Vietnam’s Prime Minister has approved a framework to carry out the government’s resolution on sustainable poverty reduction in the 2011-2020 period. Accordingly, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) will preside over the setup of a national target program on sustainable poverty reduction, which is slated to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2012. The PM assigned the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs to devise special policies to support the poor and ethnic minority people, as well as offer incentives to attract investment from corporate and non-government organizations into mountainous areas. The Ministry of Planning and Investment will be responsible for proposing the principles of the national target program and for allocating the state budget, giving priority to disadvantaged areas. The PM also asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop policies on agriculture production support, especially for poor and near-poor households while urging the Ministry of Construction to build housing support policies for the poor in urban areas. By end-2012, the State Bank of Vietnam must complete policies on preferential credits for poor and near-poor households, ethnic minority groups and students, the PM said. The government has planned to spend VND5.06 trillion ($240 million) on the national poverty reduction program this year with an aim to cut the poverty rate to 10% from 12% in 2011. By March 2012, up to 2.58 million households were deemed poor and 1.53 million near-poor, as shown in a national survey by the MoLISA. Poverty reduction in Vietnam remains a priority as new forms of poverty are emerging, experts said, urging the country to combine poverty eradication with disaster mitigation because they are closely linked. (vov.vn Sept 5)
