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Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the Government’s regular meeting on February 2 that firstly, the Ministry of Planning and Investment was told to compile an action plan to implement the resolution and submit to the Government for approval.

The ministry also had to propose the nation’s socio-economic development during 2021-25 and relevant issues to the National Assembly for adoption soon.

“We need to constantly innovate to serve the country’s development and realise the resolution’s goals," the PM said.

Secondly, we had to continue preventing and controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, take drastic measures but not cause panic among people with the spirit of fighting against the pandemic but still growing the economy, he added.

Also at the meeting, PM Phuc ordered the Ministry of Health to accelerate the process of researching, developing and testing domestic COVID-19 vaccines as well as importing COVID-19 vaccines to serve vaccination on a large scale soon.

He told head of localities to take responsibility and actively apply appropriate measures to control the pandemic, including serious implementation of the 5K (in Vietnamese) message: Khẩu trang (wearing facemask) – Khử khuẩn (disinfection) – Khoảng cách (keep distance) – Không tụ tập (no gathering) – Khai báo y tế (health declaration).

Thirdly, he tasked relevant ministries and sectors to assist people in central and Central Highlands localities that were hit by recent storms and floods and people in northern localities that suffered from recent extreme prolonged cold weather to overcome consequences and stabilise agricultural production.

“We must not let the people suffer from starvation and have no accommodation during Tet. We must ensure that every family will enjoy a happy Tet,” he said.

The ministries and sectors had to ensure the supply of commodities for Tet, he said.

Lastly, he ordered relevant agencies to focus on implementing solutions to promote economic growth in the first six months of this year.

PM Phuc stressed that it was necessary to promote three economic categories – the domestic economy with a market of nearly 100 million people, the economy that integrates with foreign countries and the digital economy.

He assigned Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung to gather comments, build scenarios and assess the implementation of promoting these three economic categories.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment were told to actively allocate funds and issue solutions to support people and businesses that were affected by the pandemic to overcome their difficulties, he said.

The two ministries and the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs were required to compile the Government’s second package of support, he said.

Besides, it was necessary to strengthen disbursement of public investment capital and continue strong reforms to create a driving force to attract more investment and promote economic growth, he said.

PM Phuc also agreed to establish a special team to help remove problems related to investment that had yet to be fixed for many years. Especially, it was also necessary to concentrate on developing the private sector, reducing costs for enterprises, striving to make Viet Nam one of the hubs of production and hi-tech application in the region as well as the world.

Additionally, Phuc ordered ministries and agencies to strengthen agricultural production, ensure food security, protect the forests, implement the plan to grow one billion trees throughout the country and fight against firecracker trafficking and trade fraud.

All factories and localities must have specific plans to bring labourers back to the enterprises to work after the Tet holidays to avoid affecting production and business activities, he said./