During a three-day visit to the province ending on January 1, the Party leader pledged to instruct central agencies to devise special policies to help Bac Kan and northern mountainous provinces with difficulties develop on a par with other localities.

He told provincial authorities that Bac Kan should cooperate closely with neighbouring localities to develop the aggregate strength of the whole northern mountainous region and pour more investment into infrastructure construction and commodity economy.

Bac Kan should pay due attention to education and training, considering it a decisive factor behind local socio-economic development and poverty reduction, and have special incentive policies to help people in far-flung areas narrow the development gap with other areas, said Mr Manh.

He also urged the province to make the best use of its natural resources including forests, minerals and ecological reserves to develop agriculture and forestry, processing, mining and tourism industries.

Despite registering an average economic growth rate of 11.05 percent in the 2001-2006 period, Bac Kan is one of the country's less-developed localities with poor households accounting for 50.8 percent in 2005.