The northern province of Hoa Binh must create fundamental changes to drive back the illegal drug trafficking and transport and stamp out drug smuggling rings. 

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the request while working with the provincial leaders on May 8. 

PM Dung urged ministries and authorised agencies to closely coordinate with the province to timely detect and prevent the transport and smuggling of drugs in the two communes. 

He requested the province to mobilise people’s participation in drug prevention through raising their awareness of the harmful effects of drugs and the illegality of drug trafficking. 

The PM also pledged government assistance for the province build to better its socio-economic development plan and seek appropriate plants and animals for local ethnic people. 

The province should also pay more attention to policies on social security, poverty reduction and forest protection while accelerating administrative reform to attain a GDP growth rate of 11.5 percent and per-capita income of VND13.3 million per year and reduce the poverty rate to 14 percent in 2010. 

The same day, PM Dung attended the inauguration of Hoa Binh provincial General Hospital.

Source: VOV