The figure was released at the eighth session of the 13th tenure of the provincial People’s Council on July 12.

Budget collection exceeded the same period last year to top 20.9 trillion VND (907.7 million USD). Domestic revenue made up more than 75 percent of the total budget collection.

Total social investment was estimated at more than 23.3 trillion VND, a year-on-year rise of 11.6 percent. 

The number of visitors increased 26 percent to 7.5 million in the first half of the year, while tourism revenue rose by 31 percent.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council Nguyen Van Doc said the January-June growth is expected to fuel development in the last six months of the year.

At the meeting, participants proposed solutions to expanding the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) by 11 percent in 2018, improving quality of tourism services and transport infrastructure and promoting border trade and the seaport system.

They suggested speeding up the implementation of high-end tourism projects at Van Don economic zone, building management methods to make best use of local potential and attracting more investment in addition to developing human resources and ensuring defence-security.

Delegates also discussed measures to improve the investment environment, develop the private economy and support start-ups. 

Inspired by the provincial competitiveness index (PCI), Quang Ninh launched the Department and District Competitiveness Index (DDCI) in 2015.

The index measures the efficiency of economic management of the local government through eight criteria, namely transparency, proactivity of leadership, time costs of regulatory compliance, informal charges, policy bias, legal institutions, business support and accountability of leaders.

The DDCI was implemented in 21 departments and 14 localities across the province in 2016.

The programme helps the province identify shortcomings and improve the quality of economic governance of local authorities and departments.

Furthermore, the DDCI creates a transparent and reliable channel for businesses and investors to give feedback to local authorities and increases the role of the business community in building a local management apparatus.

After two years of implementation, the programme has brought positive outcomes. Businesses are required to build annual action programmes on improving the investment environment, the PCI and DDCI.

Quang Ninh, for the first time, became the most competitive locality in the country, topping the PCI 2017 with 70.7 on the 100-point scale, according to a report launched by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the US Agency for International Development in March 2018.

The report has been produced annually since 2005 to assess the ease of doing business, economic governance and administrative reform efforts by provinces and cities in Vietnam.

The 2017 PCI Report is the 13th iteration and is based on responses from 12,000 enterprises, including more than 10,200 private domestic enterprises from 63 cities and provinces and nearly 1,800 foreign invested enterprises in 21 provinces nationwide.

According to the report, Quang Ninh was followed closely by central Da Nang city (70.1 points). The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap ranked third with 68.8 points.

Quang Ninh attracted only 3.39 billion USD in the 15 years from 1986 to 2011. However, foreign direct investment (FDI) poured into Quang Ninh in 2012-2017 exceeded 3 billion USD, raising total foreign investment to the locality to more than 6 billion USD.

Major investors at home and abroad such as the US, Japan, Singapore and Thailand have created strong momentum for the local economy.