Introduction

 

​Long An province is located at the quite special geographical location because although the province is located in the Mekong River Delta Region, the province belongs to Key Economic Development Zone in the South which is defined as the key economic area with specially important role in the economic development strategy of Vietnam. Long An ratios the borders with the Kingdom of Cambodia with the length of 132.977 km and two border gates of Binh Hiep (Moc Hoa) and Tho Mo (Duc Hue). Long An is the gateway connecting the Southeast Region with Mekong River Delta Region, specially the province ratios the borders with Ho Chi Minh city by the road system such as National Highway No. 1A, National Highway No. 50 etc. and provincial roads of DT.823, DT.824, DT.825 etc. The interregional and national waterway has been upgraded, expanded, newly constructed to create the driving force and new opportunities for the development. In addition, Long An province is also provided with the water source from two river systems of Me Kong and Dong Nai. ​Being a province located next to Ho Chi Minh City with the closer and closer economic relation with the South Key Economic Development Zone, especially Ho Chi Minh city which is an important province in the South which accounts for 50% of the industrial output of the whole country and the biggest investment, technology transfer partner and biggest agricultural product consumption market of Mekong River Delta Region.

The natural area of the entire province is 449,194.49 ha, the population is 1,542,606 (according to the population statistics up to May 2013). The geographical coordinates are: 105⁰30' 30'' to 106⁰47' 02'' East Longitude and 10⁰23' 40'' to 11⁰02' 00'' Northern Latitude.

Long An Province has 15 administrative units including districts of Duc Hue, Duc Hoa, Ben Luc, Can Duoc, Can Giuoc, Thu Thua, Tan Tru, Chau Thanh, Thanh Hoa, Tan Thanh, Moc Hoa, Vinh Hung, Tan Hung, Kien Tuong Town and Tan An City; and 192 administrative units of commune level including 166 communes, 12 wards and 14 towns.​

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At the conference

Accordingly, in the period of 2018 - 2020, Long An plans to send 1,000 local laborers abroad and 1,000 laborers will be sent abroad annually starting 2021 to 2025.

The move is under a scheme to export labor abroad signed by local authorities, aiming to tackle local unemployment. It is to reduce poverty, provide more job opportunities, contribute to socio-economic development and to allow the unemployed to earn more stable income as well as to develop an awareness of complying with workplace regulations.

In the period of 2011-2017, the province sent more than 600 laborers abroad. However, labor export has so far faced many difficulties resulting that the number of local laborers working abroad has remained still low, said the Deputy Director of Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs - Hoa Thanh Nien./.

Source: http://news.baolongan.vn

​Duc Hue is located at the northeast edge of Dong Thap Muoi region, adjoining to Southeast Region where is the transition from the Southeast to Mekong River Delta Region. With the above mentioned geographical location, the district receives the freshwater source from Dau Tieng Lake which helps Duc Hue District to promote the advantage in producing the typical agricultural products of Mekong River Delta Region such as: rice, sugarcane, animals (pig, cows, ducks), shrimps, fish and forestry product (melaleuca). In addition, thanks to located nearest to the border gate from Cambodia to Hau Nghia Town to Ho Chi Minh City, the district has the advantage for developing service and trade (import and export activities through the border gate), attracting the investments into the district (farm, service, trade etc.). In the future, when the main traffic axes and border ring roads N1 are completed, Duc Hue shall have the great opportunities to exploit the socio-economic development advantages, especially in service economy to contribute to transit the economy mechanism following modernization and industrialization.

Besides above mentioned advantages, the geographical location also brings about some restrictions to Duc Hue district as follows: because this is the transition location between the Southeast Region and Mekong River Delta Region with the overlapping of Pleitocene and new alluvial as well as the alum coating, therefore, 100% soil is of "having problem" land category. In addition, when Dau Tieng Lake is not yet completed, the entire Duc Hue district is contaminated with saline with the volume of 4g/l for 3-4 months/year and the infrastructure is not yet invested properly, the district is the poorest district of Long An province (with the percentage of poor households of 19.3%). At the same time, with 25km of border line (in 4 communes), the district is the "hot location" of smuggling with the participation of many people which causes the delays in agricultural production because it is easy to earn money than honest work.

The district consist of Dong Thanh Town-the center of the district and 10 communes of My Thanh Dong, My Quy Dong, My Quy Tay, My Thanh Tay, Binh Thanh, My Thanh Bac, Binh Hoa Bac, Binh Hoa Nam, Binh Hoa Hung, My Binh (separated from Binh Hoa Hung commune).​

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Director of the Department of Information and Communication - Nguyen Ba Luan presents flowers to the two speakers of the workshop

At the seminar, delegates listened to Brand Marketing Expert - Vo Van Quang presenting the role, meaning, necessity and benefits of brand communication with local development and digital transformation specialist - Nguyen Huu Thai Hoa presented brand communication trends in the digital technology era and the need to build local digital media.

At the training session, delegates have access to information related to brands, brand classification methods, market analysis and potential customers, brand communication, etc. Experts also propose strategic directions of Long An brand communication strategy for the period of 2021 - 2025 including: Building a local brand promotion channel; media socialization; image and communication messenger; trade and investment promotion; organizing the experience space - displaying typical products; building stories and media topics, and making communication according to events and festivals.

Organizing the experience space - displaying typical products is one of the proposed communication strategies

Based on the existing strengths of Long An tourism, experts suggest a few projects that can be implemented feasible in Long An such as horse racing; projects of historical film and film studio - combined with tourism; promoting the specialty of Go Den wine brand; reborn brand of Nang thom Cho Dao rice; promoting the seaport industry and upgrading strategy and skills of Long An Radio and Television./.

Source: https://news.baolongan.vn/

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Ms. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan said that Long An has great potential for agricultural tourism and is starting to exploit

According to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Long An has great potential for agricultural tourism and is starting to exploit. Participants discussed the potentials of the province's agricultural tourism as well as the orientation on the development of enterprises.

Long An is considered to have a lot of potential because it borders Ho Chi Minh City and has a typical ecological landscape of the river region. The province has traditional craft villages that have been preserved for generations such as bamboo weaving, mat weaving, conical hat making, and so on. Some local specialties that are well known include Duc Hoa peanuts, Chau Thanh dragon fruits, Dong Thap Muoi habitat, and so on.

Agricultural tourism in Long An province is only at the beginning

Recently, some businesses have chosen their own path with outstanding features such as Dong Thap Muoi Medical Research and Conservation Development - "Endless Field"  tourist resort, Chanh Viet Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company, etc. However, all is only at the beginning.

In order to promote these advantages, the province should establish specific tourism products to connect and introduce the available potentials and advantages.

Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism - Nguyen Anh Dung said that the province is implementing specific activities to develop tourism according to the indicated orientation.

Source: https://news.baolongan.vn/

​1. With the advantages of routes crossing over the province, namely the National Highway (NH) 1, NH N2, NH 50, and Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong expressway, getting to Long An by land transport becomes quite convenient. Nguyen Thi Thuy, Deputy Director of Long An Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism, provides: ''Presently, the provincial sector of Culture - Sports and Tourism encourages and raises socialization to invest in historical relics, tourist areas to attract visitors, especially on Tet and special occasions".

Khang Thong Recreational Complex (Happyland)

Along the NH 1 on the path from Ho Chi Minh City to provinces, cities of the western region, just as passing over Ben Luc bridge, enter Nhut Chanh four-way intersection, then turn right onto Provincial Road (PR) 816, it is Khang Thong Recreational Complex in Thanh Duc Commune, Ben Luc District right where you reach. On New Year and special occasions, plenty of bustling and enjoyable activities are organized, attracting a lot of tourists to come and join, such as flower market, music gala, circus, folk games, cultural depictions of various regions, areas. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thai - Happyland's Manager, stated that in the Lunar New Year 2021, the spring flower festival to serve the visitors is even now the significant cultural feature of the three regions.

Coming here, tourists are offered chances to immerse in the regional culture-engraved music: Southern Music of Amateurs (Don ca tai tu Nam Bo), Hue Royal Refined Music (Nha nhac cung dinh Hue), and water puppetry. Additionally, there are typical markets of three regions, namely Ben Thanh market in the South, Dong Ba market in the central region, and Dong Xuan market in the North, etc. Besides, the tourist area erects a mini "East Sea" with two models of Paracel Islands (Hoang Sa) and Spratly Islands (Truong Sa) spreading the message of protection and preservation of national maritime sovereignty. Plus, the mini " Truong Son forest mountains" is also created to give a portrait of more than 50 ethnic groups' characteristics. Especially, Happyland is equipped with a food court that serves specialties of three regions. "In the coming future, Khang Thong company is going to provide visitors with a mini supermarket. Alongside the Vam Co Dong's riverbank, food stalls and riverside cafes are ready to offer services everyday" - Mr. Thai further stated.

Mr. Ho Huynh Anh Son, a Happyland's staff, informed: "The tourist area has been added several constructions that are simulators of Trang Tien Bridge (Thua Thien Hue), Western flower field, recaptured brickyard of ancient times, area for artificial rain showers, "Nang Thom" paddy field, Hai Tuong Aquarium, seaside aquariums,  and so on".

2. Ms. Nguyen Dang Thi Ngoc Han - sales staff of Ecological Tourist Area of Tan Lap floating village (Tan Lap Commune, Moc Hoa district), expressed: "The tourist site's area is over 130 hectares with surrounding year-round subsurface dykes which means visitors can come to admire particularly picturesque sceneries of the flood season in the Plain of Reeds with natural creatures such as lotus, water lily, birds, storks, etc. Recently, an eight-story floating hotel has been added for renovation. Tourists staying overnight at the cajeput forest are going to enjoy a fascinating time here".

The Ecological Tourist Site of Tan Lap Floating Village

Based on Thap Muoi Tourism Co., Ltd's information - investor of Tan Lap Floating Village, the company are going to build more amusement areas soon, chiefly for the refurbished domestication area of birds with an area of over 10 hectares, the folk games area are having more interesting games, night cinemas are also being supplied to serve visitors. Presently, underground tow-cable systems were equipped to move passenger trains with a speed of 3 kilometers every 50 minutes. Visitors can feel free to go sightseeing, take photos as their keepsakes, feast their eyes on the beauty of the lotus, water lily, and cajeput forest. To ones who are keen explorers, going hiking on a 5-kilometer-long trail through the forest or climbing up to an 18-meter-high tower to overlook the forest. The ecological tourist site currently brings electric shuttle-cars into use to drop visitors off at the tourist spots.

Ms. Ngoc Han also provided that the food area is presently able to serve tourists the dishes of three regions, mainly rural dishes of the Plain of Reeds. Large quantities of visitors left positive feedbacks and praised for tasty dishes, a rather good service attitude and infrastructure.

Mr. Le Van Hue, a local citizen, who is currently an electric car driver of the company, shared: "Since Thap Muoi Co., Ltd's investment in the ecological tourist site, the area has drawn a huge number of tourists, mostly the youths from Ho Chi Minh City, thus it facilitates the jobs for local people".

3. Being notable for leisure travel form of travel which attracts numerous visitors within and outside Long An, the Reserve owned by Dong Thap Muoi Reserve Study and Drug Development Joint Stock Company (JSC) (located in Binh Phong Thanh town, Moc Hoa district) has an area of up to 1.000 hectares. It also takes care of few hundreds of hectares of pristine cajeput forest, which brings abundant sources of drugs. Pharmacist Bui Dac Thang – the chairman of the board, General Director of Dong Thap Muoi Reserve Study and Drug Development JSC, expresses: "To ensure the customer retention, especially customers who appreciate health and relaxation, we fund different categories: running track, forest cycling, natural pools, fishing area, sauna, massage, etc. Furthermore, coming here, visitors can relax and get therapy with a variety of home remedies.

The Reserve belonging to Dong Thap Muoi Reserve Study and Drug Development JSC

 This Reserve is also renowned for including the temple of Hai Thuong Lan Ong - Godfather of the Vietnamese Medicine; the central location in "The Endless Field" movie, etc. Hence, it is annually visited by corps of students coming to study and explore. 

Turning onto Long An, visitors will fully enjoy taking in the fresh and warm air of the rural Plain of the Reeds, gain deeper insight into heroic historical traditions of the courageous and imperishable lands in images of cultural and historical relics. All fatigue and hustling things in the relentless drive of everyday life could be blotted out for a pleasant retreat when the spring arrives on every single corner of life./.

Source: https://news.baolongan.vn/

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Contact: www.kcnvinhloc2.com.vn​

Distance to traffic hubs

Downtown: 25 km 

Tan Son Nhat Airport: 28km

An Lac Intersection (connected to Dong Tay Avenue): 14 km

Nguyen Van Linh Intersection (connected to National Highway 1A): 10 km

Phu My Hung Urban Zone: 22 km

Sai Gon Port: 27 km

Bourbon Part (Ben Luc): 04 km

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​​​Source: Long An Economic Zone Authority (LEAZA)​

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Tourists visit Tan Lap floating village.

The province has a great tourism potential with destinations, including Tan Lap floating village, Dong Thap Muoi Pharmaceutical Development and Conservation Research Center, Lang Sen Wetland Reserve, Co Son Pagoda, historical site of Vam Nhut Tao, Ong Ban Quy Temple and other historical sites and amusement parks.

Lang Sen Wetland Reserve

River cruise on Vam Co Tay and Vam Co Dong rivers will give travelers an opportunity to enjoy tropical fruit orchard gardens and discover the everyday life of the Mekong Delta region.

Chau Thanh dragon fruits

Visitors coming to Long An will have also a chance to enjoy special dishes, such as Grilled Snakehead Fish, Duc Hoa peanut,  Chau Thanh dragon fruit, Nang Thom rice in Cho Dao, De wine and among.​

Grilled Snakehead Fish

Visitor Nguyen Van Hoang from Binh Dinh province said that he is impressive with natural landscape in Tan Lap floating village and Long An's De wine.

Meanwhile countryside dishes, team building activities and peaceful space in Tan Lap floating village attract Nguyen Thi Minh Thu, a student of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

According to statistics, Long An received more than 510,000 visitors, including over 7,100 international tourists from the beginning of this year to the middle of August.

With rapidly rising arrivals in recent years, Long An province has focused on turning the tourism industry to become a key economic contributor.

Long An province has focused on developing and promoting ecotourism; cultural and religious attractions; and offering tourist products for holidays and weekends./.

Source: http://news.baolongan.vn/

​/. Road traffic :

Until the end of 2004, roadways in province was 1.698km, in which asphalt roads were 474km, accounting for 27,9%, gravel roads were 1053km (62%), other kinds of roads were 171km (10,1%) (excluding rural roads). Total length of bridge was 15.799 m long/346 bridges, in which concrete bridges were 7.099 md/123 bridges, girder bridges were 6812 md/194 bridges, others were 1889 md/29 bridges. Density of road by area increased from 0,198 Km/Km² in 1991 to 0,285 Km/Km² in 2000 and 0,359 km/Km² in 2004.

Density of road by population increased from 0,667 Km/1.000 persons in 1991 to 0,957 Km/1000 person in 2000 and 1,130 km/1000 person in 2004.

In general, roadways system is prioritized to invest, helping actively to develop production and improve living standard of population. However, there also remain some roads not satisfying the demand of transportation, lacking of synchronism between roads and bridges, not forming uninterrupted branches of roads.

Most of the Southern communications network has not been increased, mainly improved, upgraded and expanded, except some rural roads. In Nothern region, the communications network has developed rapidly, contributing to reclaimation, reallocation of population. To date, traffic roads are, however, quite scattered in this region, province road only has some roads just for cars, branches of roads accessible to residential clusters have not been built yet. Therefore this has influenced to travel and organization of life of rural people.

At present, the system of bridges and roads have been built synchronously in term of capacity in most of main roads from province to district and roads to industrial zones. However, there still remain some roads with low-capacity bridges, constraining the development of cargo transportation.

In recent years, although border belt ways have been invested, they are mainly small-scale rural roads, asynchronous bridge roads, inluencing to the national defense and smuggling fighting.

In recent years, the construction of rural transportation has become a big movement, combining from the budget and contribution of population. At present, 156 over 188 communes have car roads to the center (accounting for 83%), 32 communes under 7 districts do not have car roads to center, including 18 roads with total length of 126 km and 140 bridges/6637m long.

In recent years, the investment in traffic industry has been constantly increased. However, the annual budget for maintenance is low. Therefore the roads are degrading quickly. According to economists, it is necessary for capital given priority to maintain other than to invest in building. It will bring socio-economic efficiency.

In recent years, the roadways system has been considered and invested by the province, but in general it is not extensive and synchronous, influencing to the investment attraction and socio-economic development of province.

2/.Waterway traffic:

Since 1995, the waterways network has not increased, with scale of 2.559 km. Density of waterways by area was 0,59 Km/Km² and by population was 1,8 Km/ten thousand of people with main waterways of Vam Co river, Vam Co Dong, Vam Co Tay, Rach Cat river . . .

Besides, on rural waterways, especially districts in Dong Thap Muoi, people can travel by boats from house to house, from region to region and boats are the main means of transport, means of living of many families in Dong Thap Muoi. Communes where do not have car roads to center will travel by waterways.

However, the waterways network, at present, still depends mainly on natural advantage, not developing the existing potentials, lacking in support system such as marking buoy, local waterways signal. The phenomena of appropriation of flow and way of boats, breach of protective corridors of local waterways such as construction of house and building materials yard, holding a market, etc. have not controlled properly. Many waterways have had great siltation through development in many years but they have not dredged and influenced to travel capacity of means.

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Distance to traffic hubs

Road distance
Center of Ho Chi Minh City is about 35km
Border of HCM city is about 10 km (Binh Chanh)
Tan Son Nhat International Airport is about 30 km

Source: Long An Economic Zone Authority (LEAZA)

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During the course of urbanization, intensive farming. . . the environmental pollution is serious, reducing the quality of environment.

Quality of air: According to assessment of some professional organizations, the concentration of SO2, NO2, CO, lead. . . are low and satisfy the standard as stipulated. Criteria of dust and noise are many times higher than acceptable standard and focus on urban areas, populous areas and main traffic roads.

Quality of water source: on main rivers - channels such as Vam Co Dong, Vam Co Tay, Can Giuoc River . . . Tan An township has the acceptable content of Nitrate, organic substances, concentration of excess drugs, microorganism. . . . as stipulated (TCVN 5937 - 1995). Over the past years, Can Giuoc receives waste water from Ho Chi Minh City with high pollution, impacting on production and daily life of people.

Land: According to result of analysis on sample, concentration of toxic substances such as Cu, Pb, Cd . . . in mud and land is quite low and in acceptable limitation (according to Dutch standard).

Organism: with natural feature including many ecological systems of wetland: brackish water, salt water, fresh water, alum . . . organism resource of province has been assessed as being varied and diversified. During the past few years, as response to human, achievements of exploitation, utilization for production has brought many high results, but the environmental protection has not been considered deeply and synchronously, resulting in the break of the ecological balance between the populations, at the same time reducing or losing many rare and valuable wild animal such as chicken, python, snake, turtle. . . ; vegetations such as flooded cajeput forest, arenga forest, aegiceras forest, mangrove forest. . . and resulting in danger of mice destroying production.

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Apparel groups have a constant price index. Photo: T.H

Specifically, among 11 main categories of goods and services, only one group of price increases was household appliances and appliances (up 0.12 percent). There are 8 groups of goods and services with reduced price index including: Food and food service decreased by 0.52 percent; traffic decreased by 0.47 percent; beverages and cigarettes fell 0.23 percent; goods and other services decreased by 0.17 percent; culture, entertainment and tourism decreased 0.1 percent; telecommunication decreased by 0.07 percent; education decreased by 0.05 47 percent; housing, utilities, fuel and building materials fell by 0.01 percent. Garment, medical and health care groups have a constant price index.

Cause for CPI reduction: Gas price dropped 4.51 percent in accordance with world market price; food prices fell by 0.53 percent due to abundant supply in the market and demand after Tet; Average petroleum price fell by 0.98 percent due to the impact from last month's devaluation; Prices of fresh flowers decreased 4.79 percent after the high price increase on the occasion of Lunar New Year.

Reported by Dinh Huy

Translated by Lan Vy​​

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Consumer Price Index (CPI) in May 2018 in Long An province increased 0.34% over the previous month, up 3.09% over the same period last year.

Main reasons for increasing CPI: Petrol, oil price increased 3.05%, oil increased 4.96%, gas price increased 2.31% according to the world market; pork prices rose by 1.14% after the devaluation, fresh vegetables by 3.2%, etc. Also, there are some reasons to curb CPI: the price of some foods such as beef reduced 0.53%, eggs decreased 2.68%, some fruits fell due to the harvest season.

Reported by Dinh Huy

  Translated by Lan Vy 

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Lemon, dragon fruit are two of the agricultural products with high export value of the province 

Accordingly, the exported products are various, the quality of exported products is improved, raising the competitiveness and reaching the market demanding high quality such as EU, US, Japan, and Korea.

In 800 export enterprises, there are 90 enterprises exporting over USD 10 million, focusing on commodities: Rice, seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, bear, shoes, textiles, steel, battery, plastic products, and electronic components. Especially, the province's products have 8 export markets over USD 100 million products of the province (China, Taiwan, Korea, US, Japan, Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Vietnam (in-place export), and 26 export markets over USD 10 million.

In the first 6 months of 2018, the province's export turnover was estimated at USD 2.55 billion, increasing by 20.9%; import turnover was estimated at USD 1.93 billion, increasing by 3.4% over the same period of 2017./.

Reported by Gia Han

Translated by Lan Vy​

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The Exhibition will be organized on the scale of more than 400 standard booths of provinces, cities and enterprises in order to introduce the achievements of socio-economic achievements and tourism development of each locality; promote and introduce potentials, strengths, products and goods; develop brands; and seek partners and consumption markets.

In particular, this Exhibition will combine many meaningful activities to exchange economy, culture, and promote tourism of Vietnam and Japan.

Reported by TV

​Translated by Lan Vy​