Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong has appreciated efforts made by the Government’s Nationalities Committee last year, especially in guiding the implementation of programmes and projects to develop mountainous and ethnic minority areas.

He attended a conference held by the committee on January 25 to review last year’s activities and to begin this year’s tasks.Trong asked the committee to study and solve problems in ethnic minority areas, renewing administrative procedure reforms as well as fighting corruption and waste.

This year, the committee will focus on the implementation of socio-economic development plans for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, including plans for comprehensive development of ethnic minorities in the Northwest region, Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) and the Southwest region to 2010 and 2020.The committee has set a target that this year it will continue to implement Programme 135 (for socio-economic development in extremely poor and ethnic minority areas), supplying newspapers and magazines to ethnic and minority areas. The country last year helped build 330,293 houses for poor ethnic minority families (98 percent of the original target), allocated housing land to 78 percent of such households and granting more than 25,000ha of farming land to more than 70,500 families.

V.N.A