National Assembly deputies pass the ethnic minority assistance plan on November 18, 2019. (Photo: quochoi.vn)

At the ongoing National Assembly session, lawmakers described the  plan as timely in refining policies regarding ethnic minorities in line with the National Target Program for 2021 through 2030. 

“We aim to tap the potential of each locality, inspiring innovation and ensuring social welfare, while embarking on sustainable poverty reduction, improving community access to education and healthcare, and training local personnel," said Deputy Head of the National Assembly's Legal Committee Hoang Thanh Tung. 

"We will work to preserve traditional ethnic cultures while eliminating outdated customs, promoting gender equality, protecting the rights of women and girls, maintaining social order and border security, strengthening national unity, and consolidating ethnic minority trust in the Party and State,” he said.

Under the plan, by 2025, Vietnam will double the per capita income of ethnic people from that of 2020, while reducing the number of poor households by 3%, with all communal centers accessible by cement roads, and  all schools and health clinics  connected to the national electricity grid. By 2030, the poverty rate will drop to less than 10% and 70% of communes will be certified as new style rural areas in ethnic minority inhabited regions. 

Also on Monday, lawmakers looked into the ratification of the Supplementary Treaty to the 1985 Treaty on the Delimitation of National Boundaries, as well as the Supplementary Treaty of 2005 between Vietnam and Cambodia, together with the Protocol on Mainland Border Demarcation between the two nations.