(VEN) – Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat when speaking at a forum on donors coordination for new rural development in Vietnam co-organized by the Office of Coordination group of international donors (ISG) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said the international experience in supporting the rural development is very important. The forum was designed to create opportunities for dialogue among international partners participating in Vietnam’s new rural construction process.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the forum, Minister Phat said, “Over the past years, the international community has actively supported Vietnam’s rural development process by different approaches. The international experience in supporting the rural development is very important and needs to be succeeded in the implementation of the National target program of new rural construction.”
According to the Department of Cooperatives and Rural Development, new rural construction is an important content to implement the Resolution 26 on Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas adopted by the Vietnamese Government through the National target program on new rural construction period 2010 – 2020.
Until now, after the five year implementation of the Resolution 26 and three year implementation of the National target program on new rural construction, there remains unsolved issues that needs reconsideration and adjustments such as the development of agricultural production, raising incomes for rural residents, building new lifestyle and sustainable environment protection.
The key issues of the National target program on new rural construction in 2013 are to supplement and complete mechanisms and policies to make significant changes, striving to have 200 communes by the end of this year and about 2,000 by 2015 officially recognized to fulfill new rural area standards.
At the forum, Jean-Marc Gravellini, the Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) who represents sponsors said the strategy of AFD towards Vietnam’s agriculture and rural development is to assisting Vietnam in achieving a deep and suitable growth model, creating jobs and using human resources efficiently. He said, “At present, AFD is helping Vietnam to cope with the three challenges, namely urbanization, transformative growth model and climate change. We also focus on the three main targets, which are promoting sustainable growth, well equipped to meet the growth rate; assisting Vietnam in adopting a “green and comprehensive” economic growth and supporting Vietnam’s strategy on response to climate change.”
In the period from 2013 to 2015, AFD is also committed to provide a package of 700 million Euros to assist Vietnam in modernizing production, improving the quality and productivity of agricultural categories and promoting high quality vocational training. The six prioritized areas that will call the support of the international community include meat, milk, aquaculture, rubber, tea and coffee. In addition, the above capital source is spent on modernization of rural infrastructure as well.
Representative from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Henning Pederson said, “It seems that Vietnam’s National target program on new rural construction remains restricted in coordination with big sponsor programs of the World Bank and IFAD and it has not completely dealt with the hunger eradication and poverty reduction issue. However, the new rural initiative has achieved certain success in terms of mobilizing human resources, especially the local resources for the construction of infrastructure works.”
To promote the development of rural areas for the poor and in conformity with the market economy, and increase the adaptation of rural households to climate change, the IFAD suggested that the Vietnamese Government should undertake more research on each Vietnam’s typical rural areas associated with different goods supply chains, help the poor gain a better market access through improving infrastructure and facilitate small production units access financial services./.
By Lam Phong
Đăng ký: VietNam News