Nghe An holds the mission of creating momentum for the entire North Central region.

Conference scene. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Attending the workshop were comrades: Le Quang Huy - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment; Truong Dinh Tuyen - former member of the Party Central Committee, former Minister of Trade, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee; Ho Xuan Hung - former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, former Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee; Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group; experts, scientists from the Vietnam Economic Institute, central departments, ministries and branches.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrades: Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; comrades in the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, directors of departments, branches and sectors.

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Acting as co-chair of the conference, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute Tran Dinh Thien suggested: To assess the actual results of socio-economic implementation in the past 5 years, provincial leaders and sectors need to closely follow the targets of Resolution No. 26. For example, the target of per capita income. The target of Resolution No. 26 is that by 2020, Nghe An's per capita income will reach more than 2,800 - 3,500 USD/person/year. Will this target be achieved? Therefore, discussions need to closely follow reality to have a summary and assessment to continue to successfully implement the proposed socio-economic indicators.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute said that Nghe An, as the center of the North Central region, will shoulder the mission of the whole region. Photo: Thanh Cuong

According to the goal of Resolution 26, by 2020 Nghe An must become a fairly industrial province, the center of the North Central region; Vinh city is the economic and cultural center of the whole region. Therefore, Nghe An has the mission of creating motivation and removing difficulties for the whole region to develop. Nghe An is a province with a separate Resolution of the Politburo, so the province needs to propose to the Government a strategic policy that has the meaning of impacting and supporting the whole region.

On July 30, 2013, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW on the direction and tasks for developing Nghe An province until 2020. The goal of the resolution is to strive to build Nghe An into a fairly developed province in the Northern region, creating the foundation to basically become an industrial province by 2020.

According to the 5-year summary report on the implementation of Resolution No. 26, the province's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the 2014-2018 period increased by an average of 8.0% (compared to the target of Resolution 26 to 2020 of 9.0 - 10.0%). GRDP per capita increased quite well: in 2013 it reached 24.17 million VND/person, in 2017 it reached 34.14 million VND, it is estimated that in 2018 it will reach 37 million VND/person, 1.57 times higher than in 2013. Budget revenue in the area increased steadily every year; in 2013 the total budget revenue was 8,065.3 billion VND, in 2017 it was 12,959 billion VND, it is expected that in 2018 it will be 13,500 billion VND, an increase of 1.67 times compared to 2013.

The economic structure shifted in the right direction: the proportion of the industrial - construction sector increased from 27.76% in 2013 to 31.39% in 2017 and is expected to reach 33.35% in 2018. The agriculture - forestry - fishery sector decreased from 25.03% in 2013 to 21.79% in 2017; The service sector accounted for 47.21% in 2013, and 46.82% in 2017.

Mr. Ho Xuan Hung - former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development spoke at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The investment and business environment continues to be strongly improved in an open direction, creating favorable conditions for investors..Nghe An's Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) has been continuously increasing in rank over the past years: in 2013 it was ranked 46th, by 2017 it had risen to 21st in the country, leading the 6 North Central provinces - the highest position ever. The number of newly established enterprises in the province increased by an average of 14-15%/year, the average registered capital reached 5.01 billion VND/enterprise. In the period of 2014-2018, the province attracted 541 projects with a total investment of 179,743 billion VND. In addition, there are 31 ODA programs and projects/total investment of 15,050 billion VND that have been and are being effectively implemented.

One of the contents of Resolution 26 NQ-TW is to build Vinh city into a center of finance, trade, tourism, science - technology, information technology, high-tech industry, health, culture, sports, education - training. On that basis, the Prime Minister approved the adjustment of the general planning of Vinh city to 2030, with a vision to 2050, and approved the Project to develop Vinh city into an economic and cultural center of the North Central region by 2020 in the spirit of Resolution 26-NQ/TW of the Politburo.

Comrade Le Quang Huy - Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment spoke at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The average growth rate of added value of Vinh City reached 8.63%. Total added value at current prices increased by 17.38%/year, accounting for about 24.6% of the total added value of the province/target of 39-41%. The average added value per capita in 2017 reached 76.79 million VND, 2.25 times higher than the average level of the province.

Nghe An province has coordinated with Thanh Hoa province to continue implementing the planning of the South Thanh Hoa - North Nghe An region; coordinated with Ha Tinh province to establish the planning of the South Nghe An - North Ha Tinh region into key economic zones according to the orientation of Resolution 26.

Participating in the discussion at the conference, delegates all acknowledged the results that Nghe An has achieved after 5 years of implementing Resolution 26 of the Politburo. That Resolution has contributed to changing the face of the province. However, some delegates also raised some issues that the province needs to pay attention to and find solutions to.

Former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen speaks at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Agreeing with some of the contents of the interim report, former Minister of Trade, former Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee Truong Dinh Tuyen also expressed concern that some of the targets set out in the Resolution were difficult to achieve. For example, the average income target. As of 2017, the average income per capita of the whole country had only reached over 2,300 USD/person/year. Meanwhile, Resolution 26 on Nghe An economic development set a target of reaching over 2,800 - 3,500 USD/person/year by 2020. The former Minister of Trade also raised the question: Why are the children of Nghe An successful when they go abroad but cannot be successful when they return? This is definitely due to the environment. In addition, if the province wants to accelerate its economy, it is necessary to increase labor productivity within the industry and increase labor productivity from lowland to highland areas.

Mr. Ho Xuan Hung - former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, former Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee said: After 5 years of implementing Resolution 26 of the Politburo, the results achieved by Nghe An are very encouraging, with goals far exceeding the plan, especially in the field of economic restructuring, agriculture, new rural program, trade services... The former Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee also suggested a number of solutions to contribute to the construction and development of the locality. In which, focusing on 2 solutions to mobilize resources is calling on businesses and economic groups of Nghe An people to invest in their hometown and taking advantage of the support and assistance of many intellectuals, scientists, and experts from Nghe An from all over the country to contribute ideas to help their hometown. Mr. Ho Xuan Hung also said that, with the potential in agricultural development, the province should prioritize clean agricultural production on the basis of high technology and high efficiency.

Participating in the discussion at the conference, many delegates also proposed many important solutions to implement the goals of Resolution 26 of the Politburo on Nghe An development. These are contents on agriculture, industry, construction, investment attraction, education, etc. Besides, to create rapid changes in the investment in technical infrastructure construction, delegates also proposed implementing socialization models in this field.

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Provincial Party Secretary spoke at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Speaking at the conference, comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation said that with the results achieved through the implementation of Resolution No. 26, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee will continue to organize conferences and seminars to collect and listen to experts' opinions in order to promptly supplement the group of solutions.

The Provincial Party Secretary also said that reporting on the implementation results of Resolution No. 26 is a practical summary activity, so in order to properly assess the results of the Resolution after a period, it is necessary to compare with reality. Especially comparing surveys and research in residential areas such as mountainous areas, ethnic minority areas, urban areas... A good survey and assessment between the resolution and reality will more fully reflect the socio-economic picture of the province, thanks to which the report will have multi-dimensional interaction. Whatever content the Resolution mentions, it is necessary to stick to that content to have an accurate and specific assessment.

Referring to the economic zones of the province mentioned in the report, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Dac Vinh also said that Nghe An has key economic zones for strategic investment, including the Southeast Economic Zone, Vinh city area and vicinity, the northern Nghe An area associated with Hoang Mai and Dong Hoi Industrial Parks. It is necessary to consider the development trends and levels of these areas to have reasonable decisions as well as clarify in the report assessing the results of implementing the resolution...

Agreeing with this viewpoint, Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assigned the departments, branches and localities to focus on the assessment and summary of practices. Accordingly, the departments and branches continue to review the indicators of Resolution No. 26 to complete the report before July 15.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong also expressed his deep gratitude to the delegates who attended the discussion conference, especially the leading experts in various fields who had valuable comments contributing to the development of Nghe An to become increasingly strong.

PV Group