An Giang (VNA) – PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked the Mekong Delta province of An Giang tocontinuously improve its investment environment, with attention paid to humanresources quality and infrastructure, while addressing an investment promotionconference held by the province on December 15.

An Giang should seek ways to attractcapable businesses and develop global brands for local products, he said.

Technological application would create afoundation for a developed processing industry, tapping potential and naturaladvantages of the locality in aquaculture and agriculture, towards a modernagriculture, he suggested.

The leader urged An Giang to utilise itsadvantages of handicrafts, distinctive culture and landscapes to developtourism, saying An Giang is a spotlight of Mekong tourism.

He described An Giang, Kien Giang and CaMau provinces and Can Tho city as ‘horses’  to fuel the Mekong Delta’s growth, and askedregional localities to seek effective and result-oriented cooperationmechanisms and policies.

PM Phuc lauded the successful operationof many groups in the locality in the sphere of agricultural production, and notedhis wish that enterprises will run long-term business in An Giang, helping spurlocal socio-economic development.

An Giang should bring into full play itsadvantages, especially the local business environment and the quality of itsinstitutions and human resources in State administration, in order to become amodel in the development of value chains and sector clusters.

The province is expected to make significantbreakthroughs and a success story after the issuance of the Government’sResolution No. 120 on developing the Mekong Delta adaptable to climate change.

At the conference, PM Phuc announced theMekong Delta’s transport planning orientations.

An Giang has been dubbed as the capitalof rice and tra fish and an economic and trade centre connected with Ho ChiMinh City, Can Tho City and the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh.

It has been seen as the gateway forVietnam and other Mekong Delta cities and provinces to Cambodia and othermember countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Aquaculture is the spearhead economic sectorof An Giang with a total farming area of 2,700ha and an output of over 379,000tonnes of different kinds of fish and shrimp each year.

Tra and basa fish are the province’s strategic product, being raised on 1,734hectares with an output of 287,000 tonnes a year.

Seventeen businesses are operating inthe locality with 23 factories specialised in seafood processing in service ofexports, with an annual accumulated capacity of 400,000 tonnes.

At the conference, An Giang presented decisions on investment plans for 25projects engaging in agriculture, trade-service-tourism, industry,construction, and healthcare, and others on investment pledges totalling anestimated 132 trillion VND for nine investors. -VNA