Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh works in Lai Chau province

Minister Dang Quoc Khanh led the Working Group under Decision 435 of the Government to work with Lai Chau province.

The delegation included Mr. Pham Tan Tuyen, Chief of Office of the Party Committee, Chief of Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; Tran Binh Trong, Director of the Vietnam Geological Survey; Nguyen Truong Giang, Director of the Vietnam Mineral Resources Department; Dang Ngoc Diep, Director of the Department of Planning and Finance; Doan Thi Thanh My, Director of the Department of Land; Nguyen Tien Duy, Deputy Chief of Office of the Party Committee, Secretary of the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment; Trinh Van Thuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Industrial Safety and Environment ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ).

Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Giang Pao My delivered the opening speech at the working session.

Working with the delegation, on the side of Lai Chau province, there were comrades: Giang Pao My - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Vu Manh Ha - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Le Van Luong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representative of the Provincial People's Council; representative of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; leaders of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of a number of provincial departments, branches, and sectors and related units.

Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee Le Van Luong spoke at the meeting.

At the meeting, Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee Le Van Luong gave an overview of the production and business situation, public investment, infrastructure construction and import-export, and state management of natural resources and environment in Lai Chau province.

Accordingly, Lai Chau has an important strategic position in terms of national defense and security, and is the Fatherland's fence in protecting national border sovereignty. Lai Chau has abundant natural resources, abundant mineral reserves such as stone mines, metal ore mines, especially rare earth to develop the mining and processing industry of industrial minerals, and production of construction materials.

Overview of the working session on the afternoon of October 19

On average, in the 3 years from 2021-2023, Lai Chau's economy continues to grow, averaging about 3.91%/year; the economic structure continues to shift in a positive direction; the average GRDP per capita reaches about 47.5 million VND; the budget revenue in the area is estimated at 6,426 billion VND.

The cultural and social fields have many positive changes; the average poverty rate has decreased by 3.4%/year, and the poor districts have decreased by 4.7%/year. Vocational training and job creation have been actively implemented; on average, nearly 8,700 workers have been employed/year; nearly 200 contract workers have been sent to work in Korea and some other countries. Political security and national border sovereignty have been maintained, and social order and safety have been ensured.

In recent years, the State management of natural resources and environment has been closely directed by the People's Committee of Lai Chau province to comply with legal regulations on mineral exploitation; the province issued a Decision regulating mineral management; organized auctions of mineral exploitation rights in 13 mineral mines for common construction materials. Regarding rare earth, Lai Chau is a province with rare earth potential; the province has recorded 4 mines and rare earth mineral sites with large reserves.

Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee Le Van Luong also proposed and recommended to the Working Group a number of contents including: Proposing the Central Government to amend the Land Law to decentralize authority to reduce administrative procedures, speed up the progress of project implementation; proposing the Central Government to provide funding to support the work of surveying, granting certificates, building land databases; paying attention to investing in mineral investigation and exploration in unexplored areas, assessing reserves to serve as a basis for management, attracting investors; paying attention to investing in surface water quality monitoring stations at the river source; paying attention to upgrading meteorological and hydrological stations, etc.

Minister Dang Quoc Khanh spoke at the meeting.

At the meeting, members of the working group focused on giving opinions to remove difficulties and obstacles for Lai Chau province in production and business, public investment, infrastructure construction, import and export, and state management of natural resources and environment. At the same time, they explained some recommendations within their authority for the province to understand.

Affirming that Lai Chau province still has many difficulties that need the attention and help of the Central Government and ministries and branches, to better fulfill the tasks and plans for 2023 and the following period, Provincial Party Secretary Giang Pao My hopes that through the Working Group, Lai Chau's recommendations and proposals will be considered and supported by the Central Government.

Provincial Party Secretary Giang Pao My proposed that the Central Government and the National Assembly develop a national target program on environmental protection and climate change adaptation.

In addition, emphasizing the importance of climate change adaptation and environmental protection, Provincial Party Secretary Giang Pao My proposed that the Central Government and the National Assembly develop a national target program on environmental protection and climate change adaptation to support Lai Chau in particular and other provinces in general.

Concluding the working session, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh highly appreciated the results that Lai Chau province has achieved in all fields, and agreed with the contents of the report prepared by Lai Chau province, which highlighted the potentials, strengths as well as the difficulties that the province needs to overcome and strive to overcome.

Within the authority of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Minister Dang Quoc Khanh affirmed that he will support Lai Chau to achieve the desired goals. With opinions beyond the authority of the Ministry, the working group will report to the Government to assign ministries and branches to solve problems for the province.

Minister Dang Quoc Khanh delivered concluding remarks at the meeting.

Sharing the same view with Provincial Party Secretary Giang Pao My, Minister Dang Quoc Khanh also said that in the current context, there needs to be a national target program on environmental protection and climate change adaptation for localities.

In the coming time, Minister Dang Quoc Khanh suggested that Lai Chau soon approve the provincial planning; Overall assessment of mineral resources in the area, including rare earth, increase investment in technology, deep processing; invest in building environmental monitoring and warning systems, hydrometeorology; Review forest and land types for reasonable allocation; The locality also accompanies the Ministry in building land databases; participate in building draft laws that will be discussed in the upcoming National Assembly session such as the Land Law (amended), the Water Resources Law (amended)...

Also at the meeting, on the occasion of Vietnamese Women's Day (October 20), Minister Dang Quoc Khanh sent his best wishes to Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Giang Pao My in particular and the team of female leaders and managers and all women on the occasion of October 20 to be joyful and happy.

Previously, the Working Group and Lai Chau provincial leaders inspected the rare earth mine in Ban Hon commune, Tam Duong district. Here, the Working Group viewed the mineral map, listened to business representatives report on the situation of mineral exploration and exploitation; the provincial leaders discussed the content of mineral mines in the area and viewed some mineral samples.