Upholding the spirit of innovation, responsibility, and intelligence is essential for a successful and effective meeting.

Nghe An Newspaper and Radio & Television respectfully present the full text of the opening speech of the session by Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council.

Dear Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee!

Distinguished members of the National Assembly, esteemed guests!

Distinguished members of the Provincial People's Council!

Dear voters and citizens of the province!

Today, the 18th term of the Nghe An Provincial People's Council solemnly opens its 31st session - the regular mid-year session of 2025. On behalf of the Presiding Officer of the session, I respectfully extend my best wishes for health, happiness, and success to the Provincial Party Secretary, the National Assembly delegates, distinguished guests, the Provincial People's Council delegates, and all voters and people of the province!

Distinguished delegates and voters!

The 31st session – the regular mid-year session of the Provincial People's Council in 2025 – is a very important and pivotal session in two aspects: it is the first session after Nghe An province completed the reorganization of administrative units and officially operated the two-tiered local government model (province and commune); and we are entering the final six months of the term implementing the Resolution of the 19th Provincial Party Congress, a time requiring high consensus and decisive, synchronized action to achieve the goals on the right track and at the right level. From July 1, 2025, the two-tiered administrative apparatus will officially come into operation, marking a new stage of development for the country.

To date, the operation of the newly established commune and ward governments in the area has been basically smooth and stable; the grassroots officials and civil servants have quickly adapted to their work with higher determination and greater responsibility, with a spirit of serving the people; the handling of administrative procedures for citizens has been quick and uninterrupted. The Provincial People's Council acknowledges and highly appreciates the efforts of all levels, sectors, and agencies in the political system in actively and promptly completing the preparation and implementation of the two-tier government model; at the same time, it sincerely thanks the high level of support and consensus of voters and the people of the province, contributing to the overall results of the province in implementing the Party and State's policies, ensuring progress and quality, and preparing our country to develop and thrive in the new era of development.

Distinguished delegates and voters of the province!

According to the approved agenda, the 31st session of the Provincial People's Council will consider many important issues, including:

The first,Assessing the implementation of socio-economic development tasks; budget revenue and expenditure estimates; implementation of the public investment plan for the first six months of the year and key tasks and solutions for the last six months of 2025.

In the first six months of the year, along with the decisive and urgent implementation of the organizational restructuring revolution, all levels and sectors have strived to fulfill socio-economic development tasks, achieving many positive and fairly comprehensive results in various fields: The growth rate of the province's gross domestic product in the first six months of the year is estimated at 8.24%.(Ranked 12th out of 34 provinces and cities; first in the North Central sub-region)Budget revenue reached VND 13,890 billion, achieving 78.4% of the projected target, an increase of 14.5% compared to the same period in 2024; investment attraction yielded positive results; and public investment disbursement was higher than the same period in 2024. Cultural and social fields continued to receive attention and achieved many positive results; national defense, security, and social order and safety were maintained.

However, alongside the achievements, there are still some shortcomings and limitations such as: While the economy has grown considerably, it has not yet met the set targets, creating pressure on achieving the growth targets for the remaining quarters; striving to achieve the 2025 growth target remains challenging; and businesses still face many difficulties in their production and operations. The progress of some key projects and the disbursement of public investment capital from some sources are still slow. Attracting FDI into economic zones and industrial parks has not yielded high results, lower than the same period last year. State management of resources and the environment remains inadequate; overcrowding in some hospitals and the situation of unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical practices have not been thoroughly resolved; and the supply of highly skilled and qualified personnel does not meet the needs of businesses. Provincial competitiveness index (PCI), public administration reform index (PAR INDEX), public administration governance index (PAPI), and local innovation index (PII) have not improved and have declined in ranking compared to the previous year…

The Provincial People's Council delegates are requested to carefully study the report and proposals, focus on discussing and comprehensively evaluating the achievements, frankly pointing out limitations, shortcomings and their causes, especially subjective causes in the implementation process; proposing additional and adjusted specific and feasible solutions to achieve the highest possible results in 2025 and solutions to ensure the efficient and smooth operation of the two-tier local government model.

Monday,The Provincial People's Council will discuss, provide feedback, and approve 19 important thematic resolutions, many of which directly relate to the management and operation of the local government in the context of the new organizational model. These include adjustments to the budget revenue and expenditure estimates, the medium-term public investment plan, the decentralization of revenue sources and budget expenditure tasks; the fee and charge rates for online public services; amendments to the expenditure rates for travel expenses and conference expenses; regulations on the content and expenditure rates for recruiting civil servants and public employees, and considering promotion to higher professional titles for public employees; the content and expenditure rates for industrial promotion activities; the authority to decide on investment and procurement for information technology application activities; and the housing development program, among others.

These are important policy decisions that need careful consideration and comprehensive evaluation to ensure consensus, feasibility, and practicality. At the same time, the Provincial People's Council will carry out the personnel restructuring of the Provincial People's Committee members within its authority.

Tuesday,The Provincial People's Council exercises oversight by reviewing and commenting on reports submitted to the session by the Provincial People's Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Committees of the Provincial People's Council, and a number of agencies and units as prescribed. The session will consider the report on the results of the Provincial People's Council's thematic oversight on the planning and arrangement of the school and classroom network at educational institutions in the province.

The questioning focused on the following groups of issues: the implementation of mechanisms and policies to improve the investment and business environment, remove difficulties for businesses; overcome limitations and improve the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI); and the state management of the production and trading of counterfeit, fake, substandard goods, and unsafe food in the province. These are "hot" and pressing issues that voters and the public are particularly concerned about.

Distinguished delegates and voters of the province!

In preparation for the 31st Session, the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the Provincial People's Committee, and the Standing Committee of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee actively coordinated the preparation of the session's contents early on, ensuring quality, proper authority, and adherence to regulations. The Committees of the Provincial People's Council conducted reviews and provided many specific opinions, which the Provincial People's Committee incorporated and refined before submitting the draft to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and decision.

The session duration was further streamlined from three days to two days. This was also the first session of the Provincial People's Council since the official implementation of the two-tiered local government model, with the participation of 130 Chairpersons of the People's Councils of communes and wards in the province. The successful organization of this session by the Provincial People's Council will provide valuable experience for the People's Councils of communes and wards to organize their regular mid-year sessions in 2025.

Therefore, we request that the delegates of the Provincial People's Council continue to uphold the spirit of innovation and responsibility, utilize their intellect, carefully study the contents, actively participate in discussions in the working groups and the plenary session, engage in questioning, and clearly express their opinions, especially on issues where there are differing views, in order to achieve high consensus so that the People's Council can make decisions that are in accordance with the law and the practical situation. We request that the leaders of the agencies and units invited by the Provincial People's Council to attend the session fully participate and actively contribute to the contents of the session.

During the session, the Provincial People's Council will set up an online hotline to receive suggestions and feedback from voters. We request that news agencies, newspapers, and radio and television stations strengthen their information and communication efforts to promptly, fully, and accurately convey the activities in the assembly to voters and all segments of the population.

With that spirit, I declare the 31st Session of the 18th Provincial People's Council open./.