"It is necessary to consider opening more international airports. The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has not planned airport development. To build airports, we need land from hundreds to thousands of hectares for airport logistics,” Thanh said at a conference reviewing the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution 54 dated September 14, 2005 on socio-economic development and national defence and security of the Red River Delta.

He believes that it is necessary to build private airports and airports specifically designed for cargo transport. Other countries, including China, have airports for cargo transport.

“Will Vietnam build such airports and where will they be?” he said.

Mentioning the strategy on attracting FDI, the Hanoi mayor said he has met with officials of large South Korean corporations who have mentioned the issue of manufacturing semiconductor chips.

Thanh said Vietnam can do only the ‘body’ of hi-tech products, but still cannot create the ‘soul’.

In order to create the ‘soul’ of semiconductor chips, Vietnam needs to design policies suitable for large investment projects capitalized at $5-10 billion. He said that investors all ask him about Vietnam’s policies.

Presenting his report at the conference, Nguyen Duy Hung, deputy head of the Central Economics Commission, said the Red River Delta’s regional economy has been growing well with a growth rate of 7.94 percent per annum in 2005-2020, higher than the average growth rate of the whole country. 

The growth quality depends more on total factor productivity (TFP). The region’s economic value has been increasing rapidly, reaching VND2.37 quadrillion by 2020, which accounted for 29.4 percent of the country’s GDP. 

Its GRDP per capita reached VND103.6 million per annum, or 1.3 times higher than the average level of the whole country.

The economic structure has switched positively with the main role played by the industry, construction and service sectors. FDI has been increasing rapidly, accounting for 31.4 percent of total FDI in Vietnam.

However, there are still problems in the region’s socio-economic development. Economic growth is still not commensurate with the potential and advantages, while development is not equal among localities in the region. 

The growth quality is not high and still heavily depends on capital and labor. The restructuring of economic sectors is still going slowly and the products of the region are mostly in low value  segments of the value chain.

Luong Bang