The nation’s leadership marked Tet with various activites that celebrated the nation’s revolutionary heritage and encouraged its current leading enterepreneurs to take the country further in socioeconomic development.
President Nguyen Minh Triet visited two companies in Ho Chi Minh City, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited the southern province of Kien Giang province, and HCM City leaders initiated the building of a traditional revolutionary zone on February 18, the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.
President Triet visited the Asia Commercial Joint Stock Bank (ACB) and Sai Gon Jewelry Holding Company (SJC), where he praised their good performance and asked them to increase their contributions to the country’s economic development.
Triet expressed his pleasure at ACB’s achievements in 2009 despite the impacts of the global financial crisis. Last year, the bank’s pre-tax profits exceeded VND2.8 trillion (US$147.3 million), VND118 billion higher than in 2008.
He wished the bank would make a breakthrough in 2010 and give a fillip to national development.
He lauded ACB’s vision to become Vietnam’s leading financial group and a bank of regional and international scale by 2015.
In his visit to SJC, Triet said he hoped the company would become a strong group and major gold dealer with fast and sustainable growth.
SJC was among top 500 Vietnam’s largest enterprises in 2009, earning pre-tax profits of VND359 billion ($18.9 million) and paying VND100 billion to the State budget.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on February 18 visited former revolutionary base U Minh Thuong in the southern province of Kien Giang and attended the ground-breaking ceremony for Minh Thuan High School in U Minh Thuong District.
Located on two hectares, the school is being built at a cost of about VND20 billion ($1.05 million). It has 16 classrooms, 30 accommodations for teachers, a football field and many other facilities.
He called on the district authorities to make more efforts to increase the quality of education, build more schools and train good teachers.
The district should pay more attention to improving teachers’ living conditions and build houses for teachers working at schools in remote areas, he said.
The same day saw the ninth Saigon-Cho Lon-Gia Dinh meeting held in HCM City with the attendance of former prime minister Phan Van Khai, former vice president Truong My Hoa, city Party Committee secretary Le Thanh Hai, city People’s Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan, and several other high-ranking officials.
On behalf of the city Party Committee and Government, Hai reviewed the glorious revolutionary traditions of people in Sai Gon, Cho Lon and Gia Dinh – the three areas now belonging to the city – in the nation’s two resistance wars against the French and the Americans.
Over the past 35 years, the city has recorded great achievements in economic development, national defense, and social security, he said.
The number of poor households in the city has been sharply reduced to 8 percent, he added.
The meeting decided to select the fifth day of the Lunar New Year every year as the date for a traditional gathering of all revolutionary generations of the Sai Gon, Cho Lon and Gia Dinh areas.
After the meeting, a ground-breaking ceremony was held for construction of the Sai Gon-Cho Lon-Gia Dinh Traditional Revolutionary Zone at Phu Hiep Hamlet, Phu My Hung Commune, Cu Chi District.
The 11-ha zone is a move to commemorate past generations who have made great contributions and sacrifices in the city’s fight against foreign invaders.
The zone is expected to welcome visitors on January 27, 2012.
