Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue stressed the necessity to boost business production, improve material and spiritual lives and reduce poverty for the people in the southwestern region’s ethnic minorities and localities affected by droughts and saline intrusion.
Politburo member Hue, who is head of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, made the statement at an August 23 conference on the ethnic, religious, national defence and security work in the region, and the issues of settlement and livelihoods for Vietnamese migrating from Cambodia to Vietnam.
He noted that despite certain achievements in eliminating poverty, maintaining political and security stability, and implementing Party and State policies for ethnic groups and religious people, the southwestern region still sees the high rate of poor households (according to the new poverty line) as well as potential risks for complexity in terms of border security, domestic security and religious security.
The border demarcation between Vietnam and Cambodia has yet to reach the expected results, Hue said, adding that the negative growth rate in agricultural production has also affected the political and security situation in the region.
He urged southwestern localities to continue implementing the government’s resolutions on facilitating socio-economic development, improving the business environment, supporting enterprises and accelerating public investment capital.
The region should focus on boosting agricultural production oriented towards expanding the areas for farming and aquatic cultivation associated with applying modern technologies, aiming to ensure the regional agricultural production at positive values in 2016, the deputy PM said.
He requested localities, ministries and sectors to actively implement ethnic and religious policies in the spirit of the resolution of the 12th National Party Congress, tighten security in border areas and associate socio-economic development with maintenance of national defense and security.
He also asked relevant agencies to allocate funding for the southwestern region’s poverty reduction in the 2016-2020 period.
Regarding the migration of Vietnamese Cambodians from Cambodia back to Vietnam, Politburo member Hue assigned the Foreign Ministry to work with the Cambodian side to conduct all necessary procedures for the overseas Vietnamese community to legally live in Cambodia in the spirit of friendship and compliance with the native country’s laws.
