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| NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue addresses the working session with the Can Tho Party Committee’s Standing Board on October 10. (Photo: VNA) |
Can Tho is one of the five provincial-level cities in Vietnam and also an economic, cultural, social and defence - security centre of the Mekong Delta and the country as a whole. It is located at the intersection of two important urban economic corridors in the Mekong Delta, namely the corridor along the Hau River and the Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho one.
The municipal Party Committee’s Standing Board reported that the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) has grown by 5.91% annually during 2021 - 2023. The size of the local economy expanded to 107.78 trillion VND (4.4 billion USD) in 2022 from 91.59 trillion VND in 2021, and is expected to top 118.87 trillion VND in 2023 – increasing 10.2-fold from 2004, when it became a centrally run city. Meanwhile, per capita GRDP is estimated at 94.52 million VND this year, 9.2-fold higher than in 2004.
Labour productivity has increased over years and is hoped to stand at 194.6 million VND per unit of labour this year, compared to 162.7 million VND in 2021. Cultural, educational, and social aspects have improved substantially; defence, security and social order and safety been guaranteed; the Party and political system building promoted; and activities of the NA deputies’ delegation of Can Tho as well as all-level People’s Councils and People’s Committees increasingly improved.
Speaking at the meeting as part of his visit to some Mekong Delta localities, Chairman Hue lauded the achievements Can Tho has gained amid intertwined advantages and difficulties.
He pointed out the city’s slow coordination with ministries and central agencies in implementing the key projects identified in the Politburo’s Resolution 59-NQ/TW, dated August 5, 2020, on the development of Can Tho by 2030 with a vision to 2045. Besides, the outcomes of the pilot implementation of some specific mechanisms and policies for local development under the NA’s Resolution 45/2022/QH15, dated January 11, 2022, remain modest, and have yet to create a true impulse for breakthrough development.
Requesting more fruitful implementation of the resolutions, he suggested Can Tho promote its production capacity to help fuel development across the Mekong Delta, and develop agricultural processing and consumer goods industries as the city is located on a weak ground and low-lying land.
The top legislator repeated the goal of developing Can Tho into an ecological, civilised, and modern city deeply imbued with the Mekong Delta’s water-linked cultural identity; the nucleus of the region; and one of the big multi-sectoral centres of Vietnam where people enjoy a prosperous, civilised and happy life.
Given this, Can Tho needs to fulfil its heavy responsibility towards itself, the region, and the entire country, he said, asking ministries, sectors, the Coordinating Council for the Mekong Delta, and local authorities to tackle bottlenecks to help the city bolster socio-economic development.
On this occasion, the NA Chairman witnessed the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex)’s presentation of 5 billion VND (nearly 204,900 USD) in financial support for the building of 100 houses for poor households in Can Tho./.