Vietnam needs investments of 34,078 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (2.1 billion U.S dollars) by 2010 and 166,524 billion VND (10.5 billion dollars) by 2020 in industrial development in its northwestern region, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Thursday.

The paper quoted Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry, Do Huu Hao, as saying that Vietnam has targeted to exploit the region's industrial advantages, especially in hydroelectricity, creating momentum for economic restructure changes, narrowing development gaps, and accelerating poverty elimination.

The country will also focus on developing mineral exploitation and processing, agricultural and forestry product processing, and handcraft production attaching with tourism service in the region.

The region, home to nearly 4,800 industrial production establishments by late 2004, generated industrial value of 3,883 billion VND (244.2 million dollars) in the year.

The region, with land acreage accounting for 25 percent, and population eight percent of the whole country, posted annual industrial growth of 16.6 percent between 2001 and 2004.

Source: Xinhua