Success of the resistance war against French colonialists with the Dien Bien Phu victory at its peak is of great historical and epoch-making significance. On clearly perceiving the honour, pride, and responsibility of citizens living, studying, and working on the land of such a global-shaking victory, the Party Committee, authority, armed forces, and compatriots of Dien Bien Province constantly bring into play the spirit of that landslide victory to resolutely build the province into a strong, wealthy locality on a par with a historical site.

Dien Bien is a mountainous, border province, the Westeastern gateway of the Fatherland, and adjacent to Laos and China, thus occupying a strategic position in terms of politics, economics, society, national defence, security, and diplomacy of the 2nd Military Region and the North in general. In the resistant war against the French aggressors, Dien Bien was chosen as the “rendezvous of history.” In fact, having suffered consecutive defeats in the Indochina theatre, France put effort into building the Dien Bien Phu cluster of fortresses with a view to conducting a decisive all-out battle to destroy our main force and end the war honourably. On the basis of firmly grapsing plots and behaviours of the enemy as well as analysing and assessing situations scientifically and correctly, in early December 1953, the Politburo decided to launch the Dien Bien Phu Campaign with the aim of annihilating the enemy cluster of fortresses completely. Given the motto of devoting every resource to the front and sparing no effort to win the campaign, the entire nation concentrated strength on the campaign. In response to appeal of the Party and Uncle Ho, together with the whole country, people of various ethnic groups in Dien Bien Province promoted patriotism and indomitable spirit to surmount difficulties and hardships and make vital contribution to the Vitory on 7 May 1954. As a result of resounding achievements in combat and combat support, 700 individuals and 47 organisations in the province have been awarded the title of “Hero of the People’s Armd Forces” by the State. Thousands of other individuals and organisations have been presented with noble prizes.

The provincial military party elaborate resolution on implementing defence and military tasks in 2024

To inherit and bring into play such glorious tradition, over the past few years, the Party Committee, authority, armed forces, and people of various ethnic groups in Dien Bien Province have constantly promoted their self-reliance, resilience, solidarity, and creativity to overcome every difficulty and challenge to develop Dien Bien comprehensively. In many consecutive years, the province maintained fairly good economic growth rate with the average GRDP in the 2021-2023 period reaching approximately 9.33% per year. In 2022, it was the second fastest growing province among the 14 provinces in the Northern midland and mountainous region and ranked twenty-fourth in the whole country. The economic structure is shifted in a positive direction with industry, service, and construction accounting for 79.03%. The business and investment environment is improved, thus attracting much investment. Administrative reform witnesses dramatic changes. Major breakthroughs are made in socio-economic infrastructure, thereby bringing about endless changes to urban and rural areas. Social security is ensured. The rate of poor and near-poor households decreases quickly. People’s spiritual, material life witnesses considerable improvement. National defence and security are strengthened. Sovereignty and security at the national boundaries are managed and protected firmly. Relics of the bygone Dien Bien Phu theatre are preserved and developed into destinations for tourists and places for educating about tradition.

Despite a great deal of effort and progress, due to its low standing, craggy terrain, extreme climate, etc., Dien Bien remains one of the poor provinces with slow socio-economic development, people’s low living standard, and limited resources. Hostile forces and reactionaries exploit ethnic, religious issues to intensify their acts of sabotage. Those are difficulties and challenges that present high requirements to the Party Committee, authority, military, and people of Dien Bien Province.

To meet requirements and missions of building and defending the Fatherland in the new situation, the province is committed to further leveraging the leadership of party committees, management of local authorities at all levels, strength of the entire political system and the great national unity, potential, and available resources to enhance socio-economic development, hunger eradication, and poverty reduction; strengthen national defence and security; firmly protect sovereignty over national borders; and gradually accomplish the goal of becoming a fairly developed province by 2045 as stipulated by Resolution No. 11-NQ/TW, dated 10 February 2022, of the Politburo, deserving values of the Dien Bien Phu great victory and historial site.

To do so requires the province to do good planning and step up improvement of economic infrastructure systems, most notably those relating to traffic, urban area, tourism, health, education, etc., creating drivers of sustainble, rapid socio-economic development. Based on development planning of Dien Bien Province in the 2021-2030 period, vision 2050, approved by the Prime Minister, the province leads and directs departments, commissions, branches, and localities to map out concrete policies, programmes, and plans. It also reforms the ways of direction and management under the motto of comprehensiveness and focus, taking public investment as momentum for leading investment of economic sectors and effectively establishing critical structures and projects according to spatial structure of four driving forces, three economic zones, and four growth blocs. In the near term, the province takes initiative in cooperating with ministries and agencies at the central level as well as localities on actively mobilising resources to build and complete the extension to the Dien Bien Airport and the Son La – Dien Bien – Tay Trang Border Gate Highway (first phase); renovate and upgrade the road section linking key economic zones along the National Highway No. 279 and Highway No. 12; and complete investment procedures for upgrading the A Pa Chai – Long Phu Border Crossing Point to a bilateral border gate, generating momentum for socio-economic development and tourism.

Furthermore, the province continues to adopt synchronous solutions to attract private investment in developing advantageous, key economic fields. In industry and cottage industry, the province makes further structure shifts in a modern direction, focusing on food and agricultural products processing industries according to value chains; attaches importance to investment from strategic partners with great potential, strong trademarks, and high technology, which aims to build macadamia, hurbs, and other agricultural products processing factories. It is to promote implementation of projects concerning hydropower plants and grid networks as planned while creating favourable conditions for investors to develop sources of renewable energy such as wind energy, pumbed storage hydropower, biomass power, and so on. Regarding agriculture, forestry, and countryside, the province is committed to development in a comprehensive, modern, sustainable manner and establishing a close relation between the service and industry with the agriculture and countryside. Accordingly, branches and localities keep stepping up carrying out the technological scientific programme in connection with developing agriculture and building new countryside in the 2020 – 2025 period; actively apply high technology and food safety and hygiene standards to production, processing, and storage of products registered as trademarks, thus promoting value of OCOP products and sustainable poverty reduction. With a view to turning tourism into a key economic sector, thus contributing to sustainable, green economic development with national cultural identity, the province directs formulation of plans to preserve, repair, and restore the special national historical relic site of Dien Bien Phu Theatre according to Decision No. 898/QD-TTg, dated 29 July 2023, of the Prime Minister. This helps to further spread values and echoes of Dien Bien Phu victory to people nationwide and international visitors. It also attaches importance to unique, high-quality tourism products in a close relationship with cultural tradition and identity as well as beauty of the nature and people of Dien Bien; development of data bases and increased connectivity with Northwestern provinces and national, international tourism centres with the aim to bring about effectiveness in terms of politics, economics, culture, society, national defence, security, and diplomacy.

The Dien Bien Phu Museum

In addition to economic development, the province makes major breakthroughs in enhancing quality of building and rectifying the Party and political system, capable of leading and directing the successful accomplishment of missions. On the basis of six key missions and solutions identified by the Resolution of the 14th Provincial Party Congress as well as leverage of experience and outcomes, in the coming time, the province is committed to furthering implementation of Resolution No. 04-NQ/TW of the Provincial Party Committee on enhancing leadership capacity and combat power of party grassroots organisations, contributing to strengthening the political system at the grassroots level in the 2021 – 2025 period; takes reform of leadership style, enhanced leadership capacity and combat power, and streamlined apparatus and staffing as breakthroughs. Moreover, the province drastically carries out the project on Developing party organisations and party members, contributing to establishment and consolidation of the political system in extremely difficult communes and border communes of Dien Bien Province in the 2023-2025 timeframe, vision 2030 and the project on rearranging district- and commune-level administrative units in the 2023-2030 period; leads and directs good planning of strategic and local cadres as provided by Regulation No. 50-QD/TW, dated 27 January 2021, of the Politburo, which aims to prepare cadidates for the coming Provincial Party Congress. Additionally, it actively mobilises resources to establish and promote digital transformation; apply information technology to administrative reform; enhance quality of inspection and supervision to timely detect and deal with wrongdoings committed by organisations and individuals during their performance of public duties, promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of leadership and state managment at the local, grassroots levels.

On deeply grasping the perspective, which notes that “socio-economic development is a central task, party building is the core issue, cultual development is the spiritual foundation of the society, and preservation of national defence and security is a regular, pivotal mission,” and tapping into the tradition of determining to fight and determining to win, the province promotes leadership of good execution of defence, military missions, building of strong all-people national defence and all-people defence posture in association with robust people’s security posture and all-people border defence posture, facilitating the province’s sustainable, rapid development. To grasp and realise the Party’s defence guideline, directly Resolution No. 05-NQ/TW, dated 7 May 2021, of the Provincial Party Committee on defence, security missions in the 2021-2025 period, the province keeps directing departments, agencies, and localities to strengthen propagation and political education. First of all, the province brings into play every potential and value of the area and participates in successfully celebrating the 70-year anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory, thus inspiring the glorious history, honour, and pride of the heroic Dien Bien hometown. This also provides the foundation for further enhancing quality of defence and security education for cadres, party members, and people from various walks of life, especially the leading cadres in the political system, religious dignitaries and ministers, and people at the border areas, creating dramatic changes in understanding and responsibility for the mission to safeguard the Fatherland. The province also requests breakthroughs in force organisation, training, compliance with good order and discipline, and building of strong, compact, adept armed forces with high combat readiness. There is a need to promote the party leadership and state management of national defence and security, especially those of the Steering Committee on Building Defence Zones and the Civil Defence Command Board; bring into play the leading role of the Military, Public Security, and Border Guard in making recommendation, instruction, and implementation; actively mobilise financial resources from the local budget and society to establish a military posture suitable to defensive operational plans of all levels; survey, plan, and closely control dual-use industrial facilities and technical equipment of the economy, readily transforming potential into national defence capabilities and shifting the locality from peacetime to wartime in a highly feasible, scientific manner.

Furthermore, the province leads and directs levels, branches, unions, and localities to successfully implement religious, ethnic policies, the policy on military families, gratitude activities, the movement: “All people unite to establish a cultural life in residential areas” in a close relationship with the campaign: “All people unite to build new-style countryside and civilised urban areas.” They are also requested to speed up assisting rural labourers and households of ethnic minorities in medical insurance, housing, and production, thereby narrowing the development gap among regions; resolve all complaints and accusations completely right at the grassroots level to generate consensus among party committees, authorities and people about implementation of guidelines and policies of the Party and State. The province promotes the special friendship relation and comprehensive cooperation with provinces in Northern Laos; maintains and broadens its relation with Yunnan, China; collaborate on handling issues of mutual concern under regulations to bring cooperation activities into depth, substance, and effectiveness and build border areas of peace, stability, and development.

Celebration of the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory is an extensive intensive political activity, which enables the Party Committee, authority, armed forces, and people of Dien Bien Province to review the glorious history of the resistance war against French colonialists, thus better understanding the significance and historical value of the victory and being motivated to promote solidarity, indomitable spirit, and emulation for building Dien Bien into an increasingly prosperous, civilised province on a par with the significance of a historical site.

NGUYEN THANH DO, Deputy Secretary of the Dien Bien Party Committee, Chairman of the Dien Bien People’s Committee