Asia Times: Vietnam issues Lao Cai call to arms


	December 21, 2001	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Vietnam issues Lao Cai call to arms

HANOI - Businesses across Vietnam have been called on to invest in a massive border economic zone in the mountainous northern province of Lao Cai. The province shares a 203-kilometer border with China, and it already has an international border gate, a railway system and a lively border market.

Between now and 2005, a huge trade center, five-story checkpoint area and two parking lots will be built on a 63,000-square-meter site near the border, at a cost of VND136 billion (US$9 million).

The Provincial People's Committee has held a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City with Biti's Co (the Binh Tien Limited Liability Co) and other enterprises, in a bid to secure investors for the project. Biti's has agreed to invest in the trade center, which will be built just 600 meters from the border gate.

The deputy general director of Biti's, Duong Hung, said the center will boast shops, restaurants, entertainment facilities and offices in buildings between four and 17 stories high. The center will also be used for essential services such as telecommunications, banking, health care and culture. It will cost about VND7 billion to build and should be completed in the first quarter of next year.

"With a big-scaled project like this, Biti's wants to cooperate with other enterprises so we can all make profits," Hung said.

The company also plans to exploit the trade center and act as a bridge linking businesses in Vietnam and China. Its plans will be aided by the province's scheme to simplify administrative procedures with a one-seal policy that will speed up the movement of goods through the Lao Cai border gate. The number of people passing through Lao Cai's border gates has also increased in recent years, because of simplified exit and entry procedures.

On the other side of the border gate, in Yunnan province's township of Hekou, China has itself established a busy border economic zone.

The Lao Cai People's Committee has already granted permits to more than 20 affiliates from businesses and 100 representatives throughout the nation. The committee's chairman, Bui Quang Vinh, said China is a huge and diversified market with a crucial influence over Vietnamese imports and exports. He said Vietnamese businesses have not yet enough much attention to the market in Yunnan province, and the Lao Cai government wants to take full advantage of its proximity to Yunnan, which represents an area one-third the size of Vietnam.

Authorities from Lao Cai and Yunnan met two weeks ago to discuss trade cooperation between the two neighbors. Both sides agreed to remove the barriers facing businesses and producers in their jurisdictions.

(Asia Pulse/VNA)