The city also strived to build an effective administration regime, improve its investment environment, enhance the satisfaction index of people and businesses, and affirm its leading role in economic development, as well as being a dynamic city in the region and the world.
Motivation for regional economic development
After the expansion of the administrative boundary according to Resolution No. 15/2008/QH12 of the 12th National Assembly, Hanoi has had many new resources. However, Hanoi needs strong reform policies to promote economic growth in line with its potential and promote its role as a driving force in the Northern key economic region and the Red River Delta region. Therefore, after the "Year of administrative discipline 2017", Hanoi defined 2018 as the "Year of enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the political system".
In order to achieve a positive economic growth rate, the city focused investment on industrial production and accelerated the progress of planning and industrial development strategies towards prioritising high technology and clean technology industries and modern trade and service models. The city has also issued a plan to boost its exports, foster investment, and promote product brands through a number of fairs and exhibitions to help businesses develop better products suitable to each market. Therefore, Hanoi’s export turnover in 2018 increased by 21.6% compared to the previous year, far exceeding the set target of 7.5 - 8%.
Tourism became the sector with the strongest growth rate in the past year through welcoming 26.92 million visitors, an increase of 13% compared to the previous year, including more than six million foreign tourists, up 21.3% over 2017. Hanoi was nominated by the World Tourism Awards as one of the 17 candidates of the "World's Best Destinations in 2018" category.
The growth of the tourism, industry and service sectors contributed to Hanoi's decent economic growth in 2018 at 8.56% (or 7.37% according to the new calculation method) and per capita income of US$4,080, 1.12 times higher than 2015.
Not only focusing on economic development, the city also strengthened economic links with other provinces and cities throughout the country, thus facilitating regional development.
Friendly and efficient investment environment
With the message "The success of enterprises in Hanoi is the success of the city authorities", Hanoi has issued and implemented many programmes and plans to create favourable conditions for investors. Chairman of Hanoi municipal People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said that the municipal People's Committee held weekly meetings to urge and accelerate the progress of land clearance projects. The city also revised its legal regulations in a bid to shorten the time to implement administrative procedures in land acquisition, land allocation, land leases and the change of purposes of land use, among others.
In addition, Hanoi attached special importance to the application of information technology and administrative reforms in its operation and management. With 100% of dossiers for enterprise establishments registered online and settled in three working days, Hanoi takes the lead among localities nationwide in terms of online registered enterprises with the shortest time. The favourable investment environment helped increase the number of enterprises established in 2018 to 25,742, with a total registered capital of VND280.1 trillion (US$12.04 billion), an increase of 5% in the number of businesses and 31% in registered capital compared to 2017, raising the total number of enterprises in Hanoi to 255,280 enterprises.
Both the domestic and foreign business community highly appreciated the positive changes of Hanoi in attracting investment and creating conditions for enterprises to approach and carry out projects. Christophe Hug, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Aone Deutschland AG and CEO of Germany’s Tilia Company said: “Hanoi’s leaders have very clear policies and plans for investors. The authorised agencies of Hanoi and Vietnamese enterprises are willing to cooperate with foreign investors, including cooperation in new areas such as waste treatment to address environmental pollution. This makes us feel more confident and secure to invest in Hanoi.”
Being a bright spot in attracting foreign investment, Hanoi reported a total US$7.5 billion worth of FDI in 2018, the highest level over the past 30 years, making Hanoi the leading city in FDI attraction. At the meeting with the Hanoi municipal People's Committee in late November 2018, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung conveyed compliments from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to the Hanoi authorities. The PM praised the administration at all levels for their creativity and reforms to make positive changes in the areas of administrative reforms, the application of information technology, the creation of an open business environment, maintaining high economy growth, and being one of the 10 most dynamic cities in the world.
The positive results of Hanoi's economic development and investment environment improvement in 2018 affirm the city's leading role in creating a driving force for regional and national economic development as well as serving as the basis for further strides in 2019.
Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee, Hoang Trung Hai emphasised that the city needs to accelerate in 2019 to complete and surpass all the targets set for the 2015 – 2020 period.
