On Wednesday, Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung warmly received a group of journalists from ASEAN member countries, led by the Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists' Association and Chairman of the Da Nang Journalists' Association, Mr Mai Duc Loc.

Vice Chairman Dung (first row, 5th left) and his guests

Vice Chairman Dung remarked, “Over the past 2 decades, the city authorities have made every effort to promote local progress.  The focus has been on developing the urban infrastructure, ensuring the material and spiritual lives of local residents, and dealing with any environmental pollution to create a healthy living environment for locals”.

A spokesperson from the municipal Socio-Economic Development Research Institute briefed the guests on such aspects as the city’s economic restructuring and growth, urban development and the environment.

Since the city was recognised as a centrally-governed city on 1 January 1997, numerous breakthroughs have been recorded in the city thanks to the rapid growth of local urbanisation and infrastructure development.

During this period, the city has ensured the flexible application of mechanisms and policies for local progress and has taken the initiative to fully tap the potential of its internal resources.  In addition, great efforts have been made to promote local socio-economic development and ensure the effective use of funds granted by the national government for the deployment of numerous programmes.  This has included ensuring the effective use of funds for transport infrastructure development, issuing preferential policies to attract talent, implementing pilot programmes to simplify administrative procedures, developing a one-door mechanism, and launching an e-government system.

In the immediate future the focus will be on mobilising resources to ensure the rapid and sustainable development of the local economy.  Importance will also be attached to promoting the considerable development of the local tourism sector in order to make Da Nang one of the country’s leading tourism centres with high-quality services.

In addition, great efforts will be made to build the city into one of the 3 main marine-based economic hubs of Viet Nam.  One emphasis will be on developing tourism as the city’s spearhead economic sector and promoting the development of the modern technology sector and environmentally-friendly industries.

Furthermore, heed will be paid to building a synchronous and modern infrastructure to ensure a closer link with the national and regional infrastructure networks.

The visiting journalists showed a keen interest in the city’s fisheries, the local immigration status and its management work, religious policies, and the assessment criteria for the success of the city’s urban development.