Sectors in marine economy prioritized for development in Vietnam

Sectors in marine economy prioritized for development in Vietnam​ (Image from the Internet)

1. Principles of maritime economic development in Vietnam

According to Article 42 of the Vietnam Maritime Law 2012, the sustainable and efficient development of the maritime economy is regulated based on the following principles:

- Serving the construction and development of the nation's socio-economy.

- Linked with the mission of protecting national sovereignty, defense, security, and order safety at sea.

- In line with the management of resources and marine environmental protection.

- Connected with the socio-economic development of coastal and island localities.

2. Sectors in marine economy prioritized for development in Vietnam

According to Article 43 of the Vietnam Maritime Law 2012, the state prioritizes focusing on developing the following maritime economic sectors:

- Search, exploration, extraction, processing of oil, gas, and other marine resources and minerals;

- Maritime transport, seaports, shipbuilding, and repair of vessels and maritime vehicles, and other maritime services;

- Marine tourism and island economy;

- Exploitation, aquaculture, processing of seafood;

- Development, research, application, and transfer of science and technology in marine exploitation and economic development;

- Building and developing marine human resources.

3. Planning for maritime economic development in Vietnam

Maritime economic development planning according to Article 44 of the Vietnam Maritime Law 2012 includes:

- Bases for developing maritime economic plans include:

+ Strategies and overall socio-economic development planning of the country; national environmental protection strategies;

+ Orientation strategies for sustainable development and maritime strategies;

+ Characteristics, geographical positions, natural laws of seas, coastal areas, and islands;

+ Basic survey results on marine resources and environment; current state and forecasted demands for resource exploitation, utilization, and environmental protection nationwide, for regions, and for centrally-administered coastal provinces and cities;

+ Resource value and vulnerability of the marine environment;

+ Resources for implementation of the plans.

- Contents of maritime economic development planning include:

+ Analyzing and evaluating natural, socio-economic conditions and the current state of maritime exploitation and utilization;

+ Identifying directions, goals, and orientations for reasonable resource use and marine environmental protection;

+ Zoning maritime use for socio-economic development purposes, national defense, security; determining prohibited exploitation zones, conditional exploitation zones, areas needing special protection for defense, security, environmental protection, and ecosystem conservation and artificial islands, devices, structures in the sea;

+ Identifying positions, areas, and displaying on maps the regions of sea surface, seabed, and island use;

+ Identifying specific vulnerable coastal areas such as accretion coasts, eroded coasts, protective forests, wetlands, coastal sand, identifying buffer zones and proposing suitable management and protection measures;

+ Solutions and timelines for implementing planning.

- The Government of Vietnam devises a comprehensive plan for developing the maritime economic sectors as stipulated in Article 43 of the Vietnam Maritime Law 2012 and organizes the implementation of developing national marine use planning and plans to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision.

4. Policies to encourage and incentivize investment in economic development on islands and activities at sea

Policies to encourage and incentivize investment in economic development on islands and sea activities according to Article 46 of the Vietnam Maritime Law 2012 include:

- The state prioritizes investment in the construction of infrastructure, maritime logistics networks, and the economic development of island districts; has policies to incentivize improving the material and spiritual lives of island residents.

- The state encourages, incentivizes with tax and capital advantages, creating favorable conditions for organizations and individuals to invest in harnessing the potential and strengths for development on the islands.

- The state encourages, incentivizes with tax and capital advantages, facilitating organizations and individuals to enhance fisheries activities and other activities at sea and on islands; protecting the operations of people at sea and on islands.

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