(VOVworld) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended a groundbreaking ceremony of the Hai Phong international gateway port project in Cat Hai district, Hai Phong city on Sunday. The project is of great significance because it is expected to help boost socio-economic development, ensure security, national defense and accelerate industrialization and modernization of Hai Phong city, confirming Vietnam’s preferences for marine economy. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung addressed the ceremony: “Vietnam’s Marine Strategy until 2020 which was approved at the 4^th plenum of the 10^th Party Central Committee aims to build Vietnam into a country strong in marine economy and national defence. In this strategy, the Hai Phong international gateway port is an important factor that links Vietnam’s northern areas and the region and the world”.

(Photo: VGP)

The 1.2 billion USD project is funded by Japan’s ODA and the Vietnamese government’s counterpart capital. The is the first major cooperative project in the form of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between Vietnam and Japan. When completed in 2016, the Hai Phong international gateway port will become a transit point of exports from northern Vietnam to Europe and America without stops over at Singapore and Hong Kong.