HCM City (VNA) – Provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have set to develop  high-quality agriculture combined witheco-tourism, services and industry as their ambitious targets this year.

Located in a keyeconomic region, with advantages in tourism, aquaculture and rice production,Kien Giang province, for instance, achieved an economic growth rate of 7.5percent last year.

The province’s totalGross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) reached more than 62.3 trillion VND(2.68 billion USD), and budget revenue collection 9.95 trillion VND (428.5million USD), 7.7 percent higher than estimated.

Pham Vu Hong,Chairman of the Kien Giang People’s Committee, said in 2018 the provincecreated 213 large-scale fields to help farmers apply technology to riceproduction.

The provinceproduced more than 4.2 million tonnes of rice in 2018. At least 76 percent ofhigh quality rice was exported, he said. The province’s aquaculture yieldedabout 815,400 tonnes, exceeding 4 percent of the plan.

It welcomed over 7.6million visitors, of which international visitors were 580,000, exceeding 34.8percent of the year’s plan, he added.

Nguyen Van Duong,Chairman of the provincial Dong Thap People’s Committee, said that exportturnover of the province reached a record 1.2 billion USD last year, a surge ofover 40 percent compared to the previous year.

The province sentmore than 2,000 people to work overseas in Japan and the Republic of Korea,higher than the target of 1,000.

The province alsofocused on smart agricultural production, applying advanced technologies toensure sustainable agriculture.

In 2018, Vinh Longprovince achieved 10.59 trillion VND (456.3 million USD) worth of agriculturalproduction, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

The province’sinvestment environment improved with 22 new projects with total registeredcapital of 5.89 trillion VND (253.8 million USD), up by 10 projects over thesame period.

The number oftourists to Vinh Long increased over 8 percent from 2017.

Le Quang Trung, ViceChairman of the provincial Vinh Long People’s Committee, said this year VinhLong planned to improve its growth models by increasing labour productivity andcompetitiveness.

The province plansto enhance cooperation activities among other localities in the region todevelop its trade, service and tourism sectors.

Vinh Long willcontinue to restructure agriculture with the building of new rural areas, andfocus on building value chains for production and promoting major agriculturalproducts.

The provincial KienGiang People’s Committee plans to improve the quality of human resources andadministrative reforms, promote investment in major transport infrastructure,and develop Phu Quoc island district as a special economic zone and drivingforce of the province.

Kiên Giang will alsocontinue to restructure the agricultural sector with a focus on building newrural areas, and issue more incentives to attract investment in clean andorganic agriculture.

The province willenhance investment promotion and recover delayed projects or those that havebeen implemented slowly.

Kien Giang aims toachieve a growth rate of more than 7.8 percent, the top figure in the MekongDelta region.

Soc Trang will alsoimprove its business environment and promote agricultural development withlinkages to value chains, with priorities given to clean rice and aquaticproducts, use of high technologies, and promotion of tourism and renewableenergy.

Soc Trang targets agrowth rate of between 7.3 percent and 7.5 percent this year, with income percapita of more than 42 million VND.

It will continue toreduce the rate of poor households in the Khmer community people to 3-4 percentper year.

Vo Thanh Thong,Chairman of the Can Tho City People’s Committee, said Can Tho is playing amajor role in the Mekong Delta in many fields such as education and training,healthcare, science and technology, industry, trade, services and tourism.

Can Tho will continueto reform its growth model, restructure the economy towards sustainabledevelopment, and promote administrative reform, as well as create morefavourable conditions for local and foreign enterprises to operate effectively.Can Tho will also promote a knowledge-based economy.

The Mekong Deltaaccounts for 12 percent of the national area and 19 percent of its population.It contributes 50 percent of the rice crop, 65 percent of aquaculture, 70percent of fruit, 95 percent of exported rice and 60 percent of exportedfish.-VNA