PM checks Tet preparations in Thua Thien-Hue province

Thua Thien-Hue (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had a meeting with Thua Thien-Hue authorities on January 6 to review the central province’s socio-economic performance in 2018, development plan for 2019 and the preparations for the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet).

The PM reminded Thua Thien-Hue to make plans to ensure a warm festival for local residents, especially the poor, policy beneficiaries and those living in natural disaster-prone and disadvantaged areas.

He said that the financial assistance must go along with taking care of spiritual lives of local people through entertainment activities and festivals.

The PM asked the locality to store up commodities and stabilise prices to ensure supply during the holiday which will fall in early February.

The local authorities must manage transport operation to serve travelling demands of people while ensuring traffic and fire safety as well as stepping up supervision on trade fraud and smuggling.

Phan Ngoc Tho, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said more than 33,000 presents from the President would be delivered to policy beneficiaries. The total value of commodities reserved for the holiday has reached up to 1.3 trillion VND (55.3 million USD).

Expressing impressions on achievements that the province gained in 2018, PM Phuc noted the needs to focus on green city development, heritage preservation, mechanics, hi-tech agriculture and tourism services. In particular, the province must pay attention to building local e-government by developing smart city services which serve as a key foundation to accelerate administrative procedure reform.

The province proposed the PM allocate budget for provincial planning and allow the locality to hire foreign consultants for the 2021-30 planning with a vision to 2050.

The provincial leader also proposed the Government prioritise sources of State budget and investment on the construction of a bridge over famous Huong River.

Also on January 6, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue visited and presented Tet gifts to 100 members of the trade union and poor labourers in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

Extending New Year greetings to all officials, public servants and labourers in the province, the Deputy PM said that in 2018, all 12 socio-economic targets of the country were completed and exceeded, with GDP growth reaching 7.08 percent, the highest in the past 10 years.

Vietnam has become the 15 biggest agricultural product exporter with a total revenue of 40.2 billion USD last year, he noted, attributing the results to the efforts of the whole political system, enterprises and labourers across the country. Labour productivity also rose 5.93 percent, he said.

In 2018, two important resolutions were issued regarding the reform of salary and social insurance policies, said the Deputy PM who stated that the regional minimum wage increased in previous years and will continue to rise in 2019 and the future, thus ensuring the interest of labourers, especially disadvantageous ones.

Meanwhile, social insurance policies will be completed to ensure all people access the insurance, while retirement age will also be re-calculated, he added.

He asked the government of Gia Lai, especially the provincial Labour Federation to work harder to better protect the legitimate rights and interest of labourers.

Currently, Gia Lai has 81,000 workers, nearly 8,000 of whom, or 14.1 percent, are from ethnic minority groups.-VNA