The central city of Da Nang is targeting annual gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 11–11.22% in 2026, but must achieve 12.8–13.6% growth in the fourth quarter as the rainy season and a tourism slowdown put pressure on key economic sectors.

The revised target sets a demanding pace for the city, the largest centrally-governed city in the central region. After GRDP grew 10.31% in the first nine months, Da Nang must accelerate sharply in the final three months, when adverse weather can disrupt construction and dampen tourism and service activities.

Statistics show GRDP expanded 11.83% year on year in the third quarter, placing Da Nang seventh among Vietnam’s 34 provinces and centrally governed cities for quarterly growth. Its nine-month growth rate ranked ninth nationwide and third among centrally governed cities.

Tourism and construction face a demanding year-end target

Services and tourism account for more than 55% of Da Nang’s economic structure, making their performance critical to the city’s year-end target, according to Tran Thi Thanh Tam, director of the Da Nang Department of Finance. Tourism, services and construction will remain the main focus of efforts to sustain growth.

The city plans to maintain tourism promotion and organise events, festivals and night-time economic activities tailored to rainy-season conditions to attract visitors. It also intends to support businesses in slower-growing industries, including electricity, wastewater and waste management, and mining, while stimulating commercial and service activities.

Tam highlighted the need to help large industrial producers access capital and expand operations, while removing infrastructure bottlenecks affecting industrial clusters.

“Tourism and services must be treated as a top priority, with all sectors working proactively to meet their growth targets,” she said. Other measures include stimulating consumption, expanding e-commerce, improving distribution infrastructure and strengthening domestic markets. The city will also help local businesses place their products in distribution channels nationwide, enhance production capacity and build stronger brands for Da Nang products.

Under the revised fourth-quarter scenario, the industry and construction sector must grow by 14–14.5%, with construction alone required to expand by 25–26%. Services are also expected to grow by 14–14.5%.

Tran Van Vu, head of the Da Nang Statistics Office, pointed to the seasonal obstacles facing the city. Over the past five years, including the period following the provincial merger, fourth-quarter economic growth has consistently been lower than in preceding quarters and has never reached double digits, he said, attributing the pattern largely to the rainy season. The challenge is compounded by the low season for tourism and services, which account for a substantial share of the local economy.

Industry could help offset some of this pressure. Many factories and industrial facilities continue to operate relatively steadily during the rainy months, creating scope for industrial production to generate added value while weather-sensitive sectors face disruption.

“The focus in the fourth quarter must be on industry,” Vu said, identifying labour shortages – particularly a scarcity of general workers – as a major constraint.

Clearing project bottlenecks to unlock growth

Alongside efforts to boost output, Da Nang is seeking to accelerate projects held back by legal, land-related and site-clearance problems. The city has resolved legal obstacles affecting nearly 2,000 projects and land plots, but relatively few have progressed to implementation and begun generating economic output.

Outstanding difficulties include the complexity of retrospectively determining land prices, a shortage of qualified consultancy firms and challenges in determining investors’ financial obligations. Resolving these issues is seen as essential to bringing more projects into implementation and supporting construction and investment activity.

Ho Ky Minh, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee, noted the fourth-quarter growth plan would be implemented alongside measures to prevent and respond to natural disasters, ensuring the safety of residents, infrastructure and production during the storm season.

The city will monitor growth by sector, enterprise and individual project, prioritising key products, major businesses and projects capable of generating added value before the end of the year. It will also seek to unlock growth potential in processing and manufacturing, electricity generation, mining, finance and banking, and real estate.

Minh added that the city would classify businesses’ difficulties and organise working groups to engage directly with major revenue earners, exporters, large contributors to the state budget and enterprises experiencing slow growth.

To track progress towards the target, the municipal administration will regularly review the contributions of major sectors, including services, industry, construction and agriculture, in coordination with the municipal Statistics Office, the Department of Finance, other departments and central government agencies based in the city.

Public investment disbursement will also remain a priority, with the city reallocating capital within project management boards and at commune level to improve implementation. The chairman of the municipal People’s Committee will direct working groups to address difficulties facing businesses whose revenue, exports and budget contributions make them significant drivers of local growth.

With the final quarter coinciding with adverse weather and a seasonal slowdown in tourism, Da Nang’s ability to meet its annual target will depend on accelerating industrial output and construction, resolving persistent project bottlenecks and ensuring that investment and business activity translate into economic growth before the end of 2026.

At their talks in Brussels on October 22, the two leaders agreed to explore and promote maritime economic cooperation as a new pillar of bilateral relations.

Talks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam and European Council President António Costa was held in Brussels on October 22 as part of the former's official visit to the European Union (EU).

At the talks, President António Costa, as cited by the Vietnam News Agency, warmly welcomed General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation on their official visit to the EU. He fondly recalled his deep impressions of Vietnam and its people, as well as the warm and cordial reception extended by the Vietnamese side during his visit in early January this year.

The two leaders’ early reunion reflects the increasingly deep political trust between Vietnam and the EU, he stressed.

Vietnam is an important partner of the EU in the Indo-Pacific region, he said, expressing confidence that both sides would continue to build on their foundation of political trust and positive cooperation outcomes to deepen their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, bringing tangible benefits to both sides.

Expressing his pleasure at visiting the EU for the first time in his new capacity, General Secretary and President To Lam, as quoted by the news agency also, spoke highly of the role played by the European Council and President António Costa personally in shaping the EU’s strategic priorities, promoting unity and consensus among member states, strengthening the bloc’s self-reliance and resilience, and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and around the world.

Vietnam regards the EU as one of its top-priority partners, with substantial shared interests and long-term cooperation potential. It wishes to translate commitments into concrete outcomes and practical cooperation projects that will support development and improve the lives of people on both sides, the Vietnamese leader noted.

General Secretary and President To Lam and President António Costa welcomed the positive progress in Vietnam-EU relations after more than 36 years of diplomatic ties, particularly following the elevation of bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in January 2026, the news agency reported.

Amid complex regional and global developments, the two leaders agreed that Vietnam and the EU should strengthen dialogue, contacts and exchanges at all levels, particularly at the high level, to consolidate political trust and enhance mutual understanding. They also agreed to improve cooperation effectiveness and create breakthroughs by expanding collaboration into new areas aligned with the development priorities of both sides, including green transition, innovation, strategic infrastructure and the circular economy.

Sharing a vision for developing a blue economy, protecting the oceans and ensuring maritime security, the two sides agreed to explore and promote maritime economic cooperation as a new pillar of bilateral relations.

General Secretary and President To Lam called for deeper economic, trade and investment ties, and for the two sides to continue fully capitalizing on the potential and advantages offered by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). He thanked the EU for recognizing Vietnam’s efforts and removing the country from Annex I of the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. He also called on both sides to work closely together to swiftly resolve longstanding outstanding issues, including the removal of the “yellow card” warning on Vietnamese seafood over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and the early ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

President António Costa affirmed the EU’s desire to further deepen substantive cooperation with Vietnam by effectively leveraging EU programs and initiatives, such as the Global Gateway, to promote high-quality investment, develop sustainable connectivity infrastructure and advance the energy transition.

The EU will continue promoting cooperation, sharing experience and building capacity in maritime security and safety, cybersecurity and crisis management, as well as coordinating in responding to non-traditional challenges, particularly climate change and emerging technological challenges, including artificial intelligence, in line with the needs, priorities and shared interests of both sides, he said.

On this occasion, the two leaders also held in-depth and wide-ranging discussions on regional and international issues. They agreed to strengthen exchanges, consultations and coordination at multilateral forums; uphold multilateralism, the United Nations Charter and international law; and further promote ASEAN-EU relations, thereby making positive contributions to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Indo-Pacific.

President António Costa emphasized that the EU attaches importance to advancing relations with ASEAN, with Vietnam as one of its leading partners, as the EU and ASEAN work towards upgrading their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2027, when they will mark the 50th anniversary of their relations.

He reaffirmed the EU’s continued support for ASEAN centrality and for ASEAN’s and Vietnam’s positions on promoting the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the seas and oceans.

The PM stressed that national energy security and an adequate electricity supply are fundamental to achieving socio-economic development goals and constitute a particularly important political task for the entire political system.

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Le Minh Hung has ordered ministries, localities and relevant agencies to urgently implement measures to ensure sufficient electricity supplies from 2027 to 2030 and beyond, stressing that power shortages must not occur under any circumstances.

The Government Office issued Official Dispatch No. 10790/VPCP-CN on October 22, conveying the PM’s instructions to the Minister of Industry and Trade, secretaries of provincial and municipal Party committees, and chairpersons of provincial and municipal People’s Committees.

The PM stressed that national energy security and an adequate electricity supply are fundamental to achieving socio-economic development goals and constitute a particularly important political task for the entire political system.

In the immediate term, the ministry is requested to direct and urge ministries, agencies and localities to expand self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power at households, offices, public buildings and production and business establishments. The installation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) should also be encouraged to reduce peak-hour demand and increase on-site power self-sufficiency.

The ministry must propose targets for rooftop solar power development in each locality, particularly in northern provinces, specifying installation numbers and deadlines for operation. The proposal must be completed before October 30, with implementation results serving as an important criterion for assessing the performance of ministry and local leaders.

Besides, it must guide and urge localities to introduce support policies for households installing self-produced and self-consumed solar systems in this December. Investors are required to ensure that the Na Duong 2 and Quang Trach I thermal power plants are completed and begin commercial operation in 2026.

The ministry must accelerate eligible concentrated solar power projects, floating solar installations on hydropower reservoirs and associated grid infrastructure included in the revised Power Development Plan VIII. Priority should be given to projects in northern areas, including the Lai Chau and Son La hydropower reservoirs. Vietnam Electricity (EVN) is tasked with studying and investing in BESS at substations and other suitable locations, with the systems scheduled to operate in 2027.

By December, the ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies, must develop mechanisms and guidelines to accelerate energy storage development, particularly rooftop solar combined with BESS in industrial parks and clusters in northern provinces.

The PM also called for stronger electricity-saving measures, requiring annual savings of at least 3% of national power consumption and at least 10% during peak hot-weather months from April to July. Demand management and load shifting must help reduce peak-hour demand by at least 3,000 MW, while cutting power losses across the system to below 6%.

For 2028–2030 and subsequent years, the ministry must work with the Ministry of Finance and major state-owned groups, including EVN, the Vietnam National Industry – Energy Group (Petrovietnam) and the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group, to review power generation and transmission projects and assign clear responsibilities for implementation.

The ministry must identify project delays, financing difficulties and obstacles requiring resolution. If necessary, it should propose using State budget funds for urgent power projects and report to the PM before October 30, 2026.

The PM warned against lax oversight after investment licences are issued and called for strict action against investors that delay projects or violate regulations. The ministry will bear responsibility if planned projects are not implemented or fail to enter operation on schedule. It must also take final responsibility if electricity shortages occur under any circumstances.