Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh emphasized 5 principles in building new rural areas in Nghe An

Nghe An is located in the center of the North Central region, with the largest area in the country, and a population of over 3.3 million people. With the special conditions of over 83% of the area being mountainous ethnic minority areas, the implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Development is of special importance, determining the sustainable development of the province. In 2010, the whole province had 431 communes implementing the Program with a low starting point, only achieving an average of 3.64 criteria/commune.

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh speaks at the ceremony. Photo: Duc Anh

With such a starting point, the Provincial Party Secretary said: With the determination of the entire political system, the efforts and struggles of the people, Nghe An has continuously overcome difficulties, had many creative solutions, and persistently built new rural areas (NTM) according to 5 principles:

The first, building new rural areas is closely linked to restructuring the agricultural sector; prioritizing investment in production development, improving people's lives and incomes, gradually eliminating hunger and reducing poverty; investing in infrastructure and facilities in a reasonable order, avoiding waste and outstanding debts in basic construction.

Monday,focus on improving people's knowledge, ensuring the quality of general education and vocational training.

Tuesday,Building a clean, beautiful, green environment, imbued with local traditional identity, associated with tourism development where conditions permit.

Wednesday,Where there are conditions, build new rural communes; where there are not conditions, build villages, hamlets, and communes with specific criteria; determining that building new rural areas is a continuous process.

Thursday,early narrowing the gap between rural and urban areas, avoiding formality.

Building new rural areas promotes regional development in Nghe An. Photo: A corner of Dien Chau town. Photo: Nguyen Sach

Up to now, Nghe An province has 3 district-level units meeting the NTM standards; 226/431 communes meeting the NTM standards, including 04 communes in poor district 30a, 02 border communes and 30 communes with a large number of ethnic minorities. The average number of criteria in the whole province is 15.64 criteria/commune. In particular, to suit the practical situation in difficult mountainous communes, in 2016, Nghe An had a policy to build NTM villages/hamlets. After 3 years of implementation, 667 villages/hamlets have met the standards according to the province's criteria.

Besides, maintaining and improving the quality of criteria for communes recognized as meeting new rural standards is also given attention and direction.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh also said: Since 2015, Nghe An has issued a set of temporary criteria for building model new-style rural communes in the province; selecting 03 communes: Kim Lien (Nam Dan district), Son Thanh (Yen Thanh district) and Quynh Doi (Quynh Luu district) to focus on piloting. In 2019, Nam Dan district was selected by the Central Steering Committee as one of the 4 districts nationwide to pilot building model new-style rural areas in the direction of cultural development associated with tourism.

Officials of the Nghi Loc District Department of Agriculture inspect the melon model in a greenhouse in Nghi Long Commune. Photo: Thanh Le

It can be affirmed that after 10 years of implementation, the National Target Program on New Rural Construction has brought a new look and new vitality to the rural areas of Nghe An. The awareness of the entire political system and the people has changed significantly. The Party Committee and the government have really taken drastic and creative action, mobilizing the people to join hands in building new rural areas. Rural infrastructure has been invested in, in the spirit of participation at all levels of the province, district and commune, and the state and the people have shared responsibility. Infrastructure of transportation, irrigation, electricity, clean water, etc. has been improved.

Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee

In the field of agricultural production, there has been a connection between households, gradually shifting to agricultural commodity production, creating a chain of links, linked to product consumption. In Nghe An, there are models of farms, cooperatives, and enterprises investing in agriculture. Types of agricultural services are increasingly developing.

To create income for the people in the mountainous areas, increase income for the disadvantaged and special areas, the policy of building new rural areas in Nghe An was issued. This is a new breakthrough in building new rural areas in the mountainous areas. Photo: Community tourism in Con Cuong is developing strongly. Photo: Ba Hau

The quality of education and training in rural areas has been gradually improved, many schools in rural areas, even in mountainous areas, have good quality. Cultural identity is maintained. The living environment and rural landscape are paid more attention to preservation and improvement. There have been many models of clean, beautiful, green villages. Security and order are ensured, creating peaceful countrysides.

"The Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development organizing the 10-year review of the implementation of the National Target Program on New Rural Development in Nghe An province is an important occasion, a valuable opportunity for us to meet, study, exchange and share experiences with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, central ministries, branches and 16 provinces and cities in the Red River Delta and North Central region. At the same time, it is also an opportunity for Nghe An to show the hospitality of the people of Nghe An, the homeland of beloved Uncle Ho. Hopefully, the leaders and all the delegates will have good memories and impressions of Nghe An and the hearts of the people of Nghe An..." - the Provincial Party Secretary emphasized.