While commending the Government of Vietnam for its achievements in promoting socially-inclusive growth, reducing poverty and making rapid progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals, the directors noted that poverty remained a persistent reality for the country's 53 ethnic minorities.
They said the issue of ethnic minority poverty required a rigorous evaluation of the successes and failures of past policies and wider and more open discussion with stakeholders inside and outside government to find the best solutions.
While Vietnam has seen a dramatic reduction in poverty in the past ten years, its ethnic minorities continue to live below the poverty line.
This five-year plan is the first that the Government has undertaken that is based on extensive and fully participatory consultations about the country's development goals with local people, civil society groups, academics, private sector organizations and other stakeholders inside and outside government. It is designed around four "pillars"Â that define the country's future reform agenda: structural reform, social inclusion, environmental sustainability and good governance.
The World Bank's Country Director for Vietnam Mr Klaus Rohland said the Government had taken a very open and participatory approach to putting the SEDP together.
"This has led to a plan that is based on strong analysis and that addresses the measures needed to ensure that growth is both rapid and of high quality,"Â he said. "One of the big challenges that Vietnam faces is balancing its desire for high growth with the need for more sustainable growth. For example on the environment, this means strengthening institutions for environmental protection and natural resource management and developing ways to implement the 'polluters pay' principle."Â
The directors expressed the hope that the World Bank's forthcoming Country Partnership Strategy with Vietnam and a new series of Poverty Reduction Support Credits would provide sound instruments for supporting the reforms set out in the SEDP, ensuring that there is balanced progress across all four pillars.
By World Bank
Posted December 6th, 2006 by ruzik_tuzik
