Focus on agriculture crucial for Yen Bai

YEN BAI — Yen Bai Province should focus on developing its agriculture sector to improve local living standards.

President Nguyen Minh Triet made the remark yesterday during his visit to the northern mountainous province.

Triet asked provincial authorities to further strengthen the poverty elimination process and improve the living standards of ethnic minorities as well as provide information to them so that they would not be deceived by negative elements.

He said he believed that the northwestern region would develop gradually in terms of economy, political security, social order and people's living standards.

As the province was still in poverty, Triet emphasised the importance of focusing on economic and transportation infrastructure development, along with human resources training.

Besides developing agriculture, the province could also foster the mineral exploitation sector and the cement industry. It should also co-operate with ministries and sectors to implement the plan to build an airport for economic development, Triet said.

He also applauded the achievements of the province in the past, especially its gross domestic product growth in 2009,which stood at 12.9 per cent. The province also reduced its number of poor households by 5.5 per cent last year.

The President praised the province's authorities and the Northwestern Steering Committee and Northwestern Security Department for their consultation to the State and Party to work out policies in ensuring the region's security in politics and religion.

Regarding the province's implementation of the Politburo's Resolution 49 on judicial reform, Triet highly valued the outcome from Yen Bai in improving judiciary quality. However, he said that the judicial staff of the province still fell short of certain requirements.

Thus, Triet asked the province to continue its work in training these staff and affirmed the State's favourable policies for judicial staff working in remote areas.

On his visit to the VINACONEX Yen Binh Cement Company, Triet spoke highly of the socio-economic role of the factory, which employs 550 people and creates jobs for thousands of labourers outside the factory.

He said that the factory needed to implement the second phase of its project to increase its productivity to 3 million tonnes per year as planned, and asked relevant ministries and sectors to support the company, especially in road construction. —VNS