Pham Minh Thu (Ms) Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam

Politic and History  Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV)  In the cause of national building, the Vietnamese also had to cope with the foreign aggression. Vietnam had been dominated by different Chinese dynasties for more than a thousand years. In the 19th century, through missionaries and trade, the French gradually dominated Vietnam. Vietnam became a semi-feudal colony for nearly 100 years from 1858 to  In 2 nd September 1945 with first independent proclamation Of President Ho Chi Minh and the famous : “Nothing is more valuable than independent and freedom”. But it is not the end of war because of American colony in Southern part of Vietnam.  Unification in 1975 (from 2 separated parts: the North and the South) after the victory of the historic Ho Chi Minh Operation  54 ethnics with Kinh – 85%, Chinese-3%;Tay: 1.9%; Thai: 1.7%  Member of ASEAN, APEC and WTO

Location and Population  Viet Nam is long and narrow, with a 1,400- mi. coast. About 24% of country is readily arable, including the densely settled Red R. valley in the N, narrow coastal plains in center, and the wide, often marshy Mekong R. Delta in the S. The rest consists of semi- arid plateaus and barren mountains, with some stretches of tropical rain forest.  Total square: km with border with China in the north, with Lao in the west, with Cambodia in the southwest and other with the sea. 64 provinces.  2008, 12 th in the world, 8 th in the Asia and 3 rd in the ASEAN with total population more than 86 million peoples and 260 peoples/km2

Vietnam Smiles

Economic Overview  Growth rate : ~8%/year, 2008:6.2%; 2009: 5.5% -estimated(int. crisis)  Industrialization and modernization, share of GDP contribution ( ) : Agriculture28%22% Industry30%40% Service42%38%  Economy Reform in 1986, open the economy for Private development and Foreign Investment Sector, share of GDP contribution ( ) State40%34% Private53%47% FDI7%19%

Export-oriented economic development ItemsVolume/ValueRanking (in the world) Crude oil10.7 billion $ Textile &Garment9.1 billion $10 Footwear4.7 billion $4 Seafood4.5 billion $9 Rice6.2 million ton/ 2.9 bill $2 Wooden products2.8 billion $ Electronic parts2.7 billion $ Coffee2.1 billion $2 Rubber1.6 billion $5 Coal1.4 billion $ Shelled cashew nut911 million $1

Poverty and Living Standard  GDP per capita: 1034$ (2008) – ppp: 3100$  Poverty rate: 58% (1992)  37% (1998)  29% (2002)  19% (2005)  11% (2009)  Who are the poor: Rural : 15% vs Urban: 2.8% Minority Ethnic: 30% vs Kinh&Chinese: 6%

Government Intervention  National Target program on Poverty Reduction  Credit: preferential credit for the poor  Extension: target all the farmers  Health: Health card for the poor (free of charge)  Education: Free for the children of the poor HHs  Vocational Training: for the poor  House and clean water: for the poor  Infrastructures: coastal and island communes with special difficulties.  Legal support for the poor  Program support to ethnic minorities and high mountainous, remote communes with special difficulties  Development of production  Infrastructure  Capacity Buliding  Livelihood Improvement

Government Intervention  Total budget for 2 programs (2008): 2,300 billion VND ~ 128 mil. $ - cover 2.2% State Budget Expenditure  Set up poverty line on basic needs (2100Kcal added non- food needs) and identification poor Households

NGOs Intervention  Donors Conference was carried out every year  Support to Policy Design Improvement, not Policy Implementation, Poverty Analysis and recommend to the Government  Many activities on projects in small areas: develop the production model, develop the handcraft production and vocational for rural people, esp. for women, community development

Infrastructures –biggest component  Government give every special commune amount of money for infrastructure building: about $/year – from to  5 type of infrastructure could be chosen: electricity, road, school, health center or extension center.  The communes discuss what will be built, how to build, take part as a worker with salary, monitor the building progress and take the maintenance of the building

Challenges – Environment new/ died every year by cancer

Challenges – Cultural and Social Values

Xin chao! Cam on!