The provision of market information to people in ethnic, mountainous andborder areas – a pivotal task during integration – is falling short ofexpectations, conceded Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do ThangHai on July 24.

He said seeking consumptionmarkets for Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products is an importanttask effectively carried out through communication efforts.

Vietnam has joined in eight bilateral and multilateral free tradeagreements at different levels and its economy is expected to profitfrom the extensive integration, said Deputy Minister – Vice Chairman ofthe Government’s Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Hoang Xuan Luong.

However, such integration will make theproduction and sale of agro-forestry-fishery products in ethnic,mountainous and border areas more vulnerable if local residents lackaccess to market information, he warned.

Luongstressed that market information must be regarded as a specialproduction tool which not only creates products and their added valuebut also helps enforce State policies expeditiously and efficiently inthose areas.

At the workshop in northern QuangNinh province, participants underscored the significance of marketinformation to ethnic, mountainous and border areas and pointed outflaws in existing related policies.

Manyopinions urged the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and theMinistry of Industry and Trade to propose policy amendments andsocio-economic development facilitation programmes for the targetedareas to the Government. The initiatives will need to be in line withthe current integration period as well as local identities.

Vietnam is home to more than 130 districts located in mountainous andremote areas and over 200 others have mountainous and remote communes.

More than half of the national population,about 48 million people, reside in the areas where the household povertyrate is more than three times the national average and economic andinfrastructure development is limited.-VNA