According to NA supervision delegation, from 2006-2010, more than VND14 trillion sourced from the State budget and international donors has been assigned to the second phase of the 135 programme. Meanwhile, investment capital level has seen a year-on-year increase of VND 1,364 billion in a commune and nearly VND8,000 billion has been disbursed.

The programme has greatly contributed to speeding up socio-economic development in disadvantaged areas. As a result, local people in these areas have been provided with free legal assistance and the number of poor households has dropped from 47 percent in early 2006 to 31.2 percent in 2009. More than 67 percent of the areas’ households have achieved a per capita income of VND3.5 million/year.

So far, 30 national targeted programmes for poverty reduction have been carried out in localities throughout the country.

However, the NA supervision delegation pointed out limitations in poverty reduction such as outdated labour habits, improper distribution of population, a high number of households falling into the near-poverty zone, slow disbursement and misuse of investment capital.

The NA Standing Committee agreed to continue to provide capital for programme 135 in 2011-2015 and supervise the implementation of the programme.

The Committee also asked the Government to adopt new poverty standards as soon as possible and provide personnel training for localities.