Party General Secretary on South tour, working with HCM City

Visiting the Linh Trung Industrial and Export Processing Zone, one of the success stories in Hồ Chí Minh City, General Secretary Nông Đức Mạnh said that workers’ income and welfare is key to building the Vietnamese working class, adding that the State is to work further with enterprises on this towards harmonizing the interests of the State and those of enterprises and workers. According to General Secretary Nông Đức Mạnh, when building future industrial parks, it is advisable to build accompanying residential and service quarters to form new urban districts.

In the working session with the core leaders of Hồ Chí Minh City on January 31, the General Secretary likened integration into the world economy and entry into WTO with going out to the high sea. The further we reach out, the more steadfast we should stay on the path to socialism and maintenance of national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, he said.

He expected Hồ Chí Minh City to gain a high consensus among officials and people in any action taken to stay ahead of the country in integrating into the international economy. He stressed that in the new period of development, the city should keep open-minded and creative to strive for a rapid and sustainable development and move forward as a major civilized, modern economic center of the country and the region. The city's economic structure should brim with great proportions of hi-tech industries, banking, finance and healthcare. The General Secretary suggested the city to join the Central agencies in identifying and summing up new issues arising from national development and integration and improving institutions of the socialist-orientated market economy.

By Xuân Hồng