Dak Lak (VNA) – Dak Lak province must establish itself as a key hub linking the Central Highlands with the south central coast, border areas and national economic corridors, said Party General Secretary To Lam.
During a working session with the provincial Party Organisation, authorities and residents on February 11, which linked virtually with 102 local wards and communes, General Secretary Lam hailed their achievements last year, urging immediate translation of the 14th National Party Congress's orientations and directives into concrete actions and measurable outcomes from the outset of the new term.
He emphasised that all master plans and major projects should fit into the broader national and regional development frameworks. Based on this, Dak Lak should reshape its development space along a “highlands – coast – border” axis, with strategic infrastructure as the backbone. Transport, logistics, energy, and digital infrastructure should guide economic flows, optimise value chains, and strengthen national defence and security, ultimately fostering new growth hubs and development corridors.
Dak Lak needs to move away from depending on natural resource extraction and raw agricultural output and instead focus on upgrading its value chains. Key drivers should include deep processing industries, renewable energy, the marine economy, quality tourism, and the digital economy. The new growth model should centre on boosting productivity, encouraging innovation, and improving institutional quality by strengthening ties between resources, labour, knowledge, and markets. This progress should go hand in hand with protecting forests and ecosystems, while supporting sustainable livelihoods for ethnic minorities, ensuring that both businesses and local communities are active stakeholders and direct beneficiaries.
There was a call to remove institutional bottlenecks, especially land-related challenges in agricultural and forestry enterprises, while making real improvements to the business environment by reducing compliance costs and enhancing access to land, capital, infrastructure, and public services. Actual costs, time, and convenience would serve as benchmarks for evaluating the investment climate.
The General Secretary underscored the need to boost the private sector as a critical engine of growth, with particular attention to a supportive environment for business households and small and micro enterprises, which generate employment and underpin social stability.
According to him, economic growth must be accompanied by investments in education, vocational training and workforce upskilling, especially for youth, ethnic minorities and rural residents, to ensure inclusive and sustainable development. Sci-tech, digital transformation and innovation must sit at the heart of workforce development strategies. Training should meet the practical needs of key emerging sectors such as deep processing, renewable energy, logistics, quality tourism and digital economy, with a focus on digital skills, innovative mindset and technological adaptability. Such upskilling will also bolster governance capacity, labour productivity and long-term competitiveness, paving the way for a knowledge-based, innovation-driven economy.
Improving living standards and public well-being must remain central to all development policies, he said, adding that economic advances should be closely linked to environmental protection, forest and water conservation, and preservation of community living spaces, with no trade-off between ecological sustainability and short-term gains.
All socio-economic strategies must be firmly anchored in safeguarding national sovereignty and maintaining border, maritime, ethnic and religious security. The province should proactively identify and mitigate risks from an early stage to avoid passivity or surprises, while weaving economic development tightly with national defence-security consolidation in every project and locality, particularly in border, ethnic minority and sensitive areas.
The leader called for building an action-oriented, disciplined, integrity-driven and fully accountable administrative apparatus consistent with the guidelines of the 14th National Party Congress.
He conveyed the Party Central Committee’s expectation that Dak Lak will play a more proactive role in national development architecture, not only as a pillar of socio-political stability but also as a distinctive development space, making clear and responsible contributions to the country’s major goals.
On the occasion, the Party chief and his entourage presented gifts to former secretaries of the provincial Party Committee, policy beneficiary families, outstanding village elders and heads, and families affected by recent storms and floods.
Representatives from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank), and the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) handed over funding to build 300 houses for poor and disadvantaged households in the province.
In the same afternoon, they visited and extended Lunar New Year greetings to former provincial Party Secretary Y Luyen./.
