General Secretary To Lam chaired a working session with the Provincial Party Committees of Ben Tre, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long (Photo: Van Hieu/VOV)

At a working session with the Standing Boards of the Party Committees of the three provinces in Ben Tre on Tuesday, the Party leader said the merger is a  breakthrough move to restructure development towards integration, efficiency, and competitiveness, paving the way for promoting complementary strengths between the localities.

He affirmed that this is a strategic opportunity to shift from a province-based development model to a regional coordination model which will have sufficient scale to attract strategic investment, implement interlinked infrastructure projects, digitize public governance, advance green economic development, and respond effectively to climate change. The General Secretary asked the three provinces to formulate a new development vision following their merger, focusing on building a new growth center with both regional and national competitiveness, based on a green, smart, and multi-centered development, closely linked to digital transformation, innovation, and international integration.

General Secretary To Lam took a photo with leaders of Vinh Long, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces. (Photo: Van Hieu/VOV)

The Party leader said: "Post-merger, the province must decisively shift from a traditional growth model to a development approach centered on innovation, the green economy, regional connectivity, and digital transformation to align with the demands of modern, sustainable development and deeper international integration."

"We must focus on developing key sectors based on promoting the complementary strengths of the three localities, including combining organic ecological agriculture with deep processing, marine economy with renewable energy in Tra Vinh province, developing logistics services and intra-regional transportation infrastructure in Vinh Long, and strengthening ecotourism and community-based cultural tourism between the three localities. Particularly, we need to enhance the province’s capacity in science, technology, and innovation, considering it a critical foundation to improve productivity, quality, and overall competitiveness," added Mr. To Lam.