Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc laudedethnic minority groups nationwide for their contributions to the national constructionand defence over the past years, while addressing the opening of the secondNational Congress of Vietnamese Ethnic Minorities in Hanoi on December 4.
He described the Congress as an event of socio-politicalsignificance and a special symbol of great national unity.
The leader said Vietnam has reaped importantachievements in almost all areas, yet northern mountainous, central, Mekong Delta and Central Highlands provinceswhere ethnic minority groups are living still meet various difficulties.
According to him, the Party and State have given priority toallocating resources to support education, health care, infrastructure andsocio-economic development for ethnic and mountainous regions, accounting for71.4 percent of the expenditure for the work. The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies’loans for the region account for 52.5 percent of the the country’s total.
As a result, 99 percent of communal centres and 80 percent ofvillages have accessed to electricity, 65 percent of communes have smallirrigation systems, 80 percent of villages build roads for vehicles, more thanhalf of the communes own standard medical stations while all ethnic minority people andthe poor have free health insurance.
Political security and social safety and order in the region have beenmaintained, Party building work pushed up, political system consolidated, and ethnic minorities’ trust in the Party and State strengthened, he said, adding that their material and spiritual lives havenever been better than now.
The PM also pointed out shortcomings in ethnic work, such as infrastructure inethnic minorities region failing to meet requirements and several projects yetto bring about socio-economic efficiency as expected. Those in the northwest,Central Highlands, southwest and the west of the coastal central regions sawslow progress.
The rate of poor and near-poor households remain high while the income gap is increasingly widened. Labour skills of ethnicminorities remain limited, making it hard for them to find suitable jobs.
Unorganised migration, drug trafficking, security and order in borderareas remain complicated. At the same time, cultural identity of ethnicminorities is at the risk of extinction.
Affirming that ethnic minority group are an inseparable part and blood and flesh ofthe Vietnamese nation, he said comprehensive development of ethnic minorityregions helps lay a foundation to ensure great national unity.
On the occasion, ministries and agencies from the central andgrassroots levels must continue disseminating and effectively realise the Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.24-NQ/TW on ethnic work in the newsituation, do their best to basically deal with urgent issues, and createlivelihoods to improve local lives and follow the motto that no one is left behind.
They were also asked to realise Resolution No.88/2019/QH14and Resolution No.120/2020/QH14 of the 14th National Assemblyand Decision No.1409/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister issuing the plan torealise the legislature’s Resolution No.120 approving the National TargetProgramme on socio-economic development for ethnic minority and mountainousregions for the 2021-2030 period.
The leader expressed his wish that ethnic groups will offer all possiblesupport to help their children to go to schools because education is the onlyway to push them to prosperity.
He hoped that nearly 1,600 outstanding delegates representing the 54 ethnicgroups will lift the spirit of great national unity to a greater height.
On the occasion, the NA’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs was awarded with theLabour Order, first class, by the State President in recognition of its contributions to socialism building and national defence./.
