Agriculture minister urges for further linkage within 13 Mekong Delta provinces

ABO/NDO – Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan has asked for the rethinking of two issues regarding the consumption of agricultural and aquatic products in the Mekong Delta region.

The two issues include connectivity within the 13 Mekong Delta provinces and cities and the role of traders in the purchase of agricultural products in the region.

The minister made the remarks at a seminar on connecting the supply and demand of agricultural products between the Mekong Delta region and Ho Chi Minh City held by Nguoi Lao Dong (Workers) Newspaper on September 14.

Illustrative image (Photo: dangcongsan.vn).

Hoan said the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the lack of connectivity between the 13 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region. They should be considered and treated as a single economic entity, but we are treating these provinces and cities like 13 separate subjects.

He also noted that we have paid strong attention to enterprises and farmers during the pandemic but have forgotten the role of traders, an important part of the economy.

Sharing the same view, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Long An Province Dinh Thi Phuong Khanh said that as traders have withdrawn from the market due to the pandemic, it has created a great impact on the circulation of goods.

Nguyen Phuong Lam, director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Can Tho, said that in the recovery period in the near future, Ho Chi Minh City will likely recover faster than the Mekong Delta provinces because the city has a unified level of management while the Mekong Delta has 13 different provincial leaders with no consensus between provinces in terms of trading and regulations.

(Source: NDO)