Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has advised the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng to pursue a development model that focuses on the three pillars of clean high-tech farming, farm produce processing and agritourism.— VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

LÂM ĐỒNG — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has advised the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng to pursue a development model that focuses on the three pillars of clean high-tech farming, farm produce processing and agritourism.

He gave the advice at a meeting with local authorities on Monday, the second of its kind in the past two years.

As reported at the function, following the two-year implementation of a special mechanism directed by the PM, Lâm Đồng has made public a list of 27 realty investment projects and announced two new high-tech agricultural zones in Lạc Dương and Đức Trọng districts.

It also secured eight memoranda of understanding on co-operation with businesses, investors and credit institutions regarding investment in Đà Lạt City, with a total value of more than VNĐ48 trillion (US$2.06 billion).

Participating officials were impressed with the local outcomes of high-tech agricultural development.

They lauded the province’s establishment of major centres for its farm produce, such as flowers and vegetables. These centres have been developed based on ties with the business community to expand export markets.

Addressing the meeting, PM Phúc said with its economic scale accounting for 1.4 per cent of the nation, Lâm Đồng was thriving as a growth pillar of the central and Central Highlands region in terms of growth, with annual income per capita of VNĐ55 million.

He praised both the promotion of local tourism and agricultural development. In particular, he applauded the formation of safe farm produce chains and trademark buildings for local specialties such as flowers.

The Government leader said he believed the province would fulfill its socio-economic development goals for 2018.

He recommended Lâm Đồng encourage the growth of the processing industry to reduce raw material exports for better economic benefits.

Phúc asked the province to address its tourism shortcomings through better selection of investors and tackling fake tourism products in Đà Lạt. Efforts to extend the duration of tourists’ stay and their spending are also needed, he noted.

He suggested Lâm Đồng perform better in forest protection and tackle traffic congestion and infrastructure degradation.   

The top official told local leaders to pay attention to business climate improvement, poverty reduction and technological applications.

He said Lâm Đồng should focus on boosting its educational standards to meet the nationwide standards, as well as increasing its rate of urbanisation and clean water use.

He suggested the province attract more investment via encouraging public-private partnership deals towards green, effective and sustainable development. — VNS