At a trade promotion conference held here last week, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai urged provincial authorities to focus on infrastructure development in order to make the province more attractive to investors.

Hai said Thai Binh should upgrade Highway 39B and the road linking the province to the Cau Gie-Ninh Binh Expressway, as well as push through with administrative reforms to enhance the province’s competitiveness.

According to the authorities, the province is rich in natural resources, with coal reserves estimated at 210 billion tonnes and abundant stocks of mineral water and natural gas.

Its other advantages include vast rice fields with an annual output of more than one million tonnes and a coastline suitable for the development of eco-tourism and resorts.

In 2013, the province attracted 736 projects worth VND102 trillion (US$4.8 billion), creating 143,000 jobs and ranking ninth in terms of investment.

The province’s gross domestic product reached VND27.7 trillion ($1.3 billion), a 7.5-per cent year-on-year increase, while its total economic output was estimated at VND37.2 trillion ($1.75 billion), an 8.8-per cent year-on-year increase.

The province is now home to more than 700 projects with investments worth more than VND75.8 trillion ($3.56 billion). Major projects include the Thai Binh Power Centre with a capacity of 1,800 megawatts and an ammonium nitrate factory with an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes.

By the end of last year, the province had 3,801 businesses with a total registered capital of VND24 trillion ($1.14 billion) and 401 branches and representatives offices.

The conference, which the province and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) jointly organised, was a forum for investors to exchange information and explore investment opportunities in untapped areas of the province.

At the conference, provincial authorities granted investment licenses for a number of projects worth more than VND28 trillion ($1.32 billion) in the fields of electronics, auxiliary industry and mining, as well as agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare and the environment.