Soc Trang province’s potential
SOC TRANG PROVINCE'S POTENTIAL
On December 26th, 1991, at its 10th session, the VIII National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam issued a Resolution on the division of administrative boundaries in a number of provinces, including Hau Giang province devided into two provinces of Can Tho and Soc Trang. In early April 1992, Soc Trang province was officially established and operated.
Soc Trang is a coastal province in the Mekong Delta, is the common community roof of 03 ethnic groups Kinh - Khmer - Hoa living together, with a population of over 1.2 million people, an area of 3,311.6 km2, including 11 administrative units (01 city, 02 towns, 08 districts) with 80 communes, 17 wards, 12 towns, 775 hamlets. In terms of age, the population of our country in general and Soc Trang province in particular is in the period of optimal population structure, also known as "golden population structure" (the proportion of working-age workers accounts for 53.20% population). The period of "golden population structure" is a great potential source of human resources, a favorable opportunity for promoting socio-economic development of the province.
In Soc Trang province, there are two big rivers, Hau River and My Thanh River, which flow into Dinh An, Tran De and My Thanh estuaries. Located next to the Hau river mouth of the coastal range of Mekong Delta with a 72 km long coastline, Soc Trang has good conditions for both land and water traffic. With such conditions, Soc Trang province has a pretty good advantage in terms of general economic development, especially in terms of international trade, marine and coastal economic development. Soc Trang province has favorable natural conditions for the construction and development of domestic and international waterway traffic thanks to a large river system and estuaries that can serve large tonnage ships. It is an opened door to the sea of Mekong Delta region.
Soc Trang has 92 ancient Khmer pagodas. The special ethnic festival activities have attracted a large number of people and tourists. Some festivals are held with a large scale, attracting domestic and foreign tourists such as the Oc Om Boc - Ngo boat Race Festival, Nghinh Ong festival, Phuoc Bien (called Chroirum Check by Khmer people),... In addition to tourist attractions such as Bat Pagoda, Dat Set Pagoda, Srolon Pagoda (Chen Kieu pagoda); Khleang Pagoda, Museum and Gallery of Khmer culture (in Soc Trang city),... The province has invested in building and putting into operation the eco-tourism site of Tan Long stork garden in Nga Nam town, My Phuoc islet tourist destination in Ke Sach district, Ho Be in Vinh Chau town, Gieng Tien (Fairy well) in Chau Thanh district, Uncle Ho's temple in Cu Lao Dung district, Provincial Party Committee base relic in My Tu district, Uncle Ton relic – a place Political prisoners returned from Con Dao island, Victory Monument of Nga Nam Party cell. In particular, Soc Trang has coordinated to operate a tourist waterway route from Tran De (Soc Trang) to Con Dao (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) with a journey that only takes about 2.5 hours.
As a land of 3 ethnic groups living together, each ethnic group has its own culinary tradition. The traditional dishes of the Kinh people in Soc Trang are quite rich and are also popular dishes in the Mekong Delta such as: boneless macerated fish, Pro Hoc macerated fish, Nuoc Leo noodle soup, Goi Da noodle soup, etc. In Hoa (Chinese) community, there are many traditional dishes, such as Vung Thom pia cake, Cong cake, radish cake, sesame seed cake, and sausages. Currently, there are a number of dishes of Soc Trang Chinese with famous brands all over the country and abroad such as Pia cake, sausage...
Rice plays a very important role, since the early days of re-establishing the province, the province has developed a technical process for the production and cultivation of special aromatic rice varieties for export; in which ST24 rice was honored in "Top 3 best rice in the world" at the 9th International Conference on Rice Trade held in Macau (China), ST25 rice was honored "The World's best rice” at the 11th International Conference on Rice Trade, held in Manila (Philippines). This is a common honor for Soc Trang rice and also an opportunity for Soc Trang province to promote its potential and strengths in producing specialty rice varieties and aromatic rice in the coming time.
The province has invested in applying technical advances to build model places for vegetable and fruit production such as IoT application in the farming process, application of safe farming methods according to domestic and foreign standards. From practical applications, products from vegetables and fruit trees of the province have created their own characteristics such as: purple onion, Artemia Vinh Chau has been granted a geographical direction registration certificate by the National Office of Intellectual Property; Trinh Phu purple star apple (exported to the US), Cu Lao Dung fruit was granted a certificate of collective brand registration by the National Office of Intellectual Property; Phong Nam purple longan was granted a certificate of trademark registration by the National Office of Intellectual Property. Besides, the research on a variety of products from vegetables, especially purple onions, from fruits such as soursop, dragon fruit, mango, ... has also been implemented in recent years in order to diversify products and improve the value of agricultural products in Soc Trang province.
Fishery is identified as a key economic sector of Soc Trang province. Based on the inherent advantages and potential of the sea (Soc Trang has 72 km of coastline with 3 main estuaries flowing into the sea), with natural conditions suitable for aquaculture development in all 3 ecological zones of saltwater, brackish and freshwater, all districts, towns and city in the province have aquaculture areas, including freshwater areas. Localities with strongly developed aquaculture areas are Vinh Chau, Tran De, My Xuyen, Long Phu,... Vinh Chau town have converted a lot of inefficient single-season rice land into black tiger shrimp farm. The structure of fishery output in recent years has changed markedly in the direction of gradually increasing the proportion of aquaculture production and gradually decreasing the proportion of wild caught production.
The province's economy has made a step forward in the process of economic integration in Mekong Delta, in the country and step by step reaching out to the international market, especially looking for export markets for the province's main fishery and agricultural processed products. The province has actively attracted FDI projects to increase investment capital and at the same time access to advanced machinery, equipment and technology for investment and production development. As of 2021, Soc Trang products have been exported to about 40 countries and territories, with the main export market structure still being the US (accounting for 42%), the Philippines (21%), the EU (accounting for 12%), Japan (10%), Canada (5%), China including Hong Kong (2.5%) and Australia (2%).
A number of foreign direct investment projects have been implemented on a large scale and have positive impacts on the socio-economic development of the province such as: Song Hau Wind Power Plant Project; Wind Power Plant Project No. 3; Wind Power Plant Project No. 16; Project of Factory producing garments, bags, leather shoes and accessories; Project of the marine shrimp breeding and production area; especially Soc Trang seaport has been approved by the Prime Minister in the general plan on development of Vietnam's seaport system in the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 in Decision No. 1579/QD-TTg dated September 22nd 2021. The province is currently coordinating with the Ministry of Transports to develop a detailed plan to call for investment in accordance with regulations....
Soc Trang province is focusing on implementing the Government's resolutions on improving the investment and business environment and enhancing competitiveness. It focuses on improving business support services, training workers, entering the market, supporting and creating all favorable conditions for investors to deploy works and projects; implementing well the investment support policies to encourage investment, so that many investors, especially large corporations with large economic potential and advanced technology to invest in the fields of industry, commerce, services, tourism, seaports, logistics services and renewable energy. The province has prominent strengths in agriculture, fisheries, industry, handicrafts and services, especially tourism services with many potentials and strengths to develop cultural tourism, festivals, spiritual activities, religious beliefs, river and garden resorts, link development of sea and island tours...