PM tells Mekong Delta to catch up

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc addresses a working session in Cần Thơ City on Tuesday between the Socio-economic Sub-committee of the 13th National Party Congress and officials of the 13 Mekong Delta localities and HCM City. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

CẦN THƠ — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has asked the Cửu Long (Mekong Delta) to catch up with other parts of the country.

The Government leader said the region needed to change its mindset to cope with the impacts of climate change to achieve sustainable development.

Phúc made the request at a working session in Cần Thơ City on Tuesday between the Socio-economic Sub-committee of the 13th National Party Congress and officials of the 13 Mekong Delta localities and HCM City.

Highlighting the country’s socio-economic achievements, he said in the 2019 Sustainable Development Goals Index, Việt Nam ranked 54th among 162 countries and territories, up three places from last year, and second among ASEAN nations, after Thailand.

The PM attributed those successes partly to the Mekong Delta, which makes up 20 per cent of global rice market share and 80 per cent of Việt Nam’s shrimp production.

The local economic structure has shifted in a positive manner with the expansion of agricultural processing and industrial product manufacturing and export.

The PM also pointed out challenges to the region, including climate change, lacking infrastructure, poor human resources, limited regional connectivity, and local residents’ modest incomes.

The Government leader underlined the need to finalise a plan with a new mindset and vision that can link the Mekong Delta with HCM City, an economic hub of Việt Nam. 

He told the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with localities, ministries, sectors and experts to build this plan and submit it for approval in mid 2020.

The leader also called for a mechanism mobilising resources for the plan's implementation, he said, asking the localities to capitalise on private resources.

Meanwhile, the Mekong Delta needs to restructure its agriculture by promoting the sector’s technology, efficiency and adaptation to climate change, along with developing agricultural brands and the market for farm produce.

Localities should also pay attention to cross-border and sea-based economic activities and different forms of businesses, PM Phúc noted.

He asked regional provinces and cities to improve local human resources, which is now an urgent need, and form chains of cities to create a driving force for development.

Representatives of the provinces and cities said the Mekong Delta needed to remove “bottlenecks” in terms of infrastructure, transport, land and irrigation, make breakthroughs in energy systems and expand connectivity between the localities and HCM City and the whole country. — VNS