ASEAN calls for rural development

DA NANG – Viet Nam has made efforts to reduce poverty, which 58 per cent of the population suffered from in 1993, down to 15.5 per cent last year, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Dang Khoa said at the 9th ASEAN Senior official meeting on rural development and poverty eradication this morning.

The meeting, entitled Achieving Rural Development and Poverty Eradication Through Improved Food Security and Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in ASEAN, engaged deputies in a range discussions of climate change, food security and natural disasters, and epidemic diseases in the global economic downturn.

"The country, with a population over 80 million people, 70 per cent of whom live in rural areas, has set rural development and poverty eradication as key target areas of sustainable development," he stated at the meeting opening ceremony in Da Nang city.

"We hope that representatives from ASEAN member countries will share their experiences with us in developing rural communities as well as eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty," he added.

In a report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the income per capita in rural areas reached US$660 last year.

A survey last year showed that 99.8 per cent of nearly 10,000 villages have access to electricity and 14 million poor people have health insurance.

The meeting called for strong commitments from ASEAN member countries for further investment in rural area to tackle poverty from 2011-15.

The meeting closes tomorrow. – VNS