President Truong Tan Sang paid visits to the southern provinces of Tay Ninh and Binh Duong on February 20, the second day of the Lunar New Year festival.

President Truong Tan Sang and leaders of Tay Ninh Province

Meeting with the Standing Board of the Tay Ninh provincial Party Committee, he suggested improving the output of potential farm produce such as sugar cane, peanut and rubber, and making thorough preparations for the Party Congresses at all levels.

Visiting Vietnam Moc Bai JS Company, an affiliate of Taekwang Group based in the Republic of Korea, the President proposed producing more leather shoes for export and embarking on the 100ha dying industrial plant in the Moc Bai border economic zone.

Viet Nam is working to speed up the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, which will offer advantages to exporters, including those working in leather, textile and garment, he said.

Paying tribute to the late Party and State leaders at a relic site of the Party Central Committee's Southern Bureau, the State leader extended his best New Year wishes to all of the staff and asked them to urgently upgrade more works within the site in celebration of the 40th anniversary of southern liberation and national unification, which falls on April 30.

While in Binh Duong, the President was happy to hear that its economy grew by 13 percent in 2014 and attracted over US$1.6 billion in foreign direct investment, running a $4 billion-trade surplus and adding more than VND32 trillion ($1.5 billion) to the State budget, up 8 percent.

He expressed wish that Binh Duong will grow into a modern industrialised province on the back of massive foreign investment and technological advances, as part of efforts to realise its 2011-2015 plan, and thoroughly prepare for the all-level Party Congresses.