Building new-style rural areas has been underlined as a key strategic measure to realise a Party Central Committee’s resolution on agriculture, farmers, and rural areas.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh pinpointed this at a recent conference in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong, reviewing how the three-year-old national target programme in the field has been carried out in the Southeastern, South Central and Central Highland regions.

He asked local authorities to pay great attention to improving infrastructure for goods production, expanding new and effective production models and securing links between businesses and farmers.

He also highlighted a number of issues pertaining to education, culture, political security and environmental protection, as well as the strengthening of the Party’s leadership and the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s role in the rural community.

The Southeastern, Southern Central and Central Highland regions comprise of 19 provinces with 1,896 communes. At present, 42 communes have met all the 19 new-style rural area criteria, 102 others satisfy 15-18, and 380 have fulfilled from one to five.

Building infrastructure, improving production capacity, constructing public works, protecting the landscape and environment, and promoting local traditions and cultural identities are among the criteria of building new-style rural areas agenda initiated by the Government in 2010.-VNA