(MPI Portal) - The mid-term Consultative Group (CG) Meetings for Vietnam in 2012 (mid-term CG) was opened on June 5th 2012 in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province. The main subject matter of this mid-term CG is to focus on discussion on poverty reduction and disaster mitigation.
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Opening mid-term Consultative Group Meeting for Vietnam in 2012. Photo: Duc Trung (MPI Portal)
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Participants of this mid-term CG Meeting included Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, ministries and central sectors, representatives of 14 provinces in Northern and Central Coast from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan, representatives of diplomatic corps, the sponsoring organization for Vietnam and other socio-career organizations. Co-Chair of this Mid-term CG meeting was the Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh and the National Director of World Bank (WB) in Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa.
The meeting heard the opening speechs by the Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh, National Director of WB in Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa; Mr. Nguyen Duc Cuong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province; especially the key opening speech by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.
The main subjects discussed at the meeting were important issues such as: (1) Accession the macroeconomic situation in Vietnam in 2012, (2) Dialogue with the central provinces of poverty reduction, disaster mitigation, (3) Consultation on the innovation of CG meeting organization.
Related to the conference’s programs, Minister Bui Quang Vinh suggested donors, ministries, sectors and 14 Central provinces focusing on discussion and dialogue on issues of poverty alleviation and disaster mitigation for the Central region for the purpose of discussion and the collection of local opinion on the practical application of policies, strategies and measures, guidance for implementation of sustainable poverty reduction and disaster mitigation.
The innovative methods of CG meeting organization was also a concerned matter.
In the morning session, the speech titled "Measuring and Monitoring Poverty in Vietnam" by the WB and the Institute of Social Sciences in Vietnam and the speech titled "The situation of poverty and difficulty in implementing poverty reduction policies in the Central Coastal Provinces” by the People’ Committee of Quang Nam province were delivered.
According to a recent research by the Institute of Social Sciences of Vietnam and WB, Vietnam has achieved remarkable progress in poverty reduction (poverty rate down from 58% in 1993 to about 7% in 2010. However, some concerns and challenges had been raised. There have been an increase in poverty in ethnic minority areas (from 29% of the poor in 1998 to 47% in 2010). The gap between the rich and the poor has been increased (8.1 in 2002 to 9.2 in 2010). There is still concern about the rising in inequality in Vietnam.
Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had accountability reports on the questions and comments from donors (Belgium, Ireland, Finland, etc ...) related to poverty reduction for the Central region, focusing on areas such as agriculture (construction of water reservoirs, active irrigation), health (malnutrition index), education (general education, vocational training).
Representatives of localities, ministries, sectors and donors had open dialogues with the subjects such as combination of growth and poverty reduction, social security.
The delegates had immersion visits in a number of programs, ODA projects in Quang Tri Province, some beauty spots and famous historic locations of the province on the morning of June 4th2012. In the afternoon session on June 4th, 2012, the delegates discussed macro-economic situation of Vietnam in the first 5 months and forecast for 2012. The contents and proposals made at this meeting are significant for the Vietnamese Government in leadership and monitoring of socio-economic development plan in 2012, macroeconomic stability to overcome the difficulties and challenges.
In the afternoon session of June 5th2012, the conference will focus on discussing issues related to disaster reduction and innovative methods of CG Meeting./.
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Some socio-economic and poverty reduction news of 14 central provinces (from Thanh Hoa to Binh Thuan)
- Population in 2010: 18.94 million people, accounting for 21.9% of the national population. There are 41 among 54 ethnic groups of the country. Population among working age accounts for 60.3% of the total population;
- Regional GDP in 2010 reached 278.7 trillion VND (capturing 14.5% of nationwide GDP). Growth rate in 2006 - 2010 reached 5.9% (the nationwide figure is 6.8%). Per capita income in 2010 reached 14.718 million VND (equaling 66.3% per capita income of the country);
- The poverty rate in 2010 was 20.4% (the nationwide figure is 14.2%), particularly there are 25 among 62 poorest districts of the country;
- Literacy rate was high with 97.5% (the nationwide figure is 95.62%).
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