Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said that Hanoi's capital is the centre of politics, economics, culture, and education with an important role and position in national development, being the country's growth pole.

Currently, Hanoi's regional GDP accounts for about 14 per cent of the country's GDP, and the linkage between Hanoi and localities is increasingly strong.

However, in recent years, Hanoi's economic position has tended to decrease compared to other cities and provinces in the Red River Delta region.

In 2011, Hanoi's GRDP accounted for 48 per cent of the regional GRDP, and it decreased to 42.2 per cent in 2022. The GRDP growth rate is going down as compared to other localities in the Red River Delta, specifically, the growth of Hanoi is 6.27 per cent in 2023, ranking 9th of 11 provinces and cities in the region.

In Hanoi, agricultural development is unremarkable, fragmented, and not aligned with trends, or high and clean technologies. The industrial development space has not yet developed its potential.

Hanoi has nine industrial parks (IPs) with an area of 1,674 hectares, while Bac Ninh has 16 IPs with an area of about 6,400 hectares despite its province area being smaller.

"The preparation and implementation of planning for 2021 - 2030 must be one of the most important political tasks and a valuable opportunity to create new development space and new development motivation in the country's development," Minister Dung emphasised.

Tran Sy Thanh, Chairman of Hanoi's People's Committee

The draft Hanoi capital planning proposed new and strong breakthroughs in development, including five general development perspectives and three perspectives on spatial organisation.

Of these, the development perspective clearly emphasised the factors creating a pervasive force to promote the development of the Red River Delta, the northern key economic region, the capital region, and the whole country.

The spatial organisation of the capital focuses on developing industries and fields concentrated along several corridors and economic belts in association with a number of development axes, and types of space, including construction space, underground space, digital space, cultural space, and public space.

The capital plan sets out 20 specific goals Of these, Hanoi identified some targets that are higher than the national average such as the proportion of digital economy accounting for 40 per cent of GRDP; average GRDP person reaching about $13,500 - 14,000; trees in public areas of about 10 - 12 sq.m/person; and an urbanisation rate at 65 - 70 per cent.

The plan also identifies several development breakthroughs, including in institutions and governance; investing and building synchronous, modern, and connected infrastructure; developing high-quality human resources; and in urban areas, environment, and landscape.

In Hanoi, planning for industries, fields, and areas is based on developing along four corridors and one economic belt so that the capital truly becomes a convergence hub, connection centre, and driving force spreading intra-regionally and inter-regionally, playing an important role in connecting with cities and provinces.

Hanoi will be the driving force for regional development, the growth pole of the country, and the gateway of the ASEAN region connecting with China.