Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked ministries, sectors and localities to heighten their sense of responsibility towards rapid and sustainable poverty alleviation to turn the country into an industrialised society by 2020.
Speaking at an online conference in Hanoi on May 8, the Prime Minister reiterated that the Government considers poverty reduction its key task, stating the involved parties need to study and propose concrete measures to more effectively implement Resolution 30a/2008/NQ-CP on poverty alleviation. He agreed with localities’ proposals to increase the involvement of young intellectuals and design policies to support impoverished households or those near the poverty line within one year.
The National Steering Committee on Sustainable Poverty Reduction should continue to review and fine-tune policies in line with the resolution, specifically removing ineffective measures while promoting and supplementing efficient policies.
The PM suggested focusing on forest protection, supporting poor districts and ethnic minority regions to develop animal livestock, and encouraging businesses to invest in underprivileged areas.
It is also necessary to balance financial sources and increase field inspections at the grassroots level.
The National Steering Committee pledged to speed up efforts in mountainous, ethnic minority, border, coastal and island regions from 2016-2020 as well as concentrate on building infrastructure, facilitating manufacturing development and enhancing access to social services for residents.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, Resolution 30a/2008/NQ-CP is a major policy of the Party and State aiming to reduce poverty in disadvantaged regions.
Over the past six years, 22.1 trillion VND (1,034 million USD) was allocated from the State budget to fund the programme, including 17.1 trillion VND (799 million USD) from the central budget and 2 trillion VND (92.6 million USD) from the local budget.
On average, each poor district receives 35-40 billion VND (1.64-1.87 million USD) per year.
The rate of poverty-stricken households from 2011-2014 in 64 poor districts reduced by an average 6 percent per year (from 377,939 poor households in late 2010 to 234,743 in late 2014), higher than the 4 percent target set in the resolution.
By 2020, at least 50 percent of districts are expected to escape from poverty while the average per capita income will double that of 2015
