Efforts to develop ethnic and mountainous areas of the province quickly and sustainably

(Baonghean) - Comrade Luong Thanh Hai - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial Ethnic Minorities Committee gave an interview to Nghe An Newspaper on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the state agency for ethnic affairs in Nghe An province (May 3, 1946 - 2016).

Leaders of the Ethnic Committee survey a crabapple nursery in Son La province. Photo: Tuan Thi

PV:Can you summarize the natural conditions of the ethnic minority areas of Nghe An province?

Comrade Luong Thanh Hai:Ethnic and mountainous areas of Nghe An account for more than 83% of the province's area; currently there are 101 communes in area III, 61 communes in area II, 90 communes in area I; 1,188 extremely disadvantaged villages and hamlets; 27 border communes; 3 districts receiving State investment under Resolution 30a and 1 district enjoying policy 30a; there is 419 km of border with the Lao PDR.

The population of ethnic minority and mountainous areas is 1,197,628 people (accounting for 41%); of which ethnic minorities are 442,787 people, accounting for 15.2% of the province's population, including 5 ethnic groups: Thai, Tho, Kho Mu, Mong and O Du...

PV:The mountainous and ethnic regions of Nghe An have always played an important role in the overall development of the province. The establishment of a state agency for ethnic affairs in the province is to meet the practical requirements of development... Could you briefly describe the history of the Nghe An Ethnic Committee?

Comrade Luong Thanh Hai:Realizing the position of the mountainous region and the ethnic issue of special importance to the socio-economic development, defense and security of the whole province and the North Central region, right after the Government established the Department of Ethnic Minorities (May 3, 1946), Nghe An province also soon established an organization to advise on ethnic and mountainous affairs, called the National Minority Office (established on November 3, 1946).

During its 70 years of operation, it has had many different names such as: National Minority Affairs Department (1946 - 1954); Western Steering Committee (1954 - 1965); Nghe An Provincial Ethnic Committee (1965 - 1976); Nghe Tinh Provincial Ethnic Committee (1976 - 1991); Nghe An Provincial Ethnic and Mountainous Areas Committee (1991 - 2004) and Nghe An Provincial Ethnic Committee (2004 to present).

PV:Could you please tell us about the role and contribution of ethnic minorities in Nghe An in the cause of defending the Fatherland and building the homeland and country?

Comrade Luong Thanh Hai:Through two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, with the motto of eating, living and working together with ethnic people, Nghe An ethnic workers actively participated in propaganda and mobilized people to actively increase production; practice thrift; fight against "hunger" and "illiteracy"; respond to "Golden Week", "Rice jars to feed the army"; support the "Winter resistance" campaign; suppress the reactionary "Bao ca Tay hac muong muoi"; eliminate bandits, destroy bandits, destroy the plot to declare themselves King of "Chau Pha"; mobilize ethnic people to practice sedentary farming; directly direct the construction of labor and production models...

Tens of thousands of ethnic minority youths have joined the armed forces and frontline laborers, and thousands have sacrificed their lives for the Fatherland or lost a part of their body. From that great human and material strength, ethnic minorities have contributed to the great victory of our army and people in the two resistance wars.

Entering the period when the whole country is moving towards building socialism and implementing the cause of innovation, the specialized agency for ethnic affairs of Nghe An province has inherited and promoted its traditions and experiences; focused on investigating, surveying, and grasping the situation and basic characteristics of mountainous areas and ethnic groups in the province; promptly advising the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee to concretize and effectively organize the implementation of policies of the Central and the province.

Since 2004, the Ethnic and Mountainous Areas Committee of Nghe An province has officially changed its name to the Ethnic Minorities Committee of Nghe An province - a specialized agency at the same level as a department; has legal status, its own seal and account.

PV:Could you please tell us about the achievements of the Ethnic Committee in the cause of innovation?

Comrade Luong Thanh Hai:Implementing the Party's innovation, the Provincial Ethnic Committee has focused on mobilizing ethnic minorities to build and develop the mountainous economy in the direction of commodity economy; closely linking with ethnic minorities in the province to promote the region's strengths, associated with the good implementation of the Party's ethnic policies. From 2005 to 2010, the Ethnic Committee has advised the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee to approve projects and promulgate policies on socio-economic development in the mountainous areas of the province in the spirit of Resolution 7 of the Central Committee (9th term) on ethnic affairs, such as: Developing the project "Implementing policies to support production land, residential land, housing, and domestic water for poor ethnic minority households with difficult lives" of the province according to Decision 134 of the Prime Minister approved in Decision No. 1413 dated May 9, 2006 of the Provincial People's Committee; Advised on the development of 4 major projects on socio-economic development in ethnic minority mountainous areas such as: Project on socio-economic development policy for communes in mountainous and border areas; Project on settlement of ethnic minorities in the period 2006 - 2010; Project on preservation and development of O Du ethnic group and Project on training and fostering ethnic minority cadres in Nghe An province to submit to the Ethnic Committee and the Provincial People's Committee for approval...

Comrade Luong Thanh Hai - Provincial Party Committee member, Head of the Ethnic Committee visited and talked with people of Na Ni village, Huoi Tu commune, Ky Son district. Photo: Van Anh

The results of implementing ethnic policies of the Ethnic Committee during this period have brought about practical results, contributing significantly to promoting socio-economic development in particularly disadvantaged communes in particular and ethnic mountainous areas in general.

In the period from 2010 to 2015, ethnic affairs and ethnic policies continued to receive attention from the Government. In particular, the Government issued many innovative policies for the mountainous and ethnic areas of Nghe An province.

On that basis, the Ethnic Committee has helped the province develop and issue many important reports, such as: Report on the results of implementing the poverty reduction support policy in ethnic minority areas, period 2011 - 2015; Report on the implementation of 2 years of Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW of the Politburo and Directive No. 1/2015/CT-TTg, dated February 7, 2005 of the Prime Minister on some tasks related to Protestantism; report on spontaneous migration, unregistered marriages in the border areas of Vietnam - Laos...

The Board also coordinated with units to accelerate the progress of developing projects and policies to implement Decision No. 2165/QD-UBND, dated May 20, 2014 on the plan to implement the Action Program to implement the Ethnic Affairs Strategy of Nghe An province to 2020 of the Prime Minister, specified by 13 projects and 2 policies...

Currently, the appearance of the mountainous and ethnic areas of the province has changed significantly; the material and spiritual life of the people has been improved and raised; the development gap between regions and ethnic groups in the province has been gradually reduced; political security and social order and safety continue to be maintained. Production has changed dramatically; agricultural production has shifted from self-sufficiency to commodity development.

The poverty rate in ethnic minority and mountainous areas (according to the poverty standard for the period 2011 - 2015) decreased from 36.19% (in 2010) to 16.54%, equivalent to the multidimensional poverty standard of 24.04% (in 2015), an average decrease of 3.93%/year. As of 2015, the average income of ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Nghe An province was 19 million VND/person/year, reaching 65.51% of the average level compared to the province (29 million VND/person/year). Infrastructure works such as inter-village and inter-village traffic, schools, medical stations, electricity, domestic water, community cultural houses... have been built and completed, handed over and put into use, contributing to socio-economic development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction...

The Ethnic Minorities Committee of Nghe An province has also done well in administrative reform, applying information technology in agency management, implementing democratic regulations, public finance reform in the agency's financial activities and in implementing programs and projects. Focusing on training and planning the staff in the agency to improve professional expertise, political level, and state management for the agency's staff.

In any circumstance, under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, Provincial People's Committee; the close direction of the Ethnic Committee; together with the coordination of departments, branches, organizations..., the Ethnic Committee has always successfully completed all assigned tasks, and was awarded the Second Class Labor Medal (in 1998) by the President; First Class Labor Medal (in 2006). In particular, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of its establishment, the Ethnic Committee, Nghe An Province's Ethnic Committee, was honored to receive the Third Class Independence Medal awarded by the State.

PV:Thank you comrade!

Dang Cuong(Perform)