In his speech, Pham The Dung, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, affirmed that over the past 35 years Gia Lai has made great achievements in local and national development and defence.

From an impoverished land, he said, Gia Lai has now developed commercial farming, with 150,000ha of rubber and coffee, 20,000ha of cashew and 57,000ha of maize. Rural infrastructure has improved significantly, with water and electricity supply systems, roads, bridges, schools and medical centres built and upgraded in almost all hamlets and villages. The poverty rate has also fallen from 70 percent in 1975 to 14.3 percent at present.

The Party, the army and people of different ethnic groups of Gia Lai vow to unite and build a prosperous province in the future, said Mr Dung.

More than 20,000 local officials, revolutionary veterans, heroic Vietnamese mothers, soldiers and people attended the meeting, which included a civil parade and Gong performances given by Banar and J’rai ethnic groups.