Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucpresented awards to 200 organisations and individuals, as well as 11 businessesfor their outstanding achievements in the implementation of the resolutionadopted by the seventh plenum of the 10th Party Central Committee onagriculture, farmers, and rural development.

Speaking to the awards ceremony in Hanoi on November 26, PMPhuc highlighted the importance of agriculture, farmers, and rural developmenttowards national sustainable socio-economic development, political stability,and defence-security.

The PM said the resolution brought about a number ofbreakthrough policies that have improved the physical and spiritual lives offarmers, contributing to modernising socio-economic infrastructure, especiallyin power, roads, and school facilities.

As of late 2017, 34.4 percent of communes met the criteriaon new-style rural areas, which is expected to reach over 40 percent in late2018 and 50 percent in 2019.

According to him, the resolution has motivated strongchanges in agricultural restructuring, stepped up a modern and innovativeagriculture sector, and brought high-quality farm produce to the world whichhas won prestigious international awards in ASEAN, the US, Russia, the UnitedArab Emirates, and China.

PM Phuc expressed his wishes that the awarded recipientswould continue contributing to smart agricultural adaptation to climate change andglobal integration.

He asked agencies and localities to pay further attention tocommendation for individuals and organisations with outstanding initiatives inthe field, as well as adopt chain connectivity measures and modern agriculturalproduction models to improve local livelihoods, thus fulfilling socio-economictargets set by the Party, National Assembly, and Government.–VNA