The industry and construction sectorsrecorded high growth in the first six months of the year while agriculture andservices development failed to match their potential, said Hue, who is also headof the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region.
Hue was speaking at the committee’sconference held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on June 29 to review tasksin the first half of 2017 and discuss tasks for the rest of the year.
Agricultural growth reached only 2.07 percentin the first half of the year, lower than the average national growth of 2.65 percent.The services sector reaped grew 6.67 percent, slightly higher than the nationalaverage rate of 6.65 percent, according to a report presented by deputy head ofthe Committee Son Minh Thang.
The whole region reported economic growthof 6.45 percent during the period. The poverty rate remained high, accountingfor 7.97 percent of total households in the region.
The region’s total budget collection reached51.7 percent of the estimated target, social investment increased 13.5 percentin comparison with the same period last year and the number ofnewly-established enterprises rose 10.2 percent.
The growth picture of the region was ingeneral higher than that of the whole country but localities in the region muststudy measures to boost the development of the agricultural, tourism andservices sectors, Hue said.
The localities should also attract moreforeign direct investment, particularly in agriculture and rural areas, hesaid.
Regarding the steering committee’s tasks,the deputy PM said the committee had hit many goals such as setting up amanagement board to implement the Government decision on piloting a MekongDelta regional connectivity project and working with local authorities to dealwith issues relating to education and employment.
The committee organised several tradepromotion, infrastructure and logistics development conferences in somelocalities in the region, worked with the Government to assess landslides inthe region and worked with ministries and agencies to speed up transportprojects in the region.
In the remaining months of the year, thecommittee will continue implementing the Government decision on the project toconnect the Mekong Delta region, hold a conference of international donors forMekong Delta region development and host a scientific conference on landslidesin the region to discuss measures to deal with them.-VNA