Jul. 15 – Can Tho City located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta registered the fastest growth in gross domestic product (GDP) at 7.8 percent followed by Haiphong with 5.8 percent; Danang with 5.1 percent; and Ho Chi Minh City with 4.6 percent for the first half of the year.

Hanoi was at fifth place with a GDP growth of 4.1 percent, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Hanoi’s GDP is estimated to grow at 5.5-6 percent this year, lower than the annual target of 9.5-10 percent, deputy chairman Phi Thai Binh of the Hanoi People’s Committee told Thanh Nien News.

The country’s top cities have been affected by the global financial crisis with the exports industry being the hardest hit of them all. Can Tho City has been working hard to develop its agricultural industry and has set a goal to improve its production by 2015. According to VOV, from an investment capital of VND3,138 billion; 70 percent has already been mobilized from the state budget for use in the city’s projects.

In addition, the city has also approved to build three hi-tech agricultural areas that will use new technologies to make its agricultural products more viable.