Mr. Manh, who was making a fact-finding tour of the province, said Dak Lak has great potential and numerous advantages, including its central location in the Highlands, a system of roads linking it with the central provinces and cities in the south, as well as areas bordering Cambodia. These provide conveniences for the province to spur domestic and international trade, he said.

Mr. Manh urged Dak Lak to promote its strengths, focusing investment on rapid expansion of cash crops like coffee and rubber, and cattle breeding. This needed to go hand-in-hand with processing industries and services in order to raise added value and farmer incomes, he said.

He reminded the province to develop policies to protect forests and enable ethnic people to increase their wealth based on forest development.

In the past four years, Dak Lak has posted average annual growth of 12.17 percent, while per-capita income has risen to an estimated VND13.9 million. Total export value in 2009 is estimated at VND2.7 trillion. Provincial investment totaled VND20.38 trillion and saw growth of about 25 percent per year.

Along with the rapid development of infrastructure and urban centres, the province has been active in implementing social policies, eliminating hunger and reducing poverty in remote areas, and improving the living conditions of its people. The number of households rated as poor has declined dramatically during the period, while education, health care and culture has made considerable progress, and security and public order has been firmly maintained.