Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has lauded good progress thatthe central province of Thanh Hoa has made in socio-economicdevelopment, defence, security and Party building work so far.

At a meeting with key officials of the province as part of his workingvisit from July 31-August 1, the Party chief noted that after fouryears of implementing the 11th Party Congress’s resolution, Thanh Hoahas maintained high economic growth rate at average 11.3 percentannually.

As a result, the province’s economy hasexpanded by 1.54 times compared to 2010, with the industry-constructionsector accounting for 42 percent, services - 39.6 percent andagriculture - 18.4 percent. Per capita GDP is estimated at 1,320 USD peryear.

Last year, Thanh Hoa ranked eighth among 63cities and provinces nationwide in FDI attraction and stood at the sixthposition in provincial economic integration index and eighth inprovincial competitiveness index.

By 2013, as manyas 19 communes of the province met all standards of the new-style ruralareas, while other communes completed more than 10 criteria averagely.

However, Party General Secretary Trong also pointedout that the ratio of poor households in Thanh Hoa is still high, urgingthe locality to worked harder to fulfil all the set targets.

The province should also get itself well-prepared for the 12th PartyCongress, he added, stressing that Party building and personnel work iskey in order to well implement other tasks.

Also onAugust 1, the Party leader toured the Nghi Son Economic Zone where heheld a working session with the zone’s management board, inspected theprogress of the Nghi Son Refinery and visited the Nghi Son port.-VNA