Dong Nai Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Celebrates its 65th Traditional Anniversary

The anniversary was attended by Acting Director of Area 3 – Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs Pham Van Thoi, Vice Chairwoman of Dong Nai People’s Committee Huynh Thi Nga, leadership representatives from departments, committees, and sectors, and more than 100 representatives for ethnic people in Dong Nai.

Individuals are awarded commemorative medals for their contributions to ethnic minority affairs

At the anniversary, Head of Dong Nai Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs reminisced about the traditions of Committees for Ethnic Minority Affairs in the country and in Dong Nai.

Dong Nai is a province with 31 ethnic minority communities living together.

In recent years, levels of Party committees and authorities have taken a special interest in ethnic people’s life.

Dong Nai Party Committee and People's Committee have issued a lot of directives and resolutions to ask sectors and levels of authorities to mobilize all resources and to successfully implement programs and projects initiated by the Central Government.

Program 135 is to facilitate socio-economic development that is applied to exceptionally poor communes.

The program’s first phase with a total investment capital of over VND760.76 million (US$36,307.9) has finished.

The second phase of program 135 applied in 70 exceptionally poor hamlets of 41 communes has brought enough standard schools and clinics to people here.

The program has assisted more than 6,000 poor households in improving environmental sanitation and bringing 2,200 children of these households to school.

A dancing piece performed by the students from the Ethnic Minority Boarding School

Since the implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision no.134 in 2004, Dong Nai has made support loans worth VND79.126 million (US$3,776.32) concerning housing, residential and productive land, fresh water and completed ten resettlement projects for 13,204 households.

Education policies have been implemented. Health care services for ethnic minority people such as issuing free health insurance cards and building clinics in 100 percent of communes and wards.

Ethnic minority groups’ cultural values ​​and great traditions continue to be preserved and promoted.

The training of ethnic minority people is concerned.

Thus, ethnic people’s materialistic and spiritual life in the province has been improved, and the rate of poor households falls by 3 to 4 percent annually, which makes ethnic people excited and have a strong belief in the Party and the government’s leadership.

Anniversary participants

Delivering his speech, Mr. Phung Van Xuong, a Cho Ro ethnic minority man expressed his great happiness and feelings and thanked the Party, the State and levels of authorities for their looking after and taking care of ethnic people, helping with production activities, making loans, having investment in infrastructure, and paying attention to providing ethnic people with a better health care service.

Attending and making a speech at the anniversary, Vice Chairwoman of Dong Nai People’s Committee Huynh Thi Nga highly appreciated Dong Nai’s past year achievements in ethnic minority affairs and the contributions of the staff in charge of ethnic minority affairs.

In addition, there have existed weaknesses in the implementation process of policies that need to be solved.

For example, a slow economic development in ethnic minority areas; ethnic people’s low income compared with the whole population’s average income; a high rate of poor households; infrastructure, and cultural and spiritual life’s failure to meet social development needs; national cultural identities in danger of extinction.

In the forthcoming time, levels of authorities and sectors, and government agencies in charge of ethnic minority affairs are required to further promote each unit’s responsibility in the implementation of the government’s policies and laws on ethnic minority affairs, requested Nga.

It is necessary to pay attention to strengthening management machinery, to training staff in charge of ethnic minority affairs, to education and training, to raising the public awareness, to seeking for more ethnic minority Party members, to offering a better health care service, and to preserving and promoting national cultural characters, added Nga.

Representatives for ethnic minority groups at the anniversary

On this occasion, 52 individuals were awarded commemorative medals for the development of ethnic minority affairs by Minister and Head of Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs.

Reported by Lien Huong, Translated by Duy Minh