During his working visit to Dak Lak province, on April 16, as part of his tour of Central Highland provinces, the State President visited Regiment 584, under the Dak Lak provincial military command, and held a working session with the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands region.

Mr Triet praised the outstanding achievements of Regiment 584 for building a powerful armed force in order to ensure national defence, as well as a stable political situation and security in the locality.

He urged the regiment to uphold its glorious tradition to successfully implement tasks assigned by the Party and people. In particular, he said, it is essential to cooperate closely with people and help them develop the economy and stabilize their daily lives.

While working with the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands region, Mr Triet heard a report by the committee’s deputy head Mai Van Nam on recent socio-economic developments in the region. The report said that in 2006 the Central Highlands recorded an average GDP growth of nearly 14 percent. In the first quarter of this year, the region’s GDP saw an increase of 45 percent compared to the same period last year. Thanks to State-funded projects, infrastructure in the Central Highlands region has improved remarkably. About 98 percent of the region’s population has access to the national electricity grid and 95 percent of the population can listen to Radio the Voice of Vietnam. The rate of poverty in the region has reduced to 22 percent.

However, Mr Nam said the region is still beset by unsustainable economic growth and asynchronous infrastructure development, while many local ethnic minorities have not yet escaped from poverty.

The State President said that Central Highland provinces should focus on making local people full aware of the Party and State’s policies, aimed at consolidating the great national unity bloc and boosting development in the region.