October 27, Member of the Politburo, cum State President Truong Tan Sang and his delegation visited Binh Duong Province to survey the situation of socio-economic development of the province in 10 months and missions in 2012; to meet and discuss with enterprises in the local area and work with the provincial judiciary sector.  Member of the Politburo, State President Truong Tan Sang is working with the Provincial Standing Committee. Photo by Q.ChienAt the meeting with the Standing Committee, Deputy Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Chair of the provincial People's Committee Le Thanh Cung reported to President Truong Tan Sang on the socio-economic situation in 10 months of 2012. Simultaneous implementation of drastic measures to curb inflation, stabilize the economy, and solve difficulties of productions of businesses, social security, and industrial output value of the province reaching VND 108,941 billion, or 12.9% of increase which is expected to be up by 16% at year's end. Total retail sales of goods and services increased by 27.2% and is expected to reach 30% by year's end. Export turnover growth is steady, reaching USD 9.5 billion, increased by 15.75% over the same period; it is expected that at the end of the year the revenue would reach USD 12.2 billion, an increase of 18%. The import turnover reaches USD 7.8 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 9.6%, and is expected to increase to USD 10.2 billion, an increase of 12%. In the past 10 months, Binh Duong has attracted VND 11,010 billion of investment from nationwide, bringing totally to 13,306 enterprises with a total capital of business registration at VND 102,471 billion and attracted USD 2.589 billion invested from foreign countries, bringing totally to 2,108 projects with a total capital of USD 17.306 billion. Total State budget collection in the 10 months reached 72.2% of the provincial estimation, an increase of 1% over the same period.It is expected that to the year's end, the highest revenue totally would reach 89% of the estimation. Binh Duong Province has developed solutions to remove obstacles for production and businesses, to mobilize more funds to develop the technical infrastructure; to promote social housing programs; to implement loan guarantee fund capital to support small and medium enterprises, to create a driving force for business development and investment environment. Chair of Binh Duong Provincial People's Committee said that Binh Duong has timely launched Resolution No. 13/NQCP dated May 10, 2012 by the Government.The province has also organized meeting and made contact with representatives of businesses and trade associations to resolve the difficulties and obstacles as well as to help enterprises to be stable and overcome difficulties; to boost up investment promotion, trade promotion; to expand the market for the products; to direct taxation, customs, and extensive deployment for all beneficiaries of the tax exemption, reduction or extension offered by the State. Chair of the provincial People's Committee, Mr. Le Thanh Cung also proposed to the Government for implementation of the followings: - to regulate the import and export duties at the same level of domestic tax rate at 40/60 ratio; - to adjust the Decree No. 124/2008/ND-CP dated December 11, 2008 of the Government, detailing the practice of enterprise income tax law; to continue implementing preferential policies for enterprises to invest in industrial concentration as before; - to consider continuing the policy of exemption or reduction, and extension of taxes in 2013; - to consideration and support government bonds targeted to programs of social housing projects and hospitals in the province from 2013 onwards. Addressing the meeting, President Truong Tan Sang asserted that despite the overall context of difficulties and challenges, Binh Duong Province still maintained relatively high growth rate, giving much social insurance policies to workers, especially the housing programs for workers, employees, and low-income people. This is encouraging and really a bright spot for local authorities in the country to learn from. However high the number of investment projects is, Vietnamese industry is basically processing only. Sharing the thought of leadership of the sectors and agencies of Binh Duong Province on Vietnam's decreasing competitive advantage, the President said that in the state of pressure of regional and international integration, raising competitiveness of enterprises is very important. Recently, a number of Vietnamese policies have changed fast, stability should be maintained to create confidence for foreign and domestic investors. President Truong Tan Sang also noted to maintain and stabilize the pace of development, Binh Duong Provincial authority should take good care of: - growth quality, policies to support enterprises; - vocational training offered to qualified and skillful labor force; - consulting with a number of countries experienced in attracting foreign investment; - finding new markets to open more outlets for products of the company in the province; - paying attention to the recommendations of legitimate businesses, to take measures to remove difficulties helping businesses develop stably. Earlier, President Truong Tan Sang held a meeting with 70 entrepreneurs representing nearly 15,000 businesses in the area. Listening to them, State President Truong Tan Sang highly appreciated the efforts contributing to the development of Binh Duong province in particular and the national economy in general. Sharing the difficulties of enterprises in the context of difficult domestic and global economies, the President stressed that the Party and the State have offered policies to remove the barriers of development. The President affirmed that the control of inflation and up-coming credit gradual opening, stablized loans interest rates, and combined measures would remove difficulties for enterprises and open room for their development. Working with the judiciary sector, State President Truong Tan Sang highly appreciated their activities which contributed to the security and order in the province.President also noted that local speedy development would bring up complicated crimes, so it is necessary to pay special attention to the prevention of crimes, particularly crimes new in the fields of telecommunications, information education and foreign countries related crimes. The President emphasized that less criminal commits should be observed as economic development was high.To accomplish the mentioned, joint efforts of the judiciary sector must be sustainable to reflect its role of ensuring the rule of law. Addressing the staff of the judiciary sector, the President stressed that the leadership of the public security, procuracy, and courts should propose specific solutions to overcome difficulties, especially the defined standardization of the staff and ways to create consistency in the training of the judiciary staffs. As for facilities, along with the support of the central government, the province should focus on the construction of headquarters and spacious facilities, reflecting the majesty of the law-enforcement agencies. Reported by Mai Huy - Ngoc Tung – Translated by Vi Bao