Resolution No. 20 paves the way for marine economic hubs

The sea is not only a source of natural resources and a space for economic development but also a strategic space for the nation. This is the overarching mindset of Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW on building and developing Viet Nam into a strong maritime nation. The Resolution's vision places the sea within a close relationship between economic development and ensuring national defense and security, protecting the environment, advancing science and technology, and preserving cultural values.

This, in turn, calls for the development of modern, unified, synchronous, and inter-sectoral marine governance based on science, technology, and data. This provides the foundation for improving the effectiveness of integrated management of the nation’s marine space.

Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW introduces three notable new points. First, it shifts the mindset from developing the marine economy to building a strong maritime nation and from exploiting the sea to practicing modern marine governance. The sea is viewed not only as a place for resource extraction and economic development but also as a comprehensive strategic space.

Second, science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and high-quality human resources are identified as the key drivers. This provides a foundation for Viet Nam to strengthen its capacity for marine research, forecasting, and governance; master technologies for sustainable exploitation and use of resources; and develop new marine economic sectors.

Third, the Resolution sets the goal of enhancing Viet Nam’s role in regional and global mechanisms for marine and ocean cooperation and governance. This not only serves the objectives of protecting national sovereignty and effectively utilizing Viet Nam’s marine resources but also contributes to enhancing the country’s position, reputation, and role in international cooperation on marine affairs.

Creating marine growth poles

One of the key orientations of Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW is to establish five to six strong marine economic hubs with regional and international stature.

This goal has two significances. First, it aims to establish marine growth poles instead of pursuing scattered development. Resources should be concentrated in five to six centers capable of becoming leading marine economic hubs, generating spillover effects for coastal localities and the hinterland. This would help address fragmented investment and local competition among localities. At the same time, the marine economic hub model would facilitate functional specialization based on the strengths of each region.

For these centers to operate effectively, the first issue is resources. They cannot rely solely on the state budget. It is essential to mobilize social investment, private capital, and foreign investment.

Planning must also take the lead. National planning, marine spatial planning, coastal zone planning, and local planning need to be closely integrated. This will provide a basis for resolving conflicts over marine space while also limiting uncoordinated competition among localities.

Planning must go hand in hand with connectivity infrastructure. Deep-water ports must be efficiently connected to road, rail, air transport, and logistics networks. Localities must also be connected through a unified network rather than developing separate infrastructure systems.

Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW also calls for the development of three special marine economic zones with breakthrough institutions and policies. These must be areas with international competitiveness, capable of attracting strategic investors and creating additional growth poles for the economy.

To achieve this, selective incentives are needed. Priority should be given to investors that bring high technology, substantial capital, international market networks, research and development centers, human resource training capacity, and the ability to establish domestic supply chains.

This should be accompanied by one-stop mechanisms and streamlined, transparent, and digitalized procedures. Special marine economic zones also need superior and stable institutions with strong competitiveness, along with appropriate autonomy to attract and retain high-quality resources.

Linking up to build a marine ecosystem

Marine economic hubs and special marine economic zones cannot develop in isolation. These centers need to be positioned within an ecosystem encompassing seaports, logistics, coastal urban areas, renewable energy, and new marine economic sectors.

First, special economic zones need to be closely linked to deep-water ports and industries capable of participating in global supply chains, such as shipbuilding, ship repair, supporting industries, deep processing, marine equipment, and high-tech industries.

Coastal cities must develop in tandem with marine economic hubs. They serve as providers of high-quality human resources, financial services, education, healthcare, research, and innovation.

Alongside traditional economic sectors, space should be created for new industries such as high-tech marine aquaculture, marine biotechnology, the marine digital economy, ocean data, autonomous marine vehicles, marine research services, and marine energy technologies.

Marine economic hubs should also serve as centers of marine innovation, where businesses, research institutes, and universities work together to develop technologies. Another important direction is to link these centers with offshore renewable energy. Alongside developing power generation capacity, ports, and industries serving the renewable energy supply chain should also be established.

To realize the objectives of Resolution No. 20-NQ/TW, breakthroughs are needed in three areas. First is the mechanism for mobilizing domestic resources. There needs to be a strong shift from public investment alone toward social investment, private capital, and public-private partnerships (PPPs). At the same time, risk-sharing mechanisms and sufficiently attractive benefits are needed to attract long-term investors.

Second is the attraction of international capital and technology. Viet Nam needs to shift from attracting FDI based on quantity to selecting strategic investors, with priority given to marine technologies, offshore renewable energy, green industries, marine biotechnology, and the digital economy. Incentive policies must be linked to technology transfer, human resource training, and linkages with Vietnamese enterprises.

Third is a breakthrough in institutions and marine governance. The legal framework needs to be further improved toward integrated, unified governance of marine space, clearly delineating authority, reducing overlaps, and establishing sufficiently strong inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms. At the same time, appropriate autonomy should be granted to marine economic hubs so that they can capitalize on their advantages while ensuring unified management of the nation's marine space.

In this process, Viet Nam can draw on the experience of countries with developed marine economies, such as South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, and China. Each hub can undertake specialized functions such as international logistics, marine industries, offshore energy, marine tourism, fisheries, or marine technology, and then link up to form a national marine economic network.

However, international experience also offers warnings. The hubs should not become arenas for competition among localities. If every locality seeks to have its own deep-water port, economic zone, industrial park, and logistics center, there is a high risk of overlapping functions, excess capacity, and wasteful use of resources.

Marine environmental protection should not be sacrificed for economic growth. The costs of pollution treatment and ecosystem restoration after degradation are often enormous. Therefore, marine economic hubs must be designed from the outset toward a green and circular economy and with resilience to climate change.

Nor should foreign models be copied wholesale. The geographical conditions, institutions, and market sizes of Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, and China differ from those of Viet Nam. Thus, it is essential to select suitable elements and align them with the advantages of each region to develop a distinctive structure of Viet Nam. If implemented synchronously, five to six strong marine economic hubs and three special marine economic zones will create new growth poles and contribute to restructuring the national economic space.

The hubs will drive the development of coastal cities, industries, services, infrastructure, and localities in the hinterland. At the same time, they could become destinations for multinational corporations, attracting high-quality FDI, research and development centers, marine technologies, and international human resources.

More importantly, by developing international-level seaport, logistics, marine industry, and marine services hubs, Viet Nam will not only enhance its economic competitiveness but also strengthen its geoeconomic and geostrategic position. This will also provide a foundation for Viet Nam to affirm its role as a strong maritime nation, with the capacity to connect, proactively participate in, and contribute to marine and ocean governance at the regional and global levels.

International experience shows that developing strong marine economic hubs requires Viet Nam to build a competitive institutional and infrastructure ecosystem. The focus should be on establishing flexible management mechanisms, one-stop administrative procedures, and sufficiently attractive tax and investment policies. At the same time, the role of private enterprises in investing in and operating infrastructure should be promoted, while the State focuses on planning, land management, and institutional development.