The ceremony was attended by Politburo member and head of the Central Party Committee's Organisation Commission, To Huy Rua and Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
On the occasion, the city was awarded its Independence Order second class in recognition of its achievements and improvements over the past 60 years.
Deputy PM Hai was the one to deliver the Prime Minister's decision on the recognition of Bac Ninh as a second-class city to the city leaders. He praised the city for its outstanding achievements in recent times and asked the city to continue its good work to prove it is worthy of being a central city of Bac Ninh province and a major economic centre of the north.
Beginning as a small town with an area of 14 square kilometres and a population of 20,000, Bac Ninh has become a busy and modern city with a population of nearly 300,000 people and a total area of over 82 square kilometres.
The city has remained a high average GDP growth rate in recent years, of around 16% per year with the percentage contribution of industry and services to GDP at 96.3%.
