Ministry to help big cities achieve breakthrough growth

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (standing) addresses the working session with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in Hanoi on February 19 (Photo: VNA)

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) will work harder to give a boost to the country’s economic locomotives, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and four key economic regions to achieve breakthrough growth in 2019, Minister Nguyen Chi Dung has said.

Dung outlined the MPI’s goals during a working session with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Hanoi on February 19.

To obtain breakthroughs targeted in the resolutions of the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly and the Government, the MPI will augment efforts in certain areas, including developing the private sector strongly and creating a fair business environment, he said.

The ministry will push on with accelerating economic restructuring and growth model reform, and promoting growth quality, labour productivity and competitiveness of the economy, Dung stressed.

The MPI will also look to create strong changes in the structure of each sector and public investment, while developing synchronous infrastructure on the basis of effective public-private partnership, he said.

Dung added that stronger actions will be made to form national innovation centres and boost activities of the Vietnam Innovation Network, thus helping to develop human resources and encourage innovation in the country amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The ministry will also create favourable conditions for smart production models, smart cities, green growth and clean energy and improve communities’ resilience to climate change, Dung noted.

Particularly, the MPI is committed to making breakthrough improvements in its governance efficiency by building a lean apparatus, enhancing policy implementation efficiency at all levels, and promoting transparency and accountability, he said.

According to the minister, the three decades of reforms have given a facelift to the economy, turning Vietnam into a middle-income country. The total gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 grew by 38-fold from 1989 while per capita GDP surged by 26 times.

However, certain problems in the economy still need much time to be resolved, he admitted.

The path of innovation and development is still long, and the MPI is willing to listen to opinions and take more drastic actions to help with the fast and sustainable development of the country, he affirmed.

VNA