President attends ceremony for Action Month for Elderly in Hung Yen hinh anh 1President Nguyen Xuan Phuc extends regards to the old persons (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – President Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a ceremony in the northern province of Hung Yen on October 1 in response to the Action Month for the Vietnamese Elderly, on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons.

In his speech, the leader extended his regards and praise to the 12 million senior citizens for their active contributions to national construction and defence.

Describing them as an important driving force of the society and mainstay of families and communities, he affirmed that the Vietnamese Party, State and people are always respectful and grateful to thousands of old women honoured as Heroic Vietnamese Mothers, many Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces and Heroes of Labour for their sacrifice and tireless dedication.

He hailed the Vietnam Association of the Elderly (VAE) with 10 million members, including its Hung Yen provincial chapter, for holding activities in response to the month, patriotic emulation campaigns and the fight against COVID-19.

He asked the VAE, Party committees and authorities to continue following the Party’s guidelines, State policies and laws on the elderly, creating conditions for them to uphold their role in national development, continue being bright examples and spiritual mainstay for future generations.

The President wished that the Vietnamese old persons at home and abroad would continue joining patriotic emulation campaigns, thus dedicating their brainpower and experience to the national development.

On the occasion, he presented gifts to five centenaries living in the province and certificates of merit to individuals and organisations that care for the elderly.

During a working session with the standing board of the provincial Party Committee the same day, the leader agreed with their proposal to choose three strategic breakthroughs, namely management in accordance with the provincial planning, socio-economic infrastructure development with a focus on transport infrastructure, and hi-quality workforce training.

The province should gear toward hi-tech and eco-friendly industry, spread organic and hi-tech farming models and support new-style cooperative models, he said.

In his opinion, Hung Yen needs to continue improving business environment and economic resilience, promoting the private sector and start-up spirit among youths.

In the past nine months, the local economy expanded by 10.4% with revenue to the State budget reaching over 45 trillion VND (1.95 billion USD), or 3.4-fold increase from the same period last year. Public investment disbursement met 92.4% of the plan. The province also came third nationwide in terms of the target programme on new rural development in 2020. The rate of poor households has been reduced to below 2.5%./.

VNA