Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong spoke at the meeting (photo: Thanh Trung/BNEWS/VNA)

The meeting identified challenges to the national socio-economy in the second half of the year. Consumption and prices of agricultural products, cattle, and poultry have fallen, while the industry, construction, and mining sectors have grown slowly. The disbursement of infrastructure investment in the first half of the year was only 30% of the plan.

However, other key sectors have recovered strongly. External relations have seen favorable developments. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) raised Vietnam’s ranking 12 places in its Global Innovation Index 2017.

Agriculture remains the key sector

The government has set ambitious targets for the agriculture and rural sector including a GDP growth of 3% and 33 billion USD in export turnover of agro-forestry-aquatic products. The agriculture sector has achieved a growth rate of 2.65% in the reviewed period. In the remaining months of the year, the sector expects more challenges from export markets.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said: “We should invest in our staple products, including fisheries, fruit, and cash crops and develop more production chains. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Planning and Investment have revised Decree 210 to encourage businesses to invest in agriculture and rural areas and help farmers improve production and processing.”

The Ministry will continue to negotiate with other countries to facilitate Vietnam’s exports, such as processed shrimp to Australia, eggs to Myanmar, and pork, milk, and dairy products to China.

Expanding export markets

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said exports in the last months of the year will face tougher conditions and technical barriers. It’s important to further reform production and processing to improve product quality.

Vietnam will open its markets in line with signed free trade agreements. “Russia has proposed mutual recognition of plant and animal quarantine certificates. Vietnam will open its markets for Russian products and enjoy incentives to export fishery products to Russia. Vietnam’s rice exports to China are constrained by permissions and procedures. Ministries and sectors need to work together to facilitate Vietnam’s exports.”

Vietnam will replace administrative barriers by technical barriers to manage imports. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has asked other ministries to build technical barriers for agriculture, fisheries, and processed foodstuffs to protect the domestic market.

Determination to achieve foreign tourist increase of 30%

Ha Long beach in Quang Ninh province

Key tourism provinces have gained impressive results. Tourist accommodations now includes 25,000 hotels with 450,000 rooms. Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien said it won’t be easy to reach the target of 30% more foreign tourists in 2017. “The sector will enhance tourism promotion, particularly in the key markets of China, South Korea, Japan, Russia, the US, and the EU. The sector will implement the Smart Guide in tourism to build a friendly and safe environment.”

Despite the difficulties, all sectors and ministries are determined to create breakthroughs to achieve the growth targets for this year.