194 industrial and economic zones established nationwide

The Ministry of Planning and Investment organized a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on November 27 to sum up the implementation of Decree 29 issued by the Prime Minister concerning industrial, processing and economic zones.

Reports at the conference showed that over the past 17 years, 194 such zones have been set up across the nation with total area of 46,588 ha.

The industrial and processing zones have attracted 3,325 foreign direct investment projects and 3,082 domestically-funded projects, costing a total of VND185,000 billion.

In 2008, industrial zones are expected to fetch US$26,2 billion from production value, rake in US$13 billion from exports, contribute more than US$1 billion to the State budget and generate 1.1 million jobs.

However, delegates expressed concern about environmental pollution and required the management boards of these zones to tighten measures to protect the environment.

Source: VNN