Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: Mobilizing people to participate in socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

On August 13, concluding the National Conference to review the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas (the Program) for the 2021-2025 period and orientation of content for the 2026-2030 period, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that no matter how difficult this program is, it must be done and must be done effectively.

The Prime Minister assigned the Government Office to synthesize and issue a Notice of the conference's conclusions in the spirit of "6 clear" as a basis for ministries and branches to implement. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Socio -economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas with all our heart

According to the Central Steering Committee for National Target Programs, our country has 53 ethnic minorities with a population of over 14.4 million people, residing in areas that account for about 3/4 of the country's natural area. After the arrangement of the 2-level local government apparatus, the country has about 1,516 communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in 32 provinces and cities.

The 2021-2030 program has 10 projects on specific fields, with a total capital for implementation in the 2021-2025 period of more than 137,000 billion VND.

After 5 years of implementing the Program, 6 basic groups of tasks have achieved or exceeded the set plan, including the target on poverty reduction rate: Average income per capita; targets on education , workers of working age receiving vocational training; preserving and developing the values ​​and good traditional cultural identities of ethnic groups; targets on health care... There are 3 groups of targets that have not been achieved on improving technical infrastructure and social infrastructure; the target on the number of communes and villages out of extremely difficult areas; and the target group on sedentarization, settlement, basically solving the shortage of residential land and production land for people...

The program has made important contributions to hunger eradication, poverty reduction, income increase, improvement of education and health care quality, preservation and promotion of cultural values; effectively solved issues of housing, land, planning, and population stabilization; laid the foundation for infrastructure investment, changed the face of ethnic minority and mountainous areas; strengthened the great national unity bloc and people's trust in the Party and State.

From the results of the implementation of the Program Phase I, delegates said that in the coming time, it is necessary to promote decentralization and delegation of power; give local authorities the power to decide on the content of the program and allocate resources. Relevant parties should step up propaganda and mobilize people to proactively implement the work, promote the role of border guards, village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people in the community to effectively implement the contents of the program.

Stakeholders increase investment and support, focus on building and completing essential infrastructure; develop production, increase people's income; improve the quality and quantity of human resources for socio-economic development and participation in the political system. Authorities effectively and promptly resolve urgent issues of the people; effectively support ethnic minority groups that are still facing many difficulties and have specific difficulties. Stakeholders need to develop science, technology, innovation, digital transformation; provide adequate and timely quality public health and education services; improve gender equality issues; promote unique cultural values ​​in ethnic minority and mountainous areas...

Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Vietnam highly appreciated the significance and benefits of the Programme and said that UN agencies have accompanied Vietnam in implementing the Programme, especially in supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups such as the poor, women, children, ethnic minorities, etc.; committed to continuing to accompany Vietnam in implementing the Programme, for the goal of sustainable, comprehensive and inclusive development of Vietnam.

To ensure the high efficiency and sustainability of the Program, the representative of the United Nations proposed that in the coming time, it is necessary to continue promoting equitable poverty reduction; ensuring food security; narrowing the gap in infrastructure development, access to health and education services; strengthening resources and implementation capacity at the commune level. Stakeholders support human resource training, improving skills for youth, women, and cooperatives; promoting the application of science, technology, digital technology, and data; removing legal barriers for investment projects in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; strengthening capacity to prevent, combat and adapt to climate change, mitigate natural disaster damage, protect the environment, etc.

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized eight outstanding results of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period. The Prime Minister affirmed that this is a correct policy and in line with the Party's will, in line with the people's wishes; policies go hand in hand with the budget; decisions go hand in hand with propaganda and mobilization; people agree, businesses support, the army and police actively and effectively participate; access to education, health care, culture, etc. is more equal; development is more inclusive, comprehensive, and sustainable; the material and spiritual life of people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is improved.

The Prime Minister stated that socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is not only the responsibility and obligation of each organization, unit and locality, but also a command of the heart, demonstrating national sentiment, compatriotism and noble humanity in inclusive, comprehensive and sustainable development, leaving no one behind. Therefore, the Prime Minister emphasized that no matter how difficult this program is, it must be done, the more pressure, the more effort and the more effective it must be.

On behalf of General Secretary To Lam, Party and State leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged, highly appreciated and commended the contributions and achievements of all levels, sectors and relevant entities in implementing this meaningful National Target Program.

The Prime Minister has directed to allocate about VND160,000 billion for the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas in the coming period. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Local decision, action and responsibility

Pointing out a number of limitations, shortcomings, causes and lessons learned in socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stated that in the coming time, the implementation of the program will face many difficulties, both objective and subjective; therefore, it is necessary to have a mindset, methodology and approach appropriate to the situation.

Outlining the general goals, the Prime Minister pointed out that it is necessary to be more proactive, to concretize the Party's guidelines, the State's legal policies; the leadership and direction of the Politburo, the Secretariat, headed by General Secretary To Lam, focus on constantly improving the material and spiritual life of people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, ensuring that the following year must be higher than the previous year, the following term must be higher than the previous term; to create a movement and trend of people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas to be self-reliant, self-reliant, escape poverty, and get rich from their own hands, minds, land, sky, and sea.

The program must create equal access to teaching materials, healthcare, culture and the country's resources; create more jobs and livelihoods for people to escape poverty and become rich; the goals must be practical, specific, feasible, easy to understand, easy to do, easy to check, monitor, and easy to evaluate, with the spirit of leaving no one behind in the country's development process in the new period.

The Prime Minister pointed out 10 tasks and solutions, including continuing to raise awareness and investing in socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas as investing in development, not only as a noble responsibility and duty but also with all our hearts, national love, compatriotism, sharing, noble humanity, telling the truth, doing the truth, and being effective; continuing to perfect institutions and policies to concretize the Party's policies and the State's laws, and organizing the implementation of Party committees at all levels, the government, the Fatherland Front, and socio-political organizations in the entire political system, with the highest determination, greatest efforts, and most drastic actions...

The Prime Minister affirmed to maintain the independence of the Program, while noting that poverty reduction must be equitable, with special attention paid to vulnerable groups; balancing resource allocation, prioritizing the program to increase the budget by about 10-15% compared to the previous period, including from the state budget and mobilizing resources from the whole society; decentralizing according to the motto "locality decides, locality does, locality is responsible", as General Secretary To Lam directed.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the National Conference to review the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minority Areas. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The Prime Minister stated that the Central Government should strengthen inspection, supervision, and allocate legal resources, focusing on creating jobs and livelihoods for people; creating equal access to healthcare, education, culture, especially primary healthcare, preventive healthcare, and consolidating schools; allocating resources to developing infrastructure for transportation, telecommunications, electricity, and water, ensuring the sustainability of the program.

Relevant agencies develop mechanisms and policies to connect ethnic communities, develop cooperatives and enterprises; apply science, technology, and digital transformation for community development, socio-economic development, and social security; develop project programs and investments to combat climate change for ethnic minority and mountainous areas; develop practical and specific social security programs that closely follow the actual situation.

Agencies and localities continue to implement the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice; ensure security and defense in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, build a solid national defense posture, people's security posture, and people's hearts posture; effectively promote the pioneering, exemplary role and prestige of village elders, village chiefs, and religious dignitaries in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that it is necessary to have a policy to prioritize the implementation of the Resolutions of the "four pillars" of the Politburo and upcoming Resolutions on health, education, culture, etc.

The Prime Minister directed that it is necessary to preserve and promote the cultural identity of ethnic groups, preserve the writing and language of the people, turn culture into resources, turn heritage into assets; develop the cultural industry and entertainment industry so that people can enjoy their culture. Relevant parties should develop a priority credit package to sustainably eliminate hunger and reduce poverty and enrich people in ethnic minority and mountainous areas; have policies on finance, access to land, tax, fee and charge reduction for people to escape poverty sustainably and get rich; design measurement tools to monitor the implementation of the Party's policies and guidelines, the State's laws and policies, the directions of the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and the participation of localities.

The Prime Minister once again emphasized that the ideology must be clear; for ethnic minorities and disadvantaged mountainous areas, there must be priority policies and resource allocation commensurate with the conditions and economy of the country; in the implementation process, there must be high determination, great efforts, drastic actions, close adherence to reality, innovative thinking, and appropriate, flexible and effective approaches.

The Prime Minister believes that the second phase of the Program will be implemented better, achieving the goal of making the lives of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas better next year than the previous year, and the next term higher than the previous term, with no one left behind in the process of rapid and sustainable development of the country.

At the Conference, 18 typical communes, villages, hamlets and villages were awarded Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister for their good implementation of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2025 period.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-huy-dong-nguoi-dan-vao-cuoc-phat-trien-kinh-te-xa-hoi-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-mien-nui-712464.html