National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ chairs a working session with local authorities of Sóc Trăng Province on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

SÓC TRĂNG — Sóc Trăng Province must become a main gateway connecting the Cửu Long (Mekong Delta) region with the East Sea through the transport infrastructure system and Trần Đề Port, said National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vương Đình Huệ during a working session with local authorities on Monday.

Huệ said Trần Đề Port must be the region's centre of agriculture, industry, services, logistics and energy projects.

Noting that the Mekong Delta region must have a deep-water sea port, he urged local authorities to call for investment to build the Trần Đề Port with its development attached with marine economy.

Huệ expressed his impression of the province’s changes after 31 years of re-establishment.

From a purely agricultural province with a very low starting point, poor technical facilities and outdated urban infrastructure, Sóc Trăng now has made important development steps with economic and social potential, he said.

He asked the province to accelerate urbanisation, and ensure connection between dynamic urban areas with industrial and service zones, clusters, and focal centres.

Local authorities were told to link marine space with mainland areas, accelerate the implementation of infrastructure investment, especially regionally linked transportation, at the same time, focus on human resource development, agricultural product processing planning, calling for investment in agricultural and aquatic product processing.

He asked local authorities to concretise new policies approved at the eighth plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee and engage in NA’s legislative work, such as the revised land law, and NA supervision tasks.

Citing that the economic scale of Sóc Trăng remains modest while the set targets are ambitious, Huệ urged the province to strive with more aspiration to achieve the targets.

According to the provincial Party Committee, in the first nine months of this year, Sóc Trăng’s economic growth stood at 5.14 per cent. The average GRDP in three years from 2021 to 2023 was 5.76 per cent per year.

Its urbanisation rate has reached 33.9 per cent, higher than 2021 but remains low compared to the national average. — VNS