Vietnam cannot fulfill the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in ethnicminority communities unless joint efforts are undertaken by allrelevant authorities, Vice Minister and Deputy Head of the Committee onEthnic Minority Affairs Son Phuoc Hoan said on October 8.

Speaking at a workshop in Hanoi aiming to outline a draft action planto accelerate the achievement of the MDGs in ethnic minoritycommunities, Hoan explained that despite the overall remarkable progressmade towards the MDGs, there was a significant disparity in resultsbetween the predominant Kinh ethnicity and minority ethnicities, as wellas between rural areas highly populated by ethnic minorities and urbanareas.

The United Nations Resident Coordinatorin Vietnam, Pratibha Mehta, said the action plan would act as a tool toset specific targets, identify challenges, rank priority measures andorganise financial resources in order to achieve the goals effectively.

The plan would also help Vietnam ensure thatresources for national programmes and strategies aimed at ethnicminority groups were used efficiently, she added.

At the workshop, participants provided feedback on the action plan,and proposed measures to address problems and accelerate theimplementation of the MDGs.

They suggestedrestructuring poverty reduction policies, investing more in education inethnic minority communities with a focus on teaching the Vietnameselanguage, and enhancing vocational training for young members of ethnicminority groups.

They also stressed the need tointegrate gender equality into socio-economic development programmes,increase access to reproductive health services for ethnic women, andboost afforestation and environmental protection efforts in the regionspopulated predominantly by ethnic minorities.-VNA