On the afternoon of June 30, Hai Phong City People's Committee organized a Conference to announce the Prime Minister's Decisions on the Special Economic Zone and launch the Hai Phong Free Trade Zone, with the theme "Creating a new growth space".
Attending the Conference were Mr. Le Tien Chau, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister; leaders of the Central Policy and Strategy Committee; leaders of the Government Office, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Construction, leaders of Hai Phong City, representatives of communes and wards and nearly 400 foreign organizations, investors, and businesses attending.
Accordingly, on June 12, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 288/QD-TTg on the establishment of Hai Phong Special Economic Zone. With a scale of 5,300 hectares in the western area of the city, the Special Economic Zone focuses on industries and services with high scientific and technological content, including artificial intelligence, robots, big data, chemicals and research and development activities. The establishment of the Special Economic Zone expands Hai Phong's investment attraction structure to industries based on science, technology and innovation, adding new growth momentum for the western area of the city.
On March 14, 2026, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 431/QD-TTg approving the General Plan of the Southern Coastal Economic Zone of Hai Phong to 2050. This is the basis for deploying the construction of the Southern coastal area on an area of about 20,000 hectares, forming industrial parks, urban areas and services to seaports and logistics systems.
The Southern coastal economic zone is identified as the main economic growth engine of Hai Phong, and also the marine economic center with the role of supporting and connecting with other coastal economic zones and creating momentum for the development of the Red River Delta region.
The Economic Zone Plan includes 6 sub-zones: Free trade zone; Expanded development area in the Southeast; Nam Do Son port area; Northern Van Uc river development area; Northwest development area; Western development area.
In which, the focus is Sub-zone 1 - Free Trade Zone - with an area of about 2,923 ha in part of Chan Hung and Hung Thang communes. This sub-zone, together with Lach Huyen port area and Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, forms Hai Phong Free Trade Zone with a total area of 6,292 ha.
Speaking at the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Le Tien Chau said that Hai Phong has enough fundamental factors to take on the pioneering role in innovating the country's growth model. After the merger, the city has the largest economic scale in the country, the development space is expanded, directly connecting the industrial, agricultural, and urban production areas in the West with the seaport and logistics system in the East.
Along with that, Hai Phong is allowed by the National Assembly to pilot 6 groups with 41 specific mechanisms and policies; and there will be many opportunities to enjoy many outstanding specific mechanisms and policies of special cities after the Urban Development Law is passed by the National Assembly. This is an important institutional foundation for the city to shift from geographical and infrastructure advantages to management quality and implementation speed advantages.
In the new phase, Hai Phong will have 3 strategic dynamic spaces, with different functions, closely complementing and supplementing each other, including: Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone; Southern coastal economic zone and Hai Phong Specialized Economic Zone in the West; Hai Phong Free Trade Zone with a scale of about 6,300 ha.
If organized well, the 3 economic zones and Free Trade Zones of these institutions will create a new development map for Hai Phong, connecting from the West to the sea, from production to international trade, from capital attraction to technology reception, improving the capacity of Vietnamese businesses; becoming a strategic growth pole of the Red River Delta region, the Northern coastal region and the whole country" - Deputy Prime Minister Le Tien Chau said.
On this occasion, Hai Phong City awarded newly issued Investment Registration Certificates and adjusted capital increases for 13 investment projects with a total investment capital of about 2.6 billion US dollars, including 4 new IP projects: Tien Lang 2, Trung Lap (phase 1), An Hoa, Gia Loc 3; 9 secondary projects in newly issued and increased capital IPs; 2 Memorandums of Understanding on cooperation between investors planning to research and invest in industrial park infrastructure development with a total expected investment capital of 540 million US dollars. The total investment capital of the projects awarded with Investment Registration Certificates and Memorandums of Understanding at the Conference reached about 3.2 billion US dollars.
