Opening a new, faster and stronger development phase for Nghe An

Summarizing 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An province until 2020 is an important milestone to evaluate the implementation results and establish a new vision and substantive solutions to realize aspirations.

SPECIAL ATTENTION

Nghe An is often compared to a "miniature Vietnam", with special privileges, including mountains, forests, rivers, seas, and beautiful scenery.“A preliminary trip to Nghe An from the south/ A beautiful landscape, a wonder”(The first time going to the South to Nghe An/ The surrounding scenery, each step is a wonder) - two verses of the famous scholar Ngo Thi Nham, the leading military advisor of Emperor Quang Trung, described the immense, majestic, and unique beauty of his homeland Nghe An, where every scenic spot has famous scholars and literati writing poems and verses. Also according to the famous scholar Ngo Thi Nham, Nghe An is "A land with dukes and marquises, because of the wonderful "sand water"/ Heaven gave birth to heroes, because of the "stars and stars" surrounding it".

The road to Nghe An is winding (photo taken at Cam Bridge). Photo courtesy: Nguyen Thanh Hai

Is that why throughout history, Nghe An has been identified as a stopping place in the process of our ancestors opening the country, an outpost, a battlefield, and a rear base for many resistance wars against foreign invaders of the nation. The feudal dynasties of our country, at all times, have always attached great importance to and invested in building Nghe An. Nghe scholar - Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao once wrote about Nghe An:“In addition to the beauty bestowed by nature, there is also the beauty of the fighting and construction feats of our ancestors. It makes the landscape more vivid because it has the soul, the breath, the flesh and blood of humans.”

Even the French, as soon as they came to colonize our country, in the Central region, they soon saw the important position and great potential of Nghe An. In his Memoirs of Indochina, Paul Doumer - Governor General of Indochina (1897-1902) described that Nghe An "is a very beautiful province". Right from the end of the 19th century, the beginning of the 20th century, the Ben Thuy area gradually became the most important commercial port in the North Central region.

“This is a transit point for precious wood from upstream forests, down the river.(Lam River – PV).They were sawn in a large sawmill owned by French merchants… From there they created solid hardwood logs and many other products for export to Europe. In recent years, along with the sawmill, a match factory was opened, meeting the consumption needs of a part of Indochina”.Paul Doumer writes.

Image of Ben Thuy recorded by the French in 1908. Documentary photo

In the long struggle for national independence and unification in the 20th century, Nghe An was also one of the localities that "took the lead and rose first" under the leadership of the Party. Appreciating the role and importance of the province, entering the period of innovation, the Central Government has had major policies to promote Nghe An to develop strongly, commensurate with the role and position of the province in the period of innovation, integration and development of the country. In particular, exactly 10 years ago, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW dated July 30, 2013 on the direction and tasks of developing Nghe An province until 2020. This is a document showing the special attention of the Politburo to the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh; orienting and creating motivation to help the province develop.

ECONOMIC SCALE IN THE TOP 10 NATIONWIDE

Looking back over the past 10 years, the implementation of Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW took place in the context of the world and domestic situation evolving rapidly, complicatedly, with many risks and unexpected changes that were difficult to predict. The prolonged impacts of the global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009, domestic macroeconomic instability in the period of 2007-2012, the environmental incident in the central coastal region, the serious consequences of the 2-year outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and recently the conflict in Ukraine have significantly affected the implementation of socio-economic development tasks of the country in general and Nghe An province in particular.

However, with the attention, direction, support and assistance of the Central Government, promoting the spirit of solidarity, striving, overcoming difficulties, constantly searching and choosing new, correct, certain and creative ways of doing things, Nghe An has achieved quite comprehensive and important development achievements, with many outstanding bright spots.

Panoramic view of Cua Hoi bridge connecting Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Photo: Document

The province's socio-economic development is quite rapid and comprehensive. The scale of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the province is increasingly expanding. In 2022, the GRDP scale will reach 175,740 billion VND, about 2.4 times higher than in 2013, ranking 10th in the country, 2nd in the North Central region. The economy maintains a fairly high growth rate and is higher than the national average; in which, the average GRDP growth rate in the period 2014 - 2020 will reach 6.92%; in 2021 it will reach 6.2%; in 2023 it will reach 9.08% (ranking 22nd in the country, 2nd in the North Central region).

Total state budget revenue in the 2014 - 2020 period reached 88,589 billion VND, with an average growth rate of 14.97% per year; in 2021 it reached 18,963 billion VND, in 2022 it reached 21,805 billion VND; in particular, Nghe An's budget revenue structure has gradually become more sustainable, with the proportion of domestic revenue gradually increasing, reaching more than 93.8% last year. Export turnover increased sharply, from 636 million USD in 2013 to 2.49 billion USD in 2022. Investment attraction in the province has many positive changes, especially FDI attraction. By the end of 2022, there were 118 FDI projects in the province, with a total investment capital of 2.52 billion USD, of which, in 2022 alone, Nghe An attracted more than 961 million USD, ranking 10th in the country.

Leaders of Nghe An province, Ju Teng Group and delegates performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the investment project to build the Ju Teng electronic product and auto parts factory in Nghe An. Photo: Thanh Duy

Some areas such as health, education and training, science and technology have made remarkable progress, gradually shaping themselves as the center of the North Central region. Recently, during a working trip to the province, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan strongly re-committed to the ministry's companionship to work with Nghe An to soon turn the province's health sector into the center of the North Central region.

The province's socio-economic infrastructure system has been focused on investment and upgrading, with many important projects; especially the two strategic infrastructure "bottlenecks" and the deep-water seaport, after many years of incubation, have found a way out and are expected to start construction in the near future. The urban appearance is increasingly renewed and modern; new rural construction has many good and creative methods, and is one of the bright spots of the whole country. The work of hunger eradication and poverty reduction in multiple dimensions and sustainability has achieved positive results. Cultural and social development has made much progress, and the material and spiritual life of the people has been significantly improved.

Cua Hoi Bridge crosses the Lam River, connecting Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Photo: Ho Dinh Chien

NEW, STRONGER DEVELOPMENT STAGE

The results that Nghe An has achieved in many fields are very valuable but are only the first step, still very modest, still low compared to many provinces with the same starting point. In the process of taking steps to submit to the Politburo a summary of 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26 -NQ/TW, the biggest concern not only of Nghe An people, but also of Central leaders, experts, and scientists is why, the land famous for its studiousness, resilience and spirit, has not been able to create a "development breakthrough", "breakthrough, acceleration"; has not been able to realize the aspiration of "Miracle of Lam River”?

“In the past, Nghe An people were always proud of being “poor but good at studying”. Today, perhaps we should re-examine the question: Why are Nghe An people intelligent, good at studying, hard-working, and diligent, but their homeland is still not rich? The so-called “Nghe An paradox” is certainly not an obvious problem, but when and how can Nghe An escape that paradox? This has been a question for all of us for many years and many terms?”,Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang - Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council asked a question at the Scientific Conference on Socio-economic Development and National Defense and Security Assurance of Nghe An Province to 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Overview of the workshop "Socio-economic development and national defense and security assurance of Nghe An province to 2030, vision to 2045". Photo: Thanh Duy

So,Summary of 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26-NQ/TWof the Politburo is the time when the Central Government, especially Nghe An province, is determined to review and objectively assess the potential, strengths and real capacity of the province, to build and form a new, substantial and realistic development momentum. Especially, to correctly position Nghe An in the development of the region and the country, to re-identify the advantages and disadvantages of the province; especially in the breakthroughs in institutions, human resources and infrastructure; thereby, effectively promoting the potentials, advantages and resolving the difficulties, shortcomings and bottlenecks in the development of Nghe An.

The position and role of Nghe An province in the North Central region, the North Central region and the Central Coast region and the whole country have not been clarified and established until now. However, in the new context and new situation, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, Chairman of the Scientific Council, Vietnam Economic Institute, said that it is necessary to fully understand that the national and North Central region and the Central Coast region that Nghe An undertakes are the responsibilities of both the Central and local governments, and need to be specifically assigned. The Central Government ensures institutional conditions, mechanisms, policies (support, superiority, ahead) and resources to help Nghe An overcome the "low" threshold that the province itself is not capable of solving. As for Nghe An, the province has a historic opportunity and must make the best use of it to "progress"; accordingly, it is necessary to establish a system of goals at the right level; resolutely pursue so that the Central Government can fully implement its support responsibilities; At the same time, a good (outstanding and feasible) action strategy must be designed.

Panorama of VSIP Nghe An Industrial Park. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Following the process of preparing documents to be submitted to the Politburo to summarize 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, it can be seen that politicians, managers, experts and scientists have made important and profound contributions, opening up new ways of thinking, approaches, new and synchronous ways of doing things "unanimously" and "throughout" with the motto: "The central government opens the way, localities promote, businesses accompany, people participate" to build a truly favorable environment for development, for the general development orientation of the province.

In particular, to develop rapidly and sustainably, Nghe An will have to rely on more effectively exploiting institutional, human, scientific and technological factors. In particular, the province needs to continue focusing on promoting economic restructuring associated with growth model innovation, mainly based on science and technology, innovation, creativity and digital transformation; creating breakthroughs in improving the investment and business environment; improving the quality of human resources; harmonious development between regions; and focused and key investment.

Panoramic view of Vinh city center. Photo courtesy: Sach Nguyen

On the other hand, clearly orient the roles and functions of dynamic regions such as Vinh City, Southeast Economic Zone, Hoang Mai - Dong Hoi region, economic corridors (Eastern coast, Ho Chi Minh road, National Highway 7, National Highway 48A); strengthen intra-provincial connectivity, between the province and provinces in the North Central and Central Coast regions, especially with Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh. The summary process also shows that Nghe An continues to need the Central Government to continue to issue policies, orientations, tasks and solutions for the new period, especially on specific mechanisms and policies that are appropriate, correct and timely for the province.

With the spirit of determination, perseverance, adherence to and successful implementation of all set goals and tasks, based on the foundation of promoting the spirit of solidarity, unity, innovation, creativity, daring to think, daring to do for the first benefit of the province and the country, especially through the Summary of 10 years of implementing Resolution No. 26 - NQ/TW, we believe that Nghe An will open a new stage of development faster and stronger.