Seminar on strategic orientation for socio-economic development in Western Nghe An

Attending the program, Central delegates included comrades: Le Minh Hoan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; along with representatives of the National Assembly Committees, leaders of units of relevant ministries, branches and international organizations.

The leaders of Nghe An province included comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; together with comrades in the Provincial Party Standing Committee, leaders of the Provincial People's Council, Provincial People's Committee, Provincial National Assembly Delegation, departments, branches and 11 districts and towns in the West.

Attending the seminar were members of the Nghe An Province Socio-Economic Advisory Group headed by former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen; National Assembly delegations from Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Vinh Phuc provinces and businesses and associations.

AREA OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE

Western Nghe An has a natural area of ​​more than 13,728.97 km², accounting for 83.3% of the province's total area; there are 11 district-level administrative units, with 211 commune-level administrative units, including 27 border communes with more than 468 km of border with Laos.

The total population of the region is 1.237 million people (accounting for 36.28% of the total population of the province); of which, ethnic minorities have 410,000 people, accounting for 38.4% of the total population of the Western region, including many ethnic groups living together (such as Thai, Tho, Kho Mu, Mong, Dan Lai, O Du, Kinh...).

This is an area of ​​special importance in terms of socio-economics, national defense, security, and foreign affairs of the province, the North Central region, and the whole country.

Western Nghe An has the largest biosphere reserve in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, with scientific, environmental, cultural, humanistic and historical values, recognized by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, delivering the opening speech at the seminar "Potentials, advantages and strategic orientations for socio-economic development in Western Nghe An", Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy emphasized: The forum is extremely meaningful in order to concretize one of the important tasks in implementing Resolution No. 39 of the Politburo on building and developing Nghe An province to 2030, with a vision to 2045 and the Prime Minister's Decision approving the Planning of Nghe An province for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

“Today’s seminar is a very important opportunity to discuss, exchange, evaluate, and analyze in depth and specifically the key and core issues to help the Western Nghe An region develop sustainably in the right direction,” affirmed the Secretary of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee and said: The organizing committee of the seminar is looking forward to receiving many enthusiastic and frank opinions from delegates, scientists, managers, businessmen, and enterprises, thereby helping Nghe An province to more clearly identify the potentials, advantages, opportunities, difficulties, challenges, and bottlenecks that need to be resolved; establish a new development approach; new vision, strategy and breakthrough solutions for the development of the Western Nghe An region in the coming time.

Along with that, implementing Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW of the Politburo, Nghe An province is focusing on coordinating with central ministries and branches to research and advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and promulgation of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Nghe An province, including specific mechanisms and policies for the development of the Western region. "We look forward to receiving "advice", suggestions and important comments from the delegates", said comrade Thai Thanh Quy.

NEED TO APPROACH THE DEVELOPMENT OF WESTERN NGHE AN WITH NEW THINKING

In his welcoming speech, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan shared his feelings and enthusiasm for Nghe An, especially for the Western region.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development thanks Nghe An for giving us such a joyful feeling from yesterday until now. We are very happy to be close to the people of Nghe An in general, and the West of Nghe An in particular,” the Minister mentioned about the series of activities organized by the Ministry in coordination with the People's Committee of Nghe An province at the Ministry's campus.

Regarding the development of Western Nghe An, Minister Le Minh Hoan said that it is necessary to approach with a new mindset, first of all, there must be the thought and determination of "must do, need to do, should do" for Western Nghe An to find solutions.

The Minister said that we should not stick to the mindset that mountainous areas are poor and ethnic minorities are miserable, but we need to be optimistic in order to have initiatives and work together to change the Western region.

“We see the vitality of Western Nghe An units through booths and performances filled with intangible values, which will activate the tangible values ​​of Western Nghe An.”

From there, through the seminar "Strategic orientation for socio-economic development in Western Nghe An" and the display, introduction and promotion of OCOP products, typical products of Western Nghe An, Minister Le Minh Hoan emphasized that it is necessary to present a new, more optimistic vision based on systematic coordination of actions from the Central to the local level, with an interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral nature to both arouse the potential of indigenous resources, cultural potential and social structure of Western Nghe An.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development also said that it is necessary to approach Western Nghe An as a whole, not to let hierarchical management inhibit thinking. Because once that is overcome and there is an open mind, the larger the space, the greater the value it brings.

With the love and passion to "cultivate the land, people and future for the Western Nghe An region", comrade Le Minh Hoan also said: The Ministry will take the Western Nghe An region as a "pilot" to implement projects submitted to the Central and the Government to have an integrated, multi-sectoral, multi-value view for the agricultural sector.

Before the discussion, delegates watched a video clip about the potential, advantages and socio-economic development situation of Western Nghe An and listened to a report on the current socio-economic development situation, potential and development orientation of Western Nghe An in the spirit of Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW dated July 18, 2023.

At the Seminar with the theme "Strategic orientation for economic development in the Western Nghe An region", Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Thai Thanh Quy, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, Deputy Head of the Economic - Social Advisory Group of Nghe An province, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Hero of Labor in the Renovation Period, Founder, Chairman of the Strategy Council of TH Thai Huong Group and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen - National Coordinator of the Global Environment Facility Small Projects Funding Program under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) discussed and provided more specific perspectives on the current situation, potential, advantages, and difficulties in regional development; factors affecting development, while suggesting solutions that are both general and specific, appropriate to have a clearer orientation for the development of the Western Nghe An region.

On behalf of the provincial leaders, speaking in response and acceptance, Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung affirmed that the province fully and seriously accepted all opinions in order to propose specific and specific solutions and policies, even breakthrough policies, especially in the context that Nghe An is receiving great attention from the Central Government with the Politburo issuing Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW on building and developing Nghe An province to 2030, vision to 2045 and the Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister.

These are two very important bases for the development of Nghe An province, in which the Western region develops rapidly and sustainably, maximizing the advantages of forest economy, under forest canopy, border gates; historical and cultural values; effectively responding to natural disaster prevention and climate change.

Seeing that the presence of the delegates shows their interest, enthusiasm and desire for the development of Western Nghe An, on behalf of the leaders of Nghe An province, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nghe An province shared and expressed his sincere thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Minister Le Minh Hoan and leaders of departments, ministries, branches, central agencies, experts, scientists, businesses and scientists for always paying attention and showing affection; at the same time, he hoped that the discussion would be the first step to create motivation and from there turn into a resource to achieve the development goal of Nghe An province in general and Western Nghe An in particular.