National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong has emphasised the necessity for the Mekong delta province of Hau Giang to speed up the industrialisation and modernisation so as to narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and improve people’s life.

The NA Chairman made the statement at his working session with the Standing Committee of the Hau Giang provincial Party Committee on Dec. 5 during his two-day visit to the province to inspect the latter’s preparations for the XI th National Party Congress.

“Building infrastructure facilities remains a breakthrough for development in the context of poverty,” said Chairman Trong.

The NA leader took the occasion to applaud Hau Giang’s efforts to develop production apart from addressing social issues, providing safe water, power and medical services to its residents and building schools and other facilities.

He noted that caring for the people is the core of the Party and the State’s policy, for sustainable development.

Highlighting Hau Giang’s effective measures to attract investment, Trong expressed the hope that the province would pay more attention to investment attraction, learn from other localities’ experiences and simplify administrative procedures.

Secretary of the Hau Giang provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Hau Giang People’s Council Nguyen Phong Quang briefed Chairman Trong of his province’s development.

Since it was separated from Can Tho City in Jan. 2004, Hau Giang has recorded an annual economic growth rate of nearly 11.61 percent. Its annual per-capita income has increased from 5 million VND in 2004 to 13.55 million VND in 2009 while the industrial value rises 15.63 percent on average annually, Quang said.

The province has adopted a number of policies and programmes to promote industrialisation and modernisation as well as economic restructuring towards combining goods production with processing industry and market.

As a result, a number of concentrated production zones have been developed such as a high-quality rice zone yielding more than 1 million tonnes a year, a 10,300 ha sugarcane zone and a pineapple, an aquaculture and a fruit tree zone.

So far Hau Giang has attracted 12 foreign direct investment projects totalling 730 million USD and 1,081 domestic projects with a combined registered capital of about 15 trillion VND.

The province is now home to 450 grass roots Party organisations with more than 19,000 Party members.

While in Hau Giang on Dec. 4 and 5, NA Chairman Trong toured the Can Tho Sugar Joint Stock Company, one of the country’s biggest sugar businesses, and held a working session with authorities of Vi Thang commune, Vi Thuy district.

He also presented a gift house to a poor family in Tan Tien commune, Vi Thanh town./.