HÀ NỘI – As Hà Nội continues to grow and attract more investment and tourists, the city should take care to maintain its cultural identity, which is the spiritual foundation for the capital’s development, said General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam (CPV) Nguyễn Phú Trọng. 
The CPV leader made the request during a working session between the Politburo and the Hà Nội Party Committee’s Standing Board yesterday. The working session was held to review the five year-implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution 11-NQ/TW on development and tasks for the capital between 2011 and 2020. 
According to the municipal Party Committee, Hà Nội has recorded an average gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth rate of 7.57 per cent each year while per capita GRDP is estimated at VNĐ79.4 million (US$3,500), up 1.7 times from 2011. 
Services now make up 67.09 per cent of the local economy, followed by industry and construction at 29.69 per cent and agriculture with 3.22 per cent. With the considerable improvement of its investment climate, Hà Nội ranked 14th among the 63 provinces and cities nationwide in the 2016 provincial competitiveness index, jumping 37 places from 2012. 
The city has reaped many achievements in terms of culture, education, health care and sports. It has also ensured safety for Party and State agencies and major political events, the municipal Party Committee said. 
Speaking at the session, General Secretary Trọng underlined the unique role of the capital. Amid reforms and national industrialisation and modernisation, Hà Nội should take care to preserve and celebrate aspects of its traditional culture. 
He stressed that as Hà Nội is the location of other countries’ diplomatic representative agencies, international organisations and central agencies, it must be a civilised city and a good representative of the nation.

He added that since Hà nội’s Party organistion is the biggest of its kind in Việt Nam, with nearly 400,000 Party members, including senior leaders of the Party and the State, it ought to be a model for the entire country. — VNS