Deputy PM lauds southwest steering committee’s contributions
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has praised the Steering Committee for the Southwest Region for its achievements in socio-economic development, security-defence, ethnic and religious affairs, poverty alleviation and new style rural areas building throughout 15 years of operation.
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The steering committee has made significant contributions to the region’s economic restructuring, particularly agriculture shake-up in response to the climate change, Hue noted.
Terminating operations of the Steering Committees for Northwest, Central Highlands and Southwest Regions approved by the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Politburo and Secretariat does not mean putting an end to their functions and missions. Relevant ministries, sectors and local authorities will coordinate to carry out the tasks, he said.
He asked deputy head of the southwest steering committee Son Minh Thang to tackle remaining work before receiving new mission assigned by the Politburo.
In the past 15 years, the committee helped the Politburo and the Secretariat and the Prime Minister define breakthroughs to develop the Mekong Delta region in the fields of transport, irrigation, education, agriculture development and support for local ethnic people.
It also worked to remove bottlenecks for key construction projects like Can Tho bridge, Can Tho airport, Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway and investment projects in Phu Quoc island.
The committee’s efforts have cast a new look for the whole region. Economic growth during 2001-2010 was at 11.7 percent per year while the figure for 2011-2015 was 8.55 percent per year. Improvements have been seen in the livelihoods of ethnic people and those living in remote areas.
Particularly, the Mekong Delta gained impressive achievements in 2017 with stable economic growth, agricultural production exceeding set targets and sound development of service sector, education and healthcare.
