Bac Giang (VNA) ಞ– The northern province of Bac Giang will keep focusing on effectively implementing projects, programmes, and policies to boost the development of mountainous and ethnic minority-inhabited areas, according to deputy head of the provincial Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Truong Van Bao.

The official said that from now to 2026, the province aims to reduce the household poverty rate in mountainous and ethnic minority-inhabited communes by an annual average of 2.5%, and 3% in particularly disadvantaged communes, while striving to bring two communes out of the list of particularly disadvantaged ones. In the 2024-2026 period, the locality prioritises resources for infrastructure development while speeding up poverty reduction activities, forming exclusive areas for producing valuable goods, fundamentally solving the shortage of dwelling and production land, and dealing with resettlement and water-related issues in mountainous and ethnic minority-inhabited areas. In addition, he noted, the province is paying more attention to education, training, and health care, and environmental protection. It will also increase investment attraction and support businesses to conduct vocational training and create on-site jobs for ethnic minority people. Bac Giang will assist 252 households in building houses, help 1,334 others in changing livelihoods, build six concentrated clean water supply works, and complete 30km of roads to communes' centres and those linking different communes, the official said. The province will construct and upgrade two markets and three communal healthcare stations, invest in 91 essential facilities in particularly disadvantaged communes and villages, improve infrastructure and equipment for 12 schools, and invest in the construction, renovation, and upgrade of seven boarding and semi-boarding schools. Besides, it will support the development of four typical tourist destinations, preserve two outstanding traditional villages of ethnic minorities, and build 10 cultural and sports facilities in mountainous and ethnic minority-inhabited regions, according to the official. Under the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous regions in the 2024-2026 period, Bac Giang will carry out 10 component projects, including those on addressing the shortage of housing, dwelling land, farmland and clean water; planning, arranging, and stabilising residential areas where necessary, developing sustainable agriculture and forestry; and leveraging the potential and strengths of local areas to produce goods following value chains. The province will invest in essential infrastructure to support production and better living conditions in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas, and pay more attention to education and training to improve human resources quality. It will also preserve and promote the traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities in connection with tourism development, enhance public health services, improve the physical health and stature of ethnic minority people, and prevent child malnutrition. Bao said in order to complete all the targets, Bac Giang will mobilise all investment sources for socio-economic infrastructure development in those areas. In 2024, the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas in Bac Giang is provided with total funding of 586 billion VND (23.85 million USD) for 10 component projects. As of May 31, 114 billion VND had been disbursed./.