Increasing capital to implement national target programs for the 2026 - 2035 period

Discussing in groups on the afternoon of December 3 about the Investment Policy of the National Target Program on New Rural Development, Sustainable Poverty Reduction and Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas, delegates in Group 3 (including the National Assembly Delegations of Thanh Hoa and Tay Ninh provinces) proposed increasing the capital source to implement the program; assigning the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions to preside over the implementation of Component 2.

Báo Đại biểu Nhân dân•03/12/2025

Clarify the position and role of the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions

Discussing in groups, the majority of delegates agreed with the Government 's Report on the necessity of merging 3 National Target Programs (NTPs) into 1 Program to overcome the situation of resource dispersion, policy overlap, many management agencies, many regulations and guidelines; at the same time, overcome a number of shortcomings and limitations that have been assessed and summarized in the period 2021 - 2025.

Overview of the discussion at Group 3. Photo: Dao Canh

According to National Assembly Deputy Vu Xuan Hung (Thanh Hoa), the merger of the three programs is a correct policy, but there are still many issues that need to be reviewed and carefully considered. Because these are three very large programs with very different scopes and targets, especially the socio-economic development program for ethnic minority and mountainous areas, which still has many problems in the implementation process.

Accordingly, the delegates proposed that in the National Assembly resolution, the program be merged into one general program but divided into two clear components and assigned to two different ministries. Component 1 (new rural areas and sustainable poverty reduction) is assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to preside over. Component 2 (socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas) is assigned to the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions as it is now, which will be more convenient, ensure progress and better meet the legitimate aspirations of the people.

2(2).jpg — National Assembly Deputy Vu Xuan Hung (Thanh Hoa) speaks. Photo: Dao Canh

In addition, the Government is studying to inherit the maximum results, experiences and ongoing projects and sub-projects of the 3 old programs in the 2021 - 2025 period. Because many projects are unfinished, if interrupted to move to a new phase, it will be a waste of resources and effort. "We only remove ineffective, duplicated or untargeted contents and sub-projects, the rest need to be continued in a reasonable way" - delegate Vu Xuan Hung emphasized

The delegate also said that currently there is no common national set of criteria for the consolidation program. Therefore, it is necessary to urgently develop a new set of criteria, clearly classifying each component; at the same time, clarifying the decentralization and delegation of authority to avoid overlap and conflict in implementation between sectors and levels.

According to delegate Vu Xuan Hung, there needs to be a close coordination mechanism between ministries and branches, especially for the ethnic minority and mountainous areas because these are strategic areas, sensitive in terms of ethnicity, religion, national defense and security. Without a clear coordination mechanism with the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc., it is easy for hostile forces to take advantage of and incite, leading to instability. Projects in sensitive areas must have the assessment of the defense and police forces before approval.

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The National Assembly Deputies said that in Notice No. 4665/TB-VPQH dated November 27, 2025 of the National Assembly Office on the Conclusion of the National Assembly Standing Committee giving opinions on the Investment Policy of the National Target Program on new rural construction, sustainable poverty reduction and socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2026-2035, it was agreed to assign an agency to be the focal point and host of the Program; clarify the responsibilities of the Program host agency, clearly assign the agency in charge of each component, content and coordinating agency; request the Government to consider and pay attention to assigning the specialized Ministry in charge of state management of ethnic groups to preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies to implement Component 2.
However, the drafting agency has not yet accepted this content. Delegates asked the Drafting Committee to explain this issue because in reality, the role of the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions in implementing the program is very important.

“The goal is very big, the funding is not commensurate”

Regarding the capital source for implementing the program, most delegates also analyzed that, according to the Government's Report, the minimum central budget capital requirement to implement the Program for the 2026 - 2030 period is about 240,697 billion VND. However, the Government has only balanced and allocated 100,000 billion VND in the immediate future. During the operation process, the Government continues to balance the central budget to prioritize additional support for the Program in accordance with reality, ensuring sufficient resources to implement the assigned goals and tasks.

3(1).jpg — National Assembly Delegate Cao Thi Xuan (Thanh Hoa) speaks. Photo: Dao Canh

According to the delegates, the Government needs to clarify this issue further, because the mobilized capital will directly impact the implementation results and set goals of the Program. The set goals must be consistent with the resources. In case the state budget cannot balance the minimum capital needs, it may lead to failure to achieve the goals and not ensure the principle of clear people, clear work, clear responsibilities, clear time, clear results.

Because the current capital that can be definitely allocated for the Program only accounts for 41.5% (VND 100,000/VND 240,697 billion) of the minimum capital to implement the Program. Thus, if not balanced and supplemented, it will be difficult to complete the set goals; on the other hand, this allocated capital is much lower than the total central budget allocated for the 2021 - 2025 period for the 3 programs.

Commenting on this issue, National Assembly Delegate Cao Thi Xuan (Thanh Hoa) also said: the program's objectives are very large but the allocated budget is very small. We only need to compare with the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period approved by the National Assembly in Resolution 88/2019/QH14 and Resolution 120/2020/QH 14 to see that with a capital of 100,000 billion VND, it is difficult to ensure the objectives to implement 3 very large programs at the same time.

Accordingly, delegate Cao Thi Xuan suggested that the Government should carefully consider and review to ensure stability, continuity, multi-objectives, inheritance and consistency of all three programs with the principle of "focus and concentration".

1(2).jpg — National Assembly Deputy Mai Van Hai (Thanh Hoa) speaks. Photo: Dao Canh

In addition, the Government's determination that local budget capital accounts for 33%; capital mobilized from enterprises and communities accounts for 28% of the total capital of the Phase I Program is too large, creating pressure for disadvantaged provinces, ethnic minority and mountainous areas whose regular budget expenditures mainly depend on support from the central budget.

In fact, in the mountainous areas with difficulties, there are very few businesses coming to invest, so mobilizing social capital is very difficult. Delegate Cao Thi Xuan requested the Government to report and clarify the basis for determining the total resources mobilized to implement the Program and the capital structure to ensure the feasibility of the program.

Agreeing with the opinion of delegate Cao Thi Xuan, National Assembly member Mai Van Hai (Thanh Hoa) said that many mountainous provinces have limited budget conditions, mobilizing local capital will be very difficult. This is the problem of how to make capital sources meet the implementation of the major goals set out in the program. Delegate Mai Van Hai proposed the need to diversify capital sources, not only relying on the state budget but also mobilizing from economic sectors, enterprises, banks, and people.

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