At a recent meeting with the participation of 20 delegations from foreign countries,Fujita Yasuo, Chief Representative of the JICA Office in Vietnam, said that Japanese businesses are interested in providing official development assistance for the province in post-harvest preservation.
He hoped that Lam Dong will cooperate with the Japanese sides to put forth the programs.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Vietnam said that his country will grant ten scholarships, from bachelor to PhD, for Lam Dong province’s external affairs sector.
At the meeting, Pham S, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, laid stress on high-tech agriculture production in the province, its strengths to develop agricultural and high-quality tourism.
Da Lat City is a national and regional resort town and tourism center.
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Nguyen Van Yen, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that the province would like to seek business partners to promote sales of our specialty products throughout the nation and even export.
Lam Dong, which has an area of 9,800sq.km and a population of 1.3 million, is strong in tourism, agriculture and forestry, and agricultural and forestry processing.
Its capital Da Lat is a national and regional resort town and tourism center with balmy weather and many ancient villas and buildings. The city has 16,740 hotel rooms and received 5.4 million visitors last year, including 270,000 foreigners.
The province’s tourism sector plans to develop a range of activities like eco-tourism, rest and recreation, sightseeing, amusement and entertainment, culture and sports, education, and agro-tourism.
The province has great potential in agriculture. It has nearly 60,000ha under vegetables that yield 2.1 million tons a year, or 40 per cent of the national output; 8,400ha under flowers that produce nearly 30 million cut flowers, or 45 per cent of the national output; 21,000ha under tea; and over 150,000ha under coffee that produce an output of over 430,000 tons.
The province’s industrial sector is dominated by mining, manufacture of fertilizers, electricity generation and distribution, and gas production.
Last year its economy grew at 7.93 per cent and this year the figure is expected to edge up to 8.2 per cent.
Domestic investors have invested a cumulative VND108 trillion (US$4.8 billion) in 756 projects while foreign investors have 101 projects worth $477 million.
“Poor infrastructure, low value addition, limited investment and failure to achieve its tourism potential are the province’s weaknesses,” Yen said.
The province said it would like to promote its advantages of climate and landscapes, with priority given to the development of high-quality eco-tourism, conference tourism, agricultural tourism, developing special products and brands, and developing Da Lat into a superior eco-tourism centre.
In agriculture, it would like to develop agro-forestry based on high technology, bio-technology for preservation, and post-harvest processing.
It prioritizes the development of processing of products like tea, coffee, mulberry, and dairy and the classification and preservation of vegetables and flowers.
To strengthen its transport infrastructure, Lam Dong wants to build the Dau Giay–Lien Khuong Expressway, restore the 84km Da Lat–Thap Cham rail route and begin international air services to Singapore and Siem Reap.
