With two UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritages - Hung King worship and Xoan singing - Phu Tho should coordinate with Hanoi and other nearby localities in promoting its tourism development and boosting services and industry, the leader said at the opening of the 19th provincial Party Congress on October 27.

Discussing the province’s shortcomings, including the modest development of both the service and tourism sectors, he asked it to optimise its potential and advantages to bolster economic restructuring.

He said he hopes it will work to gradually ease its demand for support from the central budget and within the next five years join other localities able to balance their budgets.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc addresses the congress (Photo: NDO/Ngoc Long).

A report presented at the congress showed that Phu Tho met 19 out of the 20 socio-economic targets in the 2015-2020 period, with economic growth reaching 7.86% per year and its economic scale expanding by 1.7 times as against 2015.

Annual per capita GDP is estimated to lie at VND52.5 million (US$2,260). Export revenue has increased 30.2% each year and the rate of poor households has fallen by 1.5% each year.

The province has seen 116 communes fulfilling all the criteria of the new-style rural area building programme, while 59 others have basically reached the criteria, along with four districts having been recognised as new-style rural areas.

The province mobilised VND50 trillion for infrastructure building in the period, up 1.38 times compared to the 2011-2015 period. Phu Tho has also conducted 199 projects across eight different sectors, including 25 in infrastructure development.

More than 238,000 workers have received training over the last five years.

From a locality standing in last place out of the 63 localities in the provincial competitiveness index (PCI), Phu Tho has risen to 26th position and is third out of the 14 northern mountainous localities.

In the next five years, the province aims to focus on improving its investment and business environment to attract more inward investment, while speeding up administrative reform and enhancing the quality of human resources.

In the 2020-2025 period, Phu Tho is targeting an economic growth of 7.5% per year and export revenue of over US$3.8 billion. Total social investment in the five years is expected to reach over VND190 trillion, while budget collections are projected at VND10 trillion by 2025.