Ngai continue to focus on developing industries with provincial foundations (such as mechanical industry, manufacturing, processing, engine repair for processing industry, chemicals...), energy industry (especially renewable energy) and industries associated with the marine economy in the direction of green industry, with high competitiveness, creating a solid foundation to promote the development of local industrial production; Have a mechanism to create clean land funds, large enough scale to attract foreign investors with financial and technological potential; have a mechanism and roadmap to localize raw materials, production lines and develop a network of satellite enterprises to create a "push" to develop modern, high-tech, green industries, creating momentum, spreading, promoting the development of other economic sectors.

Fifth, promote trade development in the direction of digitalization and technologyization of business methods. Focus on investing in developing a synchronous, modern, and convenient logistics system to develop Quang Ngai into a multimodal transport and transit logistics center connecting the Central region, the Central Highlands, and Southeast Asian countries, as well as a gateway for transporting goods across the East Sea.

Pay attention to developing trade infrastructure (including traditional trade and e-commerce); focus on promoting cross-border e-commerce to boost consumption of goods. At the same time, it is necessary to increase support for building and promoting the image, brand of industries and typical local products and actively support associations, enterprises and production facilities in the province to effectively exploit the Free Trade Agreements that Vietnam has signed, especially new generation agreements such as CPTPP, EVFTA, UKVFTA... to develop and diversify markets, supply chains and export products.

At the meeting, the Minister acknowledged 11 recommendations and proposals raised by the Provincial People's Committee, and said that after this meeting, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will issue a document to provide specific guidance and answers to the difficulties, recommendations and proposals of the province so that the locality has a basis for implementation. In addition, there are a number of other recommendations related to the functions of other ministries and branches and the authority of the Government. The Ministry of Industry and Trade will synthesize and forward them to relevant ministries and branches for consideration and resolution according to their authority, accompanying the locality to remove difficulties and effectively implement the set goals.

After listening to the units under the Ministry discuss issues, on behalf of the locality, Secretary of the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee Bui Thi Quynh Van thanked Minister Nguyen Hong Dien and the working delegation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for taking the time to work and listen to the voices of the locality, and hoped to continue to receive the support and companionship of the Ministry in the coming time.

On the province side, the Secretary of the Quang Ngai Provincial Party Committee affirmed that he would accept the Minister's direction, and requested that relevant departments and branches pay attention to implementing the issues raised at the meeting in the coming time, and actively coordinate with units under the Ministry of Industry and Trade more, especially in implementing tasks according to the Provincial Planning and National Sector Planning in the most effective way.