Unified policy on integrating 3 national target programs

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh affirmed that integrating three national target programs into one unified program will help synchronize resources and improve the efficiency of public investment.

On the afternoon of October 15, at the Government headquarters, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh and Deputy Prime Ministers Tran Hong Ha and Mai Van Chinh chaired a meeting with leaders of relevant ministries and branches to study and consider merging three national target programs: New rural construction, sustainable poverty reduction, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Attending the meeting were Minister of Ethnic Minorities and Religions Dao Ngoc Dung; Acting Minister of Agriculture and Environment Tran Duc Thang and leaders of several central ministries and branches.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh and Deputy Prime Ministers Tran Hong Ha and Mai Van Chinh co-chaired a meeting with leaders of ministries and branches on studying and considering the merger of three national target programs. Photo: VGP/Nguyen Hoang

Three national target programs have overlapping scope and targets.

The National Target Program on New Rural Construction for the 2021-2025 period was approved by the National Assembly in its investment policy in Resolution No. 25/2021/QH15 dated July 28, 2021.

The National Target Program on Sustainable Poverty Reduction for the 2021 - 2025 period was approved in Resolution No. 24/2021/QH15 dated July 28, 2021.

The National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 Period was approved by the National Assembly in its investment policy in Resolution No. 120/2020/QH14 dated June 19, 2020.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh. Photo: VGP/Nguyen Hoang

In recent times, the implementation of these programs has achieved many positive results, contributing significantly to socio-economic development. The program on new rural construction and sustainable poverty reduction has basically achieved and exceeded the assigned goals and targets for the period 2021 - 2025. The program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021 - 2030 (phase I) completed 6/9 groups of targets.

Leaders of the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment reported on the overall assessment of the implementation situation, pointing out the overlap in scope, objects, and investment content between the three programs; at the same time, proposed appropriate integration, consolidation, and consolidation plans to ensure effective use of capital and avoid overlap.

According to some delegates, the programs are all aimed at mountainous communes, poor ethnic minority areas, and communes that are both rural and poor. Infrastructure investment, livelihood support, and vocational training have many overlapping contents.

Deputy Minister of Ethnic Minorities and Religions Y Vinh Tor reports at the meeting. Photo: VGP/Nguyen Hoang

The independent implementation of three programs in the past has caused resources to be dispersed, slow disbursement of public investment capital; caused difficulties for localities in planning, reporting, and mobilizing counterpart funds; overlap in management and supervision, reduced investment efficiency, and failed to take advantage of the complementarity between programs.

Integration to synchronize resources, improve investment efficiency

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha commented that all three current national target programs are aimed at similar groups of subjects and areas, mainly rural areas, mountainous areas and ethnic minority areas, where the poverty rate is highest. When approving, the National Assembly requested to clearly define the content, subjects, and areas; integrate policies and resources to ensure synchronous allocation, suitable to regional characteristics.

He emphasized that the review and adjustment of programs should be carried out in the direction of integrating related content, especially in the fields of education, health, culture and sustainable poverty reduction, with higher priority given to rural areas and ethnic minority areas.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha. Photo: VGP/Nguyen Hoang

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha proposed two ways of implementation. First, defining a number of common goals for all three programs, in which the national target program for sustainable poverty reduction is nationwide, while ethnic minority areas are given more priority. Second, clearly defining goals, tasks and decentralizing specific tasks to localities is a fundamental solution to overcome overlapping and fragmentation, improve the efficiency of public investment and ensure that national target programs achieve substantial and sustainable results. The central government focuses on issuing policies, inspecting, monitoring and evaluating results.

Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh agreed on the policy of integrating three programs into a new program, with a common goal but consisting of two components: New rural areas - poverty reduction and ethnic minorities. In particular, ethnic minority and mountainous areas will have specific policies, retaining unique cultural elements, eliminating overlapping content with the new rural and poverty reduction programs.

Deputy Prime Minister Mai Van Chinh. Photo: VGP/Nguyen Hoang

Concluding the meeting, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh affirmed that the integration of the three programs brings many advantages and clearly identified the difficulties to overcome. "The preparation and proposal for merger and integration must be very methodical, elaborate, and quick, but must ensure quality to be submitted to superiors for consideration and decision," he emphasized.

According to Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh, the research and proposal for the merger must carefully review the content of the three programs and other target programs, in the context of changes in administrative boundaries and legal status of government levels; at the same time, strengthen decentralization, delegation of power, and strong determination of authority.

He requested to keep all the objectives, targets and policies approved by the National Assembly for all 3 programs, extending the implementation period to 2035. Overlapping content will be eliminated and the rest will be kept intact, and the new program will not have to be rebuilt or re-approved from the beginning, but will have 2 components. The steering agencies of the 3 programs are the Government and participating ministries; the Ministry of Finance will be the general focal point.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/thong-nhat-chu-truong-tich-hop-3-chuong-trinh-muc-tieu-quoc-gia-10308285.html