Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng meets leaders and residents in the central province of Quảng Trị yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

QUẢNG TRỊ — Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng asked the central province of Quảng Trị to fully tap all available resources to further step up its development during a working session with provincial officials on Thursday.

The Party leader hailed Quảng Trị for its revolutionary patriotism tradition and its initiatives to strengthen Party building and personnel work and to improve the business climate and expand relations with Laos.

Recently, Quảng Trị has dealt rather well with the marine environment incident caused by Hưng Nghiệp Formosa Hà Tĩnh Company to ensure security, social order and welfare by assisting local fishermen in seeking new jobs and restoring production, he said.

Regarding future tasks, the Party chief stressed the need to fulfill goals set by the 16th Congress of the provincial Party Committee, striving to achieve the average economic growth compared to the country’s level by 2020.

At the working session, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Nguyễn Văn Hùng reported that the province’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) rose 6.5 per cent last year while the State budget collection exceeded VNĐ2.2 trillion (roughly US$97 million), surpassing the set target.

The provincial Party Committee and its standing board held 36 working sessions and dialogues with local residents and grassroots-level units and launched a hotline to acquire public feedbacks on arising issues.

Concerning Party building work, as many as 2,116 individuals were admitted to the Party last year, up 7 per cent year-on-year, Hùng said.

The provincial Party Committee also designated 2016 as the year of administrative and business climate reform, while the provincial People’s Committee devised an action programme with nine commitments to investors, which helped push up the provincial competitiveness index by 10 places to the 43rd position and attract additional 38 projects.

Following the Party chief’s directions during his working visit in February 2015, Quảng Trị has steered efforts towards agricultural restructuring and new-styled rural area building. The province has led the country in terms of forest coverage with over 20,000 hectares and 31 of 117 communes achieving new-style rural area status, he said.

The rate of poor households has dropped to 13.5 per cent, Hùng said, adding that as many as 10,650 workers have found new jobs and about 1,500 others have been sent abroad as guest workers. — VNS