Designing a new strategy for the development of Western Nghe An
(Baonghean.vn) - This is the goal of the scientific workshop "Orientation for development of Western Nghe An to 2020, vision to 2030" organized by the Provincial People's Committee in coordination with the Vietnam Economic Institute on the morning of June 19 in Con Cuong district.
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| Overview of the scientific workshop "Orientation for development of Western Nghe An to 2020, vision to 2030". Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Attending the workshop were comrades: 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 Vietnam Economic Institute, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group; experts, scientists from 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 provincial departments, branches and sectors, leaders of 11 districts and towns in the Western region of Nghe An...
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| Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh and delegates attending the workshop. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Pursuant to Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the direction and tasks for the development of Nghe An province until 2020, the Prime Minister approved the Project on socio-economic development of the Western region of Nghe An province until 2020 in Decision No. 2355/QD-TTg dated December 4, 2013 (hereinafter referred to as Decision No. 2355/QD-TTg).
Decision No. 2355/QD-TTg sets out 27 main economic, social and environmental targets for each period up to 2015 and 2020, including 4 targets on economic development, 18 targets on cultural and social development, and 5 targets on environmental protection.
In his opening speech, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong emphasized: Nghe An identified this as a conference of utmost importance to the development of the Western region of the province in the coming time and requested scientists, managers, businesses... to focus on evaluating the results that the Western region of Nghe An has achieved; the difficulties, limitations, causes, and lessons learned over nearly 5 years of implementing Decision 2355/QD-TTg.
The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also asked the delegates to analyze the advantages, difficulties; the issues arising in Western Nghe An in the development process, especially from now to 2020 and 2030; seek a new development approach, thereby establishing a new vision, designing a new strategy for the development of Western Nghe An.
“Comrades, scientists, managers and all of you, please contribute and “offer ideas” for strategic orientation and development solutions for Western Nghe An in the coming period,” said the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.
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| Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong delivered the opening speech at the workshop. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Subsequent discussions showed that the average growth rate in the 2014-2018 period in the Western Nghe An region was estimated at 8.5%, higher than the average growth rate of the whole province (the average growth rate of the province in this period was 7.59%). The average income per capita in 2018 was estimated at 26.5 million VND, an increase of 1.53 times compared to 2013 (equal to 70% of the average per capita of the whole province).
However, according to the assessment, the results of implementing the goals, targets and tasks of socio-economic development are not commensurate with the potential and strengths of the region. It is forecasted that 4/27 important targets in Decision No. 2355/QD-TTg will be difficult to achieve the set targets by 2020, including: growth targets; economic structure; per capita income; budget revenue.
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| Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien delivered the opening speech at the conference. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Speaking at the conference, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien emphasized that Resolution 26 of the Politburo clearly stated: Investing in socio-economic development of the western region into one of the three key economic regions of the province, linking raw material areas with mining and processing of minerals, agricultural and industrial products. Building a high-tech agricultural zone with Nghia Dan as the center aims to exploit the agricultural potential of the western region, creating products with quality, productivity, efficiency and being a typical example of high-tech agricultural production in the North Central region.
On that basis, the former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute suggested that it is necessary to stick to this goal to set a development vision for Western Nghe An, especially the need to take the central axis revolving around the goal of building this area into a high-tech agricultural zone.
Next, experts and scientists have made enthusiastic developments, sharing and contributing ideas for the development of the Western province.
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| Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung speaks at the workshop. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ho Xuan Hung gave some opinions on the direction of exploiting resources to develop Western Nghe An, focusing on solutions to exploit and effectively use natural resources, human resources, and finance.
Former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen analyzed that Western Nghe An has two outstanding comparative advantages: agriculture and tourism and suggested focusing on developing these two areas.
The conference also discussed the construction and replication of models of applying scientific and technological advances as a driving force for socio-economic development in the western region of Nghe An province; sustainable forestry development; key solutions for rapid and sustainable development of the mining and processing industry of minerals and construction materials, etc.
Speaking at the workshop, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh raised issues that need to be researched and evaluated to develop Western Nghe An in terms of planning, agricultural development, services, trade, tourism, cultural-social industry, national defense and security.
On that basis, the Provincial People's Committee and relevant sectors consider and calculate to implement in order to achieve the highest efficiency, in order to develop the Western Nghe An region effectively.
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| Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh speaks at the workshop. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
Closing the workshop, summarizing the solutions for the development of Western Nghe An, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Xuan Duong shared his determination to turn the difficulties and burdens of Western Nghe An into advantages for this area to become a rich land, enriching Nghe An province.
The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee noted that after the workshop, the sectors and localities should implement specific plans in the area; especially the sectors of Agriculture, Science and Technology, and Tourism need to have very specific programs and projects to implement in the Western Nghe An region.
"I would like to remind the sectors attending the workshop that you must be very concerned about proposing specific projects to help the districts in Western Nghe An develop based on their advantages" - Chairman Nguyen Xuan Duong requested.
The Western part of Nghe An province has a total natural area of 13,728.97 km2, accounting for 83.36% of the province's total area; is a region with quite complex terrain fragmentation, with 11 district-level administrative units and 217 commune-level administrative units. The total population of the region is about 1.1 million people, accounting for 36.6% of the province's total population, of which about 38.9% are ethnic minorities.
This is a particularly important strategic area in terms of socio-economics, national defense, security and foreign affairs of Nghe An province, the North Central region as well as the whole country.