Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has urged the northern mountainous province of Son La to further promote its resources in order to strengthen its economic development.

At a working session with the province’s leaders during his tour to the province on an inspection of its implementation of socio-economic development initiatives, General Secretary Trong noted that although Son La boasts a lot of potential, it still faces many difficulties.

Attention must be paid to helping more than 120,000 people who had to relocate due to the construction of Son La Hydropower Plant to stabilise their lives, he said.

The Party leader suggested Son La province build a strong and transparent Party organisation to consolidate locals’ confidence.

After three years of implementing the 11 th National Party Congress’ Resolution on socio-economic development, Son La saw positive achievements in all fields.

Its average GDP growth rate in the 2011-2013 period reached 11.46 percent. Meanwhile, annual income per capita was more than 1,000 USD in 2013, 1.5 times higher than that of 2010.

The rate of poor households reduced from 38 percent in 2010 to 27 percent last year.

The province also focused on addressing social evils, especially drug trafficking, contributing to ensuring social security and order.

In 2014, Son La is striving to reach a GDP growth rate of 11.5 percent, and develop goods production in line with new-style rural area building.-VNA