Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(MARD) will speed up the restructuring process as part of efforts to ensure theset growth target for the year will be achieved, said Deputy Minister Ha CongTuan.

Speaking at a quarterly press conference of the ministry in Hanoi onApril 3, Tuan said that this year, the ministry will focus on measures to stabilizeand expand export markets, as difficulties are being seen in many major marketsof Vietnamese agro-forestry-fishery products, including China, the EU, and theUS.

In 2018, the sector aims for a GDP growth of at least 3 percent, alongwith 40.5 billion USD in export revenue, nearly 40 percent of communesnationwide recognised as new-style rural areas, and 41.65 percent of forestcoverage.

Tuan said that together with restructuring to improve productivity andquality of farm produces, the ministry will design plans to develop majorproduct groups to meet market demands and adapt to climate change.

Agricultural product processing will receive more attention, he added.

Meanwhile, Tran Van Cong, deputy head of the MARD’s Department of Processingand Trade for Agro-forestry-fisheries Products, said that the ministry will drasticallystreamline and simplify administrative procedures. In April, the ministrieswill reduce procedures of inspection to avoid overlapping.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first quarter of2018, the GDP growth of the sector reached 4.05 percent, the highest figure inthe recent 13 years. Production value of agro-forestry-fisheries products wasestimated at about 189.5 trillion VND, up 4.18 percent over the same periodlast year.

Export revenue of the products in the first three months of this yearhit nearly 8.7 billion USD, a rise of 9.6 percent year on year and reaching21.4 percent of the yearly target.

As of March 20, the country has 3,289 communes, or 36.84 percent oftotal communes, have been recognised as new-style rural areas, 220 communeshigher than that in the end of 2017.-VNA