At the fifth session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York on May 17, Mr. Anh added that "to produce real impact on ethnic minorities, members of ethnic groups are encouraged to participate in the decision-making processes at all levels."

This encouragement can be seen in every aspect of society, he said.

In the political aspect, there are 86 ethnic minority members of the National Assembly, representing 17.27 percent of the total membership, which is higher than the 13.8 percent ratio of ethnic minorities to the total population.  The proportion of ethnic minority deputies to People's Councils at all levels is also relatively high: 14 percent at the provincial level, 17 percent at the district level, and 19 percent at the commune level.

The diplomat added that in economic development strategies, the Government is firmly committed to the goal of "prosperity, and a just, democratic and civilised society" for all people. Among various socio-economic development strategies formulated by the Vietnamese Government is a separate Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) strategy for ethnic minorities entitled "Localising MDGs for Poverty Reduction in Vietnam: Promoting Ethnic Minority Development."

The MDG strategy seeks to achieve five key objectives including poverty reduction, job generation, settlement and land use rights, the improvement of education and health services, and the enhancement of the capacity for governance.

The strategy is expected to help eradicate poverty by 2010, to complete the construction of basic infrastructure for 2,300 remote communes under special difficult circumstances, and to universalise primary education for all ethnic minority school children by 2010.

In the cultural aspect, the Government has conducted myriad activities for the preservation and development of ethnic minority culture, such as building communal cultural houses and broadcasting radio and television programmes in the five ethnic languages of H'mong, Kh'mer, Ede, G'rai, Bana and K'ho.