Promoting Nghe An identity in the cause of homeland innovation

(Baonghean) - On the country's historical journeys, with the heroic spirit of pioneering "taking the lead", the land and people of Nghe An have made enormous contributions to the cause of preserving and protecting national independence. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Liberation of the South (April 30) and International Labor Day (May 1), Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Ho Duc Phoc about promoting the role, position and human resources of Nghe An in the cause of national liberation, current development as well as future orientations.

Dear Comrade Provincial Party Secretary, the two resistance wars against the French and the Americans further proved the heroic tradition of Nghe An, recording the immense contributions of the land and people of Nghe An in the struggle to regain independence and unify the country. Could you please elaborate on this issue?

Comrade Le Hong Anh and provincial leaders visited an orange farm in Dong Thanh commune (Yen Thanh). Photo: Sy Minh

Comrade Ho Duc Phoc:History has proven that Nghe An is the land of "hot fields and lakes" of the Fatherland, with a tradition of patriotism and great contributions in terms of people and property in the cause of preserving and protecting national independence. That tradition and precious qualities existed before the two resistance wars against France and the US. Nghe An has always been an important stronghold, a springboard for many famous battles in history against the Yuan-Mongol invaders, the Ming invaders...

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Nghe An was the place where many revolutionary movements fought to regain independence for the country. With the heroic spirit, pioneering "taking the lead", the land and people of Nghe An wrote the first pages of history of the proletarian struggle movement, with the peak being the Nghe Tinh Soviet Movement (1930-1931). Another brilliant milestone in the nation's long resistance war was the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954, which also recorded the great contributions of the children of Nghe An who shed their blood at the planet's most important fortress.

During the two resistance wars against France and the US, Nghe An had about 596,000 people participating in the army, 43,000 people participating in the Youth Volunteer Force, nearly 16,000 people participating in the frontline civilian labor force... At the end of the war, the whole province had about 47,000 martyrs, 42,000 wounded soldiers and people enjoying policies like wounded soldiers, 17,000 sick soldiers. The above figures show the enormous contributions and sacrifices of Nghe An to bring peace and national independence, culminating in the victory in 1975, liberating the South and unifying the country.

PV:Dear comrade, how have the land and people of Nghe An promoted the tradition of "taking the lead" during the period of national construction and development, especially in the era of deep international integration?

Comrade Ho Duc Phoc: First of all, we need to recognize and evaluate the inherent conditions of our province: Nghe An is a province with a large land area, a large population, and diverse and abundant natural resources. Promoting those advantages, Nghe An's socio-economic development has developed relatively quickly, and people's lives have improved day by day. However, we need to frankly acknowledge that the socio-economic development situation of our province still has many limitations. By the end of 2014, the budget revenue reached 7,652 billion VND, the average income per capita was only 26 million VND/year (more than 1,200 USD), the poverty rate is about 10%. Nghe An is still a poor province that cannot balance its budget revenue and expenditure, the average income per capita is low and the poverty rate is higher than the national average.

That requires today's generations to be more active in promoting the pioneering spirit, leading on all fronts of Nghe An people as in the war period. The place and people of Nghe An have become living monuments of strong patriotism. Therefore, in this new era, we must strive to create strong marks in socio-economic development. We need to have many industrial and agricultural products that affirm their brands and have a place in the domestic and global value chain. To do so, besides effectively exploiting natural potential, the decisive issue is to promote the potential of human resources in the province.

PV:As the Secretary just said, abundant human resources are one of the strengths of Nghe An province. However, it seems that this resource has not been exploited and used in a reasonable and effective way. So, could you please tell us about the current situation and the orientations for developing human resources to make Nghe An a bright spot on the development path?

Comrade Ho Duc Phoc:Currently, our province has a population of more than 3.1 million people, of which the working age is about 1.8 million. Nghe An people are famous for being intelligent, studious, honest, and strong. In national excellent student competitions, Nghe An is always in the leading positions on the national rankings. In addition, we have also trained many excellent students, participating in the national team and achieving high prizes in international competitions, bringing glory to Vietnam in general and Nghe An in particular. In the 2015 national excellent student competition, Nghe An delegation continued to achieve high results, ranking 3rd in the country with 82 students winning prizes (after Hanoi and Hai Phong), all subjects had students winning prizes.

Practical hours of students of the Faculty of Electronics, Vinh University of Technical Education. Photo: Phan Van Toan

However, the current limitation of Nghe An labor force is that the rate of trained labor is still low, only accounting for more than 35%, and industrial style is still not high. Every year we have more than 20,000 laborers graduating from universities, colleges, intermediate schools... but only employing less than 2,000 laborers. The core problem does not lie in the gap between supply and demand in the recruitment market but in the gap between the labor quality requirements of employers and the skills of workers.

In the trend of using the investment environment as a springboard for Nghe An province's economy to make a breakthrough, we need to pay more attention to the human factor. The first direction is to attract high-quality human resources from Nghe An's children to work and contribute to the development of their homeland. The second direction is to innovate and improve the quality of training, ensuring a highly skilled local labor force, not only meeting national standards but also reaching international standards, qualified to work in factories and industrial parks of large domestic and foreign investors.

The province has implemented the project, directed all levels and sectors to streamline training, provide vocational guidance, and maximize the effectiveness of the training system in the province, especially vocational training. This will both orient students to study and develop according to their own aspirations and abilities, and also in accordance with the needs of society, thereby creating conditions for workers to have the opportunity to contribute to their homeland. The province will play the role of a bridge between schools and businesses to ensure that the presence of investors in the province not only brings immediate benefits to the provincial budget, but also creates positive and long-term social effects, through creating jobs and stable income for the province's children.

Only then will Nghe An workers be confident in participating in the socio-economic development machine, becoming active factors in the local, domestic and international labor market. Especially when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is formed in 2015 and countries in the region have a roadmap to open the labor market for workers from member countries to work, Nghe An workers must definitely grasp this important opportunity.

PV:Dear Comrade Provincial Party Secretary, the good news is that on April 16, 2015, according to the results announced by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Nghe An has risen from 46th place (average rank) to 28th place (fair rank) in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) rankings. This information comes on the occasion of the whole country celebrating the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country. So, could you tell us about the key points in the development orientation of the province in the coming time?

Comrade Ho Duc Phuc: 2014 can be said to be a year in which Nghe An made rapid breakthroughs on the path of industrialization and modernization. In the near future, we will continue to promote investment environment reform in both areas: infrastructure and administrative and legal corridors. In addition, Nghe An is determined to attract and call for investors but with focus, orientation, and serving the development goals of the province. That is, economic development based on 3 key areas: Western Nghe An; Vinh - Cua Lo - Southeast Economic Zone; Hoang Mai - Dong Hoi. Each area will focus on developing one or several key industries such as heavy industry (materials), light industry (processing, linked with agriculture), "soft" industry (tourism, services)...

In the development orientation for the coming time, the province continues to closely follow Resolution 26 on the direction and tasks of developing Nghe An until 2020. In the initial implementation of the resolution, we have achieved many very positive results. This is a great advantage for Nghe An to truly "take off" during the 18th Provincial Party Congress, term 2015 - 2020. Successfully organize Party Congresses at all levels; build and propose practical and effective resolutions and development projects to turn favorable factors such as homeland traditions, natural resources, and human resources into effective service for the cause of developing a strong homeland.

In a more far-reaching and macro view, we need to combine and integrate harmoniously old and new, traditional and modern values ​​for rapid but sustainable development, based on the foundation of a very unique and Nghe An identity. The goal we aim for is to build people who both preserve the rich cultural and historical sediments of their homeland but have the vision and thinking of the times. That is what Nghe An really needs to make "miraculous" progress on the path of industrialization and modernization.

PV:Thank you very much, Provincial Party Secretary!

PV