Vinh Long Proposes Diversifying Assistance to Ethnic Minority Groups

The Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long has proposed the Government’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs expand forms of assistance to ethnic minority groups. At a working session with the committee’s delegation on September 16, the provincial officials suggested increasing personnel training for local ethnic minority people and integrating relevant projects and programs with each other. Financial aids should serve purposes relating to land, housing, job generation, production and poverty reduction, they said. According to the provincial ethnic affairs board, Vinh Long has 8,503 ethnic minority households. The province has mobilized different resources to realize programs and projects aiming to support ethnic minority groups, and provided loans for more than 1,500 local households to help them with production. Thanks to these efforts, the material and spiritual life of local ethnic minority groups has improved significantly. At the working session, the committee asked Vinh Long to roll out more support programs and devise preferential policies to attract investments in ethnic minority-inhabited communes, while increasing the public’s supervisory role to effectively implement sustainable development programs and projects in these areas. (http://english.vov.vn/ Sept 17)