Dak Lak: Potential and Aspirations for Development

On the morning of June 27, 2026, the Conference on the Announcement of Planning and Investment Promotion of Dak Lak Province for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050, was officially held in Tuy Hoa under the theme “Dak Lak: Potential and Aspirations for Development”. This highly significant economic and political event marks a strategic turning point for Dak Lak Province, opening up a vast development space and attracting crucial resources for local socio-economic advancement in the new era.  

Dak Lak unlocks resources and creates new impetus for development

The conference was honored by the attendance of General Phan Van Giang, Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, and Minister of National Defense; Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nghi, Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Policy and Strategy Commission, and National Assembly Member representing the Dak Lak delegation. Also attending were leaders of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly, Dak Lak provincial leaders, international organizations, and over 1,000 delegates representing business associations, economic groups, and major domestic and foreign investors.

At the conference, Dak Lak Province officially announced the decision approving the Adjusted Planning for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050. Following the merger of administrative units, Dak Lak boasts an area of over 18,000 square kilometers, a coastline of 189 kilometers, and a population exceeding 3.3 million. This unique geography strengthens the connectivity between the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) and the South Central Coast, establishing an integrated economic development model focused on “forests and seas” to optimize resources and bolster competitiveness.

In his opening speech, Mr. Do Huu Huy emphasized:

“Dak Lak is entering a new phase of development with the aspiration to become a key growth pole for the Central Highlands and the South Central Coast. The close linkages among raw material zones, urban-service hubs, and marine economic spaces enable Dak Lak to establish closed value chains spanning from production, processing, and logistics to export within a single unified development space. This represents an outstanding competitive advantage that very few provinces across the country possess.”

Under the adjusted planning for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050, Dak Lak has established a breakthrough development framework structured around three development zones, three economic corridors, and two driving centers. Within this structure, Buon Ma Thuot remains designated as the development core of the Central Highlands, while the eastern region is oriented to become a new growth pole specializing in industrial development, seaport services, logistics, and the marine economy. The province aims to maintain an average annual GRDP growth rate of over 11% during the 2026–2030 period.

Delivering his directing address, General Phan Van Giang pointed out:

“The most crucial task for Dak Lak right now is to transform its potentials into actual growth drivers; turning the major planning directions into concrete projects and works that deliver practical benefits to citizens and businesses, while capitalizing on favorable conditions and advantages to establish new growth engines.”

Demonstrating this commitment, the conference hosted the concurrent groundbreaking and commencement ceremonies of eight key projects with massive economic and social welfare significance. This initiative aims to inject new momentum into the province’s upcoming development phase, serving as a concrete step under Dak Lak’s planning strategy to showcase its potential, competitive advantages, investment climate, and development prospects.

Among these, the world-leading coffee factory system of Trung Nguyen Legend, which broke ground on June 25, stands out as a flagship project designed to propel Buon Ma Thuot as the growth core of the Central Highlands. Representing a total investment of nearly 2.2 trillion VND divided into two phases and equipped with state-of-the-art technology from Germany, Italy, and Denmark, this factory system will enable Vietnamese coffee to participate extensively in deep, intensive, and refined processing. It will produce high-value ingredients from Buon Ma Thuot Robusta, boosting exports and advancing Dak Lak’s strategy for “processing industry” and “high-tech agriculture,” thereby contributing to the realization of making Buon Ma Thuot the “Coffee Capital of the World”.

In tandem with these ceremonies, thematic forums and seminars established an open dialogue between local authorities and domestic and international business representatives and investors. Key topics discussed included refining mechanisms and policies, ramping up investment in deep processing of key products, prioritizing logistics infrastructure to establish industrial-logistics corridors, accelerating scientific and technological applications, driving digital transformation, developing high-quality human resources, and strengthening regional linkages to realize the province’s development guidelines.

A notable highlight was the voter-meeting and dialogue forum with enterprises, cooperatives, and household businesses held on the afternoon of June 25. Provincial leaders listened directly to feedback from practical business operations to identify bottlenecks, coordinate solutions for a more favorable investment and business environment, and collect constructive recommendations to leverage the province’s advantages within its newly expanded development space.

The chain of 16 continuous activities held over four days demonstrated Dak Lak’s strong aspiration to rise, helping position it as a dynamic, high-potential land deeply integrated into regional and international economic value chains. Delivering the closing remarks, Mr. Luong Nguyen Minh Triet, Secretary of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee, declared:

“Dak Lak is determined to translate its planning into reality, turn potentials into resources, and convert advantages into growth drivers, striving to become an important growth pole of the South Central Coast and Central Highlands while successfully fulfilling all established development targets.”

“Buon Ma Thuot – The capital of the world’s best coffee”

Buon Ma Thuot in Dak Lak is regarded as the coffee capital of Vietnam, representing approximately 30% of the country’s total coffee cultivation area and supplying over 550,000 tons of green coffee beans annually. This massive output has played a key role in positioning Vietnam as the second-largest coffee exporter in the world and the global leader in Robusta production and export.

However, nearly 90% of the coffee sector’s export revenue in Buon Ma Thuot and Vietnam still derives from raw coffee beans, with deep processing and high-value-added segments remaining highly limited. This status quo does not fully match the immense potential of a Robusta superpower, whose coffee sector could reach a valuation of up to 20 billion USD.

At the seminar titled “Developing High-Tech Agriculture: Opportunities and Strategies for Businesses,” experts and managers highlighted the urgent need to transition from a “volume-oriented” mindset to a “value-oriented” approach. In this transition, “high-tech agriculture” is identified as a pivotal engine—one that:

“not only enhances productivity, quality, and the added value of products but also serves as a crucial solution for climate change adaptation, income improvement for local residents, and the building of a modern, green, and sustainable agriculture.”

Recognizing coffee as Dak Lak’s core and unique potential, which brings together agriculture, processing industries, services, trade, technology, culture, tourism, education, heritage, and diplomacy, Trung Nguyen Legend Group urged the Government, ministries, and Dak Lak Province to continue prioritizing special mechanisms and policies. These policies should guide Buon Ma Thuot to develop into a model coffee city characterized by distinctive traffic, tourism, service, and cultural spaces. Furthermore, Trung Nguyen Legend committed to:

“…accelerate strategic cooperation programs with global UNESCO, striving to place the province’s comprehensive coffee ecosystem on the world heritage map; contributing to honoring Buon Ma Thuot – Dak Lak coffee and Vietnamese coffee as a living heritage, rich in identity, humanistic values, and capable of contributing positively to cultural dialogue and sustainable development.”

Aligning with the adjusted provincial planning for the 2021–2030 period, with a vision to 2050, the People’s Committee of Dak Lak Province issued a strategic action program on June 23, 2026, titled “Buon Ma Thuot: Capital of the Best Coffee in the World” for the 2026–2030 period, with a vision to 2035. This highly significant program represents more than a destination marketing goal; it is a visionary development positioning “aimed at developing a synchronized coffee ecosystem in a green, sustainable, and internationally integrated direction,” and “building coffee cultural spaces, themed tours, unique experiential products, and coffee-centered creative industries”. By 2035, Buon Ma Thuot strives to become “the world’s most iconic coffee tourism destination.”

Buon Ma Thuot has already established several key milestones on this journey. In March 2025, “The Knowledge of Planting and Processing Dak Lak Coffee” was officially recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. In the first five months of 2026, Dak Lak welcomed over 4.35 million visitors, and its export turnover continued its strong upward momentum.

The image of Buon Ma Thuot and Dak Lak has also featured impressively in global films such as The Tao of Coffee, The Awakenings of Coffee, and Trung Nguyen Legend’s Vision for Vietnamese Coffee – The Robusta Awakening, produced by premier global media networks including Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN, and Bloomberg, helping spread the image of Buon Ma Thuot Robusta and Vietnamese coffee culture to the global community.

Simultaneously, a comprehensive coffee ecosystem—comprising physical, social, and spiritual dimensions—is taking shape in Buon Ma Thuot. Spanning from cultivation areas and state-of-the-art factories that enhance deep processing to unique cultural, tourism, and experiential spaces, this ecosystem is creating a strong impression. It establishes Buon Ma Thuot and Dak Lak as a global hub of knowledge, culture, creativity, and coffee heritage, living up to its reputation as the “World’s Best Coffee Capital”.

Within this ecosystem, the Coffee City—described by Warner Bros. Discovery as “an urban area creating a healthy and positive new lifestyle from coffee for the community”—and the World Coffee Museum have become iconic symbols of Vietnam’s coffee industry. These sites, according to National Geographic, showcase “Vietnam’s pivotal role in the vast global coffee industry.”

Additionally, the Trung Nguyen Coffee Village, the majestic Dray Nur – Gia Long waterfalls, and unique coffee tourism products such as the Zen Coffee Tour elevate coffee from an agricultural product into a cultural, artistic, and lifestyle value. Through strategic collaborations with global UNESCO, Trung Nguyen Legend and Dak Lak Province are actively seeking to list the province’s holistic coffee ecosystem as a World Heritage site, further honoring Buon Ma Thuot – Dak Lak and Vietnamese coffee as a living heritage.

With the dedicated support of the State, local authorities, ministries, businesses, and both domestic and international communities, the 2026 Dak Lak Province Planning Announcement and Investment Promotion Conference is expected to bridge connections, unlock resources, and catalyze sustainable breakthrough growth. It will guide Dak Lak toward becoming a new growth pole in the integrated “forest-sea” region, complete with inter-regional transport infrastructure, a diversified economy, and the realization of its strategic action plan to establish “Buon Ma Thuot: Capital of the Best Coffee in the World.”