Tien Giang (VNA) – The Mekong Delta provinceof TienGiang is determined to achieve the economic growth target of 7 percent thisyear despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a local official has said.
Speaking ata recent session of the provincial People’s Council, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council Nguyen VanDanh said the province had to take urgent and synchronous measures invarious areas like agriculture, fisheries, rural development, industry, urbandevelopment, and the collective economy.
He said the provincial People’s Committee should direct the Southern Horticultural Research Instituteto guide farmers in areas affected by drought and saltwater intrusion inrestoring fruit orchards.
It shouldencourage them to switch to crops and livestock that are resistant to naturalcalamities, he said.
More than8,500ha of rice, thousands of hectares of vegetable and 5,300ha of fruits weredamaged by natural disaster this year, he said.
Theadministration should make preparations after the 2020 flooding season toensure the 2020-2021 winter-spring crop is good, hesaid.
Cooperativemodels that are part of value chains or link farmers with enterprises should beexpanded, and the province should give priority to rice, fruit, vegetables, andseafood value chains, he said.
It alsoshould provide assistance to the industrial sector, he added.
It should assess theimpact of the pandemic on each sector and help affected companies stabilisetheir business soon and achieve the targeted rate of growth in the remainingmonths of the year.
According tothe People’s Committee, the province targets revenues from retail salesand services of 39.8 trillion VND (1.7 billion USD)in the second half of the year.
It seeks toattract 17 new projects and set up 16 new cooperatives.
In the firsthalf its gross domestic product was marginally down year-on-year.
It hasprovided dole of more than 217.6 billion VND to poor people, those near the poverty line and others this year. Itwill continue to pay the allowance this month.
TruongVan Hien, chairman of theprovince’s Trade Federation, said trade unions had called on and given gifts to14,000 workers facing financial difficulties./.