Promoting the glorious tradition of building Tan Ky into a prosperous district of Western Nghe An

A memorable milestone for the Party Committee, army and people of Tan Ky district was that on April 19, 1963, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam signed Decision No. 52-CP dividing the three districts of Anh Son, Nghia Dan, Quy Chau into seven districts: Anh Son, Do Luong, Tan Ky, Nghia Dan, Quy Hop, Quy Chau and Que Phong. From here, Tan Ky district officially became an administrative unit on the map of Vietnam.

Located in the Northwest of Nghe An province, Tan Ky district is surrounded by the majestic Pu Loi, Pu A and Bo Bo mountain ranges, with Len Roi, Len Voi, Con river, Rong valley and Thung Khien cave system, creating a discreet and solid defensive position. With that geographical location, Tan Ky has become an important strategic area - a land that has been chosen three times as a rear base during the most difficult times of the nation's historical struggles to defend the country.

During the fierce war against the US, the Party Committee and people of Tan Ky fulfilled their mission of both fighting and providing the highest level of human and material support to the battlefields. The slogans: "The rear competes with the front line"; "Steady hands on the plow, steady hands on the gun", "all for the beloved South"... urged cadres, party members and people of Tan Ky to overcome the rain of bombs and bullets to protect the Fatherland and open the way to liberate the South. Tens of thousands of Tan Ky's children enthusiastically joined the army, 1,286 children of Tan Ky's homeland sacrificed heroically and over 1,400 people left a part of their blood and bones on the fierce battlefield. The heroic feat of the nation in opening the great Ho Chi Minh trail is not coincidentally the Zero Milestone located in Tan Ky. Honored and proud to be the starting point of the legendary Truong Son - Ho Chi Minh trail, Tan Ky's army and people were aware of their glorious mission, striving to compete in combat and production, protecting and hiding cadres, and being a strategic area serving the campaigns of many main divisions such as 316, 324, 304 and 312 before going to war. Tan Ky's air defense force shot down 2 American planes with rifles and 12.7mm guns.

Km số 0 ở huyện Tân Kỳ là di tích lịch sử của dân tộc Việt Nam, nơi khởi đầu của tuyến đường Hồ Chí Minh huyền thoại. Ảnh tư liệu: Đinh Nguyệt
Km 0 in Tan Ky district is a historical relic of the Vietnamese people, the starting point of the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail. Photo: Dinh Nguyet

During those difficult war years, Tan Ky land embraced and sheltered kindergarten, primary and secondary teacher training schools, training future teachers for the mountainous homeland. Tan Ky homeland opened its arms to welcome nearly 30,000 people from Vinh Linh, Gio Linh, Cam Lo districts, Quang Tri province to evacuate and over 10,000 people from the plains districts to build a new economy. That unique historical evacuation was a miraculous reunion "warm with comradely love, heavy with compatriotic love", so that the two homelands could enjoy the sweetness and bitterness, share the pain" and build a special love, full of humanity, which today, returning here, is imbued with the gratitude of "Homeland of all homelands". The homeland of Tan Ky with its beautiful mountains and rivers, once imprinted in the hearts of many people feelings of love, care, and sharing during difficult times, is still in a warm, tolerant and grateful homeland, everyone comes here, together reviewing the heroic pages of history.

The country was unified, with a strong will, with persistent efforts in labor and production, the Party Committee and people of Tan Ky promoted the spirit of national solidarity, quickly healed the wounds of war, and built the homeland. The people of Tan Ky worked hard, not afraid of hardships, taking the lead in movements to plant forestry and industrial trees, open roads, build new rural areas, and construct new works.

Lãnh đạo tỉnh và lãnh đạo huyện đi kiểm tra cơ sở. Ảnh: Phương Thảo
Provincial and district leaders inspect the facility. Photo: Phuong Thao
Đồng chí Bùi Thanh Bảo - Ủy viên BCH Đảng bộ tỉnh, Bí thư Huyện ủy Tân Kỳ làm việc với đoàn tổ tư vấn kinh tế của tỉnh ở Tân Kỳ. Ảnh: Bông Mai
Comrade Bui Thanh Bao - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of Tan Ky District Party Committee worked with the provincial economic advisory group in Tan Ky. Photo: Bong Mai

In recent years, Tan Ky has made breakthroughs and progress in many aspects. The Party Committee has continuously achieved clean and strong status, national defense and security have been maintained. Innovating the Party leadership method, exploiting potential advantages, building and training a team to meet the requirements of the task, the results of leadership and direction are increasingly substantial, reflected in the socio-economic aspects. Cadres are disciplined, exemplary, assigning the right people to the right jobs, thereby clearly showing the effectiveness of the work, in addition, the inspection and supervision work is promoted. The work of the government's mass mobilization has achieved many achievements. There are no more "blank" Party cells, the clergy and laity unite to build new rural areas.

Agricultural production has many bright spots with many models: Exported bananas, straw mushrooms, Song Con oranges, OCOP chicken eggs, Tan Huong molasses; Tien Dong wine; Phu Son molasses; An Ha white oyster mushrooms, a locality with many intensive sugarcane field models of over 100 tons/ha, rice production using improved methods (SRI) in many communes in the area, applying mechanization to production. The whole district has 20 products recognized as meeting 3-star OCOP standards.

Mô hình phát triển kinh tế trang trại tổng hợp ở xã Tân Hương; Tân Kỳ đưa cơ giới hóa vào thu hoạch mía; Sản xuất nấm sò trắng và chuối Nam Mỹ trên địa bàn Tân Kỳ. Ảnh tư liệu: Xuân Hoàng
Model of comprehensive farm economic development in Tan Huong commune; Tan Ky brings mechanization to sugarcane harvesting; Production of white oyster mushrooms and South American bananas in Tan Ky. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Poverty reduction has achieved many results. The average growth rate is 10.5%. The economic structure has shifted in a positive direction. The average added value per capita in 2022 reached 44.2 million VND, an increase of 25.1 million VND compared to 2015. The construction of new rural areas and civilized urban areas has achieved many results. It is expected that by the end of 2023, the whole district will have 17/21 communes recognized as meeting new rural standards and 2 communes meeting advanced NTM standards.

Tan Ky is also a locality that exploits construction materials well in the area with 4 brick factories in operation, 2 factories under construction, brick and tile products and other construction materials. From a place with poor infrastructure and a dead-end traffic system, Tan Ky now has a fairly complete traffic network to the center of the communes, including 292 km of national highways, provincial roads, and district roads that are basically asphalted. Ho Chi Minh Road running through the area has facilitated Tan Ky to trade with friends across the country. Tan Ky is an attractive investment location, a destination for investors.

Lãnh đạo huyện Tân Kỳ vận động nhân dân hiến đất mở đường; Những con đường bê tông sạch đẹp tại xã Kỳ Tân; Người dân xã Tân An xây dựng các công trình NTM; Chợ Tân Kỳ được đầu tư xây dựng khang trang, hiện đại. Ảnh: C.Lan - Rạng Đông - Q.An
Tan Ky district leaders mobilized people to donate land to open roads; Clean and beautiful concrete roads in Ky Tan commune; Tan An commune people built new rural projects; Tan Ky market was invested in and built spacious and modern. Photo: C.Lan - Rang Dong - Q.An

The movement to build a cultural life, cultural families, cultural villages, the work of preserving and promoting cultural identity in Tan Ky has also achieved many proud results, eco-tourism is being restored and developed. The Tan Ky Education sector has made great strides in all aspects, with 86.3% of schools meeting national standards, becoming a bright spot in the Education and Training sector of Nghe An province, achieving the title of excellent labor collective at the provincial level for 8 consecutive years. The Tan Ky Health sector has also made many important contributions to the cause of taking care of people's health. The armed forces are heroic in combat, steadfast in discipline in peacetime, always contributing to preserving and protecting a peaceful and happy life for the people.

Các lĩnh vực giáo dục, y tế, văn hóa thể thao không ngừng được nâng cao. Ảnh: Xuân Hoàng -Quang An - Rạng Đông
The fields of education, health, culture and sports are constantly being improved. Photo: Xuan Hoang - Quang An - Rang Dong

In recognition of the great sacrifices and contributions of the Party Committee and people of Tan Ky district over the past 60 years, the people and armed forces of the district and 7 communes were awarded the title of "Hero of the People's Armed Forces" by the State. There are 49 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers; Hero of the Armed Forces Dang Van Dai and Hero of Labor Luong Van Hau. In particular, at the ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the district's founding, the Party Committee and people of Tan Ky district were honored to receive the Second Class Labor Medal from the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Đồng chí Nguyễn Đức Trung - Phó Bí thư Tỉnh uỷ, Chủ tịch UBND tỉnh trao Huân chương Lao động hạng Nhì của Chủ tịch nước tặng thưởng Đảng bộ và nhân dân huyện Tân Kỳ, tối 18/4. Ảnh: Phạm Bằng
Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee awarded the Second Class Labor Medal of the President to the Party Committee and people of Tan Ky district on the evening of April 18. Photo: Pham Bang
Lãnh đạo Trung ương và lãnh đạo tỉnh tham dự lễ kỷ niệm. Ảnh: Phạm Bằng
Central and provincial leaders attended the celebration. Photo: Pham Bang

Joining the great achievements of the country and homeland, proud to be the children of Tan Ky homeland, in the coming years, the Party Committee, army and people of Tan Ky are determined to strive to achieve the average economic growth target of 11%/year. Focus on synchronously building economic and social infrastructure, especially traffic infrastructure, irrigation, electricity, community activity points in residential areas; promote investment attraction, prioritizing the fields of high-tech agriculture and construction materials production.

Building Tan Ky into a bright spot in administrative reform, promoting digital transformation; building a strong political system. Continuing to nurture the source and revolutionary tradition, historical tradition, regional cultural tradition of the common homeland. Seeing that as the source of strength, to gather and inspire each Tan Ky citizen to have the will to be self-reliant, self-reliant, and the aspiration to build an increasingly developed homeland. Tan Ky will exploit the potential opportunities, especially the potential of human resources to have new breakthroughs on the path of development.

Những tuyến đường rực rỡ cờ hoa mừng ngày Thành lập huyện Tân Kỳ. Ảnh: Quang An
The streets are decorated with flags and flowers to celebrate the founding day of Tan Ky district. Photo: Quang An