Political and spiritual potential plays a foundational and guiding role in all-people national defence. Entering a new era of development, Dong Thap province is focusing on strengthening this particularly important potential, generating a powerful source of collective resolve and spiritual strength to build strong, modern all-people national defence, maintaining a peaceful, stable environment, laying a solid foundation for the province’s “rapid development and major breakthroughs”.

Dong Thap covers an area of nearly 6,000 km², stretching from the border with Cambodia to the East Sea. As a gateway locality, the province enjoys favourable conditions for connecting with major road and waterway transport corridors, becoming an important bridge between the Mekong Delta and the Southern Key Economic Region.

Comrade Ngo Chi Cuong, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee visits Regional Defence Command No.3 - Cao Lanh

In recent years, thanks to the concerted efforts of party committees, authorities, the armed forces, and the people, Dong Thap has seen progress in all aspects. Socio-economic development has grown steadily; defence and security have been maintained and strengthened; political security and social order and safety have remained basically stable; the people’s living standards have continuously improved. In the past 5 years, the average gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth has reached 5.51%; per capita income has exceeded 85 million VND; state budget revenue has increased by 2.25% per year.

At present and in the years ahead, the situation on global and regional scales will continue to evolve in a rapid, complex, and unpredictable manner. Our country is entering a new era of development with renewed confidence, fresh momentum, new goals, new driving forces, and increasingly demanding requirements. Political security and social order and safety in the province are basically stable. However, the province’s economic scale remains relatively small in scale, and growth is slow; the number of enterprises is still limited; rapid population ageing and decline pose the risk of labour shortage; climate change, saltwater intrusion, and land erosion continue to develop in a complex fashion; hostile forces are intensifying their sabotage activities. These factors directly affect the building of the province’s political and spiritual potential.

In order to build strong, modern all-people national defence and create a solid foundation for the province’s rapid and sustainable development in the new period, the Resolution of the 1^st Dong Thap Provincial Party Congress (2025 - 2030 term) sets the goal of making Doing Thap one of the leading provinces in the Mekong Delta region by 2030. To this end, the province places great emphasis on building strong all-people national defence; in this regard, political and spiritual potential is developed via key solutions to create a “soft shield” against hostile forces’ plots and tactics and contribute to promoting the combined strength of the entire people in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

In order to build “resilience” and “immunity” against hostile forces’ attempts to exploit border, ethnic, religious, and social issues to conduct distortion and subversive activities in the ideological and cultural sphere, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Committee continue to lead and direct a reform in the content and methods of mass mobilisation and defence and security education. This aims to enable cadres, party members, and the people, especially grass-roots cadres, young people, religious dignitaries, and persons with great prestige in ethnic minority communities, to gain a sound understanding of the Party’s lines on Fatherland protection in the new situation, the State’s policies and laws,  resolutions and directives of all-level party committees on socio-economic development and the people’s improved material and spiritual life, distinguish between partners and adversaries, and grasp hostile forces’ plots and tactics of sabotage as well as difficulties, challenges, and new requirements in the new development era. At the same time, information on opportunities and challenges in the new era is provided; major orientations, policies, and strategic decision of the Party and State are widely disseminated; the superiority of the two-tier local government system is highlighted. All those efforts help build firm confidence in the Party’s leadership, generate new momentum and enthusiasm, and foster solidarity and broad social consensus.

Military Region 9 Command inspects defence and security education work of the province

Furthermore, education on the heroic traditions of the nation and Military Region 9 as well as the tradition of “compassion, dynamism, creativity” of the armed forces and people of Dong Thap is strengthened to arouse national pride among the population. Besides, the pioneering and exemplary role of cadres and party members in their work and daily life is promoted; they are encouraged to take the lead in combating wrong, hostile viewpoints, especially in cyberspace, and participate in expanding the presence of positive information online; the outcome of this important task is considered one of the criteria for evaluating party organisations, cadres, and party members annually.

Public trust in party committees and the grass-roots political system plays a decisive role in shaping and bringing into full play the political and spiritual potential of the all-people national defence. Hence, in the 2025 - 2030 term, the province identifies Party building and rectification and the building of a pure, strong political system as a foundational objective. It strengthens party committees and party organisations in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, continuously improving their leadership capacity and combativeness. It emphasises the example-setting responsibility of cadres and party members, effectively implementing regulations on power control in cadre work, combating bribery for positions and powers, and preventing degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. At least 95% of party cells across the province shall successfully complete their tasks, while the number of “four-good party cells” and “four-good grass-roots party organisations” shall increase year by year.

To ensure sustainability, in the 2025 -2030 term, the province focuses on improving grass-roots party organisations’ comprehensive leadership and combativeness, building a strong local government system, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of governance and administration in socio-economic development, and consolidating defence and security within its localities. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and political - social organisations are strengthened to operate effectively in accordance with their functions and duties. The grass-roots democracy regulations are strictly enforced, while democracy is expanded under the principle: “people know, people discuss, people do, people inspect, people supervise, people benefit”. The fight against corruption, wastefulness, and negative practices is intensified; violations committed by cadres are handled strictly without any “forbidden zones” or “exceptions” to generate positive political and social impacts - the direct factor in cementing public trust in all-level party committees and authorities. The province attaches importance to building a contingent of “both red and expert” cadres and party members who are truly exemplary, close to the people, dedicated to the people, and respect the people, thereby contributing to developing an increasingly firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”.

Leaders of the province visit and present gifts to the provincial armed forces on Tet holiday

Protecting, caring for, and improving public health as well as ensuring social welfare represent one of the key objectives and decisive solutions in strengthening the political and spiritual potential. Accordingly, the province invests in upgrading health care services to better meet public health needs. Up to now, health care infrastructure from provincial to grass-roots levels has been strengthened and further improved, such as Tien Giang General Hospital (1,350 beds) and Dong Thap General Hospital (700 beds). The province has 9 private hospitals with modern equipment, capable of providing medical examination and treatment services using advanced and specialised techniques. It is estimated that the province currently has 28 hospital beds and 9 doctors per 10,000 people. Health insurance coverage reaches 95%. Social welfare programmes, preferential treatment for people with meritorious services to the revolution, as well as support for vulnerable groups, the lonely elderly, and those affected by natural disasters and epidemics, are provided promptly. The programme to eliminate temporary and dilapidated housing has been completed with 2,767 houses built or repaired. Various resources are mobilised for vocational training, financial assistance, employment creation, and the National Target Programme for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. The poverty rate has been reduced to 0.81%. This is an important foundation for the province to continue improving public health and ensuring social welfare in the coming years.

To achieve the targets set for 2030, including raising per capita income to VND 115 - 120 million, eliminating poverty under the multidimensional poverty standards, at least 32 hospital beds and 11 doctors per 10,000 people, and 99% of rural residents using clean water, the province continues developing a gradually modern health care system. Modern and traditional medicine will be combined with each other. All citizens will be able to conveniently access good-quality health care services. Health insurance coverage shall be expanded to 100% of the population. The road map for providing medical care to citizens, in line with the Party’s policies, shall be implemented vigorously. At the same time, four high-quality regional medical centres will be established, with specialised departments and modern equipment, as part of an interconnected health care network to meet public health needs. The project to develop Cao Lanh into a health care service centre for the province and the Region will continue to realised; Dong Thap Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital will be built; Hong Ngu Regional General Hospital will be upgraded to around 700 beds, among other projects.

The province concentrates on mobilising all resources to effectively implement social welfare policies in a fair, progressive, sustainable manner, enhancing support policies for people with meritorious services to the revolution, gratitude activities, social insurance, unemployment insurance, and employment creation, ensuring that all people have access to basic social services. The province aims to complete 13,900 social housing units in the period of 2025 - 2030; it continues to carry out the national target programme and poverty reduction policies, ensure minimum living standards and basic social services, facilitate production development, diversify livelihood opportunities, and gradually improve incomes and long-term living conditions for poor and near-poor households. The network of social assistance institutions and services will continue to be developed in accordance with the province’s socio-economic development. Programmes for child care, protection, and education will be fostered. This contributes to developing the strength of the great national unity bloc, ensuring sustainable development, and enhancing the political - spiritual potential in the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

Building the political - spiritual factor of strong, modern all-people national defence and firmly protecting the Fatherland in the new situation is a strategic, fundamental, and long-term task. Upholding their revolutionary tradition and spirit of solidarity, the Party Organisation, authorities, armed forces, and people of Dong Thap province will continue strengthening this particularly important potential to create great willpower, spiritual strength, and internal resources and lay a solid foundation for the province to achieve rapid growth and breakthrough development in the new era.

NGO CHI CUONG

Member of the Party Central Committee

Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee