Mr Manh praised the province’s efforts to reach set targets for the 2005-2010 period. Its annual GDP growth rate topped 11 percent and the proportion of poor households dropped to 11 percent, while the share of industry and services in its restructuring economy has soared.

Remarkable progress has been made in developing the Party, reinforcing the political system, and implementing the “Studying and Following President Ho Chi Minh’s Moral Example” campaign.

Mr Manh urged the provincial Party Committee and local people to exert greater effort to turn Thai Nguyen into an industrial centre of Vietnam with an average economic growth rate of 12-13 percent in the next five years and a GDP totaling  VND45 million per capita by 2015.

To reach this goal, Thai Nguyen needs to speed up economic restructuring, train human resources, develop trade services and tourism, modernize infrastructure and, boost international integration.

The provincial Party Committee should closely follow Party and State guidelines and policies to increase the quality of Party building in terms of politics, ideology, and organizational structure, Mr Manh stressed.

The congress, which runs until October 23^rd, will elect the provincial Party executive committee and give opinions on documents of the 11^th National Party Congress.