Hai noted that the city posted a GDP growth of 7.7 percentand generated jobs for 69,800 workers in 2013 and the first months of2014, while social and political order and safety were maintained.
The achievements were attributed to the consensus and participationof people from all social strata, including Catholic dignitaries andfollowers who have actively participated in charity activities andcultural life and reducing poverty sustainably, Hai added.
Recognising the contributions by Cardinal Pham Minh Man, the city’sformer archbishop, as well as Catholic people to local development, Haisaid he hopes Doc will continue encouraging Catholics to take part inpatriotic movements to promote national unity.
Archbishop Docextended his congratulations to the municipal leader on the occasion ofthe 39 th anniversary of the National Liberation Day (April 30) andthe 128 th May Day (May 1).
Catholicism forms the secondlargest religious community in Vietnam after Buddhism, with 5.7 millionfollowers, followed by Hoa Hao (1.4 million), Cao Dai (808,000),Protestantism (734,000), Islam (73,000), and Brahmanism (56,000).-VNA