The annual Mekong Delta Economic Report, the first of its kind, was announced during a ceremony in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on December 14.

VCCI President Vu Tien Loc speaks at the event

It has been so far the most comprehensive report jointly made by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management.

VCCI President, Vice Chairman of the Administrative Reform Council of the Prime Minister and head of the Steering Committee for Mekong Delta Economic Report Vu Tien Loc said Vietnam is the hardest hit by climate change and rising sea level, with the Mekong Delta suffering the most severe impacts nationwide and globally.

The Government issued a number of resolutions and policies to sustainably develop the Mekong Delta adaptive to climate change. However, the implementation remains limited due to the lack of orientations to regional development and a coordination mechanism to ensure joint work among regional localities.

With five chapters, the report focuses on an overview of the Vietnamese economy, 10-year development of the Mekong Delta economy, regional competitiveness based on analysis of natural conditions, infrastructure, human resources, local competitiveness, sectors of strength and regional potential in agriculture, processing industry, energy and logistics. It also mentions shortcomings and challenges to regional development, thereby issuing policy recommendations for the near future.

According to the report, the Mekong Delta’s contributions to the gross domestic product have fallen strongly over the past three decades because it only focuses on agriculture and rice production to ensure national food security instead of switching to sectors with higher productivity.

The region’s migration to Ho Chi Minh City and the southeast has also been alarming. Its immigration was the lowest nationwide with 4.9% during the 2009-2019 period while migration highest at 44.8%.

Its labour productivity remains low due to the shortage of foreign direct investment. Meanwhile, its urbanisation only rose slightly from 22.8% to 25.1% in a decade compared to the country’s rise to 34.4% from 29.6%.

The report also suggested replacing intensive farming systems with effective and eco-friendly farming models and changing the priority order of farming structure to seafood-fruit-rice from rice-seafood-fruit.