Participants discussed key issues relating to the city’s socioeconomicdevelopment plan in the remaining months of 2020, COVID-19 prevention efforts,preparations for the 17th Congress of the Hanoi Party organisation, personnelactivities, and planning for smart city and metro projects.
According to Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen VanSuu, the pandemic has had a severe impact on all aspects of society and the city’smajor socioeconomic goals in particular.
Economic growth in the first quarter was much lower year-on-year, presentingproblems in yearly socioeconomic development objectives being reached.
The capital recorded a rise of 36 percent in the number of businesses ceasingoperations in the first quarter and the number of people applying for unemployment insurance benefit rose 22.2percent. The CPI was higher than in the same period of 2019, especially for food.
Construction continued to slow, affecting the disbursement and efficiency ofinvestment capital.
Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Vuong Dinh Hue urged city authorities todo better in the fight against COVID-19, while emphasising the importance ofadopting appropriate measures in the future to recover and promote economicdevelopment.
Director of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen ManhQuyen touched on obstacles relating to site clearance and capital disbursement inpublic investment projects.
Director of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade Le Hong Thang, meanwhile,flagged difficulties in promoting exports in the second quarter as majortrading partners like Europe, the US, and Japan are also facing difficulties fromthe epidemic.
He underlined the need to focus on developing the domestic market and creatingthe most favourable conditions possible for local enterprises to recover productionand business.
Director of the Hanoi Department of Taxation Mai Son said that along withdeploying the Government’s support packages it has accelerated administrativereform efforts and provided support to enterprises to help them tackle any andall difficulties.
It has also set out a specific scenario to offset revenue losses and completeits budget collection tasks in 2020, he said.
City authorities have also paid due regard to speeding up key projects and removingdifficulties facing official development assistance (ODA) projects and foreign andnon-budget investment projects to boost investment stimulus.
A project on the development of urban government is now being piloted in the capital./.