The Steering Committee for the North-Western Region, a think tank for the Party and State, has been awarded the Order of Labour, second class, by the President in honour of its dedication to regional development.

The committee received the Order at a ceremony in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai on November 8 to celebrate the 10 th anniversary of its founding.

Addressing the guests, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the committee Nguyen Xuan Phuc pushed for more regional socio-economic development in an effort to gradually narrow the wealth gap between this region and others.

In order to achieve this, the committee should partner with localities to boost rural development and apply advanced technologies in production, he added.

Phuc also suggested shifting to high-yield crop and livestock varieties, while calling for more investment in socio-cultural services.

Last year, the region recorded an annual per capita income of 21.5 million VND (1,000 USD), up by 6.3 percent since 2004. Industrial production generated more than 74 trillion VND (3.5 billion USD) in turnover.-VNA