At the working session between the delegation of US legislative assistants and Vinh Long province's officials (Source: VNA) VinhLong (VNA) - A delegation of USlegislative assistants led by TerraLynn Sabag, Deputy Chief of Staff for Congressman Rick Larsen, visited theMekong Delta province of Vinh Long on April 19 as part of their on-going workingtrip to Vietnam.
Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Tran Van Ron receivedthe delegation, during which the two sides exchanged ideas on a number ofissues of common concern such as foreign-invested projects in Vinh Long, impactof climate change and the locality’s solutions to the problem.
According to the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment,the impact of climate change has greatly affected agricultural production,infrastructure facilities in Vinh Long and locals’ life. Natural disasters andclimate change have caused an economic loss of nearly 730 billion VND (31.45 million USD) inthe 2010-2018 period.
In order to proactively adapt to climate change, local authorities have adjustedplans on agricultural development, fisheries development, rural clean waterdevelopment, irrigation construction and provincial traffic network developmentto 2020, with a vision to 2030.
In2017-2018, the province spent nearly 2 trillion VND on building over 1,300irrigation infrastructure projects to respond to climate change.
Regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), Vinh Long is now home to 50 FDI projectswith a total capital of 550 million USD, with three of those invested in by USfirms worth about 1.2 million USD, mainly in processing agricultural productsfor export.
Ronsaid the Mekong Delta has a great advantage of agriculture, stressing that VinhLong is the second largest fruit production area in the region.
VinhLong is currently exporting mango and rambutan to the US market, he said,adding that the locality expects to have more products to be exported to theUS.
He expressed his hope that the delegation will support the locality in callingon US businesses to invest in Vinh Long, as well as in coping with climatechange.
On behalf of the delegation, Terra Lynn Sabag expressed her wishto work to strengthen the Vietnam-US relationship.-VNA
VNA
