Quang Ninh (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc advised thenorthern province of Quang Ninh to give the priority to urban development whilemeeting provincial leaders on September 1.

He expressed his hope that the province will continueinspiring other localities with its achievements in institutional reform, andin developing green, clean and smart urban areas and boosting economicrestructuring in line with growth model.

Quang Ninh should act a role of connecting surroundinglocalities so as to foster economic growth in the northern region, hesuggested.

It was asked to become an international exchange centre, anattractive destination to investors and hold a leading role for the developmentof the key northern economic zone.

The Government leader also proposed the northern coastalprovince strive to become a logistics service centre to serve the region’seconomic development and focus on developing high-quality tourism.

Attention should be paid to developing hi-tech andmulti-functional agriculture, sustainable processing and manufacturing, andborder and cross-border economy, while ensuring social welfare, he added.

PM Phuc stated that Quang Ninh is Vietnam’s most dynamiclocality, as it has recorded high economic growth over years, its per capitaincome in 2017 doubled the nation’s average, and its poverty rate was kept below2 percent.

He also lauded the province’s achievements in Party buildingwork, together with its positive results in human resources training, with therate of trained labourers hitting 73.5 percent – one of the highest figures inthe country.

Over the past years, Quang Ninh has gained importantachievements in socio-economic development.

Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) rose by 10.16 percentin the first half, and is expected to up over 11 percent this year. Per capitaGRDP is 5,065 USD per person per year, with an annual growth of 9.1 percent.

The province is always listed in Top 5 localities in termsof budget collection. It enjoyed a year-on-year increase of 25 percent in thenumber of tourists in the first eight months of this year, or 9.2 millionarrivals, including 3.2 foreigners.

Last year, Quang Ninh, for the first time ever, became themost competitive province in the country, topping Vietnam’s PCI 2017, with 70.7out of 100 points.

In 2017, Quang Ninh for the first time rose to the firstplace in the Public Administrative Reform (PAR) Index with 89.54 points.

The locality is gradually separating public services from State management. Thetime spent on addressing administrative procedures is cut down by 40 percentcompared with regulations. Up to 99.5 percent of dossiers are handled before oron schedule, and 98 percent of locals and enterprises said they are satisfiedwith the province’s administrative reform.-VNA