Rural development vital for Asean

News Desk
Viet Nam News
Publication Date: 29-05-2009

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called for the continuous implementation of rural development and poverty eradication serving as a key task in building a strong Asean community.

The world and region were facing new, complicated challenges with the financial-economic crisis, climate change and pandemics that could negatively affect social security systems and people’s lives in Asean, the Prime Minister said while delivering the keynote address at the one-day meeting, with the participation of more than 200 delegates.

"To overcome these challenges, it will be necessary for the member states to improve consolidation and co-operation with each other, which is partially shown through this meeting, with the theme: A Unified Asean for Anti-Poverty in the Context of the Economic Crisis," Dung said at the opening of the sixth meeting of Asean Ministers on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication in Ha Noi Wedneday.

This practical theme had expressed Asean's strategic direction of co-operation and its determination toward rural development and poverty eradication, said Dung.

It was hoped that the Ha Noi meeting would put forward specific measures to respond to the negative impacts of the global financial-economic crisis in regards to rural development and poverty eradication, focusing on investments in agriculture and in rural areas.

PM Dung also said that the meeting would help create a new action programme on rural development and poverty eradication and an action plan for a social security system based on the Asean Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint and the IAI Work Plan II. The meeting would also help continue the implementation of Asean initiatives on rural development and poverty eradication, such as boosting state management and enhancing the participation and empowerment of women and vulnerable groups in society.

Besides, this was a chance for member states to widen regional co-operation and mobilise more resources for development and exchange experiences in rural development with Asean plus three countries.

VN’s achievements

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Viet Nam was proud to be an active Asean member for the past 14 years.

With more than 70 per cent of the population active in the agricultural sector, the country always considered rural development and poverty eradication a key task for sustainable development, he said.

In the past years, the country had put forward and implemented several projects and programmes on rural development and had given support to poor households. The country had boosted the state budget and mobilised the entire political system and society for hunger eradication and poverty reduction, he added.

Therefore, Viet Nam had made great achievements in rural development and poverty eradication with its percentage of poor households, according to international standards, being reduced to 12.5 per cent last year from 58 per cent in 1993.

The Prime Minister said that although Viet Nam had suffered from the impacts of the global economic crisis, the Government and people had taken comprehensive and appropriate measures to maintain macro-economic stability, social security and people’s livelihoods.

"Viet Nam greatly appreciates co-operation in rural development and poverty eradication.

However, in order to cope with new challenges and minimise the negative effects of the global crisis, member states need to make stronger commitments and more appropriate investments in rural development and poverty eradication," he said.

Stronger commitments

The ministers asked senior officials to prioritise future activities with the implementation of the relevant Strategic Objectives of the ASCC Blueprint, the IAI Strategic Framework and the Work Plan II (2009-2015), and to develop their respective work plans and regional activities in order to implement the relevant action lines of the ASCC Blueprint and to co-ordinate with other relevant ministries.

In terms of addressing the social impacts of the global crisis, the ministers called for more concerted efforts by member states in the spirit of "Asean-help-Asean" in addressing issues pertaining to rural development and poverty eradication and in narrowing the developmental gap in the region.

They said the best practices and challenges of Asean member states in implementing their respective policies and programmes on rural development and poverty eradication would be documented to facilitate information sharing among member states and the development of concerted efforts in narrowing the developmental gap in the region.

The ministers also endorsed a proposal to commence a rapid assessment in Asean on the social impacts of the global financial crisis and policy responses that had been taken by Asean member states individually. The assessment results could serve as a basis to help Asean in the formulation of appropriate regional policies and a strategic response to mitigate the social implications of the global financial crisis.

It was expected that the assessment findings and policy recommendations could be submitted as feedback to the Asean leaders at their 15th summit in October.

Initiatives supported

In addition, the ministers supported the four initiatives of the senior officials to promote community-driven activities and person-to-person interactions aimed at narrowing the developmental gap in the region.

The initiative of the Asean Rural Youth Volunteers Movement was led by Indonesia to bring together young, professional volunteers from the region to support rural communities in their developmental efforts. The first deployment of Asean volunteers to participate in the National Programme for Community Empowerment in Indonesia will be made in the second half of this year. The Asean+3 Village Leaders Exchange Programme was led by Malaysia in building the capacity of village leaders among member states in promoting development in rural areas through study tours and experience exchanges.

The other initiative was the sharing of Thailand’s Baan Mankong Programme, which was a city-wide "Cities without Slums" programme, as well as her grassroots economic development and poverty alleviation programmes, including the One Tambon One Product, the Urban Community and Village Fund and the Sufficiency Economy Fund.

Another initiative was for the development of a regional poverty eradication programme for socially vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, women, children, elderly and those affected by natural disasters.

The ministers of Asean, with high appreciation for the three countries of China, Japan and South Korea, agreed to foster cooperation with these nations.

The 7th Asean Ministers Meeting on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication would be held in Brunei in 2011.