Being fully aware of the two strategic missions of the Vietnamese revolution, over the years, the party committees, authorities, armed forces, and people of the city of Mong Cai have focused on combining socio-social development with defence-security consolidation and diplomacy via effective measures in accordance with local particularities.
Mong Cai is a border gate city located in the inter-connected gate of the Tonkin Gulf and the economic corridor of Nanning-Singapore, acting as an important bridge of economic cooperation between ASEAN and China, holding a position of strategic importance to the economy, defence, security, diplomacy of Quang Ninh province and the whole country. Thus, over the years, the City Party Committee and People’s Committee have grasped and concretised the two strategic missions of national construction and protection into resolutions and directives together with specific measures in accordance with local conditions, while promoting the synergy of the whole political system, armed forces, and people in the process. As a result, the city has made significant progress in all fields. It is worth noting that the city’s GRDP has been 15.02% per annum. Its economic structure has been shifted in accordance with its condition. Services have accounted for 55.9% of its economy, industry and construction have made up 35.2%, and the percentage of agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture has been 8.9%. The total revenue between 2015 and 2020 was over 11.2 trillion VND. The people’s life has been gradually improved. In 2020, the per capita income was 5,051 USD per annum. The rate of poverty has decrease to 0.12% only. Defence and security have been consolidated. The national border sovereignty, political security, social order and safety have been maintained.
At present, in addition to advantages, the city is confronted with a lot of difficulties in combining socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation and diplomacy due to the impacts made by natural disasters and epidemics, China’s adjustments in its border trade policy, and the complex developments in smuggling, trade fraud, illegal immigration, and cross-border crime.
According to the Resolution of the 15th Provincial Party Congress of Quang Ninh for the 2020-2025 tenure, “Mong Cai will be developed into a key service, trade, tourism, and seaport centre of Quang Ninh province.” To achieve that goal, the City Party Committee and People’s Committee have focused their leadership and direction on exploiting the potential and advantages of a border gate city to renew the growth model, restructure the economy, and shift towards “modern, green, sustainable” development, while well implementing the social security policy as the basis for performing the defence-security task.
 |
| The border gate economic zone of Mong Cai |
While stepping up the Party building as a key mission, the city has focused on its central task of socio-economic development. Moreover, the city has accelerated the formulation and submission of the Master Plan for building the Border Gate Economic Zone of Mong Cai towards 2030, with a vision towards 2040. At the same time, it has adjusted and approved the Plan for Functional Subdivisions of the Border Gate Economic Zone of Mong Cai. It has renewed the method of economic operation under the motto of “enabling public investment to lead private investment.” Emphasis has been placed on completing and putting the key projects into service, such as the expanded Border Gate of Bac Luan II, the Interdisciplinary Checkpoint of Bac Luan II Bridge, the Inland Container Depot, the Pontoon Bridge at Hai Yen ward, the trans-island road of Vinh Trung - Vinh Thuc, and the road of Ho Trang Vinh - Hai Son. Besides, the city has advised the province on cooperating with ministries and central sectors in speeding up the development and submission of the project to build a cross-border economic cooperation zone in the area of Bac Luan II Bridge as an incentive to its rapid, sustainable development of services, commerce, and tourism.
In order to attract more investments and effectively mobilise resources for its economic development, the city has concentrated on bettering the business environment. In the medium term, the city would continue implementing the Provincial Party Committee’s Resolution15-NQ/TU, dated April 23rd, 2019 on developing seaports and seaport services within the province of Quang Ninh towards 2025, with orientation towards 2030. To bring into play the advantages of a border gate city, the city has directed competent offices to create a favourable condition for export, import, and immigration, well conduct the work of site clearance to assist its strategic investors in their trade, tourism, and service development projects, and accelerate the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Agriculture, Forestry, and Aquaculture Exchange Centre. It has closely worked with provincial departments and sectors to realise the policies by the Government and the province of Quang Ninh on expanding and modernising financial and banking services.
In addition, the city has proactively applied science and technology to developing its key economic sectors. Concerning its industry and handicraft, according to the development plan towards 2030 and beyond, the city would continue adjusting this sector’s structure towards modernity, while focusing on developing clean, high-quality, competitive, environmentally-friendly industry sectors, such as manufacturing, electronic assembly industry, construction material, outsourcing, and seafood and fruit processing for export and domestic consumption. It would also upgrade and effectively exploit its industrial zones and seaports of Hai Yen and Hai Ha.
Regarding its agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture, the city would enhance the restructuring of this sector, increase the added value, and form a value chain from manufacturing, processing to consumption in tandem with the building of new-style, exemplary rural areas and the execution of the urban development programme approved by the Government and the province of Quang Ninh. By 2025, the city’s overall aquaculture production will have been over 110,000 tons, while the rate of forest coverage will have reached above 80%. It would keep investing in developing its road traffic, waterways, and railway synchronously and upgrading the traffic system within the urban, border, rural, sea, and island areas to stimulate economic development, ensure social security, and maintain defence and security.
To turn tourism into a key economic sector for the sake of “green, sustainable” economic development, the city has encouraged businesses and citizens to make investments in upgrading facilities for developing marine, border, and ecological tourism. In this regard, priority has been given to attracting strategic investors with strong potential and brands so that they would make large-scale, synchronous, modern investments in developing tourism and high-quality services on the island of Vinh Thuc in associated with the National Tourism Zone of Tra Co - Mong Cai. Besides, the city has promoted inter-regional connection and established entertainment venues to increase tourists’ stay and expense in Mong Cai. Due attention has been paid to closely managing and bettering the existing tourism products, and developing more new, distinct, competitive ones. The city has closely worked with China’s Dongxing city to exploit the tourist route of “2 countries - 5 cities,” expand and improve the annual Vietnam-China International Trade and Tourism Fair (Mong Cai - Dongxing), and encourage the people-to-people exchange programmes between border residential clusters.
Under the Party’s guidelines on avoiding boosting economic development at any rate, Mong Cai has attached great value to combining economic development with defence-security consolidation to ensure that economic growth would help increase its defence-security potential. Grasping and executing the Action Programme 38-CTr/TU, dated February 6, 2020 by the Provincial Party Committee of Quang Ninh for the Conclusion 57-KL/TW, dated September 16, 2019 by the Politburo on combining economy with defence and security and vice versa, the city has focused its leadership and direction on appraising, supplementing, and adjusting plans for industrial, urban and rural zones in accordance with the building of its defensive zone’s military posture. Its economic fields and activities, particularly the planning of border gate economic, industrial, and new urban zones have been in harmony with defence and security. In the upcoming time, the city would speed up the construction of residential clusters along the border and on its islands, with priority given to developing border gate and marine economic zones to make contributions to building a firm posture of all-people national defence within itself.
To become a first-class city by 2030, the city has both fostered infrastructural development and upgraded the system of national defence works for the military-defence task in the event. Emphasis has been placed on implementing dual-purpose projects in line with civil defence, such as underground construction, bridge, sewer, depot, and seaport. In the process, the city has enhanced state management of defence and security, improved all-level authorities’ efficiency, stepped up defence and security education for all cadres and citizens, and built an increasingly firm posture of “people’s hearts and minds.” The city has concentrated on making the local armed forces comprehensively and politically strong, with greater importance attached to the forces tasked with manoeuvre and combat readiness, building comprehensively strong military and public security offices at all levels, and promoting their core role in counselling and performing the defence-security work and the defence of border, sea, island sovereignty.
In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the city has always ensured social security, well implemented policies for labour, employment, and people with meritorious services to the revolution, raised the quality of poverty reduction, prevented citizens from falling back into poverty, and kept improving the people’s material and mental life. While combining economy, defence, and security with diplomacy, it has boosted its friendly, cooperative relationship with Chinese localities. In this regard, significance has been attached to cementing and expanding Mong Cai’s cooperation with the city of Dongxing and the county of Fangcheng (China) in all fields, especially in border management, search and rescue, and infrastructural development so as to meet the requirements set by the Homeland construction and protection in the era of integration and development.
LE VAN ANH
Member of the Provincial Party Committee of Quang Ninh
Secretary of the Party Committee of Mong Cai City