Recently, Binh Thuan has emerged as a bright spot in the socio-economic development picture and become a new "pole" of the Central coastal region. The scale of GRDP value in 2022 is 24 times that of 1992. The drought resistance miracle of this locality is becoming a story discussed by many people , with the transformation of barren lands into green fields; spacious and modern urban areas .
This year, Binh Thuan celebrates 30 years of re-establishment of the province and at the end of the year, the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay expressway will be technically opened to traffic, followed by the National Tourism Year 2023 "Binh Thuan - Green Convergence", which will be new milestones in the development of this locality.
The turnaround of Binh Thuan led us to meet and talk with the head of the Executive Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee - Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van An!
Sir, the Provincial Party Secretary is the head of the Party Executive Committee of a province, and is responsible for the Party 's leadership in all areas of that province. So, can people imagine what his daily work is ?
- As the Provincial Party Secretary, I really have a lot of work to do, regardless of holidays, days off, office hours or breaks. The Party's leadership over a locality is very broad, covering many areas, including Party building, mass mobilization, socio-economics, national defense and security, handling petitions... Those are big tasks, and daily work includes people complaining about an injustice, petitioning for something like potholes on the road causing traffic accidents... when they get it, the Provincial Party Secretary must direct the resolution.
To carry out the above tasks, it is necessary to meet, issue resolutions, draw conclusions, monitor, direct, inspect, and supervise. There are tasks that take a lot of time, go through many stages, many steps, think, consider each word, but there are tasks that only need to be discussed over the phone, agree on perceptions, and implementation methods to be completed. There are tasks that require direct visits to the grassroots, to the actual scene. When meeting with people, meeting with voters (because I am the Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan province), there are times when I am harshly criticized, but there are also times when I witness the sad tears of the people when presenting their concerns...
He is from Hue - one of many Provincial Party Secretaries who are not local. More than 8 years ago , he was transferred to Binh Thuan as Deputy Provincial Party Secretary. On the first day he arrived here, did he envision his future path ? After all this time working in this land, what do you think is the most favorable thing for a leader who is not a local ?
- Time flies so fast. This March, I will have worked in Binh Thuan for 9 years. During that time, I joined the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee for the 3rd term, including 2 terms as Deputy Secretary (7 years) and this term as Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee (from October 2020 to present). This journey is quite long and I have learned a lot from practice, from retired cadres, incumbent cadres and the people of Binh Thuan.
Regarding the arrangement of non-local leaders, this is a policy that has existed for decades. Our ancestors in history have also implemented this policy for more than 500 years; that is the Law of "Hội Tỵ" (meaning "avoidance"). With the viewpoint that "a hundred officials are the source of order and chaos. Officials with virtue and talent will lead to order. Officials without virtue and talent are the stepping stones to chaos", the feudal state set a rule that officials were not allowed to work in their hometown. This was to avoid being influenced by family relationships as well as to prevent abuse of power and position to form cliques, limit corruption and bureaucracy.
Personally, from my work experience, I see that our Party's arrangement of some key leadership positions that are not local people has many positive points, such as creating conditions for cadres in the planning to have an environment to practice, understand the reality, develop comprehensively, thereby building a team of cadres equal to the task, not allowing negativity in cadre work, increasing cadres for difficult places, overcoming the situation of excess in some places, shortage in others, localism, closedness...
If the leaders are not local people, they will not be influenced by family relationships, relatives, group interests, etc., which often happens in the field of personnel work (promotion, appointment) and the economic field. At the same time, leaders who are not local people will have positive factors, such as having a new perspective and approach to work, wanting to contribute to the development of the locality and assert themselves , so they always strive to work and complete their tasks well.
In addition, the cadres transferred from the Central Government will have more convenient connections and contacts with the leaders of the Central agencies; thereby, taking advantage of the support and assistance of the Central agencies to remove difficulties and obstacles for the localities.
In October 2020, the Executive Committee of the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee (term XIV) elected you as Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee for the 2020-2025 term. Half of the term of the Provincial Party Secretary is approaching . If you can look back, what do you feel most satisfied with in leading the Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee to carry out its tasks ?
- When I received the assignment, I was personally filled with determination to join the Executive Committee in entering a new phase. In my acceptance speech at that time, I said: Previous generations have created the foundation for the development of our province, so today we must try harder, make more efforts, always love and help each other, maintain solidarity and unity, regularly self-criticize and criticize, uphold the Party's principles; build a truly strong, united, unified Executive Committee in will and action.
Looking back at the province's achievements in recent times, I am pleased with several things: Two bottlenecks that have existed for many years have now been basically resolved. The North-South Expressway (Eastern section), the section passing through the province, will be technically open to traffic at the end of 2022, and Phan Thiet airport is under construction. Our recommendations on the issue of titanium mining and reserves have been resolved by the Government through Decree No. 51/2021/ND-CP, "untying" Binh Thuan in resolving the overlap between the planning of mining and reserves of titanium ore and other socio-economic development plans, thereby freeing up large land resources for socio-economic development.
We have shaped the vision, system of viewpoints, goals, tasks and solutions for the next 5 to 10 years in many fields, focusing on the fields in which Binh Thuan has potential and advantages through the issuance of 6 thematic resolutions on socio-economic development.
We have also solved some of the previous backlogs, which will have specific results in this task, such as implementing the construction of Van Thanh Bridge, Ca Ty River Embankment (with a 10-year plan), preserving the regenerated mangrove forest in the heart of the city as a mangrove ecological park for the people, instead of building an urban area. These are projects that the people of Phan Thiet and Binh Thuan province have long desired and have received a very high consensus among the people.
What are you not satisfied with, still worried about ?
- What I am concerned about is that over the past 2 years, besides "fighting" the epidemic, coping with economic difficulties (high prices of supplies and raw materials, etc.) due to the unstable developments of the world's political and economic situation; Binh Thuan also has to solve a series of existing problems.
Through inspection and examination, many officials and party members, including key leaders of the province, had to be reviewed, disciplined, and some were criminally prosecuted. Many projects and works have encountered procedural problems for a long time but have not been completely resolved. In addition, in 2021 and 2022, due to many objective and subjective reasons, the economic growth rate of Binh Thuan province did not meet expectations, lower than the GDP growth rate of the whole country.
In 2022, the GRDP growth rate of Binh Thuan province ranked 10th out of 14 provinces in the North Central and Central Coast regions, and 45th out of 63 provinces and cities, in the low group. The development of plans, especially zoning plans; land use plans and plans is prolonged and sluggish. Up to now, no district-level administrative unit has had its land use plans and plans approved, so there is no basis for implementing projects and works, and approving investment policies.
The concretization of legal regulations is not timely, some contents are still lacking, some contents are not suitable for reality but are slow to be revised, so in practice, implementation encounters many difficulties. If these problems are not effectively resolved, they will continue to be an obstacle to the development of Binh Thuan province in the coming time.
Is the main cause the "knot " from the human factor as you once said ?
- That's right. Previously, Binh Thuan often talked about two bottlenecks that hindered development: foreign traffic and overlapping titanium planning with other planning. However, in my opinion, there is another bottleneck, which is the human factor.
People always play an extremely important role in the socio-economic development of each locality.
Frankly admitting, in recent times, a number of cadres and civil servants of the province have not been truly dedicated to their work, have not performed well their assigned duties and tasks; there have even been signs of shirking responsibility, avoiding responsibility, and being indifferent to the difficulties and hardships of the people and businesses. There is a situation of "fear of mistakes" and "fear of responsibility" among cadres and civil servants at all levels. Therefore, for many consecutive years, the indicators measuring provincial competitiveness (PCI); administrative reform (PAR Index); governance and public administration; and satisfaction of organizations and individuals with the quality of service of state administrative agencies of Binh Thuan province have been in the low group, with some indexes ranking 63rd out of 63 provinces and cities. This situation has created an "inertia" that has hindered the development of Binh Thuan in recent times.
To improve the situation, we have focused on arousing the sense of responsibility and dedication to the common cause, which in this case is the development of the province, among cadres and party members; thereby improving the investment attraction environment, enhancing competitiveness, reforming administrative procedures, and enhancing the satisfaction of people and businesses with the services of state administrative agencies. At the same time, the province is determined to strictly handle cadres with negative behaviors, both encouraging them to make efforts and trying, but also ready to replace cadres who are weak in capacity, shirking responsibility, with the motto that has been mentioned many times by the Party and State leaders: "Whoever cannot do it, stand aside".
Politburo member, Party Central Committee Secretary, Head of the Central Organization Committee Truong Thi Mai said in a Conference on Party work that in reality there are examples of criticism and self-criticism, having " different voices " and being highly appreciated by the Politburo and the Secretariat, including Binh Thuan Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van An. So, in managing work, how do you use subordinate cadres , cadres with "different voices " from the collective and from you as an individual ?
- The Politburo issued Conclusion No. 14-KL/TW, dated September 22, 2021 on the policy of encouraging and protecting dynamic and creative cadres for the common good, this is a content that is of great interest to cadres and party members.
Currently, to meet development requirements, Binh Thuan province is striving to build a team of cadres, especially leaders at all levels and sectors with strong political will, clear ethics, outstanding capacity, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, daring to innovate, be creative, daring to face difficulties and challenges, daring to act for the common good.
That cadre must know how to do the right thing, say the right thing, protect what is right, and resolutely fight against what is wrong; must carefully study legal regulations to advise and explain; must innovate and be creative; must put the interests of the nation, the people, the province, the people, and the collective above all else. Once that is determined, the cadre will have the "courage" to speak up with a "different" voice, if he sees it as right.
Personally, I highly appreciate and encourage cadres to boldly debate and have opinions different from those of their superiors in the spirit of working for the common good. In meetings, I create conditions for everyone to express their opinions. In fact, many opinions of subordinates are accepted. Even in an Executive Committee meeting, before passing the Conference resolution, when there were different opinions, I stopped to continue to improve and pass at another meeting. Or in personnel work, there were cases where I wanted to change, when brought to the table, there were concerns, opinions in a different direction, I listened and carefully accepted, making appropriate decisions when there was high consensus, not imposing subjective will.
I think that leaders must be open-minded and listen, even to voices that are different from their own; thereby, if they find something right, they must be determined to implement it. If they discover mistakes, they must accept them, proactively correct and overcome them, without being bureaucratic, arbitrary, or authoritarian.
Binh Thuan is in a period of great opportunities for development , a new destination full of potential for domestic and foreign investors. He once compared that in the past, Binh Thuan was a charming girl but in a remote , isolated , harsh area , so few people paid attention. But now, Binh Thuan is like a girl of marriageable age, the older she gets, the more beautiful she becomes , the more convenient her accommodation and travel, the more spacious her house is, every young man wants to come. So, sir, what has made Binh Thuan what it is today?
- Binh Thuan has a large land area but suffers from the driest climate in the country, often lacking water for daily life and production. The province also lacks connecting transport infrastructure, and the titanium mineral planning overlaps with other planning, making it less attractive to investors.
Therefore, in terms of tourism, apart from Mui Ne area, other areas have received almost no investment, many tourism projects have not been implemented for decades or have been "shelved" and abandoned halfway through. The land is vast but agricultural production is weak, there are no large-scale farms applying high technology. The industrial sector has slow growth, industrial zones and clusters are empty of factories and workshops. Enterprises are mainly small and medium-sized.
Generations of leaders of Binh Thuan province have made constant efforts to resolve those "bottlenecks", find new directions, use challenges as motivation for creativity, and overcome difficulties to rise up. As a result, up to now, the province has succeeded in "treating drought", turning barren lands into green fields; turning sunlight and wind into renewable energy. Currently, the province has projects with billions of dollars in investment capital that have been implemented; some other projects worth billions of dollars, including a project worth 11.9 billion dollars, are awaiting investment policies; previously unattractive fields (such as investment in agriculture, industrial infrastructure, logistics, etc.) are now being "jumped" into by many investors.
It can be said that Binh Thuan is becoming an attractive destination, attracting domestic and foreign investors.
After 30 years since the re-establishment of the province, Binh Thuan has overcome many difficulties and hardships, transformed strongly and achieved positive results in many aspects. By 2025, Binh Thuan province will balance its budget. To achieve this, what are the breakthrough solutions in Binh Thuan's development strategy ?
- Balancing the budget is a big challenge for the province, we need to have a strategy to develop the economic pillars in a synchronous manner. We have agreed to build a project to do this with specific solutions and timelines for implementation. As I said above, we have now built orientations, goals, tasks and solutions to develop the three economic pillars, which are industry, tourism and agriculture.
Regarding industry, we focus on two areas: Energy industry and processing industry; in which, the energy industry is the core, the driving force. We currently have 48 factories operating commercial power generation with many types. The whole province currently has 6 industrial parks in operation, has started construction of Son My Industrial Park and will continue to start construction of Tan Duc Industrial Park in the near future, promising to create a leap forward in the province's industrial development in the future.
Regarding tourism, the province will continue to improve the quality, maintain the brand of Mui Ne National Tourist Area, using it as a spreading nucleus to continue expanding the tourism space to the North and the South with many types of tourism and services following current trends (sea sports tourism; MICE, adventure tourism, ...); develop tourist ports, marinas and high-class services...
In particular, Binh Thuan has been chosen to host the National Tourism Year 2023. This is an honor and a great opportunity to continue promoting and developing the province's tourism industry, raising Binh Thuan tourism to a new level...
Besides, Binh Thuan is also determined to promote digital transformation, develop human resources, issue policies and regulations to attract high-quality human resources to work to meet the development requirements of the province.
In the socio-economic development of Binh Thuan, many opinions say that Binh Thuan province is developing rapidly in industry, services , and tourism , so the balance is skewed. The agricultural sector is not given attention commensurate with its potential. What is the Secretary 's assessment and opinion on that opinion ?
- The Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress identified agriculture as an economic pillar of the province. Immediately after the Congress, the first thematic Resolution issued by the Executive Committee for the 2020-2025 term was the Resolution on developing a modern, sustainable, high-value-added agricultural sector. Looking back at previous periods, the province has also spent a lot of time and resources investing in infrastructure serving agricultural development, especially irrigation.
Up to now, we have had a relatively synchronous irrigation system, the whole province has 78 irrigation systems with hundreds of large and small works with a total capacity of more than 400 million m3 ; the actively irrigated planting area has increased 4 times.
With these results, it shows that we are very aware of the role and position of agricultural development for the development of the province.
Sir, when mentioning Binh Thuan agriculture, we are mentioning dragon fruit, cashew , livestock and poultry farming... The Resolution of the 14th Provincial Party Congress also determined that Binh Thuan must develop sustainable agriculture . To do that, does Binh Thuan have any different ways or solutions compared to other localities ?
- As mentioned, Binh Thuan is a land with harsh natural conditions, the driest place in the country, and due to the impact of climate change, drought is getting worse, along with the decline in aquatic resources, so the agricultural development of the province is very difficult, requiring new and appropriate directions and thinking.
With that awareness, we promote restructuring and innovation of agricultural development models, transforming from agricultural production to agricultural economic development, "developing agriculture in an ecological and endemic direction with high resistance to extreme weather, effectively adapting to climate change; linking along the value chain and having high added value; associated with rural economic development, new rural construction and tourism development".
Accordingly, Binh Thuan continues to prioritize resources to invest in large-scale irrigation projects, in a multi-purpose direction such as: Deploying the construction of Ka Pet Reservoir; Deploying phase 2 of the Song Dinh 3 reservoir project; branch canal system, inter-district water supply canal in the South of the province, the main canal of Bac Song Quao, the canal system of Song Luy reservoir... In particular, it will closely coordinate with central ministries and branches to promote the implementation of the La Nga 3 Reservoir project. With investment in completing irrigation infrastructure, Binh Thuan agriculture will have the opportunity to develop rapidly.
We also focus on improving the quality and value of some of the province's advantageous agricultural products, especially in two areas: Cultivation and exploitation - processing of aquatic products. Calling on experienced and capable investors to invest in factories processing agricultural, forestry and aquatic products. At the same time, actively promoting investment, promoting the image, and seeking markets under Vietnam's free trade agreements in addition to traditional markets...
The story of the Binh Thuan provincial leaders' policy to cancel the urban area construction project to preserve the 32-hectare mangrove forest in the heart of Phan Thiet city is a testament to green and sustainable development. How do you and the provincial leaders resolve the conflicts between rapid development and sustainable development, economic development and environmental protection , and harmony with nature ?
- Sustainable development, ensuring harmony between economic and social interests and environmental protection is an important policy of our Party, emphasized through many terms. Binh Thuan is a locality with harsh natural conditions, the driest region in the country, so it is necessary to pay more attention to preserving the ecological environment.
The story of retaining 32 hectares of mangrove forest is just an example. We have included this issue in resolutions and policies on socio-economic development such as: Not accepting projects that pose a risk of environmental pollution; not converting natural forests and coastal planted forests with investment sources from the state budget to other uses, etc.; not exploiting titanium in mining areas that do not ensure socio-economic efficiency, have the risk of causing insecurity around the mining area, affecting people's lives, the ecological environment, destroying the landscape, not ensuring water sources for mining and selecting titanium ores, etc.
In particular, the province has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to remove about 28,000 hectares from the Reserve Planning for socio-economic development; not to destroy the environment for mineral exploitation.
In 2013, along with the National Tourism Year "Binh Thuan - Convergence", Binh Thuan Provincial Party Committee took the theme of the year as "Urban embellishment, preservation, environmental protection, green, clean and beautiful landscape " with the determination to build Binh Thuan province from urban to rural more civilized, more modern, more beautiful, cleaner, cleaner, a place worth living, is an attractive and safe destination for tourists.
This shows that we choose a sustainable direction, respect for nature, not only take good care of the current living environment but also for the next generation.
Sincerely thank you for this !
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