National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân speaks at a working session with Gia Lai province’s senior officials yesterday.– VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

GIA LAI – National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân hailed the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai for its strong socio-economic performance in 2018 – particularly for its growth rate of 8 per cent – during a working session with the province’s senior officials yesterday.

The NA leader noted that the province’s per capita Gross Regional Domestic Product in 2018 reached VNĐ45.36 million (US$1,950), higher than the figures of other localities in the region, and the household poverty rate dropped to 10.04 per cent.

She also recognised Gia Lai’s efforts in building new rural areas, with 60 out of the 184 total communes having earned the new-style rural area title.

Ngân approved the key tasks that Gia Lai had set for itself and urged the province to build on what it had achieved to further reduce the poverty rate among ethnic minority people and build more new-style rural areas.

She suggested the province strive to attract investment for essential transportation infrastructure to improve its connectivity with other localities.

The NA leader recommended Gia Lai call for investment in farm produce processing and restructure its agricultural sector towards products of higher value based on local potential in terms of land and climate, such as fruits for export and medicinal herbs.  

Mentioning Gia Lai’s role in the tourism development plan for the Central Highlands region by 2020, Ngân advised the province to pay attention to developing transport links with Kon Tum Province and the coastal province of Bình Định via National Road 19.

She noted the province’s proposals that the Government consider building a highway connected with National Road 19 and investing in an irrigation work in Kbang District, which was the only district in Gia Lai selected as the model for new-style rural area building during the 2011-2020 period.

The same day, the NA Chairwoman attended a conference of village patriarchs from Central Highlands provinces, held to review the ten years of implementation of a letter they had sent to express their resolve to work for the development of the region and contribute to national construction and defence. The letter was issued at a conference in March 2009 held to honour outstanding village patriarchs in the Central Highlands. — VNS