Businesses asked to finance more rural, farming projects   A worker at Viet Trung Trading and Manufacturing Co welds an agricultural machine at its factory. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has urged local businesses to invest in agriculture. - VNA/VNS Photo Tran Viet HA NOI (VNS) - The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) wanted local businesses to invest more in agriculture and rural areas in Ha Noi, Nguyen Van Hieu, deputy minister of Planning and Investment, told participants in a conference last Friday in Ha Noi. The conference sought to collect feedback on Decree 210/2013/ND-CP (December 19, 2013), which sets out incentives and assistance from the State for businesses investing in agriculture and rural areas. This support consists of providing human resources and assistance in market development, application of science and technology, medicinal herb plantation and agro forest and aquaculture processing for northwestern provinces and poor districts. At the conference, representatives from provinces discussed difficulties in implementing the policy, such as the fact that their provinces still lacked balanced budgets. Circular 5, which guides the implementation of the decree, needed to clarify the scale of investment projects so as to help provinces evaluate investment capital from the State and local budget, they said. The circular also needed to include a list of agro and seafood processors and manufacturers who would receive assistance under the policy. Hieu said that over the years, businesses in rural areas had created more products and boosted their competitiveness by creating high-quality and value-added products. He expected that issuing decrees and circulars guiding the implementation of the decree would stimulate the development of sustainable and competitive production. The Government also issued Circular 09 on April 25, 2014 to ask ministries and agencies to instruct businesses to adapt their investment to the situation. The Deputy Minister said that the ministry would use feedback from the conference to make a report to the Government recommending the revision of contents that were inconsistent with reality. - VNS