The region has great potential for agro-forestry, industry and tourism development and a diverse culture.

It holds a very important position in the country’s political and economic development as well as in national defense and security.

Bustling Buon Me

March 10,2007 was a milestone for the Buon Ma Thuot airport, as from that day on it could receive large aircraft like A 320 and A321, and no longer just the small aircraft like ATR 72.

There are three weekly flights from Hanoi or from Ho Chi Minh City to the airport.

According to Nguyen Tat Danh, Chief Representative of Vietnam Airlines in Dac Lac, on an average, the airport sees about 500 inbound and outbound passengers every day.

Danh said in the first quarter of this year, the number of foreign visitors was about half that of the total number in 2006. The figure is proof of the attractiveness of both domestic and international visitors, he said.

In the past, Tay Nguyen was associated with sensitive stories about nationalities and regions, but since 2006, it has become an attractive destination for investors.

According to the Tay Nguyen Steering Committee, in the five years between 2001-2005, the region’s GDP growth rate was 9.6 percent per annum. And the figure for 2006 was 13.9 percent. The GDP growth rate for the first quarter of this year was projected to climb to 45 percent.

Dac Lac, the largest province in the region is a case in point. In 2006, the province was one of the few provinces collecting over VND 1,000 billion in revenue. In the first three months of 2007, the figure was already over VND 520 billion.

Addressing a meeting of key cadres in the province during his recent visit, President Nguyen Minh Triet said “the achievement could be described as a milestone for Dac Lac province in particular and for Tay Nguyen in general in its development.”

Danh believed the program “Bustling Buon Me”, launched by Vietnam Airlines and some tourism companies in a hope to lure visitors and foreign investors to the region, would be successful.

A sleeping beauty in the forest

According to economists and investors, there are three factors making the Tay Nguyen region attractive to investors.

First is the region’s agro-forestry potential for development. The soil is fertile with two main types of soil: basalt and grey soils. This advantage coupled with the tropical and monsoon climate have turned the region into a prime area for cash crops and industrial trees, like coffee, rubber, tea, black pepper and cashew.

Vietnam is now one of the world’s major coffee exporters with an export revenue of about US$1 billion per year and the lion share of coffee export comes from this region.

In the past 10 years, the trade mark Trung Nguyen coffee has been traded in 37 countries and territories. The Trung Nguyen Coffee company has recorded a growth rate of 37 percent year on year.

President Nguyen Minh Triet said the success was convincing evidence that the Tay Nguyen people had the capacity to make the best use of the land for economic development.

Other strengths of the region are the vast and rich forest and the wood processing industry.

Forest coverage in the region is more than three million ha, accounting for 55 percent of the region’s natural land.

Second is the potential for hydro-electric production. There are numerous rivers and high waterfalls suitable for the construction of hydro-electric power stations, such as the Poko Se San fall in Kon Tum province, the Ba Yaun river in Gia Lai and Dac Lac and Serepoc in Dac Lac-Dac Nong.

The hydro-electric power stations in the Tay Nguyen can generate 14 billion Kwh per year, accounting for 22 percent of the hydro electricity produced in the whole country. It is estimated by 2010, hydro power stations in the region could supply up to 25 percent of the electricity consumed nationwide. This is an area that many investors have expressed their interest in.

Third is the tourism potential which has been considered the most lucrative economic sector in the region. The beautiful landscape, diverse cultures and rich tangible and intangible heritage of the region including the dan da (litho-phone), gongs and traditional and folk arts are the elements attracting tourists from near and far. This tourism potential could be described as a sleeping beauty in the forest.

What to do to fly high?

Ms Gesa Grundman, a German visitor and an expert working on a German project for poverty reduction said she was so impressed after visiting the Don hamlet. But she said she had problem in communicating with the locals because of the language barrier.

Lu Ngoc Cu, Chairman of the Dac Lac provincial People’s Committee saw the need to strengthen the capacity for the local cadres to meet the requirements arisen from rapid global integration, including contact with foreign languages.

President Triet said he had had several working visits to Tay Nguyen in the past few years, and each time he came he had seen quite a lot of positive changes.

However, the people in Tay Nguyen were still poor, particularly the ethnic people.

About a half of the households in the region are classified as poor.

President Triet called on the local authorities and people to seize opportunities presented to the country and the region in particular to attract more domestic and international investors.

He asked them to focus on economic development. But political stability must be well kept as it is the pre-requisite for economic development, he said.

Cao Viet Sinh, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment said in the second quarter of this year, the government would adopt a special mechanism for Tay Nguyen.

In the five years, from 2006-2010, Sinh said, the government would allocate about VND145 billion, an increase of about 3.5 times against the figure of the previous five years (2001-2005), to help the region develop.