President Truong Tan Sang has asked the Dak Lak province to fully exploit its rich agro-forestry land resources to avoid wastefulness.

At a working session with the provincial authorities in Buon Ma Thuot city on December 29, President Sang also asked Dak Lak to pay special attention to land policy applied to ethnic minority people while strengthening protection of local forests.

“The management of 2.5 million hectares of planted forest for economic purposes is as important as protecting the natural and protective forest,” Sang said, adding that this is a factor to generate jobs and incomes for the local people and protect the environment together with mitigating the climate change impacts.

The province posted a Gross Domestic Products ( GDP ) value of 160 trillion VND (7.62 million USD) in 2013, up 7.3 percent over 2012, according to reports.

However, Dak Lak failed to fulfill the target of import and export, poverty reduction and State budget collection. Meanwhile, shortcomings in land management still existed.

The President asked the provincial authorities and enterprises to provide direct assistance to local people in terms of land, capital and cultivation techniques, helping improve their income from forestry and farming.

During his working trip to the province, President Sang also visited workers of the M’Drak Forestry One Liability Limited Company which is managing 25,000 ha of natural forest and forest for production.

He inspected the situation and met with local residents in Buon Tai village, Krong Jing commune, M’Drak district, and Ea Bar commune, Buon Don district.
At a meeting with the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands, the President stressed the need to implement land policy to ensure ethnic people have land for production and consolidate the political system to provide a firm foundation for economic development and national defence-security in the region.-VNA