The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau should make the best use of advantages in oil and gas exploration and exploitation, tourism, seaports and heavy industry to boost its rapid and sustainable development.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the request while working with the provincial leaders on the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in the first half of 2011 and solutions for the last six months on July 15.

Firstly, the province should coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to focus investment on the effective exploitation of the Thi Vai – Cai Mep deepwater seaport cluster serving exports, he said.

The Government leader asked the province to mobilise all resources for synchronous infrastructure construction in all fields and focus on training human resources, especially those with high qualifications, serving the cause of industrialisation and modernisation.

Economic development must be coupled with social welfares, poverty reduction and environmental protection, health and education as well as ensuring sea and island security and defence, and social safety and order, he stressed.

The Prime Minister also laid emphasis on price and market management work in the context of increasing inflation and macroeconomic instabilities to prevent speculations and uncontrolled price hikes in the market.

According to General Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Nguyen Tuan Minh, in the year’s first six months, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province recorded a GDP growth rate of nearly 12 percent and an increase of 14 percent in industrial production value.

The province’s export turnover (excluding oil and gas) reached over 669 million USD, up 30 percent over the same period last year.

The province generated jobs for more than 17,000 labourers and provided loans for 7,000 poor households.

Earlier, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited the construction site of the first self-lifting drilling platform in Vietnam , an important project for the development of the Vietnamese mechanical and manufacturing industry. The project has an investment capital of over 180 million USD invested by the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam)./.