General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Nguyễn Phú Trọng on Thursday urged HCM City to be proactive in gaining support and assistance from other sectors to achieve stronger growth.— VNA/VNS Photo Trí Dũng

HÀ NỘI — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Nguyễn Phú Trọng on Thursday urged HCM City to be proactive in gaining support and assistance from other sectors to achieve stronger growth.

He was addressing a special meeting between the Politburo and the HCM City Party Committee’s Standing Board to review the five-year implementation of the Politburo’s resolution on orientations and tasks for development of the southern metropolis.

HCM City is a special urban area, a major economic, cultural, educational, scientific and technological hub, he noted, a destination of international exchanges and integration, and a driver of the southern key economic region. Holding an important political position, the city has made crucial contributions to the country’s nation-building, renewal and integration efforts, he stressed.

Now HCM City should roll out feasible, effective development roadmaps for 2020 and beyond, he added.

Trọng gave the green light to the city to pilot autonomous projects, as long as they are conducted under the supervision of the Government, especially when it comes to major and sensitive matters.

The General Secretary noted that HCM City will have more power in public financial administration, budget management, planning and investment, and personnel.

The Politburo will issue its conclusions on implementation of its resolution after this working session, he said.

At the meeting, the municipal Party Committee’s Standing Board reported that in 2011-2015, HCM City’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose 9.6 per cent annually, on average, 1.63 times higher than the country’s average and 1.5 times higher than the target set by the resolution.

In 2016, its regional gross domestic product (RGDP) growth rate reached 8.05 per cent, 1.3 times higher than the nation’s, and its RGDP per head stood at US$5,122, 2.37 times higher than the country average.

The city has also made big strides in urban infrastructure planning, management and development, education-training, scientific and technological research and application, culture, health care, social welfare, external affairs, Party building and administrative reform.

Expanded external relations and international co-operation have raised the City’s prestige and position at home and abroad. However, several participants pointed out that the City’s economic growth, foreign direct investment attraction and exports were still below expectations. — VNS