Decision No. 260/2005/QĐ-TTg on Main Directions for Economic and Social Development of the Western Region along the Ho Chi Minh Road until 2020

Pursuant to …;

On the main directions for economic and social development

Of the Western Region along the Ho Chi Minh Road until 2020

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Considering the proposals of the Minister of Planning and Investment in Circulars No. 7874/BKH-CLPT dated December 7, 2004, No. 5835/BKH-CLPT dated August 29, 2005; opinions of relevant ministries, agencies, and localities,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approving the main directions for economic and social development of the Western Region along the Ho Chi Minh Road until 2020 for the entire territory west of the Ho Chi Minh Road from Hoa Lac to the intersection of Binh Phuoc within the administrative boundaries of 15 provinces: Ha Tay, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Binh Phuoc, and Binh Duong, with the aim of leveraging the region's potential and advantages in geographical location, natural conditions, and resources, especially with the Ho Chi Minh Road to build the Western Region into an economically developed area, socially stable, consolidated in national defense and border security, environmentally healthy, contributing to successfully implementing the tasks of economic and social development and protecting the border region.

Article 2. Main objectives for development

1. Average annual GDP growth rate of about 9 - 10% during the period 2006 - 2010; 10 - 10.5% during the period 2011 - 2020. Per capita GDP in 2010 will be 1.7 times that of 2005; in 2020 it will be approximately 2.2 times that of 2010. By 2010, the economic structure of the Region with GDP shares of the following sectors will be as follows: agriculture and forestry 45%, industry and construction 20%, services 35%; by 2020 the corresponding shares of these sectors will be 30% - 30% - 40%.

2. By 2010, reduce the poverty rate to the national average; 50% of primary schools meet national standards, 85 - 90% of children under 5 years old attend kindergarten before entering first grade, 100% of school classes are solidified; reduce the malnutrition rate to 22 - 25%; 70% of communes have health stations, 80 - 85% of households have access to clean water, 60% of villages and hamlets have cultural mass teams, 85% of villages and hamlets have cultural houses and reading rooms, 50% of communes have libraries.

By 2020, reduce the poverty rate below the national average, 70 - 80% of primary schools meet national standards, 100% of children under 5 years old attend kindergarten before entering first grade, 100% of school classes are solidified; the malnutrition rate will be reduced to 15 - 20%; 80 - 85% of communes have doctors and health stations, 90 - 95% of households have access to clean water, 70 - 75% of villages and hamlets have cultural mass teams, 90% of villages and hamlets meet the criteria for cultural villages, reading rooms, 60% of communes have libraries.

3. Develop and restore forest areas that have been destroyed or exploited improperly to return the landscape and environment of the Region.

4. Establish appropriate mechanisms to create conditions for village elders and headmen who have high political and social awareness; actively mobilize their children and ethnic compatriots to implement Party and State policies well and to utilize production experience to improve the living standards of their families and communities.

5. Political stability, security, cultural and social development. Maintain national border sovereignty, combine economic development with national defense and security protection.

Article 3. Tasks and main solutions to promote the development of key industries and fields.

1. Vigorously develop commodity economy, transform the economic structure towards forming leading industries and products, attracting many laborers to work in the service, industrial, and commercial agricultural and forestry sectors.

a) Developing agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture

Transforming the economic structure and product consumption of agriculture towards intensive and specialized farming, creating commodity products.

For the specialized commercial agricultural production area, it is necessary to intensify production and strongly apply scientific and technological advances in agriculture regarding seeds, preservation technology, processing suitable to the needs, and extension work, creating favorable conditions for residents in the region to effectively develop crop and livestock breeds with advantages specific to each region. For difficult areas and border communes, support policies for farmers regarding seeds, small-scale irrigation investment, guidance on business practices, and development of socio-economic infrastructure to escape poverty, gradually become prosperous, and protect natural resources and the environment.

Diversifying agricultural production and developing rural industries. Continue to encourage the development of rural industries towards establishing craft villages and diversifying industries.

Selecting some crops such as corn and cassava to serve the processing industry, replacing rice cultivation in areas where irrigation water is not guaranteed. Developing short-term and long-term industrial crops suitable to the ecological conditions of each area within the Region. Developing fruit trees in places with favorable conditions, using temperate and subtropical fruit tree varieties. Developing soybeans and various types of beans towards specialization and concentrated production of agricultural commodities.

Developing beef and dairy cattle breeding mainly based on household farms and ranches. State-owned enterprises, cooperatives, and private economic organizations provide services related to seeds, veterinary care, agricultural extension... and preservation, processing, and marketing of livestock products.

Utilizing existing water surfaces, particularly hydroelectric and irrigation reservoirs, to develop aquaculture. Along with breeding native fish species, quickly introduce new breeds to produce high-value products. Supplement fish fry into reservoirs to restore and develop aquatic resources linked to eco-tourism and genetic conservation.

Developing forestry is an immediate and long-term task to increase forest coverage to protect the environment and water sources for the eastern coastal plain, forming concentrated raw material bases for paper and artificial wood industries, large timber plantations, and specialty tree plantations.

Properly implementing forest protection, enclosing and regenerating existing forests, including: natural forests, protective forests, national parks, nature reserves, and historical forest areas already classified.

b) Developing industry and small-scale industry

Strengthening basic investigations of mineral resources, land, forests, water, and other types of resources.

Gradually build some large-scale industrial production bases as driving forces to promote economic development in each region such as steelmaking in Thach Ke; bauxite, hydropower development in Dak Nong; gold, radioactive ore, cement raw materials in West Quang Nam; gold, kaolin, cement raw materials in West Quang Tri, West Thua Thien Hue...

Focus on prioritizing the completion of new investments and upgrading processing facilities for agricultural and forestry products according to planning. Investment in processing facilities must be based on consumption markets and the potential for raw material regions. Invest in advanced technology equipment to produce products that meet consumer preferences and have competitive strength in both domestic and export markets.

Continue to study and invest in hydropower projects linked with irrigation works; prioritize small hydropower investments in areas with suitable conditions.

Concentrate on deepening investment in existing cement factories in the Region.

Reorganize mechanical industry production, deepen investment in modernizing equipment at existing mechanical facilities. First, increase the capacity of the mechanical repair and manufacturing industry for small mechanical products serving agriculture and forestry production. Revive and develop traditional small-scale industries, improve designs, and enhance the quality of ethnic handicrafts. Revive and develop traditional crafts.

Develop industrial clusters - small-scale traditional industries - services, multi-industry complexes in commune centers, towns, and marketplaces. Construct industrial clusters with a scale of approximately 50-60 hectares according to planning.

c) Develop trade, tourism, and services.

Leverage border economic advantages, historical sites, and scenic spots to develop the trade, tourism, and service sectors, thereby promoting overall socio-economic development in the Region.

Invest in exploiting Border Economic Zones (Cu Treo, Ha Tinh Province; Cha Lo, Quang Binh Province; Bo Y, Kon Tum Province; Duc Co (CK19), Gia Lai Province; Bonue, Binh Phuoc Province) and the Special Trade Zone Lao Bao, Quang Tri Province; form additional border economic zones according to planning to serve as nuclei for developing services, tourism, and enhancing border cooperation and trade at locations like Ten Tan, Na Meo, Thanh Hoa Province; Nam Cann, Thanh Thuy, Nghe An Province; Hong Van, Adot, Thua Thien Hue Province; Dak Chung, Quang Nam Province; Bu Prang, Dak Per, Dak Nong Province...

Develop trading networks in commune cluster centers, communes, and encourage all economic components to participate in two-way commodity circulation. Establish market networks. Invest in building and upgrading some central trading centers and local markets.

Leverage natural scenic beauty, cultural heritage, and ethnic identity to develop tourism. Form eco-tourism areas, national parks currently within the region, and other tourist spots. Develop tourist attractions in areas connected to national tourism routes, especially those along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Develop and expand postal and telecommunications services through expanding mobile communication coverage, developing internet access points, and postal and telecommunications service points in cities, stops, and rest areas along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Prioritize the synchronous development of postal and telecommunications systems in border economic zones and information communication lines connecting residential areas with border guard posts along the border.

Develop financial, banking, insurance, information, consulting, agricultural extension, forestry extension, industrial extension services...

2. Build a synchronized infrastructure system, particularly the inter-regional transportation network, border transportation, and establish urban centers for each sub-region tied to population resettlement.

- Regarding the economic infrastructure system

Connect lines to create a synchronized, continuous, and interconnected transportation network between provinces, provinces with districts, and districts with communes. Continue to complete the entire Ho Chi Minh Highway with traffic signs and other facilities combined with fuel supply stations.

Implement the construction of a border road from West Thanh Hoa through West Nghe An, National Route 14C from Ngoc Hoi, Kon Tum Province, extending to connect with Road N1 to form a vertical border route from Vietnam to Laos and Cambodia.

Upgrade and expand east-west crossroads connecting the Ho Chi Minh Highway - National Route 1A with important sea ports.

Construct roads linking the Ho Chi Minh Highway to border gates.

Construct roads to commune centers for communes without existing roads. Roads connecting main roads to commune centers in the region to ensure that 100% of communes or commune clusters have asphalt or concrete roads to their centers. Build solid bridges and culverts.

Repair and upgrade existing facilities, invest in new facilities, prioritizing those to increase rice planting area, irrigation for industrial crops, other crops, and water for daily use. Continue to invest in small reservoirs, headworks to canals, and small irrigation works in particularly difficult communes.

Continue to develop the communication network, develop post offices, focusing on poor, remote, and particularly difficult communes. Utilize the Ho Chi Minh Optical Cable effectively and develop cables along the horizontal edges of the H-shaped structure to develop the telecommunications system.

Continue to invest in developing post office-culture centers, providing basic postal and telecommunications services to people in remote areas.

Develop radio networks to communes, gradually modernize television networks, increase broadcasting time in ethnic languages to better serve the needs of the people in the Region.

Construct power grids and clean water supply systems according to planning and appropriate steps.

- Develop urban systems, rural residential points, and stops along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Construct infrastructure for existing towns (townships) and form new townships:

For the Tây Hà Tây and Hòa Bình area: develop infrastructure for the existing 13 towns and establish three new towns, namely Chợ Bến town in Hòa Bình province; Miếu Môn and Hòa Lạc towns in Hà Tây province.

For the Tây Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, and Hà Tĩnh area: develop infrastructure for the existing 24 towns and establish nine new towns, namely Khe Hạ, Phố Châu, Ngã Ba Si, Thượng Ninh, Bãi Trành towns in Thanh Hóa province; Tri Lễ and Đông Hiếu towns in Nghệ An province; Thanh Thủy and La Khê towns in Hà Tĩnh province.

For the Tây Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên Huế, and Quảng Nam area: develop infrastructure for the existing 23 towns and establish several new towns, namely Xuân Sơn and Tân Ấp towns in Quảng Bình province; A Co town in Thừa Thiên Huế province...

For the Tây areas from Kon Tum to Bình Phước and Bình Dương: develop infrastructure for the existing 31 towns and establish two new towns, namely Nhơn Hòa town in Gia Lai province; Tân Định town in Bình Dương province.

Focus on forming rural concentrated residential points (village centers) with a scale of 300 to 500 households. These residential points should be closely linked to production bases, environmental conditions, service points for tourism and commerce, and specialized agricultural production zones. Reorganize and redistribute rural residential points along the Hồ Chí Minh Highway (existing national highways) without hindering the operation of the highway.

Plan and rearrange population based on the overall socio-economic development plan of each locality and the transportation planning of the Hồ Chí Minh Highway. For border areas, combine national defense and security to form residential clusters, residential lines, village centers, and commune centers appropriately; avoid situations where border regions have no residents.

Plan and construct rest and stop points along the Hồ Chí Minh Highway. The functions of these rest and stop points include services such as selling fuel, oil, repairs, car washing, food and beverage services, resting, communication, medical emergency, rescue operations.

Arrange rest and stop points along the Hồ Chí Minh Highway: Cúc Phương in Ninh Bình province; Xuân Quý town (Bến En) in Thanh Hoá province; Tân Kỳ in Nghệ An province, Phố Châu in Hà Tĩnh province; Xuân Sơn in Quảng Bình province; Cam Lộ in Quảng Trị province; A Lưới in Thừa Thiên Huế province; Khe Sanh in Quảng Trị province; Thạnh Mỹ in Quảng Nam province; Đắk Tô in Kon Tum province; Nhơn Hòa in Gia Lai province; Buôn Hồ in Đắk Lắk province; Kiến Đức commune of Đắk R’Lấp district in Đắk Nông province; Đức Phong in Bình Phước province; Chơn Thành in Bình Dương province.

3. Develop education and training, culture, society, eradicate poverty, and implement well the Party and State policies on ethnic affairs and religion.

- Education - training

Improve the quality of comprehensive secondary education, gradually approaching the national standard. Increase the rate of school-aged children attending school. Continue to invest in building sufficient sturdy classrooms for all levels of education. By 2020, 70-80% of primary schools will meet the national standards.

Develop special policies for educators in difficult areas such as: improving salary and allowances for teachers, prioritizing training, and other incentive measures. Encourage through various means to increase the proportion of female teachers from ethnic minorities.

Create conditions for ethnic minorities to study and master both the common language and their own ethnic language. Emphasize training cadres for particularly difficult communes and targeted training. Implement recruitment quotas for particularly difficult localities.

Develop vocational education systems at primary, intermediate, college levels, and interconnect between different levels of vocational training and with other educational systems; diversify vocational training forms to meet technical labor requirements for various economic sectors, while promoting vocational education for workers.

Implement specific solutions to eliminate illiteracy among ethnic groups and combat superstitious practices in the region. Alongside tuition subsidy or scholarship policies for compulsory education students in ethnic minority areas, establish literacy classes in villages, hamlets, and community clusters; those who know more teach those who know less, those who know little teach those who do not know any letters, regardless of location. Expand the boarding class model into a reasonable contribution system by all people. Through community education and distance education activities, enhance the awareness and scientific knowledge of ethnic groups.

- Health

Invest in material facilities and equipment for health institutions. Strive to achieve the following goals by 2010: 100% of health stations have doctors, with an average of 3.05 doctors and 17 beds per 10,000 people.

Promote the application of traditional medicine in healthcare. Encourage the development and use of herbal and ethnic medicines to reduce the financial burden of medical treatment for the poor. Continue to promote the integration of national health programs with poverty reduction programs.

- Culture, Society

Strengthen investment in cultural facilities to ensure conditions for restoring cultural activities at village, hamlet, ethnic group, and commune levels.

Preserve, maintain, and promote the value of tangible and intangible cultural heritage of ethnic groups in the region, strengthen grassroots cultural institutions in villages, hamlets, and ethnic groups through the implementation of democratic regulations.

Build radio stations for each commune and cluster of communes. Modernize equipment, increase broadcasting time for programs in ethnic languages at county and provincial levels.

- Poverty eradication: strive to reduce the poverty rate to the national average by 2010. Effectively implement and integrate the National Poverty Reduction Program, the Socio-Economic Development Program for Particularly Difficult Communes in Ethnic Minority Mountainous Areas, Remote and Far-flung Areas during 2006-2010 with other national target programs in the region.

- Implement well the Party's and State's policies on ethnic affairs and religion. Continue to implement policies on production land, residential land, housing support policies; subsidy policies for transportation and prices; settlement policies for voluntary migrants; education, healthcare, cultural, and information policies for ethnic minorities.

Perform well the united front work, support the building of a core group of believers, serving as the backbone in protecting progressive religious practices and maintaining patriotic traditions, closely linked with the Party and our regime. Continue to struggle against hostile forces that exploit religion to sabotage revolutionary achievements.

Develop supportive policies for religious organizations regarding education and training, building a cadre of clergy, organizing congresses according to terms, and conducting foreign relations consistent with religious policies tied to the interests of the nation and the country, accompanying the state and the people.

- Carefully build exemplary cadres within political-social organizations at village and commune levels. Develop policies and plans for training and utilizing civil servants, particularly ethnic minority officials; encourage officials to work at grassroots levels. Enhance the quality of Han cadres working in ethnic regions, establish mechanisms to encourage learning ethnic languages, truly understanding and integrating with ethnic communities.

- Vigorously combat negative phenomena within administrative machinery and the grassroots political system, strictly enforce discipline in state management, build a government truly of the people, by the people, and for the people, with cadres close to the people, understanding the people, and capable of effectively handling governmental tasks to serve the people.

- Pay attention and adopt specific measures in the struggle against drug trafficking, smuggling, and fraudulent trade.

4. Economic and social development combined with environmental protection.

Develop management and protection plans for national parks and nature reserves such as Cuc Phuong in Ninh Binh province; Phong Nha - Ke Bang in Quang Binh province; Bach Ma in Thua Thien Hue province; Yok Don in Dak Lak province...

Integrate environmental protection contents into overall socio-economic planning, sectoral planning, local planning, and coordinate actions to ensure sustainable development.

Enhance forest management and natural resource, environmental protection capabilities for forest management forces and state agencies managing resources and environment in localities.

5. Building a strong border zone based on economic development in border areas combined with population resettlement, cooperation with Laos and Cambodia during the development process.

Promote economic development, transform the economic structure, focusing on transforming crop and livestock structures towards commodity production.

Gradually invest in constructing border patrol roads and border surveillance roads. Conduct detailed planning and gradually implement border guard post planning along the border line, aiming to add more border guard posts.

Proactively cooperate and collaborate with Laos and Cambodia in border area economic development; in the Tri-National Development Triangle Project aimed at implementing the Vientiane Declaration of the three countries.

6. Combining economy with national defense to strengthen national defense and stabilize security.

Continue developing economic-national defense zones in areas where conditions permit construction. Consolidate and develop additional units combining economic activities with national defense in sparsely populated areas.

Continue implementing the overall planning for national defense deployment combined with socio-economic development as stipulated in Decision No. 107/2002/QD-TTg dated August 12, 2002.

7. Mechanism and policy for development.

Create a synchronized and preferential mechanism and policy such as investment and credit policies, market policies for rural areas, product consumption policies, cultural and social policies, national defense and security policies, cooperation and support policies between rich and poor regions; continue implementing cooperative assistance in the direction that each ministry, agency, state-owned enterprise, and provincial department helps a difficult commune in the Western Region of the Ho Chi Minh Road to create a favorable environment for attracting investment and promoting socio-economic development in the region.

Article 4

1. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, People's Committees of provinces with the Western Region of the Ho Chi Minh Road have the responsibility to inspect, monitor, organize the implementation of the main orientation for socio-economic development in the Western Region of the Ho Chi Minh Road strictly, build five-year plans, annual plans, programs, and investment projects suitable for development.

2. Ministries and sectors review existing programs and projects related to socio-economic development combined with national defense and security, ensuring synchronization, effectiveness, and timely progress; according to their functions, continue directing investment in economic, cultural, and social development; prioritize border areas.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and relevant localities, study necessary preferential mechanisms and policies in the direction of integrating existing programs to implement the orientation for socio-economic development in the Western Region of the Ho Chi Minh Road, especially along the border.

4. Provinces with the Western Region of the Ho Chi Minh Road shall conduct reviews, adjustments, and new planning for regional development. At the same time, build specific action programs to implement the project in their respective provinces.

Article 5. The Standard Measurement Quality Control Department shall be responsible for organizing and guiding the implementation of the Regulations adopted herein.

Article 6. The Chairmen of the People's Committees of the provinces mentioned in Article 1 and the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, and Heads of government agencies concerned are responsible for enforcing this Decision./.

 LIST OF COUNTIES IN PROVINCES

WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE WESTERN REGION OF THE HO CHI MINH ROAD