Prioritize resources and finance with focus and key points to develop ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the conference.

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

The National Assembly and the Government have issued resolutions approving the master plan and the National Target Program on Socio -Economic Development for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period. According to the resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government, the total capital to implement the program for the 2021-2025 period is over VND 137,000 billion.

After 5 years of implementing the program, 6 basic task groups have achieved or exceeded the set plan. In particular, the target on the poverty reduction rate in ethnic minority areas reached an average of 3.4%, exceeding the program's target of 3.2%; the average income of people reached an average of 43.4 million VND, an increase of 3.1 times compared to 2020; the target group on education , workers of working age receiving vocational training suitable to the needs and conditions exceeded the program target of 50%; preserving and developing the values and traditional cultural identities of ethnic groups; strengthening medical work so that people can access modern health care services, continuing to control and eventually eliminate epidemics...

However, there are 3 groups of targets that have not been achieved: improving technical infrastructure and social infrastructure in extremely disadvantaged communes and villages (of which the rate of solidly built schools and classrooms is only 94.6%, the rate of people watching television is 97%, the rate of people listening to the radio is 98.3%); the target group of communes and villages leaving extremely disadvantaged areas; the target group on sedentarization, settlement, and basically solving the shortage of residential land and production land for people...

Speaking at the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that implementing the national target program for socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is not only a responsibility and obligation, but also a deep sentiment, a command from the heart, with great humanity for ethnic minorities and mountainous areas - where there are still many difficulties in terms of transportation, education, health care, environmental sanitation, livelihoods, and many backward customs...

The Prime Minister said that the implementation of this national target program is still fragmented, divided, lacking in synchronization, lack of cohesion, and lack of focus and key points.

According to the Prime Minister, the socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas must have a comprehensive, all-people approach, and the entire political system must participate. The Prime Minister suggested that it is necessary to innovate thinking, thinking, and working methods; promote decentralization and delegation of power along with resource allocation, improve implementation capacity and design tools, and strengthen supervision and inspection. Along with that, perfecting institutions for socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas; prioritizing resources and finance with focus and key points; training and fostering human resources; planning and developing, producing typical products... to bring benefits to the community, raising the level of enjoyment for the people.

For localities with typical products (OCOP), it is necessary to build brands, plan material growing areas systematically; apply science and technology, innovation, digital transformation; link with businesses to supply goods and materials for production and product consumption; mobilize banks to support capital; promote links between households and cooperatives; develop business households into enterprises, small enterprises into large enterprises, large enterprises into multinational enterprises, participate in the global value chain...

LAM NGUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/uu-tien-nguon-luc-tai-chinh-co-trong-tam-trong-diem-de-phat-trien-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-va-mien-nui-post808124.html