Speaker of Uruguay’s Chamber of Representatives Anibal Pereyra arrived in Hanoi on January 18, beginning his five-day visit to Vietnam.

The Speaker is accompanied by members of the parliamentary such as Jaime Mario from the National Party; Fitzgerald Cantero from the Colorado Party and Ivan Posado from the Independent Party.

President urges for Hoa Binh’s stronger growth

President Truong Tan Sang has urged the northwest mountainous province of Hoa Binh to take full advantage of its strength to attract more investment inflows, thus touching a higher economic growth in the coming time.

During his working session with key leaders of the locality on Januarys 18, the President asked for stronger efforts to promote local economic growth, requiring focus on fostering administrative reform and infrastructure development.

He said the locality has retained stable growth speed in recent years, while its models of building new rural area prove effective, contributing to improving local people’s living conditions.

However, he noted that Hoa Binh needs to thoroughly solve a number of shortcomings, especially those related to drug trafficking.

Earlier, the State leader visited Tien Phong commune in Da Bac district, home to 560 households which gave up their land to building the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant.

Due to disadvantages in transport and terrain split by mountains, the poverty rate of the commune remains high, accounting for 41 percent of the total. However, education and healthcare services there are still ensured.

Expressing concerns over the high rate, the President asked provincial authorities to intensify measures to narrow the rich-poor gap and gain sustainable poverty reduction.

He suggested learning from experience in fishery planning to improve local lives.

In 2014, the locality raked in over 10 trillion VND from agricultural and aquaculture production, reaching a growth rate of 4 percent. It welcomed 2 million holiday-makers in the year, earning 700 billion VND.

Hoa Binh will focus on eight groups of measures towards realising its socio-economic target in 2015, with emphasises will be placed on restructuring of agriculture and forming concentrated areas for goods production.-

President Truong Tan Sang works with Son La authorities

President Truong Tan Sang worked with key leaders of northern mountainous Son La province on the implementation of the resolution of the 11th National Party Congress and socio-economic development and national defence in the locality.

To further spur local economy, he suggested more investment in infrastructure, especially transport facilities in disadvantaged areas.

Hailing the province for its positive economic growth of over 10 percent over the last five years, the President underscored the need to continue to tap the province’s potential in agriculture, forestry and breeding, while promoting the application of advanced science and technologies in production to improve the output and quality of products.

Additionally, it is necessary to pay attention to education and training, especially vocational training to create a high-quality workforce serving the locality’s development, he stressed.

The State leader also reminded Son La to enhance management to prevent ineffective investment.

He asked the local border guard forces and authorities to cooperate closely in works, including communication to raise public awareness of fighting crime.

During his two-day visit to the locality from January 16-17, the President made an inspection tour of a 80-km newly-build road in the two border districts of Song Ma and Sop Cop, which plays an important role in safeguarding defence security and promoting socio-economic development in the locality’s ethnic minority areas.

On the occasion, he presented 100 gifts to poor families in Sop Khop district’s Muong Lan commune.

So La is now home to 12 ethnic groups. Five out of its all 12 districts are poor. The local Party Committee and authorities have joined hands and rolled out measures to realise its socio-economic development and poverty reduction targets.

VNA