Poverty reduction helps narrow development gap
(VOV) - Poverty reduction efforts should be intensified in ethnic minority areas to narrow the development gap between regions, PM Nguyen Tan Dung has said.
Addressing a national conference on ethnicity in Hanoi on April 11, Dung noted that despite intensive investments from the government, ethnic-inhabited areas still face numerous challenges, especially poor infrastructure and high rates of poverty, thus widening the development gap between regions.
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| PM Nguyen Tan Dung called for more investments in ethnic-inhabited areas (Photo:VGP) |
It was reported that the rate of poor households in the Northwestern region last year was 28.55 percent, the northeastern region 17.39 percent, the Central Highlands region 15.58 percent, and the north-central region 15 percent.
The local infrastructure system is usually ravaged by natural disasters. Fundamental services such as education, health care, and telecommunications are yet to keep pace with development requirements.
The PM acknowledged the important position these areas hold in national development and confirmed that the Party and State pay due care and mobilise available resources to develop areas in a rapid and sustainable manner.
He asked relevant ministries and localities to introduce short- and long-term policies on poverty reduction to ensure local households won’t relapse into poverty again and no one will be left hungry during lean months.
Priority will be given to developing household economies, including cultivation, livestock breeding and forest planting, said Dung.
He reminded the designated agencies to increase investments in infrastructure construction, human resource development, and basic social services, as well as to heighten vigilance against subversive schemes by hostile forces, and consolidate the grassroots-level political system.