To be worthy of being the hometown of beloved Uncle Ho

Nguyen Xuan Duong

Deputy Secretary of Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Provincial People's Committee

The year of Quy Ty has passed with many worries and hardships and the new spring of 2014 with full of aspirations and hopes has arrived. Looking back at the long journey, the Party Committee and people of Nghe An have the right to be proud of having strived to overcome many difficulties and challenges to gain many important achievements in socio-economic development, improving the material and spiritual life of the people. In particular, after 10 years of implementing Conclusion No. 20 KL/T.Ư dated June 2, 2003 of the 9th Politburo on "Some policies for socio-economic development of Nghe An province to 2005 and 2010", the province's socio-economic development has made great strides in many aspects: Western Nghe An has had a clear change in socio-economic development, improving people's living standards; Vinh city has developed into a type 1 urban area, Cua Lo town has been recognized as a type 3 urban area, and two new towns, Thai Hoa and Hoang Mai, have been established; education has developed strongly with educational achievements among the top in the country, with 5 universities, 8 colleges and vocational schools; 34 commercial banks have been attracted to set up headquarters and branches in the area...

Vinh Airport has developed rapidly, becoming an international airport with many routes such as: Vinh - Hanoi, Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh - Buon Me Thuot, Vinh - Da Lat, Vinh - Da Nang, especially the Vinh - Vientiane (Laos) route, creating favorable conditions for investors and people to travel. Infrastructure has developed strongly, many new hospitals have been established and built such as: 700-bed General Hospital, Trauma Hospital, Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, Eye Hospital, Oncology Hospital, Northwest and Southwest Nghe An hospitals...; many large projects have been deployed and put into effective operation, such as Ban Ve, Hua Na, Khe Bo Hydropower Plants; Sabeco Brewery, Habeco, packaging, 5-star hotel, golf course, TH True Milk Factory, Tien Phong Plastic Factory... Some projects of major investors have started such as: BECAMEC Binh Duong Industrial Development and Investment Corporation, Hoa Sen Group Joint Stock Company, Nam Dan - Van An Company Limited and investors from Korea, Japan, Singapore... Many fields have developed strongly at high speed, moving towards becoming the leading position of the economic - cultural center of the North Central region such as: trade - tourism; finance, banking; science - technology; health, education and training; culture - sports; high-tech agriculture.

Provincial leaders talk with excellent students. Photo: Nguyen Son

We also have the right to be proud because Nghe An people have a tradition of revolution, love of learning and good at studying. The harsh nature, the history of many hardships and challenges have created the personality of Nghe An people who are industrious and creative, loyal and chivalrous, open-minded and good at studying. On this land, "Every era has famous people, every region has many heroes with great talent and ambition" who have made the homeland famous. Many generations of teachers and students of Nghe An have quickly absorbed the world's advanced scientific achievements, becoming famous professors, doctors, scientists in the country and the world such as: Cao Xuan Huy, Dang Thai Mai, Hoai Thanh, Ta Quang Buu, Nguyen Thuc Hao, Nguyen Canh Toan, Hoang Dinh Cau... and many writers, painters, musicians, many researchers in all fields of natural sciences and social sciences. Today's young generation continues to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors, making the tradition of good studying of Nghe An people more famous. In the 2012-2013 school year alone, Nghe An had 2 international excellent students: Thai Dinh Phuc won the Asian Informatics Bronze Medal; Cao Ngoc Thai won the Asian Physics Encouragement Prize and the National Physics First Prize; 73 national excellent students. In the 2013 university entrance exam, Nghe An had 9 valedictorians and 6 students in the top 100 students nationwide with 29 points or more.

However, frankly speaking, Nghe An is still a province facing many difficulties with low per capita income, high poverty rate; low and unsustainable growth, slow economic restructuring; low quality, efficiency, competitiveness of goods and labor... Some targets have not met the set plan; many key projects and works are slow to take effect. Investment attraction is not commensurate with potential. There are no breakthrough projects.to create major changes. The economic trend of Nghe An compared to some provinces in the region has become clear. The progress of building new rural areas is still slow. In social life, there are still some problems that have arisen and are persistent, and have not been resolved promptly and thoroughly. The evils of drug trafficking, transportation and use are still complicated; traffic accidents in the area are still common; the rate of people having a third child is high; job creation and environmental pollution still have many problems, are not synchronized and are still causing pain in some places.

Seriously consider and evaluate like that so that each cadre, party member and people of the province can see that it is necessary to raise determination and make great efforts to realize Uncle Ho's wish in the letter sent to Nghe An Party Committee on July 21, 1969: "Nghe An is a large province, with rich resources, with hard-working and very revolutionary people. I sincerely hope that the people and comrades of the province will strive to make Nghe An quickly become one of the best provinces in the North". Entering 2014, each of us needs to self-criticize, to the Party, to the people that up to now, Uncle Ho's wish has not been realized. The day we are slow to realize Uncle Ho's wish is the day we are guilty towards Uncle Ho.

During our business trips to provinces and cities, we were truly proud when leaders and people from other localities praised the studiousness and academic excellence of Nghe An people. However, many people wondered: Why are there so many people who study well and pass exams but “our hometown” is still poor? Thinking about that, each of us feels ashamed and often gives objective reasons: That our hometown has long been poor; due to war devastation; complex terrain; low starting point of the economy; due to heavy impact of natural disasters, storms and floods… all of which make sense.

But we also need to frankly acknowledge that: Many of us still have the mindset of waiting, relying, being conservative, afraid of difficulties... and are hesitant, even "afraid of making mistakes" in innovation and approaching new ways of doing business. Sadly, there are still some district leaders and people in some localities who lack the awareness to proactively escape poverty, and still have the mindset of "being poor" to enjoy subsidies and incentives... In leadership and direction, there are times when the spirit of solidarity, collaboration, and unity is not high; administrative reform and investment attraction have not met requirements. Foreign affairs and investment cooperation activities still have many limitations, not commensurate with potential and position. At the same time, the capacity and fighting strength of the Party organization sometimes and in some places still have many limitations and shortcomings, and the constructiveness and coordination are not high. Those weaknesses and shortcomings are the core causes, making the province's path to poverty reduction longer...

It is a great pleasure that on July 30, 2013, the Politburo and the Central Committee issued Resolution No. 26-NQ/TU on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An until 2020, creating a new momentum and motivation for the entire Party and people of Uncle Ho's homeland. This can be considered a historical milestone in the fight to overcome poverty and backwardness, a continuation and elevation of Conclusion 20-KL/TU of the Politburo on Nghe An; a great favor from the Central Committee for Uncle Ho's homeland. We must seize this opportunity, make efforts, be positive, proactive, and creative in all fields to quickly turn Nghe An into a fairly developed province in the Northern region by 2015, creating a foundation to basically become an industrial province by 2020.

As soon as Resolution 26 was issued, the provincial leaders established working groups to "go North and South", expand relations and cooperation with provinces with vibrant socio-economic development, thereby promoting the potential and advantages of the province, attracting economic groups and corporations to invest in Nghe An. At the same time, departments, branches and localities focused on researching and disseminating the contents of Resolution 26 and the province's Action Program to all cadres, party members and people, creating a spread in awareness and action for the goal of building a rich and strong province. To implement Resolution No. 26-NQ/TU of the Politburo, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee issued an Action Program; the Provincial People's Committee also issued an action implementation plan.

The overarching goal of the action program is: To enhance the leadership capacity and fighting strength of the Party organization, strengthen solidarity and unity, promote internal strength, attract external strength, strive to build Nghe An into a fairly developed province in the Northern region by 2015, creating the foundation to basically become an industrial province by 2020; to be a center of finance, trade, tourism, education - training, science and technology, health care, culture, sports, high-tech industry of the North Central region; to have a synchronous and gradually modern infrastructure; to improve the material and spiritual life of the people; to have an advanced culture imbued with Nghe An's identity; to have strong national defense and security, and to ensure social order and safety. The plans with 10 programs and 18 projects have been assigned specific tasks to directors of departments, heads of provincial-level sectors and branches, and chairmen of district, city and town People's Committees to preside over, coordinate, organize, develop and implement.

In terms of process, we have basically reached an agreement from top to bottom, the fundamental issue is the practical action and effectiveness of each program and project. In the process of implementing Resolution 26, we will seek support from central ministries, branches, and international organizations; attract investment in major projects that are breakthroughs in the socio-economic development of the province. But most importantly, the most sustainable thing is that the whole province must promote internal strength, move forward from consensus, overcome difficulties, eliminate conservatism and stagnation with a spirit of seeking knowledge, learning and progress.

During the working session with the provincial leaders, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong also pointed out: “Nghe An first of all needs to strongly innovate its thinking, develop by its own strength; mobilize all resources in and outside the province for development; must promote the strength of economic sectors, including the private economy and the economy with foreign investment capital. Central support is necessary, it is absolutely necessary, but Nghe An needs to promote its internal strength, which is endless…”. The whole country is waiting for Nghe An to successfully implement Resolution 26 of the Politburo. This requires each Party cell, each agency, each unit, each cadre, Party member, and all the people, armed forces in all regions to demonstrate concrete results in each field, each industry, each district, working together to build Nghe An worthy of being the beloved homeland of Uncle Ho.