In his opening speech at the 7^th session of the Da Nang People’s Council in its 10^th tenure for the 2021 - 2026 term, Mr Luong Nguyen Minh Triet, the Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the municipal People's Council highlighted strong support by local people and business community for the city’s government to tackle COVID-19 and bring the pandemic under control. Most notably, the city's socio-economic sectors have shown signs of a strong recovery from the coronavirus shock while the tourism industry has enjoyed encouraging signs of rebound.

Da Nang People’s Council Chairman Luong Nguyen Minh Triet delivering an opening speech at the 7th session of the municipal People’s Council in its 10th tenure for the 2021 - 2026 term . Photo: NGOC PHU

Also present at the event were municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang, municipal People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh, Da Nang Fatherland Front Committee Chairman Ngo Xuan Thang, along with other city leaders and heads of departments and agencies across the city.

Delegates attending the event. Photo: T. HUY

Attendees participating in discussions and contributing their ideas for practical solutions and policies

In his remarks at the event, Chairman Triet said that the Da Nang People’s Council has deployed tasks of social-economic development in 2022 in line with the guidelines and directions from the national government and the municipal Party Committee. The municipal People's Council has worked with authorities at local level and relevant agencies to promote the development of local social-economic sectors and ensure national defence and security. The urban governance model has been piloted across 6 districts and 45 wards in Da Nang.

In the first half of the year, the city’s main economic indicators appeared promising and its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by more than 12% in the second quarter of 2022 and increased by 7.23% in the first half of the year. The city’s imports and exports rose by over 20%, of which, software exports went up by 30%. The State budget collection moved up by 18% over the same period last year,  equalling to nearly 70% of the estimates for the year.

The city has successfully conducted investment promotion activities and launched marketing campaigns to promote Da Nang as a peaceful, livable, safe and attractive destination for domestic and international tourists.

Social welfare programs have been implemented effectively, especially the effective implementation of policies to support those affected by COVID-19. However, there are still many challenges Da Nang will face after 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Minh Triet said that the session’s attendees will participate in discussions and contribute their ideas for 145 documents with many important contents, and nearly 40 proposals and resolutions related to various aspects are expected to be passed at this event.

Chairman Triet called on delegates to uphold the responsibility to contribute their ideas for practical and effective solutions and policies in a bid to remove difficulties and obtacles to contribute positively to the city's 2022 plan of 'Safe adaptation, flexible, effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic and socio-economic recovery and development’.

Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh delivers a report at the session. Photo: T. HUY

The city regains its growth momentum

In his remarks at the session, municipal People's Committee Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh said that economic growth in Da Nang has regained momentum. In the first half of 2022, Da Nang ranked 28^th among 63 cities and provinces in Viet Nam, ranked 4^th among 5 cities directly under the National Government, and ranked 2^nd among 5 provinces and cities in the Key Economic Region in Central Viet Nam, for highest GDP growth rate.

During the six-month period, many hotels and resorts in the city welcomed a large number of guests with their room occupation rate reaching 70% to 75% on the average on weekends. Revenue from accommodation and catering services in the second quarter of 2022 was estimated to go up by 63.2% over the same period in 2021. In particular, the revenue of accommodation services in the second quarter climbed by 2.9 times over the same period, pushing the increase in 6-month accommodation service revenue to 46.2%.

Da Nang’s economy is gradually recovering, a combined total of 1,697 businesses has resumed operations , up 50% over the same period in 2021. As of June 27, the city had attracted 351 domestic projects totalling VND 131,750 billion outside industrial parks (IPs) and 380 domestic projects worth over VND 30,051 billion inside IPs. In addition, the city had granted investment licences to 30 FDI projects with a total registered capital of USD 3.920 billion.

The total state budget revenue in the city in the first 6 months of 2022 was estimated to reach VND 13 trillion, equalling to 68% of the estimates for the year, of which, revenues from domestic sources were estimated at VND 10 trillion, or 68.9% of the estimates while revenues from import and export duties was estimated at VND 3 trillion, or 65.4% of the estimates.

The total expenditures of local budgets was estimated at VND 8,300 billion, equalling to 51% of the estimates.

Municipal People's Committee Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh urged authorities at local level and relevant agencies to pay special attention to implementing key tasks to promote local social-economic development for the rest of the year. The heed is paid to advancing administrative reforms, and improving the investment climate to attract investment and boost the economy.

Reporting by T.HUY –L.PHUONG- N.PHU – Translating by H.L