Tay Ninh to increase trade with Cambodia

(03-11-2007)

HCM CITY — The authorities of Tay Ninh Province plan to take advantage of the province’s excellent roads and proximity to major highways to build up trade and tourism with Cambodia, provincial officials have said.

Nguyen Van Nen, chairman of Tay Ninh People’s Committee, cited the Trans-Asia Highway, which runs through the province and links HCM City and Phnom Penh and is considered a gateway to member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The HCM Highway and the HCM City-Moc Bai expressway also run through the province and the road network is accessible to cars throughout the province.

Nen said local authorities would make greater efforts to fully tap these advantages to further develop two major border economic zones.

To attract domestic and foreign investors to the economic zones, provincial authorities have pledged to offer preferential taxes and land rentals and meet regularly with investors to settle difficulties.

The local authorities will focus on development of the two zones as a way to expand trade and tourism between southern Vietnamese provinces and ASEAN countries via the Moc Bai bordergate.

Provincial authorities said trade, industrial production, and the processing and tourism industries would be at the top of the investment agenda until 2020.

On the borderline

The Moc Bai border economic zone in the two districts of Trang Bang and Ben Cau covers 21,283ha and houses a 1,356-ha urban, trade and industrial ucentre.

Trade in the zone bordering Cambodia, established in 1999, has flourished as a result of the Government’s special tax exemption policy.

The zone has set up a duty-free office to sell goods for customers going through the Moc Bai border gate.

According to the province’s tourism department, the number of tourists travelling through the border gate has increased sharply in the last few years, opening up new investment opportunities. —VNS