On the morning of October 3, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cao Bang province organized a conference to promote the image, potential, strengths, and opportunities to attract investment, trade, and tourism of Cao Bang province to representative agencies, international organizations, businesses, business associations, and foreign non-governmental organizations.

Opening the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc gave an overview of Cao Bang province - a province with an important strategic position, the "hedge" of Vietnam's northern border.

With the unique natural conditions of the Northern mountainous region, Cao Bang has many ecological sub-regions and many magnificent landscapes, not only with biodiversity value, geological heritage, and unique geomorphology but also the convergence of many famous historical and archaeological sites...

Thanks to the above favorable conditions, Cao Bang has many potentials to develop tourism as its key economic sector, which can turn Cao Bang into a tourism center of the midland and the northern mountains. The provine can also develop smart agriculture, building brands and increasing the competitiveness of agricultural products for export; develop border gate economy to turn Cao Bang into a center for transshipment of goods from Lach Huyen International Port (Hai Phong) to Chongqing - Urumqi (China) - Khorgos (Kazakhstan) to the Europe and vice versa.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ngoc said that in addition to its unique natural beauty, Cao Bang is also the land of origin of the Vietnamese revolution.

He said that every Vietnamese diplomatic officer has a deep affection for Cao Bang. Economic diplomacy for development is a central and regular task of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With the policy of "building economic diplomacy with people, localities and businesses as the center", especially localities that have a lot of potential but have not yet been exploited or become popular to investors like Cao Bang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to promote its role as a bridge for localities, Vietnamese businesses and international partners to meet, exchange, connect, and move forward with cooperation.

At the conference, Chairman of Cao Bang Provincial People's Committee Hoang Xuan Anh said that throughout the long journey of development, Cao Bang has always strived tirelessly. As a mountainous province with a low starting point, it faces many difficulties in economic development. The province has advocated effectively exploiting all potentials and strengths for socio-economic development, promoting transformation of economic structure, care and improvement of people's lives.

The Chairman of Cao Bang province committed to give maximum support for domestic and foreign investors, businesses, and partners to survey and implement investment cooperation activities in the province. He also promised to well implement the signed agreements and memorandums of understanding between Cao Bang province and partners.

The Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam said that he has been to Cao Bang province several times, and has good understanding of the local economy. Previously, Cao Bang was considered a remote and isolated locality in the minds of many people, but this is a border province so it is the 'front line' for international cooperation. He believed that this is Cao Bang's advantage in trade, investment and foreign relations.

The Chinese diplomat said that Vietnam has recently expanded its visa policy, which creates favorable conditions for investors to have time to visit Vietnam and Cao Bang. He also recommended that the province invest more in infrastructure to welcome tourists and investors.

Chairman of the Korean Business Association in Vietnam (Kocham) Hong Sun said that the association has about 10,000 Korean businesses operating throughout Vietnam. However, there is not a single Korean business in Cao Bang. He hoped that this would be a chance for Korean businesses to seek investment opportunities in the province. He identified Cao Bang as a province with unique natural conditions, with many unique tourist and cultural destinations. “Kocham will look for businesses that are interested in Cao Bang’s economy and will organize a business delegation to visit and work in Cao Bang province,” he said.

He said that this is still an area where many businesses cannot invest due to geography and infrastructure. The province needs to maximize its current strengths, especially improving transportation infrastructure to remove transport barriers.

Tran Thuong