Those were the feelings shared by comrade Phan Van Mai, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, in an interview with SGGP Newspaper reporter on the evening of July 22. Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai also affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City is determined to fulfill its development tasks and goals to be worthy of the trust and love that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has for Ho Chi Minh City.

Always have special affection for HCMC

Reporter: Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, can you share the significance of the visit and work of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on September 23, 2022, for Ho Chi Minh City on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Southern Resistance Day and nearly a year after the city reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic?

Comrade PHAN VAN MAI: The visit and work of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the Southern Resistance Day (September 23, 1945 - September 23, 2022) and nearly a year after Ho Chi Minh City reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic has great significance.

The General Secretary acknowledged and encouraged the city's efforts in epidemic prevention and control, as well as the whole country's efforts for the city, which is a great motivation for the city to continue its efforts and make great efforts to recover and develop the socio-economy after the pandemic.

How did General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong evaluate Ho Chi Minh City's efforts in the difficult context caused by the Covid-19 pandemic?

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highly appreciated the efforts of Ho Chi Minh City in the context of great difficulties. He said: "In the context of difficulties piling up on difficulties, under the strong and timely leadership and direction of the Central Government, together with the whole country, the Party Committee, government and people of Ho Chi Minh City have strived and achieved many important results". This is a great motivation for Ho Chi Minh City to continue its efforts to recover and develop the economy after the pandemic.

During this visit, what important development orientations did the General Secretary suggest for Ho Chi Minh City?

During the visit, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong continued to affirm the position, role and mission of Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the dynamic and creative tradition of the Party Committee, government and people of the city.

Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong also suggested many important development orientations for the city until 2030, with a vision to 2045, so that Ho Chi Minh City continues to be worthy of being a heroic city, the "Pearl of the Far East."

There is one very special thing, this is the 15th time that Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong has visited and worked in Ho Chi Minh City in his capacity as General Secretary. That shows the great affection and concern of Comrade General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong for Ho Chi Minh City.

The attention of the Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat and the General Secretary himself for Ho Chi Minh City has been concretized in Resolution 31 of the Politburo. How important is Resolution 31 to the development of Ho Chi Minh City in both the short and long term?

Resolution 31 of the Politburo on the development orientation of Ho Chi Minh City to 2030, with a vision to 2045, is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat and General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong for Ho Chi Minh City.

Resolution 31 has oriented the development of Ho Chi Minh City with very clear goals until 2030, with a vision to 2045. At the same time, it opens up mechanisms to promote the potential and advantages of Ho Chi Minh City. Resolution 31 also helps the city to remove backlogs and obstacles so that it can develop more strongly, becoming a large center, economic locomotive and growth pole of the region and the whole country in the near future.

Turn pain into action

So, according to you, what has Ho Chi Minh City done to concretize and successfully implement Resolution 31 of the Politburo?

Ho Chi Minh City is well aware of the opportunity and responsibility to concretize the successful implementation of Resolution 31. The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has issued an action program, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has issued a plan to implement Resolution 31 with 159 specific tasks. The implementation process has achieved initial results.

Resolution 98/2023/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting special policies and mechanisms for the development of Ho Chi Minh City is also a concretization of Resolution 31. Ho Chi Minh City is implementing it very vigorously and achieving very good results.

In which, planning is very important for development, so how is the planning of Ho Chi Minh City according to the orientation of Resolution 31 implemented?

The planning of Ho Chi Minh City is being implemented according to the direction of Resolution 31. We will try to implement the projects, programs and plans from Resolution 31, in order to create the basic foundations and strong motivation for the development of Ho Chi Minh City to achieve the goals by 2030 and the vision to 2045, as expected and desired by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

This is also a sentiment, a reward to not disappoint the General Secretary as well as the leaders and people of the whole country for Ho Chi Minh City.

You just discussed that Resolution 98 of the National Assembly is a concretization of Resolution 31. So after more than 1 year of implementing Resolution 98, how has it impacted the development of Ho Chi Minh City?

Resolution 98 is a very important resolution to help Ho Chi Minh City unleash its potential, solve difficulties and apply breakthrough and outstanding mechanisms.

After more than a year of implementation, Ho Chi Minh City has received support from central ministries and branches and the direction of the Prime Minister. The city has completed a large amount of work and implemented many policy mechanisms.

These are the policy mechanisms on investment, finance, budget, science and technology development and especially on the organization, the operating mechanism of the organization, the mechanism for Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time, it creates initiative for the city in resolving backlogs, problems as well as new projects.

In the coming time, the city will focus on how to make these initial results larger, more synchronous, more systematic, and difficult contents will be researched and implemented.

What will Ho Chi Minh City do to mobilize resources and develop major projects in the coming time?

In the coming time, Ho Chi Minh City will focus on mobilizing social and non-budgetary resources, encouraging businesses and people to invest, and attracting strategic investors through large projects, such as the Can Gio International Transit Port project.

Urban planning mechanisms to have more resources for city development such as urban development projects oriented towards public transport development (TOD), implementing urban railway projects and especially in Ho Chi Minh City. We will also continue to implement policy mechanisms related to science and technology development to attract investment in innovative startups. This will be a new driving force for the city's development in the coming time.

To be worthy of the special position and role of Ho Chi Minh City

Could you share more about the implementation of Resolution 24 of the Politburo on socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the Southeast region until 2030, with a vision to 2045?

At the time the General Secretary visited and worked in Ho Chi Minh City, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 24 on socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the Southeast region until 2030, with a vision to 2045. The General Secretary was very interested in this resolution.

Resolution 24 has affirmed the role and driving force of the Southeast region for the whole country and the General Secretary has also affirmed the central role of Ho Chi Minh City in the Southeast region, as well as the role and contribution of Ho Chi Minh City in the successful implementation of Resolution 24.

In the process of implementing Resolution 24 in the recent past, Ho Chi Minh City has made efforts to coordinate with central ministries, branches, and localities in the region to actively implement tasks and has achieved very important initial results. Notably, Ho Chi Minh City has strongly implemented regional connectivity projects. At the same time, it is also researching and proposing regional linkage institutions, coordinating in the management and use of regional resources such as water resources, energy, human resources, etc.

Resolution 24 is awakening the very important potentials of the Southeast region and certainly when successfully implementing this resolution, the Southeast region will be the driving economic region of the whole country. Ho Chi Minh City will strive to do its best to contribute to its central role in the region.

We believe that, with the guidance from Resolution 31, the affection and attention of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the Central leaders and the whole country for Ho Chi Minh City, the city will be determined to implement these special pilot mechanisms to achieve successful results. And through that, the city also hopes to be able to draw experiences to apply to the whole country in the coming time.

CIVILIZATION - NGO BINH