PM urges close integration of security, defence with socio-economic development in Mekong Delta

The PM stressed the close integration of socio-economic development with defence and security from the grassroots level under the unified leadership of local Party committee and administration leaders and coordinated inter-agency action.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the conference in Hanoi on December 29. (Photo: VNA)
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the conference in Hanoi on December 29. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a conference in Hanoi on December 29, with a focus on ensuring security and public order to support socio-economic development in the Mekong Delta region.

The conference was co-chaired by Minister of Public Security General Luong Tam Quang, with the participation of official from ministries and central agencies as well as provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta and neighbouring areas.

Addressing the meeting, General Quang said that in recent years, the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws on safeguarding security and combating hostile activities and crimes in the Mekong Delta have been effectively implemented. These efforts have helped maintain a secure and safe environment conducive to socio-economic development and people’s life improvement in the region.

However, with vigilance and proactiveness, the Government convened the conference to promote awareness and identify goals, tasks, and measures to further implement the Party’s viewpoints and the State's policies and laws on ensuring security and public order in support of fast and sustainable development in the Mekong Delta and neighbouring areas.

Participants focused on breakthrough tasks and measures to remove bottlenecks, mobilise all resources for development, and prevent unexpected or complicated security situations, including the emergence of security “hotspots”.

They reviewed the overall security situation in the region, achievements, along with limitations and challenges. Potential risks were pointed out while orientations and measures proposed for ensuring security and order in the coming period. They agreed that the Party and State have consistently paid close attention to the Mekong Delta, issuing numerous resolutions, conclusions, and programmes that have been fruitfully carried out to drive socio-economic progress while maintaining stability.

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Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh addresses the conference. (Photo: VNA)

Concluding the conference, PM Chinh stressed that the Mekong Delta holds particularly important strategic significance in terms of politics, socio-economic development, defence, security, ecology and external relations, serving as the country’s southern gateway and closely linked to national development and sovereignty safeguarding.

He highlighted key policy frameworks, including the Politburo's Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW, dated April 2, 2022, on socio-economic development and defence – security safeguarding in the Mekong Delta to 2030 with a vision to 2045, and the Government’s action plan for implementing this resolution.

While acknowledging major achievements, the PM pointed out shortcomings in the enforcement of ethnic and religious policies, socio-economic development, grassroots political system efficiency, and the coordination in ensuring security and order.

To address these challenges, he demanded concrete measures to fully tap into the region’s potential, preserve cultural identity, and improve people’s material and spiritual life, thereby firmly defending Vietnam’s southwestern region and safeguarding local security.

The Government leader requested ministries, sectors, and localities to regard the protection of security and public order as a key, urgent, and long-term political task under the Party’s direct, absolute, and comprehensive leadership and the State’s unified governance. The combined strength of the entire political system from the central to grassroots levels and of all people must be mobilised for the work, with heads of local Party committees and authorities bearing primary responsibility.

He urged the implementation of several core task groups, stressing the close integration of socio-economic development with defence and security from the grassroots level, under the unified leadership of local Party committee and administration leaders and coordinated inter-agency action.

Priority should be given to effectively implementing ethnic and religious policies; promoting economic, cultural and social development, creating jobs, resolving grassroots grievances; enhancing people’s self-reliance in socio-economic development and cultural preservation; improving the material and spiritual well-being of people of all ethnic groups; and eliminating conditions that could be exploited by hostile forces.

For 2026, PM Chinh assigned ministries and localities to fulfil some key tasks related to economic, cultural, educational and healthcare development in the Mekong Delta, requesting timely reporting to address any difficulties during implementation./.

VNA

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