Mr. Tran Quoc Vuong, Politburo member, Standing Member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee speaking at the event
At the opening of the conference, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee (PCC) and Head of the PCC Commission for Economics, emphasized: “Since its establishment, the Party's opinion is that economic development must be associated with the implementation of progress and social justice. From the Party's proper guidelines and policies towards disadvantaged groups in the process of economic development, the work of hunger eradication and poverty reduction in our country has achieved remarkable results in recent years.
The rate of poor households in multi-dimensional standards will be reduced to less than 3% by 2020. Vietnam has soon fulfilled the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, becoming a model for developing countries in poverty reduction.
Mr. Nguyen Van Binh made a speech at the conference
Among the implemented social policies, social policy credit is a bright spot, evaluated as an innovative, meaningful and suitable solution to Vietnam's practice. Directive 40 represents the Party's special interest in social policy credit and continues to affirm the Party's deep interest in the poor and other last-mile populations.
In the past 5 years, under the guidance of the Party and the Government, the timely advice of the State Bank of Vietnam and VBSP in implementation of Directive 40, all Ministries, agencies, local committees and authorities have made social policy credit an important part of their action plan. The Vietnam Fatherland Front and mass organizations firmly carried out communication, implementation and supervision of policy credit. Along with that is the participation of millions of party members in the role of a bridge to bring policy into life. The result of that consensus is a vivid picture that makes social policy credit more advanced and effective.
The report presented by Mr. Cao Duc Phat, PCC member, Standing Deputy Head of the PCC Commission for Economics at the conference makes it clearer that Directive 40 is the right policy of the Party and State, meeting the needs of the people, strengthening people's confidence in the Party and the State, contributing to achieving the goal of rapid and sustainable poverty reduction; building new countryside; ensuring social security, political stability, national security and defense; and narrowing the gap between rich and poor across regions and country.
Mr. Duong Quyet Thang made a speech in the conference
As a unit directly implementing credit programs for the poor and other disadvantaged groups, Mr. Duong Quyet Thang, member of the Board of Directors and VBSP General Director, said: “VBSP has done a good job of advising the Government, Prime Minister, Ministries, central branches, committees at all levels in the effective implementation of Directive 40 of the Secretariat in concentrating resources, perfecting mechanisms and policies in order to effectively implement social policy credit, and improve VBSP’s capacity and efficiency.
By June 30, 2019, total outstanding loans for social policy credit programs reached VND 219,565 billion, an increase of VND 90,109 billion (+ 69.6%) compared to the time before the Directive was issued. The total amount disbursed reached VND 336,944 billion with more than 12 million turns of poor households and other last-mile populations. Policy credit capital has been invested to 100% of communes, wards and towns across the country; in particular, giving priority to lending to communes in ethnic minority areas, extremely difficult areas, remote areas, border areas, etc., contributing to helping more than 2,1 million households surpass the poverty line; creating jobs for over 1.3 million workers; helping more than 24,000 laborers to work abroad for definite terms; nearly 346,000 disadvantaged students have opportunities to pursue their studies; building more than 7.3 million clean water and environmental sanitation works in rural areas, nearly 142,000 houses for the poor and other disadvantaged groups, and more.
Delegates at the conference
The Directive contributes to the successful implementation of the National Target Program on sustainable poverty reduction and new rural construction. Besides, the poverty rate in the 2011-2015 period decreased from 14.2% to 4.25%; the poverty rate based on the multi-dimensional poverty line decreased from 9.88% (in 2015) to 5.23% (in 2018). Especially, from 2016 to now, the poverty reduction rate always meets and exceeds the annual targets set by the National Assembly at the national target program on sustainable poverty reduction in the 2016-2020 period.
Directive 40 contributes to affirming that VBSP is a public financial institution, effectively implementing the Government's social policies. Social policy credit has really become a bridge between the Party and the people, creating the people's trust in the Party. Therefore, the relationship between the Party and the people is closer.
Mr. Alwaleed Fareed Alatabani, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, made a speech in the conference
Representative from World Bank in Vietnam, Mr. Alwaleed Fareed Alatabani, Lead Financial Sector Specialist, said: “This success is thanks to Vietnam’s careful study of global experience and finding its own path that is suitable for Vietnam's culture, history and social structure. It is the establishment of a strong leadership and partnership relationship between the Party committees, the Government authorities with VBSP and socio-political organizations from the central to local levels in the provision and supervision of policy credit. It is also the combination of credit with national target programs and projects to encourage economic development and application of new science and technology. The success of the implementation of social policy credit in Vietnam also contributes to Vietnam's early achievement of the millennium goals”./.