Grasping the Party’s guidelines on the two strategic tasks of national construction and protection, the province of Yen Bai has always closely combined socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation in its area and achieved many encouraging results.

Located in the Northern midland and mountainous region, with its complex terrain, Yen Bai province is frequently heavily affected by natural disasters. Having 9 district-level administrative units, 180 commune-level administrative units, and a population of over 810,000, Yen Bai is inhibited by over 30 peoples, 54% of them are ethnic minority people. In spite of having 2 poor districts of Tram Tau and Mu Cang Chai and 81 extremely difficult communes, with due regard paid by the Party and State, and the efforts made by the provincial Party Organization, Authority, armed forces, and people, Yen Bai province have overcome all difficulties to achieve rather comprehensive developments in terms of economy, society, defence, and security.

Leaders of the province at the inauguration ceremony of Bach Lam Bridge connecting the National Highway 37 with Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway

Grasping the Party’s guidelines, according to the Resolution of the 18^th Provincial Party Congress for 2015-2020, the province has determined to “continue achieving a comprehensive reform, mobilizing and effectively using all resources for economic development with a proper and sustainable growth rate; to foster socio-economic development and social progress and equality; to improve the people’s material and mental life; to build and strengthen defence and security”. To fulfil that target, over the past years, the Provincial Party Committee, People’s Committee, and People’s Council have adopted various measures synchronously.

First of all, the province has focused on formulating, supplementing, and completing plans, mechanisms, and projects for socio-economic development in line with defence-security consolidation with a long-term vision in a highly feasible manner. It has reviewed, adjusted, and supplemented the master plan for socio-economic development in the period of 2011-2020, with an orientation towards 2030; built, adjusted, and supplemented 16 plans for sectors, fields, and provincial-level main products in the period of 2016-2020, with a vision towards 2030; cooperated with functional agencies of the Ministry of National Defence and the Military Region 2 in reviewing, adjusting, and supplementing the plan to use land for the purpose of national defence in the area; issued 39 groups of policies and projects for socio-economic development in line with defence-security consolidation in the period of 2016-2020. The province’s plans, projects, and policies have adhered to and concretized the Strategy for socio-economic development in the period of 2011-2020 and resolutions by the Party Central Committee, National Assembly, and Government as well as the Resolution of the 18^th Provincial Party Congress in accordance with local conditions, potential, and strengths in each period. In its master plan, agriculture still acts as the cornerstone of its economy; industrial development creates an important motivation for the economic growth; services account for the largest proportion of the gross product (47%), ensuring that the province will promote its advantages, change the economic and labour structures, create employments, and improve the people’s income.

Due to the geographical and population characteristics, there is a difference in socio-economic development between the mountainous area and the nether area. As for the nether area, the province has focused on developing industries and agriculture of high added value. In the mountainous area, the province has attached importance to stabilizing production, ensuring food security, eradicating hunger, reducing poverty, settling free migration, and maintaining political security and social order and safety. At the same time, the province has implemented the policies flexibly to facilitate enterprises’ investment in order to narrow the development gap between its areas.

To facilitate the rapid, sustainable socio-economic development, the province has attached significance to developing socio-economic infrastructure in a synchronous, gradually modern manner, while considering this as one of the three strategic breakthroughs in socio-economic development in the current period and beyond. The province has strived to mobilize, attract, and prioritize investments in traffic system in order to encourage regional and inter-regional connection for the sake of socio-economic development and defence-security consolidation, particularly in the key, isolated, remote, and ethnic minority inhabited areas. Over the past years, the province has mobilized many resources in upgrading key traffic lines to industrial zones and clusters, while implementing the Project on developing rural traffic system within the province of Yen Bai in the period of 2016-2018. It strives to consolidate and build over 1,000 kilometres of rural traffic road by 2020. At present, it is recommending the Government and ministries to make investments in some feeder roads to connect national highways with Noi Bai - Lao Cai Expressway and a road to connect Tram Tau district (Yen Bai) with Bac Yen district (Son La province). Moreover, it continues to mobilize resources from the national target programs to develop the new-style countryside infrastructure, with a focus on the inter-commune, inter-village traffic, communications, health, and education systems and dual-use constructions within the defensive zones.

The Provincial Party Committee Standing Board’s Conference during the provincial defensive zone exercise (May 2017)

In addition, the province has combined the development of economic sectors with the consolidation of defence-security potential. It has mobilized all resources and effectively exploited its potential and strengths to increase the proportion of industry, construction, and services and reduce the proportion of agriculture in its economic structure. It has developed industrial zones and clusters, with emphasis placed on processing of agriculture and forestry products, exploitation and processing of minerals, and production of construction materials and electronic components. Up to now, all enterprises have both made contributions to developing the province’s economy and maintained readiness for manufacturing and repairing weapons and materials for defence constructions and civil defence when necessary.

The province has restructured its sectors of crop and animal husbandry, aquaculture, and forestry, while ensuring food security, protecting the environment, accumulated materials for the national defence demand, and attaching importance to developing agricultural products based on each zone’s potential, such as high-quality rice, fruit trees, VietGap tea, Shan tea in the mountainous areas, and trees of high economic value. The agricultural projects have helped create more employments, increase the people’s income, stabilize their life in the rural areas, and maintain political security at the grass-roots level.

To develop services, Yen Bai has focused on fostering its potential sectors, such as transport, finance, banking, health, vocational education, and information technology, boosting investment and cooperation with regional provinces in developing tourism in order to change the labour structure, create employments, and transform tourism into an important economic sector. Consequently, the province’s economic structure has been changed positively with an increase in the proportion of non-agricultural sectors. Its economic sectors have greatly contributed to accumulating materials under the plans (5-10% per year) and maintained readiness for mobilizing human and material resources for the national defence demand. Moreover, the province has made investments in providing facilities and equipment for district-level hospitals and commune-level health stations as well as developing the health sector’s human resources, thereby contributing to protecting and taking care of the people’s health. It has implemented the project entitled “arranging the system of schools and classes within pre-school education and general education in Yen Bai province’s area in the period of 2016-2020” and adopted a preferential treatment policy for the system of ethnic boarding and semi-boarding secondary and high schools so as to improve the quality of education and ensure equality in education. Besides, the province has well implemented the policies for social welfare, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, people with meritorious services, ethnic minority people, and extremely difficult areas, while encouraging the ethnic minority people to settle down and remove their depraved customs. Up to now, 100% of communes within the province have managed to develop the systems of roads, electricity, posts, telecoms, and information technology to meet the people’s demand and perform the national defence mission in the event.

In spite of being a poor province with a great demand for domestic and foreign investments in socio-economic development, Yen Bai has determined not to attract investment at any rate. It has combined economic development with defence-security consolidation. To that end, the province has formulated and strictly implemented the mechanism for coordination, consultation, appraisal, and close supervision towards the projects for economic development, particularly in the key areas and vulnerable sectors. It has proactively prevented and fought against the signs of economic absolutization and disregard for defence and security. At the same time, it has promoted the role of Military and Public Security Offices in state management of defence and security and proactively cooperated with the Ministries of National Defence and Public Security and the Military Region 2 in appraising the economic development projects to avoid affecting defence and security. Notably, in the planning and construction of urban and rural areas, the province has prioritized dual-use constructions so as to achieve the targets of socio-economic development and perform the military-defence mission in the event. While boosting economic development, the province has attached importance to directing and performing the defence-security mission, building the posture of all-people national defence associated with the posture of people’s security, and making the local armed forces politically, ideologically, and organizationally strong and capable of playing the core role in the building and operation of the defensive zones, natural disaster prevention and mitigation, search and rescue, and maintenance of local political security and social order and safety.

Bringing into play the obtained results, the Party Organization, Authority, armed forces, and people of Yen Bai province are concentrating on effectively combining socio-economic development with defence-security consolidation, with a view to transforming Yen Bai into a relatively developed province in the Northern midland and mountainous region.

Do Duc Duy, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee