Son La (VNA) – Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on July 16 urged Son La to develop into the Northwest's centre for ecological agriculture, agro-processing and distinctive tourism while maintaining environmental sustainability and social welfare.
At a working session with the provincial Party Committee's Standing Board, the leader acknowledged the province's efforts but pointed to persistent bottlenecks, including limited improvements in economic growth quality, productivity and resilience, slow growth in tourism revenue despite rising visitor numbers, delayed investment projects, sluggish labour restructuring, constrained financial capacity, and mounting risks from natural disasters, climate change and resource degradation.
The Party and State leader urged Son La to clearly define its development model and strategic role in the Northwest, focusing resources on sectors with the greatest potential rather than spreading investment too thinly.
He said the province should capitalise on its strengths in ecological agriculture, agro-processing, tourism, renewable energy, reservoir-based economic activities and trade with northern Laos, with planning translated into concrete projects.
He also called for integrated planning along the Hoa Binh - Moc Chau and Moc Chau -Son La - Dien Bien expressways, covering logistics centres, processing zones, service hubs, urban areas and tourist destinations, alongside better local transport links.
General Secretary and State President Lam stressed the need to reorganise agriculture around value chains, strengthen links between raw material areas and processing plants, expand industrial clusters serving agriculture, and prioritise key products such as Arabica coffee, fruit, tea, dairy and medicinal herbs. He encouraged greater investment in irrigation, cold storage, processing and distribution, stronger cooperation with research institutes and universities, and continued forest protection.
Tourism development, he said, should focus on encouraging visitors to spend more and stay longer by creating multi-day itineraries linking Moc Chau, Van Ho, Ta Xua, Ngoc Chien, Quynh Nhai and the Son La hydropower reservoir. Moc Chau should be developed into a distinctive ecological plateau and national tourism destination, while community-based tourism should improve service quality and avoid fragmented development.
The Party and State leader also called for selective industrial development centred on deep processing of coffee, fruit, dairy products, tea, medicinal herbs and forestry products, supported by packaging, cold storage and logistics. Renewable energy projects, including floating solar and wind power, must be aligned with transmission capacity, reservoir safety, inland waterways, landscapes and local livelihoods.
Highlighting people-centred development, he urged the province to prepare well for the 2026–2027 school year, expand free annual health check-ups and electronic health records, conduct the search, recovery and identification of the remains of fallen soldiers, improve resettlement areas for hydropower projects, strengthen sustainable poverty reduction and complete digital databases on poor households.
He also stressed improving the efficiency of the two-tier local administration, accelerating digital transformation, expanding 5G coverage, resolving delayed investment projects, and enhancing public services, particularly in remote communes.
On national defence and security, the leader called for stronger border management, ethnic unity and effective cooperation with northern Lao provinces in agriculture, trade, education, healthcare, drug crime prevention and border management. He urged the province to intensify efforts towards its goal of becoming drug-free by 2030 through coordinated prevention, rehabilitation and job creation programmes.
The leader instructed Son La to review its action plans for implementing the 14th National Party Congress resolution and relevant resolutions, ensuring that every target is translated into specific tasks, projects, products, resources and accountable agencies. Growth scenarios should be developed for each sector and flagship project, while long-delayed projects should be reviewed, adjusted or terminated to free up land and public assets.
He also urged the province to accelerate public investment disbursement, prepare development and investment plans for 2027, strengthen Party building and anti-corruption efforts, improve the quality of grassroots officials, and promote accountability among leaders.
General Secretary and State President Lam concluded by calling on Son La to pursue ambitious but sustainable development, without sacrificing the environment or overexploiting natural resources for short-term gains, with the goal of becoming the Northwest's centre for ecological agriculture, agro-processing and distinctive tourism, as well as a green, secure and strategically important border province./.
