(VOV) – The Government has held an online conference with 63 cities and provinces to review poverty reduction in the last 2 years, discuss this year’s tasks and look towards 2015.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs reported that over the past 2 years, more than 2.8 billion USD has been invested in poverty reduction program. Under the program, 29 million poor and ethnic minority people were provided with health insurance cards, 4 million pupils enjoyed exemption or reduction of tuition fees and more than 1 million poor households borrowed bank loans at preferential interest rates. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh asked local authorities and central agencies to highlight strengths and weaknesses and to work out further measures to implement sustainable poverty reduction programs. He said that the number of poor households should be reduced to below 5 percent under new standards set for 2015.