An overview of Ben Tre province

I. NATURAL CONDITIONS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Natural conditions:

- Geographical location: Ben Tre is a province in the Mekong Delta region, with a natural area of 2,360 km², which is composed of An Hoa islet, Bao isle, Minh islet and alluvial soil of 4 branches Cuu Long river accretes into the city (Tien river, Ba Lai river, Ham Luong river, Co Chien river). Ben Tre is 86 km from Ho Chi Minh City, 120 km from Can Tho City, bordering Tien Giang Province to the North, Vinh Long and Tra Vinh Provinces to the West and the South to the East Sea to the East.
- Climate: Ben Tre province is located in the subtropical monsoon tropical climate, with two distinct seasons: the rainy season from May to November, the dry season from December to April next year. The average annual rainfall is from 2,000 to 2,300 mm, the average annual temperature is from 26 ° C - 27 ° C. The location is adjacent to the East Sea, but Ben Tre is less affected by floods, mild and cool climate all year round ... These are favorable conditions for investment, production, business and tourism of the provincial.

2. Natural resources:

- Land resources: Ben Tre is a province with abundant land resources, with many types of soil such as sandy soil, alluvial soil, acid sulfate soil, saline soil. Agricultural production of the province is expanding, the need for intensive farming and increasing crops is being paid more and more attention. Over the past 20 years, thanks to our efforts, the people of Ben Tre as well as the southern delta have carried out many projects of desalination and saltwater improvement and land improvement in order to exploit and use this resource. more effective.

- Water resources: Ben Tre province has 4 large rivers flowing through: My Tho, Ba Lai, Ham Luong and Co Chien. These rivers play an important role in the economic and cultural life of the people in the province such as: providing fresh water for daily life and agriculture, contributing to beautifying the landscape and regulating the climate. The system of rivers and canals in the province is also a favorable condition for Ben Tre to develop a network of waterways and irrigation.

4 Socio-economic characteristics:

-  Economy:

+ Ben Tre is a province with many advantages of aquatic resources, with 65 km of coastline, so it is convenient for fishing and aquaculture, creating rich marine resources with shrimp, crabs, fish, squid, mollusks ... This is also a rich alluvial land, producing a large granary of the Mekong Delta and many agricultural products that bring high economic efficiency.

+ Famous flower gardens and fruit trees in Cai Mon - Cho Lach provide the market with many kinds of fruits and millions of famous plants and ornamental plants annually. In particular, Ben Tre - the land of coconut in Vietnam, has the largest coconut growing area in the country, about 51,560 hectares. Coconut trees have contributed greatly to the economic development of the province, it can be said that hunger eradication and poverty reduction, creating jobs for thousands of workers, helping to increase incomes, improve living standards, and at the same time. A significant contribution to the local budget.

+The province has over 2,886 businesses and more than 44,000 individual business households registered to operate in the fields. Ben Tre has established Giao Long Industrial Park and An Hiep Industrial Park in operation, attracting many investment projects in the province. Currently, the province is focusing on developing various types of eco-tourism and rivers. In the field of industrial production, which has developed quite stably, trade and tourism is plentiful and diverse, more and more vibrant, paving the way for a breakthrough in local economic growth in the coming time. Especially, the sluices of Ba Lai dam and Rach Mieu bridge, which are completed and put into use, are of special importance, opening the future of socio-economic development of the province, bringing Ben Tre out of the world ". oasis ”, quickly integrated with the Mekong Delta provinces, creating momentum for socio-economic development and ensuring national security and defense.

-   Society:

+ Population and labor source: Ben Tre province has about 1,255 million people with 64.5% of the population of working age. Besides, the province has two colleges and more than 60 vocational institutions. Every year the province has trained and introduced jobs for about 30,000 employees, the proportion of trained workers accounted for 36%. Ben Tre currently has 31 high schools with 40,000 students, of which about 12,000 high school students graduate every year and about 3,000 students enter universities and colleges.

5. Infrastructure:

-    Traffic:

+ Roads: the province's road transport system has a special position in the Mekong Delta region. Ben Tre city linking Ho Chi Minh City (via Tien Giang and Long An) is 86 km long. Highway 60 connecting western provinces which are being upgraded and upgraded, Rach Mieu Bridge was inaugurated and put into use, significantly shortening the time to Ben Tre by road. Completed Ham Luong Bridge connecting Bao and Minh islets, Co Chien Bridge connecting Ben Tre with Tra Vinh is being built when completed, it will be the driving force of local economic development, linking the province's economy with provinces in the Mekong river delta and the southern key economic regions, so that the socio-economic-cultural potential of Ben Tre is aroused and strongly developed.

+   Waterway: Ben Tre is a province with a fairly developed river system, with 4 large rivers flowing through. Rivers have an important place in the waterway system of not only the province but also the whole Mekong Delta region. In addition, the interconnected network of canals has created a very convenient transportation and irrigation network.

- Post and telecommunication: Recently, Ben Tre post and telecommunication has built infrastructure, installed more 2G and 3G BTS stations; invest in building and putting into use many modern projects on technology, expanding in capacity to meet socio-economic development requirements. In the coming years, Ben Tre Posts and Telecommunications will continue to have appropriate strategies and directions to develop sustainable production and business, develop human resources, focus on building a scientific workforce. having management qualifications and capabilities, determined to maintain a key role in the field of post and telecommunications in the province ...

- Water supply and drainage: The system of treatment and centralized water supply is sufficient for daily needs of people in the city and district centers. Currently, Ben Tre Water Supply and Sewerage Company has two factories in Son Dong Commune (Ben Tre City) and Huu Dinh Commune (Chau Thanh District), with a capacity of 32,000 m³ / day and night and Cho Lach Water Supply Plant. capacity of 1,000 m³ / day and night. With this capacity, the Company annually supplies over 7 million m³ of water to urban and neighboring households.
- Electricity: in recent years, the electricity industry has invested thousands of billion dong to build many key projects such as 220 kV Ben Tre station - 2 x 125 MVA 220 kV line My Tho - Ben Tre, power lines 110 kV Mo Cay - Cho Lach, 110 kV line Vinh Long - Cho Lach, 110 kV Cho Lach station and expected construction of 110 Dai kV Dai Dai station, 110 kV Thanh Phu station, 110 kV Giong Trom - Binh Dai line, Mo Cay - Thanh Phu was put into operation in 2012 and 2013.

 
II. POTENTIAL AND OPPORTUNITY FOR DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Ben Tre is a province in the Mekong Delta which has many advantages in trade such as: with a system of rivers and rivers which is very convenient for waterway transportation. Highway 60 connecting the western provinces is being upgraded, Rach Mieu Bridge and Ham Luong Bridge were inaugurated and put into use, significantly shortening the time to Ben Tre by road. In 2011, Co Chien Bridge has started construction to connect Ben Tre and Tra Vinh province, this will be the driving force for economic development of the region, an important transport axis linking the province's economy with the delta provinces. Mekong River and the southern key economic region. Currently, Ben Tre province has 03 fishing ports, 01 port near Giao Long industrial park and 01 port for loading and unloading goods on Ham Luong river.

Ben Tre province is divided into 9 administrative units including: Ben Tre city and 8 districts: Mo Cay Bac, Mo Cay Nam, Chau Thanh, Giong Trom, Ba Tri, Binh Dai, Cho Lach and Thanh Phu, with 164 communes , wards and towns. On September 2, 2009, the Government issued Resolution No. 34 / NQ-CP on the establishment of Ben Tre city under Ben Tre province, which is a driving force to boost the province's economy in a prosperous period. not far. Regarding the average economic growth rate of over 10% / year, the average income per capita in 2009 was 790 USD, the competitiveness index in 2010 ranked 10/63 provinces and cities nationwide.

The main and important resource of the province is agricultural land resource. In 2010, the province's agricultural land area was 179,672ha, accounting for 76.11% of the natural land area, of which the area for growing fruit trees was 32,023ha, the yield was 318,469 tons, the sugarcane planting area was 5,865ha. , the output is 460,056 tons, the coconut tree area is 51,560 ha, the output is 420 million fruits / year and the largest in the country. Coconut can produce many very diverse and abundant products, favored by both domestic and international markets. Ben Tre has strengths in fisheries economy, with 65 km of coastline and coastal districts, so it is convenient for fishing and aquaculture, creating rich marine resources with shrimp, crab, fish, squid, bivalve molluscs. In 2010, the fishing output was 122.608 tons, the aquaculture production was 168148 tons. The business force has grown rapidly, the whole province now has 2,886 enterprises and 44,000 individual business households registering to operate in various fields, attracting over 100,000 thousand workers with stable incomes.In 2010, the industry was on the rise, the value of industrial production reached 3,710 billion dong, of which domestic enterprises reached 3,359.5 billion dong, foreign invested enterprises reached 350.5 billion dong. , products are mainly seafood, coconut products, handicrafts. Ben Tre has established Giao Long Industrial Park and An Hiep Industrial Park put into operation to attract 25 projects with a total investment of 283.5 million USD, of which foreign direct investment capital has 14 projects. domestic projects and investment have 11 projects, so far 13 projects have been put into stable operation. 2 Newly formed industrial clusters are Phong Nam industrial cluster, Giong Trom district and Ba Tri industrial cluster, Ba Tri district. Total retail sales of goods and services reached VND 15,200 billion, up 21.28% over the same period. The whole province currently has 175 markets including 01 level I market, 8 level II markets and 166 level III markets and temporary markets. In addition to the traditional market system, modern trade is also gradually being formed with projects: Binh Dai, Ba Tri and Chau Thanh Shopping Centers.

The total export turnover reached US $ 230 million, up 22.15% over the same period, the import turnover reached US $ 65 million, up 19.46% over the same period, the main export items were aquatic products, garments, coconut products, agricultural products, handicrafts. Export markets for Ben Tre products are present in more than 80 countries and territories, including Asian, American, EU and African markets. The province is focusing on developing different types of eco-tourism and rivers. In the field of industrial production, which has developed quite stably, trade and services are plentiful and diverse, more and more vibrant, paving the way for a breakthrough in local economic growth in the coming time.

In recent years, Ben Tre has issued many preferential policies for investment in various economic fields. Especially, the province gives a lot of incentives to domestic and foreign investors. With the advantages of trade and existing economic potential, Ben Tre always invites and welcomes domestic and foreign investors to Ben Tre to cooperate and expand trade for mutual development. .