On the afternoon of January 17, Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee (PPC), chaired a working session with the leadership of the WHA Group (Thailand) and WHA Industrial Zone Nghe An JSC on the implementation of the project and the development plan of the group in Nghe An province. Attending the meeting were: Bui Thanh An - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the PPC; leaders of departments, branches, and Nghi Loc district.

On the investor side, there is the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the WHA Group, Jareeporn Jarukornsakuland all leaders of WHA Group (Thailand)

Overview of the meeting

At the meeting, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the WHA Group, Jareeporn Jarukornsakul expressed sincere and profound gratitude for the support of the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee as well as the Departments and sectors of Nghe An province for 7 years uring more than 7 years that the WHA Group has invested and developed in Nghe An province. She also sent congratulations to Nghe An province for ranking 8^th nationwide in attracting FDI in 2023.

The Chairwoman said: 2023 is a very impressive year for WHA Thailand and WHA Viet Nam.  This year, the WHA Group achieved its highest revenue and profit since its establishment. The sectors such as Logistics, utilities, technology, etc. achieved good results. Thanks to the great support of Nghe An province's leaders, WHA Group has attracted two large investors, which are Foxconn with an area of 40 hectares and Sunny Optical with an area of over 56 hectares.

The Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the WHA Group, Jareeporn Jarukornsakul thanks the attention and support of the provincial leaders, departments and sectors in recent times

Up to now, WHA has invested 200 million USD in Viet Nam; According to the next 5 year plan, the Group has planned to invest 1 billion USD in Viet Nam. Therefore, the Group hopes to continue receiving strong support and active collaboration from Nghe An province.

Currently, the flow of investment shifting from China to other countries, including Viet Nam, is very strong. There are promising investors with large land use needs of 80 to 100 hectares. The Group hopes to have the opportunity to welcome these investors, and have the opportunity to develop next stages of the WHA project in Nghe An province. To achieve those successes, WHA always needs the strong support and active collaboration of the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Trung - Chairman of the PPC pledges to always accompany and support WHA to implement truly successful and effective projects in the area

The Chairman of the PPC Nguyen Duc Trung - congratulated the results WHA Group has achieved in 2023, including the results the Group has deployed in Nghe An province.

In 2023, despite many difficulties, Nghe An province maintains stability and positive growth in socio-economic development; The province has achieved 25/28 socio-economic targets assigned by the Provincial People's Council. GRDP economic growth rate reached 7.14%, ranking 26/63 provinces and cities, ranking 3rd in the North Central region. Economic scale ranks 10^th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide. Spending such as budget revenue reached about 870 million USD; Attracting FDI capital in 2023 achieved very positive results, ranking 8th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide with a total registered and adjusted capital of over 1.6 billion USD. Chairman of the PPC affirmed that this result was achieved with important contributions from enterprises and investors, including WHA Group.

Nghe An is the first locality WHA has chosen to implement systematic, substantive and effective industrial park infrastructure projects. WHA industrial park infrastructure projects are implemented in appropriate stages as committed to implementation. Of which, phase 1 has completed construction with an area of 143.5 hectares, currently the occupancy rate is 75.33%, phase 2 with an area of over 354.5 hectares, the occupancy rate is 44%. Currently conducting procedures to propose investment policies for phase 3 with about 243 hectares.

The field of investment attraction and scale of projects is also a highlight. So far, WHA has attracted over 1.12 billion USD, especially in the last 2 years, attracting capital of 641 million USD in 2022 and 361 million USD in 2023. These are meaningful figures that contribute to Nghe An's position as 10th in the country in terms of investment attraction. The WHA investors attracts are suitable for the fields Nghe An is calling for investment attraction, while ensuring the environment, such as: Project of Goertek Vina Precision Industry Co., Ltd. with a total investment of 500 million USD; Foxconn (Fuwing) project with an investment capital of 100 million USD; Sunny Optical project with an investment capital of 150 million USD; When these projects come into operation, they will make important contributions to the province's socio-economic development, changing the economic structure and production scale, creating job opportunities for about 80,000 - 100,000 workers.

WHA Group is one of the industrial park infrastructure investors with a positive contribution to Nghe An's budget with over 80 billion VND. In addition, WHA Group has actively participated in social security activities, especially in Nghi Loc district. The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee recognized and highly appreciated the results achieved by WHA Group in Nghe An province in particular, in all activities of WHA Group in general, and appreciated the contributions of WHA Group on the socio-economic development results of the province in recent years.

Assessing that 2024 poses more challenges than advantages, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee stated that Nghe An is still determined to set high goals in economic and social development as well as attracting investment. In particular, the province strives to maintain its position among the top 10 nationwide in attracting foreign investment.

Nghe An province hopes that the WHA Group will continue to accompany the province in achieving the set goals, especially in the field of attracting investment. Therefore, the WHA Group should complete infrastructure investment in phase 2 of the project, intensify investment attraction, complete procedures for approval of the investment policy in phase 3, and prepare for subsequent stages as agreed upon by the province and the group. Chairman of the PPC Nguyen Duc Trung emphasized that Nghe An province is committed to always accompany and support the WHA Group in successfully implementing projects in the area.

Kim Oanh