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Marine economy underperforms
The development of the domestic marine economy has not reached its full potential, says head of the Viet Nam Administration of Seas and Islands Nguyen Van Cu at a forum to discuss advertising and developing sea-based products, currently held in the south central province of Khanh Hoa.
Cu said that infrastructure in ocean and coastal regions as well as islands remained poor.
Ports were small and equipment was out of date, he added.
Cu said that the Vietnamese ocean economy was lagging behind both developed and regional nations.
According to reports released at the forum, the volume of cargo per personnel moved through Vietnamese ports was only 0.14 per cent of Singapore's capacity, 14 per cent of Malaysia's and 20 per cent of Thailand's.
Regarding tourism, the forum heard that although there was a lot of potential, the sea tourism industry still lacked specific products.
Pham Trung Luong, an official from the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism, said that domestic sea tourism industry had failed to attract foreign visitors.
Many ocean tourism resources had not been effectively exploited, Luong added.
During the forum, participants discussed ways to develop the ocean economy.
They all agreed that initially, there was a strong need for investment in infrastructure.
A plan to utilise and protect ocean resources from now until 2020 and towards 2030 was also needed. This would help to effectively exploit ocean resources in the long term, they said.
Experts at the forum said that the country must comprehensively develop its ports in line with the national transportation system.
Ports must become the logistical centres of their region, said director of the Cam Ranh Port Co., Ltd Pham Huu Tan.
The Vietnamese ocean economy earns more than US$10 billion per year while the global figure recently hit $1.3 trillion. Japan leads the way with $468 billion per year.
vuetnamnews
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