Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân on Tuesday attends a ceremony to pay tribute to heroic martyrs and re-bury remains of fallen soldiers found in the province and repatriated from Cambodia in the southern province of Tây Ninh. – VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

TÂY NINH – Tây Ninh Province should optimise its potential to serve socio-economic development and improve the material and spiritual life of locals, Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said on Tuesday.

At a working session with Tây Ninh’s key officials, the top legislator highlighted that the province is located in the southern key economic zone and serves as a gateway connecting HCM City with the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh.

The southwestern province boasts beautiful landscapes, relic sites and diverse culture of 23 ethnic minority groups, which is favourable for tourism development, she added.

Ngân urged the locality to attract strategic investors into services and production, and maintain and promote values of local products that are favoured in the market. 

She also asked Tây Ninh to better the Party building work and improve the operational quality of People’s Councils at all levels. 

Other important tasks include taking care of the life of local ethnic minority groups, spurring border socio-economic development and promoting cooperation between domestic defence-security forces and foreign counterparts as well as exchanges between border residents of Viet Nam and Cambodia, Ngân said. 

She lauded Tây Ninh for its efforts in socio-economic development, with the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growing 8.5 per cent in 2018 and the provincial competitiveness index ranked 14th out of the 63 cities and provinces, up five places from 2017. 

The province has paid attention to social welfare and poverty reduction whose rate was reduced to over 2 per cent. 

The NA Chairman showed her support for the province’s proposal to add the Gò Dầu-Xa Mát to the national expressway network and the project to upgrade Hill 82 Martyrs’ Cemetery, which is the resting place of 13,976 soldiers who laid down their lives during the resistance war against the US and the struggle to protect the country’s southwestern border.

On the same day, a ceremony was held in the southern province of Tây Ninh to pay tribute to heroic martyrs and re-bury remains of fallen soldiers found in the province and repatriated from Cambodia.

The event, part of activities to mark the 72nd Day of War Invalids and Martyrs (July 27), drew the participation of National Assembly Chairwoman Ngân and a number of NA officials, among others.

Participants offered flowers and incense to the martyrs who laid down their lives for national liberation and international missions.

At the ceremony, 245 sets of remains, including six gathered in Tây Ninh and 239 repatriated from Cambodia during the 2018-2019 dry season, were laid to rest in the National Martyrs’ Cemetery Hill 82.

Speaking at the event, Nguyễn Thanh Ngọc, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Tây Ninh noted that millions of soldiers sacrificed their lives to safeguard the national border and accomplish international missions. 

Their sacrifice would be forever remembered, he said, expressing his great gratitude to families of the martyrs.

Earlier the same day, NA Chairwoman Ngân and the NA delegation visited the special national historical-cultural relic site of Central Office for South Việt Nam in Tân Lập Commune, Tân Biên District.

The NA leader also visited Vietnamese Heroic Mother Nguyễn Thị Thừa in Tân Biên Town and Hero of the people’s armed forces Phan Văn Điền in Tây Ninh City. — VNS