Since 2001, the government has approved 21 decisions and projects to help poor and underprivileged regions, reported Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh at a recent government meeting.

The state has spent about VND193 trillion to help poor people and ethnic minorities to boost production, reduce poverty and improve their living standards.

These projects include assistance in terms of land, housing and clean water for nearly 500,000 ethnic households (programme 134), and infrastructure development in nearly 2,000 of the country’s poorest communes (programme 135).

In June 2008, the Prime Minister signed a decision to provide land and jobs for disadvantaged people in the Mekong Delta, at a total cost of VND1.08 trillion. At the end of 2008, the government issued a resolution to help inhabitants in 62 poor districts lift themselves out of poverty.