Thai Nguyen located adjacent to the Hanoi capital, the "Northern Rooster of Thang Long Citadel". The province has a natural area of ​​over 3,500 km2; the population is around 1.3 million people, of which ethnic minorities account for nearly 30%. The province is one of the country's foremost training centers with hundreds of thousands of domestic and international students and the health care center of the region with Thai Nguyen Central Hospital, 25 hospitals and medical centers under the province. There are more than 800 relics, including ATK Dinh Hoa Special National Historical Relic; many large industrial zones and clusters such as Yen Binh Industrial Zone, Song Cong I, Song Cong II, Diem Thuy, Nam Pho Yen. The province is also a strategic area for national defence, where the headquarters of the High Command and Military Region 1 are located.

Over thousands of years of building and defending the country, Thai Nguyen is proud to be a landmarking many important historical events, glorious victories associated with the name of the land and Thai Nguyen people such as Ly Bi (Ly Nam Emperor), Duong Tu Minh, Luu Nhan Chu, Do Can. In history, our people under the Party's leadership, Thai Nguyen, was a part of the robust Viet Bac base; became the safety zone for Uncle Ho, the central agencies of the Party, and the Government stood to lead the revolutionary movement across the country. In particular, on December 6, 1953, at ATK Dinh Hoa, the Politburo decided to open Dien Bien Phu Campaign, making a "Splendid victory in five continents, shaking the world", ending nine years of challenging resistance period. Here, President Ho Chi Minh wrote the work "Change the way of working" which is a guideline for all actions of cadres and party members. It is still valid today. These are concrete evidences of Thai Nguyen’s essential position.

President Ho Chi Minh always spends special attention on the province. Uncle Ho lived and worked at ATK Dinh Hoa, leading the country during the nine-year resistance war against the French colonialists. Since the Party Central Committee and Government moved to Hanoi, Uncle Ho has returned seven times to visit the province. Uncle Ho's teachings on these times became an honor, pride, a source of great spiritual encouragement to the Party Committee, government and people of the local ethnic groups to construct and defence the nation.

President Ho Chi Minh visited the blast furnace, Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Zone, on January 1, 1964. File photo

Uncle Ho said: “Our province has a glorious revolutionary tradition, rich natural resources, cooperative agriculture, handicrafts, light industry and heavy industry. People of all ethnic groups have the virtue of perseverance. In summary, our province has many favorable conditions, all compatriots and cadres must try hard to make Thai Nguyen become one of the richest and most prosperous provinces in the North of our country" (Speech of President Ho Chi Minh to the compatriots of Thai Nguyen province and the workers of the Iron and Steel Zone on January 1, 1964”, Ho Chi Minh: Complete Volume, Publisher: National Politics, Hanoi, 2000, volume 11, page 193,194) . Uncle Ho's advice, encouragement, and reminders have given Thai Nguyen strength to grow in the new era and be realized in every job, project, and achievement that the province has achieved across terms.

Engraving on Uncle Ho's teachings, the Party Committee and people of all ethnic groups in Thai Nguyen province always unite, create, maintain their faith in the Party, overcome difficulties and challenges, strive to gain many important achievements all fields. From a poor province with slow economic development, Thai Nguyen has risen to become one of the fast-growing provinces in the region and the whole country.

In the past five years, the province's socio-economy has continuously developed. The economy maintains a growth momentum of over 10%/year; the targets are met and exceeded compared with the Resolution of the 19th Provincial Party Congress, in 2015-2020 tenure; economic structure changed rapidly and breakthrough in the industrial sector. State budget revenue in 2020 will reach over VND15,600 billion, 2.1 times higher than 2015. The investment environment, competitiveness and investment attraction have many positive changes; in 2016-2020 tenure, the total implemented social investment capital reached VND238 trillion; the foreign investment reached over 90 projects. In addition, the province is one of the four provinces with the highest export value in the country.

In 2020, Thai Nguyen’s PAPI index ranked 3rd out of 63 provinces and cities across the country; PCI index ranks 11th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide and is the leading locality in the Northern mountainous region. The socio-economic infrastructure has received attention and investment in upgrading. The province's appearance from urban to rural has flourished; the urbanization rate reaches over 32%. The province has 108 communes meeting new rural standards, there are no communes under 10 criteria, and 3 out of 9 district-level units have completed building new rural areas.

Social security work is concerned, people's lives are increasingly improved and enhanced. The average rate of poor households in the province decreased by 2.06% per year; in 2020, the poverty rate was 2.82%. The emulation movement "Thai Nguyen joins hands for the poor, leaving no one behind" was actively responded by all levels, sectors, communities and people. Policies on social protection, child protection and care and gender equality have been paid attention to and well implemented. The education and training system is increasingly developed; 100% of teachers and educational administrators meet standards or higher; build education and training in ethnic minority and mountainous areas and remove all makeshift classrooms in the province. The work of protecting and taking care of the People's health, surveillance, disease prevention and control is highly valued and has made significant progress; focus on developing specialized medical care. The development of culture, physical training, sports, information and communication, science and technology continued to change positively. National defence, local military and political security are guaranteed; social order and safety are maintained and stabilized, creating favorable conditions for socio-economic development.

Following the Central Government's directive on studying and following President Ho Chi Minh, in recent years, Thai Nguyen has had thousands of typical and excellent collectives and individuals who have well done their studies and followed his ideology, morality and style. Many examples, creative models across industries and fields have created a widespread, encouraging the people of all generations to build the province more rich and beautiful. Each group and individual learns and follows Uncle Ho differently, such as the spirit of self-reliance; dynamism, creativity, enthusiasm, dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility; loving people; the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country.

The achievements have confirmed the maturity in all aspects of the Party Committee, government and people in the province. That is also a solid foundation and premise for the province to continue to grow stronger, striving to become one of the modern industrial centers of the Northern Midlands and Mountainous Region and Hanoi Capital Region by 2030 as the goal of the Resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025.

To gain this goal, Thai Nguyen identified to focus on infrastructure development in the southern area; prioritize investment capital in land clearance to attract investors; develop transport infrastructure and industrial zones and developing the Hanoi Capital region. Besides, the province will focus on developing the private economic sector, high technology, encouraging production chains and value chains to improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

In addition, the province continues to improve the capacity and efficiency of the administrative apparatus at all levels, accelerate the reform of administrative procedures towards the satisfaction of people and businesses, focus on training professional skills for cadres and servants, especially public service ethics. Moreover, the province identified improving the quality of local human resources, attracting high-quality human resources, improving the province's competitiveness, promoting digital transformation and build e-government.

Furthermore, the province especially attends to building a new rural area, sustainable poverty reduction and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas; develop tourism, hi-tech agriculture. Finally, we try hard to narrow the range among rich and poor population areas in the province.

In the past, Thai Nguyen was the "Resistance Capital ", a solid rear for the front line with the aim "No shortage of one-kilogram rice, and no shortage of one soldier". Nowadays, the province continues to study and follow President Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style; promoting the tradition of the revolutionary homeland and the achievements after 35 years of renovation to successfully implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, the Resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress;  striving to build “One of the richest and most prosperous provinces in the North of our country" as President Ho Chi Minh’s exhortation when he returned to Thai Nguyen, on January 1st, 1964.