Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has asked south-western provincial authorities and residents to bring the region’s economy equal to the country’s level.

Deputy PM Hung made the statement at a conference to review the Steering Committee for South-western region’s work in 2009 and implement tasks for 2010. The meeting was held in the Mekong delta province of Soc Trang on Dec. 29.

He took the occasion to hail the region’s economic growth that nearly doubled the country’s rate, good settlement of social welfare issues while ensuring defence and security and social order.

The south-west region is a key agricultural area of the country, said the deputy PM, suggesting that advanced technology and promotional campaigns for goods consumption, as well as processing and post-harvest preservation be included in the production development scheme. It needs the involvement of skilled workers, scientific institutes and qualified managers, he added.

Deputy Director of the committee Son Song Son told the conference that despite negative impacts of the global economic crisis, the region’s economic growth is estimated at 10.08 percent this year compared with the entire country’s growth of 5.2 percent.

The region’s annual per-capita income is estimated to be 973 USD this year, a year-on-year rise of 9.33 percent. Its rice output reaches 20.6 million tonnes and fisheries volume is expected to surpass 2.64 million tonnes, Son said.

The region also posts a year-on-year rise of 19.1 percent in industrial production value to more than 73.7 trillion VND but its export value drops 2.35 percent from last year to 5.53 billion VND.

The region’s development was spurred by the completion of a number of key projects. They include the Ca Mau thermo electric plants 1 & 2, the O Mon thermo electric plant 1, Rach Mieu bridge, the newly-upgraded Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong section of the National Highway 1A, the first stage of the Can Tho international airport, and school and hospital construction projects sourced from Government bonds.

There only remains 9.43 percent of poor households in the region, Son added.

The committee said it will continue promoting ethnic and religious policies focusing on assistance to housing and land for production to ethnic communities in 2010./.