Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhhas signed to issue a directive asking ministries, sectors and localities toroll out measures to ensure that all people enjoy a warm, healthy, safe andeconomical Lunar New Year Festival (Tet), the biggest festival of Vietnamese peoplein a year, which will be celebrated in mid-February this year.

The PM asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to keep aclose eye on the market and actively direct localities to prepare supplies of essential commodities,meeting the demand of people in a full and timely manner, thus avoiding disruptionof goods supply and sudden price increases.

The MoIT was also ordered to carry out programmes to stabilisethe domestic market and bring Vietnamese products to rural, remote and island areas,while directing businesses to focus on supplying necessities and goods withhigh demands during the festival, ensuring the continuous and sufficient supplyof goods to the market at reasonable prices.

At the same time, the PM stressed the need to ensure powerand petrol supply before, during and after the festival, avoiding energyshortages in any circumstance.

Under the directive, the PM requested the Ministry ofFinance to coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities to closelysupervise price developments and strictly handle violations regarding prices,while working with authorised agencies to prevent and combat smuggling, tradefrauds and the trading of fake and low-quality commodities.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was assigned to monitorweather developments and prepare plans to respond to extreme weatherconditions to ensure agricultural production, while cooperating with theMoIT to ensure sufficient supplies of food and foodstuffas well as food safety.

Particularly, the PM asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) to provide timely and suitable support to policy beneficiaries during thefestival, ensuring that all people can enjoy a warm Tet.

The MoLISA should pay attention to providing optimal conditions for workers atindustrial parks, export processing zones and economic zones to return home forthe holiday and return to work after that, with special care for labourers whosuffer income loss and reduction as well as unemployment due to naturaldisasters, epidemics and business shrinking, the PM requested.

The Ministry of Transport was ordered to strengthentransport management to meet the rising travel demand of people during the festival.

Alongside, the Government leader also underlined the needfor ministries, sectors and agencies to apply drastic measures to preventepidemics, protect safety for political, social and cultural activities, and ensuredefence and security./.