He stated this at a meeting to review the economic situation in the first half of the year in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap on July 14.

The deputy PM asked the localities to continue implementing their major tasks on socio-economic development, including improving the quality of education and public health care. He also asked the localities to successfully carry out poverty reduction programmes and major projects which use investment sources from government bonds with top priority being given to ethnic minority groups.

Mr Hung directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to devise solutions to export food safely and give advice on seafood-related policies.

The Ministry of Education and Training has been requested to go ahead with a project to replace the Prime Minister’s decision 20 on developing education and vocational training while the Ministry of Health will be in charge of setting up a project to provide health check-ups for people in the Mekong Delta till 2020.