On Tuesday, a delegation from the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee, led by its President Nguyen Thien Nhan, met with Da Nang’s leaders to review the city’s socio-economic development and its security and defence over the first half of this year.  There were also discussions about the implementation of a project to build Da Nang into a ‘smart city’ in the near future.

Municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh remarked that, over the review period, the city authorities focused on fulfilling socio-economic tasks to make more breakthroughs in the city’s progress, enhancing administrative reform, promoting the city’s investment environment, and issuing more effective policies for supporting local businesses.  Thanks to this, the city saw many positive improvements in its trading and production activities.

President Nhan (second left) and city leaders speaking to a local government employee (first left) at the city’s Administrative Centre

Between January and June, the city’s average GDP is likely to have reached 24,501 billion VND.  The local industrial production index is expected to have risen by 10.9% against the same period last year, and the total of taxes collected in the city is predicted to have reached 9,577 billion VND, fulfilling 64.1% of the year’s target.

Most notably, the city is likely to have welcomed 2.47 million visitors from home and abroad, and to have earned 7,177 billion VND from tourism, an increase of 15.5% against the same period last year.

Local security and defence were ensured, especially on public holidays and during the 22 May elections.

Secretary Anh also highlighted that Da Nang is the first locality in Viet Nam to have completed the digitalisation of terrestrial television broadcasting.  The city has ranked top nationwide in the index for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications and development readiness for 7 consecutive years from 2009 to 2015.

The Director of the city’s Department of Information and Communications, Mr Nguyen Quang Thanh, reported that the focus has been on building modern ICT infrastructure to implement a project to build Da Nang into a smart city.  Most notably, the city’s e-government system, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, has been operating effectively since it was put into operation in 2014.  The system has received high praise from IT organisations from home and abroad.  Currently, the 2^nd stage of the project is underway with a focus on developing data monitoring and analysis systems. 

President Nhan suggested that the city authorities should set up a shared database for local government agencies, businesses and residents.  Furthermore, importance should be attached to building smart traffic and environmental management systems.

Also at the event, representatives from Viet Nam’s military-run telecom group, Viettel, pledged that the Group would join efforts with the city’s authorities to implement smart management systems in the local education and healthcare sectors.  The Group is willing to help the city make overall plans for implementing the project to make Da Nang a smart city.

Viettel also pledged to donate 10 billion VND to the city to set up smart healthcare systems.