Carrying out the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress (term 2015-2020), Tay Ninh province has achieved rapid, stable growth and had the economic structure shifted towards a desired pattern where the share of industry and service is increasing. The main targets of economic growth and livelihood improvement are in line with the Resolution, thus enabling the province to speed up the pace towards the goal of becoming a modern industrialized province. Vietnam Business Forum has an interview with Mr. Pham Van Tan, Chairman of Tay Ninh People's Committee on this success. Cong Luan reports.
Could you please introduce the remarkable socioeconomic development achievements that Tay Ninh province has made in the 2015-2020 term?
Carrying out the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress amidst difficulties and challenges, the Provincial Party Committee has focused on delivering the full enforcement of the Resolution right since the first year of the term to match with practical conditions and situations. Moreover, the consensus of the masses, the business community, Party committees and authorities has also counted. All 24 criteria have met and exceeded Resolution targets.
The gross regional domestic product (GRDP) has increased by an annual average of 8.02% (Resolution: 8% or more) and the economic structure has been shifted towards a right roadmap. GRDP per capita reaches US$3,300 a year (Resolution: US$3,800). State budget revenue has grown by an average of 9.1% annually (Resolution: over 9%). Social development investment capital has equaled 35.9% of GRDP (Resolution: 35%). The poverty rate has decreased by 0.67% annually (Resolution: 1.3%). The number of employed workers has increased by 18,915 annually (Resolution: 17,000 workers).
The well-performing industry has contributed significantly to local economic growth. The share of industry in GRDP reached 29.3% in 2015 and is expected at 38.4% in 2020. The average industrial growth is forecast at 15.8% a year in the 2016 - 2020 period (Resolution: 14.5 % or more). The industry has continued to grow with more industries, especially successfully attracting large high value-added projects, which began to help spur local annual GRDP growth.
The production value of agriculture - forestry - fishery has climbed 2.8% annually on average (Resolution: 4.5%). The quality of agricultural products has improved and the production costs has decreased to add a competitive advantage for products and increasing consumption markets. The transfer of technical advances and application of new technologies in production has been widely implemented. The National Target Program on New Countryside Construction has been effectively carried out.
Trade and services have grown well. Total retail sales of goods and services have increased by an average of 10.3%/year (reaching VND59,884 billion in 2016, VND75,132 billion in 2018, and VND89,357 billion in 2020). Supermarkets, trade centers and new tourist infrastructure have strongly developed to give a clear facelift to the province.
Technical infrastructure has been expanded and upgraded. Especially, administrative reform efforts and business supports have helped push up the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) of Tay Ninh.
Along with economic development, socio-cultural fields have made progress as well. Public healthcare has been constantly improved. Policies on poverty reduction and employment creation have been executed comprehensively. By 2020, Tay Ninh will no longer have poor households. Vocational training and job creation will have positive substantive changes to meet labor requirements in industrial parks. Political security, social order and safety will be further maintained. The launch of e-government has made important strides in perception and action towards a digital government. The province ensures the alignment of administrative reform with information technology application.
In 2017, the Tay Ninh Provincial People’s Committee set up working groups to carry out breakthrough solutions to local socioeconomic development in 2017-2021 on tourism, agriculture, information infrastructure development, e-government construction, institutions and human resources development. Could you please tell us specific results made by these working groups?
Over the past few years, these working groups have worked hard to carry out their assigned tasks and achieved some outstanding results. Specifically, the E-government Construction Working Group has made Tay Ninh one of the leading provinces in building provincial data communication axis and integrating and synchronizing specialized databases. At the same time, it has connected the provincial system with the national information axis and applied digital signature to issuing documents, from the Provincial People’s Committee and provincial agencies to grassroots levels. In the past time, Tay Ninh has completed and put into operation the provincial public administration and piloted the center for socioeconomic management and supervision (phase 1). Currently, the province has further expanded the scope of application to improve the service quality of administrative procedures at the Tay Ninh Provincial Public Administration Center and carry out an electronic government project to lay a stepping stone to the digital government in the period of 2020 - 2025, with a vision to 2030.
The Agricultural Working Group has advised the Provincial People’s Committee to promulgate Decision 2029/QD-UBND dated September 20, 2019 on approval of “Tay Ninh Agricultural Value Chain Development” Project. The workgroup has completed procedures required by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to receive loans for the project carrying-out to improve the capacity of fruit and vegetable value chain. It has also worked with Knowledge Intelligence Applications GMBH to launch the KIPUS electronic traceability software for businesses, cooperatives and farmers in the province. So far, Tay Ninh has attracted 24 agricultural investment projects with a total registered capital of over VND1,652 billion. The province advocates rearranging agricultural companies to call for investment in adopt high-tech agricultural production to enhance added value. In addition, the province has been also granted 46 area codes by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The licensed area, covering 1,975 ha, grows longan, cavendish banana, rambutan, jackfruit and dragon fruit.
Particularly, the Tourism Development Working Group has advised the Provincial People’s Committee to implement processes and procedures to formulate a master plan on construction of Nui Ba Den National Tourist Area and actively coordinated with the Ministry of Construction and central agencies to submit the master plan to 2035 to the Prime Minister for approval. This is a legal basis for the province to draw investment fund for the Nui Ba Den National Tourist Area and create breakthroughs in tourism development in the coming time. In May and June 2019, the group advised the provincial government on the content of a cooperation agreement with Vietnam Airlines Corporation. Tourism information and promotion continued to be boosted to bring the image of the people and the land of Tay Ninh to international friends and other localities in the country. Tourism investment has increased substantially as many big investors have come to survey and seek tourism investment opportunities in the province.
The Transport Infrastructure Working Group has stepped up the progress of important projects, dealt with site clearance problems and executed five out of 6 bidding packages for ground clearance for the watering project in the west part of the Vam Co Dong River. The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee and the Tay Ninh Provincial People’s Committee have exchanged and proposed the construction of Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Highway. Notably, the workgroup probed passages on the Saigon River and advised the provincial government to propose the Ministry of Transport to supplement the inland port and ICD plan on the Saigon River.
The Institutions and Human Resource Development Working Group has consulted on rational arrangement of State administrative agencies. Provincial departments and agencies have cut 34 out of the total of 150 internal units or 22.26%. The personnel shrank 5.02%, or 101 out of 2,010 public servants. Public non-business agencies also got merged, consolidated or dissolved. The province has closed 64 out of 741 units, or 8.63%, and fired 1,254 out of their 19,289 employees, or 6.5%, as of September 30, 2019.
In the coming time, the Tay Ninh Provincial People’s Committee will continue to direct the working groups to review failed targets to have workable measures to realize them as stated in the Resolution of the 10th Provincial Party Congress.
In order to turn Tay Ninh into a modern industrialized province, what key economic sectors will you give priority to in the coming time?
We will strive to basically achieve our industrialization and modernization goals by 2030, make some industrial products strongly competitive in the world market and engaged in domestic value chains, and then global value chains. We will also work to make Tay Ninh a modern industrialized province by 2045 and reach a fairly good level in the Southeast region.
To achieve the above targets, in the coming time, we will give priority to locally advantageous industries, which are capable of joining deeply production networks and global value chains, producing strong effects on other economic sectors, using clean and environmentally friendly technologies, generating high added value. Some labor-intensive industries that the province has the advantage are also encouraged.
From now to 2030, we will give priority to developing such industries as refined agricultural and aquatic products, clean energy, renewable energy, and agricultural processing towards international standards. We will continue to develop garment and textile, leather and footwear industries and attract investors into local industrial parks. In 2030-2045, Tay Ninh will prioritize new generations of ICT, digital technology, automation, advanced equipment, new material and biological equipment sectors.
Thank you very much!
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