(VOVworld)- Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the northwestern region to strengthen democracy and further develop industrial values. Phuc was speaking at a conference of the Steering Committee for the Northwestern Region in Son La province on Wednesday: “At this conference, we need to discuss the Prime Minister’s New Year message which urges the Northwestern region to strengthen democracy, and boost mechanism reform across sectors, localities and the whole region. The Prime Minister’s message emphasizes the need to accelerate agricultural restructuring toward increasing added values while ensuring sustainable growth and building new rural areas”.

In 2013, the Steering Committee for the Northwestern Region cooperated with relevant ministries and sectors in resolving some complicated problems in the region concerning social law and order, religion and a special mechanism for local socio-economic development. As a result, the region achieved a growth rate of 9.4% last year.