ĐẮK LĂK — Tây Nguyên, in the Central Highlands, has great potential for socio-economic development.

This was Deputy Foreign Minister Bùi Thanh Sơn’s comment at the exchange meeting yesterday between Tây Nguyên localities and the Vietnamese diplomatic corps.

The meeting which was held in Buôn Ma Thuột City of Đắk Lắk Province. It provided a venue for Tây Nguyên leaders and businesspeople and international partners to discuss co-operation potentials and opportunities.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and the Tây Nguyên Steering Committee. It was attended by ambassadors, the consul general, international organisations, foreign business associations in Việt Nam, leaders of ministries and provinces in the region.

The conference was one of many MoFA and Tây Nguyên joint efforts to promote active international integration, to deepen Việt Nam’s relationship with other countries and to strengthen exchanges between Vietnamese people and the international community.

The deputy minister highlighted the great potential and strengths of the Tây Nguyên region.

“The Tây Nguyên region holds an especially important position for the country’s socio-economic development and international integration’” he said.

The region has vast natural resources, plus land and climate suitable for industrial crops and orchards.

The Government approved the region’s socio-economic development master plan through 2020.

To bring potentials and strengths into full play, Tây Nguyên needs to expand international co-operation in many fields. It also needs to take a chance in order to approach the development experiences of other countries. It also needs to introduce a positive image of Việt Nam and Vietnamese people to the world.

During the conference, participants discussed economic co-operation potentials of the Tây Nguyên region, enhancing competitiveness, development of hi-tech agricultural production, development of sustainable tourism and Tây Nguyên culture preservation.  

This was the fifth exchange programme. It follows the success of the last four meetings held in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region, coastal Central-Southern region, Northwestern region and Central-Northern region. — VNS