Food supplies sufficient for both consumption,  export, assures PM

The Government will ensure food security by focusing on increasing national reserves over exporting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a teleconference yesterday.
The teleconference was held for the first time to discuss the socio-economic situation of the first four months of the year with leaders of ministries, sectors and eight cities and provinces representing three regions of the country.
Dung said the country was not short of rice because the recent winter-spring crop supplied more than 9 million tonnes.
The Prime Minister said the recent increase in the price of rice in HCM City was due to commercial and public speculation. He wanted the city to strengthen information dissemination, and noted that speculation and unreasonable price increases would be strictly punished.
At the meeting, the chairmen of people’s committees of cities and provinces including Ha Noi, HCM City, Khanh Hoa and Can Tho reported to the Prime Minister the status of recent socio-economic development and existing problems.
Participants also discussed the Posco project in Khanh Hoa and construction of the Can Tho Bridge in Can Tho.
The Prime Minister asked ministers to reply to proposals from localities in a timely fashion.
Concluding the online discussion, Dung stressed that the Government would continue to work with provinces through online teleconferences. Representatives from remote areas could meet with Government leaders to address their concerns and receive instant feedback.
This would help reduce the number of national conferences and local leaders’ working visits to Ha Noi, saving time and money.
Except for Government conferences, Dung said he would use online teleconferences to work with ministries, sectors and localities on concrete and urgent issues, such as fighting the blue ear pig disease epidemic and smuggling. After the meeting, the Government Office would send reports to relevant agencies and localities.
After the meeting, leaders from localities agreed that the teleconference was effective and supported using this method in the future.
Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Tran Van Minh said teleconferences were very convenient. "This way we help save money from the local budget. We’ll certainly continue to use this method." 
PM’s warning
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent an urgent message yesterday to people’s committees in cities and provinces, and relevant ministries and sectors saying that the country’s foodstuff productivity this year should be enough for domestic demand and some export.
A report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the 2007-08 winter-spring rice crop’s output was higher than that of 2006-07. The volume of rice grown by enterprises was estimated at 1.3 million tonnes. The State said it would continue to buy rice for national reserves.
Dung asked foodstuff trade companies to continue to buy rice as planned, meeting consumption and export demands, and distributing rice to various regions in the country to avoid any shortage.
He prohibited organisations and individuals not involved in the foodstuff trade from buying rice for speculation. He noted that violators would be strictly punished. VNS 28.4

Too many people, not enough jobs

A rapidly growing population is outpacing efforts to create employment.
Rapid population growth has affected the country’s capacity to generate jobs in the 2006-10 period, according to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa.
The population has been increasing annually by more than 1 per cent, and more than 1 million people annually reach a working age, Hoa told representatives at a national conference held last week in Da Nang City. The conference looked at implementing an employment programme and the Law on Vietnamese people working overseas under contract.
Hoa said the national target programme on employment aimed to secure jobs for about 49.5 million of people by 2010 and create new jobs for 8 million people in the 2006-10 period. The rate of unemployment was expected to reduce by 5 per cent by 2010.
In 2006 and 2007, the Government approved an additional fund of VND485 billion ($US30.3 million) for a national employment fund allocated to 64 cities and provinces nation-wide and social and political organisations. In that period, more than 160,000 labourers were sent to work abroad.
At the conference, representatives from localities, enterprises and employment service centres asked relevant sectors to complete policies and regulations on labour and employment, revising articles from the Labour Code and from the Law on Minimum Salary. The representatives also said that it was necessary to develop a Law on Employment.
Participants also discussed ways to develop the domestic labour market and expand the foreign market, while strengthening check-ups and management of projects under the national target programme.
According to Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the country’s economy has developed in more than 20 years of doi moi (renewal), but is not yet stable and is only minimally competitive. The unemployment rate in urban areas was still high at 5.10 per cent in 2006.
The country’s population is expected to reach 89 million by 2010. With the working population increasing at a speed of 2.4 – 2.5 per cent each year, there are about 1.6 million people in need of employment annually.
VNS 28.4