(HBO) – The Vietnam Farmer’s Union on June 27 partnered with Hoa Binh province’s Party’s Committee to host a workshop on how the union contributes to socio-economic development in mountainous areas and areas where ethnic minority communities live.
Present
at the workshop were Party Central Committee member and President of the
Vietnam Farmer’s Union Thao Xuan Sung; Party Central Committee member and Minister-Chairman
of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Do Van Chien; and Party Central
Committee member and Secretary of the provincial Party’s Committee Bui Van Tinh,
along with delegates from 21 provinces.
An overview of the
workshop.
The
event provided an opportunity for the central government and cities and
provinces to review socio-economic development in mountainous areas and areas
of ethnic minority groups over the past years. At the same time, delegates
shared experiences and challenges in fulfilling tasks in each locality and how
they can work together to develop these areas in the following years.
After
the 15-year implementation of Resolution No.24, dated March 12, 2003, issued by
the 9th Party Central Committee and the 25-year implementation of
Directive No.45, dated September 23, 1994, of the 7th Party Central
Committee’s Secretariat, infrastructure in mountainous and ethnic minority
people areas have been more developed. The education, healthcare and cultural
services in those areas have also seen progress, improving the ethnic minority
groups’ living standard.
As
of the end of 2018, the poverty rate among ethnic minority households declined
by over 3 percent from the previous year to 25.5 percent. At the same time, the
infrastructure have been significantly improved as 98.6 percent of the communes
have concrete roads leading to communal People’s Committees’ offices and 99.8
percent of the communes and 95.5 percent of the villages have access to electricity.
To
fulfill its tasks in socio-economic development in mountainous and ethnic
minority people areas, the Vietnam Farmer’s Union
has built more than 10,500 demonstration models in VietGAP-based horticulture,
husbandry and aquaculture alongside over 170,000 models of production combining
with distribution in a value chain.
At
the workshop, the delegates made recommendations to more effectively implement
socio-economic development policies in mountainous and ethnic minority people
areas in the north and to help the union scale up projects which encourage
farmers in H’mong ethnic minority villages to engage in tourism.
Over recent years, the Farmers' Union of Mai Chau district has implemented numerous specific programmes and activities to support its members in developing products under the One Commune One (OCOP) programme. These efforts have contributed to enhancing local agricultural branding, increasing goods value, and improving incomes and living standards for residents.
Since 2022, the Hoa Binh Department of Education and Training has provided advice for the provincial People's Committee to issue Plan No. 219/KH-UBND on November 17, 2022, which outlines the implementation of a project titled "Enhancing the application of Information Technology (IT) and Digital Transformation in Education and Training for the 2022–2025 period, with a vision to 2030.” As of now, the local education sector has made significant progress in IT adoption and digital transformation.
Hoa Binh allocated over 30 trillion VND (nearly 1.18 billion USD) to develop infrastructure systems in ethnic minority and mountainous areas during 2019 - 2024. Priority was given to transport and irrigation infrastructure; markets; schools; medical stations; communal houses; and power grid, telecommunication, radio, and television systems.
The Hoa Binh provincial organising committee for anniversary activities on December 17 held a ceremony to unveil a ceramic mural on the local military-civilian ties and release a book on the Party and political work of the provincial armed forces during 1947 – 2024, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and 35th anniversary of the All-People Defence Festival.
In recent years, Hoa Binh has allocated significant resources to foster cooperative economy, helping ethnic minorities capitalise on their potential and advantages to escape poverty.
As a mountainous district still facing numerous challenges, Da Bac has made notable progress in advancing administrative reforms across various areas. The district has prioritised reorganising and streamlining its administrative apparatus, operating "one-stop-shop” units, and applying information technology (IT) in the handling of administrative procedures. Efforts have also been directed toward upgrading infrastructure and equipment to enhance service quality for residents and businesses.