As a locality holding multiple advantages in agriculture, Điện Biên has always identified this sector as one of the core pillars of its economy. Capitalizing on local potential and advantages, the agricultural sector logged many positive results in the first half of the year. Production focused heavily on developing core crops such as coffee and macadamia following the sector’s restructuring orientation, while concurrently strengthening animal disease prevention, forest management and protection, and steady aquaculture development.

Implementing Resolution No.11-NQ/TU and Plan No.1850/KH-UBND, the entire province completed 36 million planting holes for coffee and macadamia, corresponding to 17,300 ha and exceeding the set plan. To date, the province has newly planted over 3,000 ha of coffee, striving to complete the entire newly planted area for both coffee and macadamia within July. During the first six months, the agriculture, forestry, and fishery sector increased by 4.16%, surpassing the target by 0.1 percentage point.

In 2026, Mường Mùn commune strives to newly plant 1,141.79 ha of coffee and 443 ha of macadamia with the participation of 1,421 households. Following months of preparing land funds, digging holes, and gathering seedlings and materials, on June 22, Mường Mùn commune simultaneously launched its campaign to plant and care for coffee and macadamia crops.

Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Chairman of the Mường Mùn commune People’s Committee, stated: “With a methodical and proactive approach running from propaganda to seedling preparation, immediately after the launching ceremony, the commune initiated an emulation movement to plant coffee and macadamia across the territory. The commune is determined to finalize 100% of the plan within July.”

Lê Xuân Cảnh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, noted: “The positive results of the sector in the first six months were achieved thanks to close and synchronous direction from the provincial to grassroots levels. The department proactively coordinated with localities to organize production, control diseases, and guide the execution of agricultural development targets, while simultaneously walking alongside and untying difficulties for enterprises during investment project deployment, contributing to creating development momentum for the province’s agricultural sector.”

During the first six months, tourism and services continued to flourish with multiple activities organized methodically and efficiently. The province successfully hosted the Cherry Blossom Festival and the 2026 Bauhinia Festival in close association with local destinations and the cultural identities of ethnic groups. It also put the Mường Thanh Walking Street into operation and recognized three new tourist spots, including Nà Sự village in Mường Chà commune, Phiêng Lơi village in Điện Biên Phủ ward, and the Thành Bản Phủ Historical-Cultural Relic in Thanh An commune. The entire province is estimated to welcome 965,000 visitor arrivals, representing a 17% increase over the same period last year and reaching 60.3% of the annual plan, while tourism revenue achieved around VND 1,749 billion, up 17.2%, continuing to affirm the distinct appeal of the Điện Biên destination.

Trần Hải Hà, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, stated: “In 2026, the sector focuses on developing tourism products along a direction that combines tourism with culture, sports, agriculture, OCOP products, and traditional handicrafts, creating more experiences for visitors. This fresh approach has enriched tourism products while contributing to promoting the image, culture, and people of Điện Biên, elevating the destination’s attractiveness and drawing an increasing number of domestic and foreign tourists back to the province.”

If agriculture stands as the pillar and tourism acts as the spearhead economic sector, public investment continues to serve as a vital driver boosting the province’s economic growth. Right from the beginning of the year, the provincial Party Committee and the People’s Committee focused on directing disbursement drastically, promptly untying difficulties, and accelerating the progress of key projects. In 2026, the Prime Minister assigned the province a public investment capital plan of VND 4,755.3 billion. By June 30, the province disbursed VND 2,377.7 billion, reaching 50% of the plan and leading the entire country in disbursement rate according to Report No.9091/BTC-PTHT dated June 30, 2026, of the Ministry of Finance.

Bùi Mạnh Thắng, Deputy Director of the Department of Finance, shared regarding solutions to accelerate public investment disbursement: “The department has advised the provincial People’s Committee to direct investors to build detailed monthly and quarterly disbursement plans, while regularly reviewing progress to promptly transfer capital from slow-disbursing projects to those with good capital absorption capacities. This flexible approach contributes to upgrading the efficiency of fund utilization, striving to complete the disbursement plan at the highest level.”

Investment attraction emerged as a bright spot and an outstanding hallmark in Điện Biên’s economic picture during the first six months of 2026. The province successfully organized the Investment Promotion Conference under the theme “Điện Biên - A Strategic Destination for Investment,” creating a powerful widespread impact and promoting the province’s potential, advantages, and investment environment to the domestic and international business community. At the conference, the provincial People’s Committee signed 22 memoranda of understanding for cooperation with a total registered capital of over VND 209,370 billion, while concurrently handing over investment policy approval decisions and investment registration certificates to 11 projects capitalizing a total value of over VND 48,000 billion.

Alongside these achievements, the province drastically deployed the Action Program to execute Resolution No.14-NQ/TU on administrative reform and improving the business investment environment, while maintaining a “green lane” mechanism to resolve administrative procedures for key off-budget projects. Thanks to these efforts, the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) for 2025 achieved 63.75 points, ranking 19th out of 34 provinces and cities. During the first six months of the year, the province approved investment policies for 12 projects with a total registered capital of over VND 27,356 billion, which included 3 FDI projects worth VND 14,005 billion.

Through these synchronous and effective solutions, Điện Biên province’s economy maintained a fair growth momentum in the first half of 2026, with its GRDP increasing by 8.67% over the same period last year, ranking 5th out of 9 provinces in the Northern Mid-lands and Mountainous region and placing 17th out of 34 provinces and cities nationwide.

Evaluating the socio-economic development results of the first six months of 2026, Lò Văn Cương, Member of the Standing Board of the provincial Party Committee and Standing Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, affirmed that despite lingering difficulties, Điện Biên still maintained positive growth momentum across most sectors. Agriculture continues to promote its role as a pillar, while industry, trade, services, and tourism have flourished, and investment attraction has recorded distinct shifts, generating new development engines.

He added that administrative reform, investment environment improvement, and public investment disbursement have been drastically executed to drive economic growth, while the two-level local government structure operates stably and smoothly post-rearrangement with enhanced decentralization upgrading the validity and efficiency of state management. Cultural, educational, healthcare, and social welfare domains continue to receive close attention, defense and security remain firmly maintained, and foreign relations have been expanded, forming a vital baseline for the province to fulfill its 2026 development goals.

The achieved results shape an important foundation for Điện Biên to step into an acceleration phase. As traditional and fresh growth engines continue to be promoted alongside a determination to innovate leadership and governance, the province’s socio-economic picture is expected to log more bright colors, creating a solid premise to complete the development goals of the first year of the tenure.