The Government has approved a project to build the Nam Thanh -Bac Nghe Economic Zone by 2025 with a post-2025 vision.

The project will be key to the economic development of the northern part of Central Viet Nam with sectors for oil refinery and petrochemistry, a deep-sea port, tourism and agricultural, and forestry and fishery production.

The project will include an oil refinery and petrochemistry complex, a shipbuilding yard, cement factories and a thermo-electrical plant.

There will be two urban areas in Nghi Son District in Thanh Hoa Province and Thai Hoa township in Nghe An Province.

The Nam Thanh-Bac Nghe Economic Zone will cover an area of 3,413 sq.km including the Thanh Hoa Province districts of Tinh Gia, Nong Cong, Nhu Thanh and Nhu Xuan, and the Nghe An Province districts of Quynh Luu and Nghia Dan, and Thai Hoa township.

Construction Minister Nguyen Dinh Toan said the economic zone would be an active economic and favourable investment environment with high competitiveness and would be key to the country's marine economic strategy.

Transport routes and two cargo stations will also be built at Nghi Son to serve the deep sea port.

Under the project, 68km of Highway 1A and 80km of the Ho Chi Minh National Highway will be upgraded and 65km of coastal highway will be built.

According to Nghe An People's Committee vice Chairman Huynh Thanh Dien, the project will tap into the potential of the region and open many opportunities.

The provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An were in the process of developing infrastructure in preparation for the project, Dien said.

Seafood companies listed in VNR500

Nearly 30 seafood exporting and producing companies were listed in the top 500 Vietnamese companies of 2010 (VNR500), said office manager of the Viet Nam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers Nguyen Minh Tam.

The list, compiled by the Viet Nam Report Joint Stock Company (Viet Nam Report) and online newspaper Vietnamnet, included well-known state-owned and private seafood companies such as Minh Phu Seafood Corp, Cargill, HTFood, Hung Vuong Corp, Vinh Hoan Corp, Quoc Viet Corp, Navico, Minh Hai Jostoco, Stapimex, Utxico and Anvifish.

To add to this success, this year's list of the top 500 private companies included over 40 involved in the seafood sector.

Minh Phu Seafood Corp ranked highest, breaking into the top 30, with HTFood and Hung Vuong Corp making the top 40 and Vinh Hoan Corp and Quoc Viet Company Ltd appearing in the top 50.

This was the fourth time the VNR500 has been organised. Each year, the top 500 enterprises (both State-owned and private) and the top 500 private enterprises are named.

To break into the list, large businesses should not only focus on business operations but also have an important and active leading role in addressing social issues such as education, health, and diplomacy.

This year, nearly half of the companies in the VNR500 were State-owned enterprises. Foreign-invested and private companies accounted for 23.8 per cent and 31.2 per cent, respectively.

The proportion of private companies on the VNR500 has increased yearly, accounting for 24 per cent of the enterprises listed in 2008 and 30 per cent in 2009.

Viet Nam Report ranks companies according to independent criteria, including the enterprises benefits, total assets and number of employees.

The database was sourced from total assets, turnover, profit, growth rate and employee figures that were compiled by the General Statistics Office and surveys.

Source: VNS