Vietnamlawmagazine

“Dak Lak province must grasp and bring into full play agricultural economy thinking and expeditiously perform the key task of agricultural restructuring toward a multi-value, clean, organic, circular and responsible agriculture,” said Secretary of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Dinh Trung.

Located in the heart of the Central Highlands and sharing a borderline of 73 kilometers with Cambodia, Dak Lak province borders Gia Lai province to the north, Lam Dong and Dak Nong provinces to the south, Phu Yen and Khanh Hoa provinces to the east, and Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province to the west. It is an important pole of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia development triangle.

Dak Lak province is seeking investment in renewable energy, hi-tech agriculture and the application of scientific and technological advances in agro-forestry production, processing, post-harvest product preservation and sale, and tourism in order to spur its socio-economic development in 2023.

Y Hung Bya, an ethnic minority farmer in Cu Kuin district, Dak Lak province, in his coffee-and-pepper garden__Photo: Vu Sinh/VNA

The province is currently working on major transport projects that connect it with adjacent provinces, regions and neighbor countries by road, railway and aviation. The provincial authorities have completed procedures to propose the Government to approve the upgrading of a number of national highway sections connecting Dak Lak with other provinces, namely National Highway 26 to Khanh Hoa province, National Highway 27 to Lam Dong province, and National Highway 29 to Phu Yen province, the Buon Ma Thuot-Lien Khuong (in Lam Dong province) expressway and Buon Ma Thuot-Tuy Hoa railway. A 69.5 kilometer section of National Highway 14C and a 26.9 kilometer section of National Highway 19C running through the province will also be rebuilt. Buon Ma Thuot Airport will be upgraded into an international airport.

In addition to transport infrastructure construction, the province has step up the administrative reform in order to improve its score in the 2021 provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking. With a score of 64.20 points, the province is ranked 34^th among 63 provinces and cities nationwide. The reform also helps it jump nine places to 41^st in the 2021 Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) ranking, nine places to 36^th in the 2021 Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index) and three places to 59^th in the 2021 Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services (SIPAS).

Dak Lak has considered agricultural production associated with market development and new countryside building as an important foundation for provincial socio-economic development. To attract investment in agriculture, the province commits to intensifying the agricultural restructuring, renewing production models and applying scientific and technological advances to raise farm produce quality.

Resources will be further mobilized for developing infrastructure for the province’s agricultural production and raising its capacity to prevent, control, and mitigate consequences of natural disasters. The province will also intensify the application of digital transformation in agriculture and extend farm produce outlets.

The province is implementing a farm produce processing project worth USD 7 million and an agricultural machinery manufacturing project capitalized at USD 22 million listed among national projects calling for FDI during the 2021-25 period, Director of the Dak Lak Department of Planning and Investment Dinh Xuan Ha told the Vietnam Law & Legal Forum magazine.

The province is focusing on attracting domestic and foreign investors with financial capability and advanced technologies, Ha said.

The province has so far licensed six FDI wind power projects worth USD 430.6 million and six others worth almost USD 117 million, making up 72.3 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively, of the province’s total FDI capital. The other projects are investing in coffee and farm produce production and processing, he added.

The results have been attributed to the successful organization of the 2022 Conference on promotion of investment in agriculture in Dak Lak province themed “Attracting investment and developing a sustainable commodity-oriented agriculture in association with product processing and sale” in Buon Ma Thuot city on April 28.

The provincial authorities have also offered incentives to investors. At present, investors investing in Buon Ma Thuot city and other geographical areas eligible for investment incentives will enjoy preferential land and water surface rentals, corporate income tax and import and export duty rates.

Specifically, the corporate income tax rate of 10 percent for 15 years will be applied to investors implementing investment projects on farm produce production and processing and preservation; and on cultural, community-based and ecological tourism in Buon Ma Thuot city. These projects will be entitled to corporate income tax exemption for four years since taxable income generation and 50-percent tax reduction in the subsequent nine years. In particular, coffee production, processing and preservation projects in Buon Ma Thuot city will be entitled to the corporate income tax rate of 10 percent for 30 years, and corporate income tax exemption for four years since taxable income generation and 50-percent tax reduction in the subsequent nine years.

Apart from tax incentives and simplified administrative procedures, provincial authorities has committed to providing prompt support to investors and timely settling their land, investment and construction problems.

Hospitality is another sector that will be developed into a spearhead economic sector.The province vows to pay due attention to conserve and uphold cultural identities, prioritize investment in cultural development and embellish historical and cultural relics.

The hospitality sector is expected to intensify the digital transformation in tourism and smart tourism in the province. It plans to organize the eighth Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival from March 10-14, Dak Lak Ethnic Culture Day from November 18-20, 2023, and make a dossier for Mo Muong - a job and also a performance practiced at funerals, religious festivals, and life cycle rituals by the Muong ethnic group, to be recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

The province will further promote the image of Dak Lak - a safe, attractive destination imbued with the identity of the Central Highlands.

Over the past five years, Dak Lak province has poured VND 376 billion (USD 15.6 million) into tourism infrastructure via 11 transport and irrigation projects. It has helped the Ede and M’nong ethnic groups develop community-based and homestay tourism models in their hamlets.

The year of 2022 was a memorable year for the hospitality sector with its active participation in a series of events. Worthy of note, the sector held talks on tourism development with eight southern and central localities and signed a memorandum of understanding on cultural and tourism cooperation with the Department of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos’ Sekong province. It has also introduced its tourism potential in both domestic and international events such as the annual Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) in Hanoi and the 31^st SEA Games as well as its people, music and cuisine on social networks such as youtube and websites of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and 15 localities that have inked cooperation deals with the province.-