General Secretary To Lam: Nghe An must be a model of modern development in the new era

General Secretary To Lam expressed his emotion when returning to Nghe An with the Central delegation - the land of "spiritual land and talented people", where the spirit of loyal, talented and courageous people is nurtured. This is not only a historical land, but also a typical land of the aspiration to rise up, overcome difficulties, and conquer all peaks.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders and with deep personal feelings, the General Secretary cordially sends to the provincial leaders and through them to all revolutionary veterans, Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, Armed Forces Heroes, Labor Heroes, the Party Committee, government, army and people of the province his warm regards and best wishes.

Nghe An is a land rich in patriotic and revolutionary traditions, the birthplace of many heroes, celebrities, generals, patriots, talented businessmen, especially President Ho Chi Minh - the great leader of our Party and people, National Liberation Hero, World Cultural Celebrity; and many staunch revolutionaries such as Le Hong Phong, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Phan Dang Luu... Nghe An is also the homeland of the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement of 1930 - 1931, the earliest symbol of the worker-peasant government in the history of the Vietnamese revolution.

The General Secretary emphasized: "It is that "deep-rooted, enduring" tradition that is a solid spiritual support, a precious endogenous resource that nurtures the mettle, spirit and aspiration to rise of the land and people of Nghe An. Today, working with the Provincial Party Standing Committee, I am very excited to see that the Party Committee, government and people of Nghe An are continuing that historical source with comprehensive and steady development steps in all fields."

The General Secretary assessed: Although entering the term of the Provincial Party Congress in the context of many complex and unpredictable global changes in both geopolitical and geo-economic aspects, many unexpected difficulties appeared..., but under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, the Party Committee, government and people of Nghe An province have shown the courage to overcome difficulties and make spectacular breakthroughs in many fields.

In the period of 2020 - 2024, the average growth rate of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the province will reach 7.98%, higher than the national average. In 2024 alone, it will reach 9.01%, and in the first quarter of 2025, it will reach 8.0%. The economic scale will rank 10th, and the state budget revenue will rank 17th in the country.

A special highlight is attracting foreign direct investment (FDI): from a "lowland" in attracting investment, Nghe An has risen to the top 10 provinces in the country, with more than 4.8 billion USD in just 3 years, 4.5 times higher than the entire period before 2020. In particular, the emergence of large technology corporations such as Luxshare, Goertek, Foxconn... has created a new foundation for the formation of high-tech industrial production chains and deep processing.

Economic restructuring is taking place strongly: the industrial, construction and service sectors account for nearly 80% of GRDP. Export turnover reached 3.7 billion USD, double the target set by the Congress. The agricultural sector is transforming strongly with nearly 23,200 hectares of high-tech agricultural production, opening up a direction for green, smart and sustainable agricultural development.

Infrastructure is invested synchronously, connecting strategically such as: highways, seaports, airports, regional and border connecting routes. Vinh City is gradually becoming a regional center with specialized medical facilities, high-quality education, digital technology systems and rapidly developing smart urban management.

The new rural development program has achieved positive results with 77% of communes meeting standards, the temporary housing elimination program is very impressive with more than 16,500 new houses completed in less than 2 years. The fields of culture, education, and health have clearly developed; the province maintains its leading position nationwide in the rate of national and international excellent students. The district health network has been strengthened, a number of hospitals have met the standards of the final level of the region.

Party building and the political system are focused on, and timely attention is paid to the work of streamlining the apparatus; national defense, security, politics, and social order and safety are ensured, creating a solid foundation for socio-economic development.

In particular, General Secretary To Lam highly appreciated the "clean drug" model, with the highlight being that 27/27 border communes are "clean of drugs", contributing significantly to maintaining security and order, repelling social evils, and protecting a peaceful life for the people.

These results clearly demonstrate the spirit of solidarity and unity of the political system; the determination and dynamism in leadership and direction; the efforts and consensus of cadres, party members and people of all walks of life in Nghe An province.

On behalf of the Politburo and the Central working delegation, General Secretary To Lam congratulated and commended the important and comprehensive achievements that the Party Committee, government and people of Nghe An province have achieved in recent times.

Besides the important results, we also need to clearly see the "bottlenecks" in the province's development.

GDP ranks 10th, but the provincial budget is only 50% self-balanced. Per capita income is still low, only about 50% of the national average income, with a large gap in development and income between the delta, coastal areas and mountainous, border and ethnic minority areas. Poverty reduction results are not really sustainable; the poverty rate is higher than the national average. This is not only an economic issue but also a challenge to social justice, social stability and long-term sustainable development. We took power 80 years ago, so there is no reason why people are still poor, hungry and lacking clothes. If we do not eliminate poverty, we will be greatly at fault with the people.

Nghe An still has a lot of potential but it has not been exploited, the growth quality is not high, there are not many large projects, which are dynamic, creating breakthroughs in both structural transformation and technology diffusion. Enterprises are small in scale, numerous but not strong.

State management in a number of areas is still inadequate. The spirit of breakthrough and innovation in leadership and direction of implementation of tasks and goals needs to be more drastic and stronger...

The province still faces many difficulties but has some outstanding potentials: typically the potential of human resources (large population, intelligent, hard-working human resources, with the will and aspiration to rise up, abundant young labor force); potential of natural resources (large land area, rich in marine resources, forest resources, mineral resources); potential of strategic location and connectivity (Nghe An is located in the East-West economic corridor; on the North-South highway; Hanoi - Vientiane highway; conveniently connected with Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh economic zones).

Such strategic potentials do not become strength by themselves. Only breakthrough thinking, decisive action and great enough aspiration can turn potential into reality, making Nghe An a national growth pole.

The General Secretary suggested that the province should boldly step out of the old development inertia, towards a more modern growth model, taking technology and knowledge as the driving force, taking institutional and governance innovation as the lever, and taking Nghe An people and culture as the foundation.

Nghe An needs to take advantage of the historic opportunity when the Politburo issued Resolution No. 39-NQ/TW, giving it a special mechanism to not only "strive to become a well-off province" as Uncle Ho once instructed, but further, to become a modern development model of the Central region in the new era. This is the time to not wait but to be a pioneer.

In the context of a world moving rapidly, deeply and widely under the impact of artificial intelligence, digital economy, energy transition and global geopolitical shifts, Nghe An needs to choose a sustainable and in-depth direction. Nghe An is assigned a growth target of 10.5% in 2025, which is a big challenge for the province. General Secretary To Lam suggested that Nghe An focus on the following major orientations:

The first and most basic important thingIt is necessary to ensure a secure, safe, and favorable environment for development and to improve people's lives. The Party must play a central role in all decisions. It is necessary to continue to maintain national defense and security in the province, military zone, and the whole region, creating a solid defense posture to protect independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. It is necessary to proactively grasp the situation to avoid being passive or surprised; and not to allow hostile forces to use ethnic and religious issues to incite and divide the great national unity bloc.

Focus on maintaining border security, this task is not only to protect land and forests, but also to protect people's hearts and national cultural identity; raise awareness of national defense, build a solid people's heart position. At the same time, carry out foreign affairs well with Laos, creating a peaceful, stable, friendly and developed border area.

The next very important task is to continue to arrange and streamline the apparatus in the spirit of Resolution 18-NQ/TW, ensuring "refinement, compactness, strength, efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency". Nghe An needs to deploy a 2-level government model (provincial and grassroots) to ensure efficiency and smoothness to promote the principle of "local decision, local action, local responsibility".

In particular, the preparation for the 20th Nghe An Provincial Party Congress is not only to summarize a term, but must be an important occasion to "redesign development thinking", reshape long-term goals, choose innovation strategies suitable for the times, and prepare truly exemplary personnel with great aspirations, leadership capacity and multi-disciplinary, multi-dimensional integrated thinking.

Personnel work must be a process of objective, impartial and thorough selection, ensuring the building of a team of cadres with sufficient qualities, capacity, political mettle and innovative thinking, not only "virtuous and talented" but also "with enough heart, enough scope, enough strength and enough revolutionary enthusiasm" for the development of the province.

The Provincial Party Standing Committee needs to focus highly on the strategic key task of leading the successful organization of Party congresses at all levels, especially the 20th Provincial Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term. This is not only an organizational requirement, but also a key moment to objectively assess the past journey, correctly perceive reality, and at the same time create a long-term development vision, suitable to the new context, new requirements and aspirations of the province to rise even stronger. The success of congresses at all levels, of the 20th Provincial Party Congress will be a direct, important premise, a fundamental preparation step for Nghe An to make a stronger breakthrough in the coming term.

The organization of the congress must closely follow the spirit of Directive No. 45-CT/TW dated April 14, 2025 and related directives of the Politburo on party congresses at all levels, towards the 14th National Congress of the Party; in which special attention must be paid to two core stages: drafting documents and preparing personnel.

Monday,is a breakthrough in thinking and development institutions: The province needs to boldly shift from “extensive development” to “growth based on innovation, efficiency and high added value” based on science, technology and people, ensuring harmony and sustainability between economy, culture - society and environment. Shifting thinking from “management” to “creation - service”.

Nghe An needs to build “satellite dynamic zones” in mountainous areas, gradually forming comprehensively developed commune cluster centers, improving the quality of education, health care, commercial infrastructure, microfinance and basic public services. Focus on inclusive development, supporting sustainable livelihoods, helping people proactively rise out of poverty. Note that all people are cared for on the journey forward. This is not only a political responsibility but also a development ethic.

Rankthree,Developing the economy on 4 strategic pillars: Nghe An needs to build a modern growth model with depth and high adaptability, based on 4 strategic economic pillars including green economy - digital economy - marine economy - knowledge economy. Developing organic agriculture, clean industry, ecological urban areas and circular economy, high-quality service industries. The province needs to have a mechanism to strongly encourage businesses to innovate and apply 4.0 technology (such as artificial intelligence, big data, digital technology, ...) to improve productivity, quality and competitiveness.

Nghe An must quickly put Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW of the Politburo "on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation" into life; need to promote comprehensive digital transformation, form digital production zones in agriculture and industry, develop telecommunications infrastructure, open data and synchronous online public services from province to commune. Strive by 2030, Nghe An will basically complete digital government, achieve high levels of digital economy and digital society index. Incubate science and technology enterprises, innovative startups in the fields of high-tech agriculture, digital commerce, applied AI, cybersecurity, smart urban management.

Rankprivate, developing the private economy into "the most important driving force" of the economy; Nghe An needs to focus on perfecting institutions, policies and development environment for the private sector in the direction of synchronization, stability, transparency and healthy competition.

The General Secretary requested Nghe An province to continue improving its investment and business environment, striving to be among the top 10 provinces nationwide in terms of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR INDEX), the Satisfaction Index of People and Organizations with Public Administration Services (SIPAS); among the top 15 provinces in the Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI); and especially for the Digital Transformation Index (DTI), it is necessary to make strong efforts to improve, striving to be among the good ones nationwide as soon as possible.

“We must reform substantially, boldly cut out cumbersome procedures, improve public service responsibilities, apply digital technology to all stages of administration to build a modern, transparent, and effective government, aiming for 100% of work records at the provincial level and 90% at the commune level to be processed online so that people feel that public services are truly convenient and substantial, not doing it online but people still have to travel, wait longer, work harder, and take more time than the usual direct way,” General Secretary To Lam emphasized.

We must proactively build a startup and innovation ecosystem for private enterprises, including not only capital and infrastructure, but also smart incentive policies, a fair competitive environment, and an effective consulting, training, and connection system.

The province needs to promote the formation of industry clusters and regional value chains centered on private enterprises. Promote links between small and medium enterprises and large corporations, universities and research institutes to jointly improve competitiveness. Developing the private economy also requires improving management capacity, business ethics, integration skills and community responsibility of business people.

Nghe An needs to nurture a new generation of Nghe An businessmen, full of aspirations, bravery, intelligence, heart and vision, who not only enrich themselves legitimately, but also pioneer in contributing to the prosperous, inclusive and humane development of their homeland.

Sustainable development of the private economic sector can only be achieved when it goes hand in hand with a supportive, friendly and transparent government. Governments at all levels must consider the success of businesses as the success of the locality, proactively remove difficulties, protect property rights, ensure investment safety and create a transparent, fair, trustworthy and low-cost business environment.

Rankyear, taking Nghe An people as the center and driving force for development.

Nghe An is a land of "spiritual land and talented people", where the tradition of studiousness, patriotism, revolution and profound humanity crystallizes. It is necessary to establish a pillar of cultural and human development as a fundamental "soft ecosystem", creating a unique identity and endogenous vitality for the entire development process.

First of all, it is necessary to develop comprehensively and in-depth education and training, from high-quality general education to modern vocational education, university education, and innovative startups. Nghe An must form and strongly spread the "Ho Chi Minh cultural space", the spirit of learning and following Uncle Ho must be imbued in the behavior, public ethics, and spirit of serving the people of each cadre, party member, and civil servant. That space must live in daily life, in the workplace, in the family and school, becoming the spiritual foundation and development standards of Nghe An society.

In addition, it is necessary to build a unique cultural ecosystem that both preserves and creates and spreads: from tangible to intangible heritage, from folk songs to traditional festivals, from crafts to modern symbols. It is necessary to connect traditional culture with digital technology to develop cultural industries, smart tourism, experiential education, creative media, turning culture into an economic resource and competitive soft power.

Above all, the people of Nghe An, once fully developed in terms of intelligence, skills, ethics, physical strength and spirit, will become the subject capable of leading all growth models. A new generation with Nghe An identity, with enough aspiration, knowledge, qualities and capacity to master the times, will be the force leading the province into a journey of rapid, green, sustainable development with deep identity in the 21st century.

It is necessary to arouse the pioneering spirit: Nghe An goes ahead, goes ahead. General Secretary To Lam earnestly called on all cadres, party members, businesses and people of Nghe An province to join together to strongly arouse the pioneering spirit, the spirit that has made Nghe An "a pioneer" in patriotic movements, national liberation revolution, and nation building after peace.

Friday,Building a strong Party, an honest, effective and efficient government. As the homeland of President Ho Chi Minh - the founder of the ideology and organizational model of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nghe An has a special political and moral responsibility in building a truly clean, strong, and exemplary provincial Party organization in terms of political mettle, organizational intelligence, public ethics and leadership methods. This is not only a regular task, but must become a strategic pillar of development.

First of all, Nghe An needs to continue to strongly innovate the Party's leadership method in a scientific, practical, and people-friendly direction, linking theory with practice, linking the Party's role with the capacity to create policies and control power. Leadership must take development efficiency and people's satisfaction as the central measure, avoiding formalism, bureaucracy, or being far from reality.

The province needs to resolutely streamline the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined, synchronous and professional, in the spirit of "one task - one focal point - one responsible person". Each cadre and party member, especially the leader, must be truly exemplary, have the capacity to innovate, act decisively, dare to take responsibility, and devote themselves to the common cause.

Building a strong Party organization and an honest government is a prerequisite for Nghe An province to successfully achieve all socio-economic goals, develop inclusively and sustainably, and be worthy of its role as a new growth pole and a model of "politics - ethics - intelligence" in the hearts of people across the country.

The work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity must become a self-consciousness and political culture of the system. Nghe An needs to build an open, transparent, honest and disciplined administration, in which internal inspection and supervision must be closely linked to accountability and a culture of organizational responsibility of each agency.

The General Secretary emphasized: In the context of the country entering a new era - the era of aspirations for strength, comprehensive integration and extensive innovation, that spirit must be further fueled by concrete actions of the Party Committee, the government and the entire political system of Nghe An. With the position of a province with a large area, a large population, a profound revolutionary tradition, human capital strength and having been granted a special mechanism by the Central Government, Nghe An can and needs to be one step ahead in strategic thinking, development model and method of action.

The province must become a model of modern local development in the new era, where progressive governance, social innovation, technological capacity and human aspiration converge. Nghe An is not only facing a new development opportunity, but also a challenge of courage, vision and choice. This is the time for Nghe An to act with the spirit of a pioneer.

On behalf of the Central Working Delegation, General Secretary To Lam wished Nghe An province to continuously grow and develop prosperously, worthy of being the center of the region and the pride of the whole country.