lao cai

Lao Cai instructed to focus on developing local infrastructure

	Column 1
0
1	Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has a  working session with Lao Cai leaders in Ha Noi yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Duc Tam

HA NOI (VNS)— Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has emphasised the need for the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai to focus on building infrastructure to nurture development.
Speaking with key provincial leaders in Ha Noi yesterday, Dung urged Lao Cai to revamp its investment climate and enhance its competitiveness by investing in transport infrastructure to lure investors.
He called on the province to harness homegrown advantages in services, tourism, border trading, mining and agriculture to meet its socio-economic targets.
The locality also needed to speed up the construction of new-style rural areas in line with the national target programme.
The plan requires upgrading rural infrastructure and supporting farmers in boosting agro-forestry, applying advanced technology in production and expanding markets for local products, he said.
Meanwhile, the province also needed to focus on reducing poverty and improving the living standards of local residents. He also said that security and stability were important to building borders founded on peace, friendship, cooperation and development, he said.
Dung also reiterated Viet Nam's position of safeguarding national territory while ensuring cooperation with China, asking Lao Cai to maintain and promote its economic partnerships and bilateral co-operation with China.
At the meeting, he also hailed the locality's efforts in maintaining high economic growth, noting rapid poverty reduction despite the many difficulties facing the small population living in the vast, mountainous border province.
According to chairman of the provincial People's Committee Doan Van Huong, during the past 20 years, Lao Cai has secured a high average growth rate of 11 per cent per year.
The province's economy has expanded tenfold since 1991, while per capita incomes have reached VND29.7 million (US$1,414), a near sixty-fold increase and the highest jump of any other regional locality.
However, the locality still faces a number of challenges, including a poor infrastructure system, a 20 per cent household poverty rate and a low-skilled workforce. The trafficking of women, drug smuggling and uncontrolled migration also remain problems for the province. — VNS