Hanoi (VNA) – The Governmentconvened its monthly meeting on February 2 under the chair of Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc, with the latest COVID-19 outbreak right ahead of the LunarNew Year holiday (Tet) among issues high on the agenda.

In his opening remarks, PM Phuc said the meetingfollowed the successful organisation of the 13th National Party Congress, whichadopted many important documents of the Party, creating the foundation forfurther national development in the time ahead.

Talking about new COVID-19 outbreaks, he noted271 locally-infected cases have been recorded in 10 provinces and cities nationwidesince January 27, adding that the Government, the National Steering Committeefor COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Health, and localitieshave taken concerted and drastic action to respond to the pandemic.

Although there remain certain complexdevelopments, the outbreaks have been basically brought under control, he said,asking Government members to deliberate the allocation of COVID-19 vaccine topeople right in the first quarter of 2021.

Telling officials to discuss governing measuresin the face of the new coronavirus outbreaks’ impacts on the economy, PM Phucemphasised the importance of capitalising on opportunities and creating a morefavourable environment to attract both domestic and foreign investment,particularly from tech firms like Foxconn, and encourage others such as Inteland Samsung to expand their projects.

He requested the promotion of “three neweconomic spaces”: the domestic economy with a market of nearly 100 millionpeople, the international economy with a number of free trade agreementssigned, and the digital economy.

Data from the General Statistics Office (GSO)showed that the economy continued recovering in January, which can be seen mostclearly in industrial production - up 22.2 percent from a year earlier,especially over 27 percent in the processing - manufacturing industry.

Retail sales and consumer service revenue alsoincreased 3.7 percent month-on-month and 6.4 percent year-on-year to 479.9trillion VND (20.8 billion USD).

Other figures also revealed improvements in theeconomy compared to the same period last year. Trade revenue in January grew45.2 percent to about 53.9 billion USD. That included 27 billion USD inexports, up 46.7 percent, and 26.9 billion USD in imports, up 43.7 percent,resulting in a trade surplus of 100 million USD.

During its meeting, the Government looked intothe preparations for Tet, the proposed law and ordinance making programme for2022 and revisions to the law and ordinance making programme for 2021, and someother issues./.