Attending the seminar was Prof.Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh, Vice President of the Academy; Mr. Salman Zaidi, Director, Asia-Pacific Region for Poverty and Equity, WB; Dr. Obert Pimhidzai, Economist, WB in Viet Nam and WB staff in Vietnam and staff from VASS (Institute of Sociology, Vietnam Institute of Economics, Institute for Human Research, Center for Analysis and Forecasting, World Institute of Economics and Politics).
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On behalf of the Academic Leaders, opening remarked at the seminar, Prof.Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh warmly welcomed the participation of the participants; at the same time, he affirmed that poverty alleviation is a national program, receiving the attention and guidance of the Party and State of Vietnam and many ministries, sectors and levels as well as all people. Vice President of VASS highly appreciated the political determination and achievements of Vietnam's economic growth which contributed positively to poverty reduction in the recent past. However, growth has also increased social resentment in terms of opportunities and incomes; therefore, Vice-President emphasized the need to further promote research on growth, poverty reduction and social justice to propose appropriate arguments, solutions and policies in the new context in Vietnam and the world today.
In addition, Prof.Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh stressed the role of VASS in promoting academic exchange, sharing research ideas with national and international scientists on issues of mutual interest. He also appreciated the scientific cooperation between VASS and WB in recent years; the new findings and assessments of economic and social development in Vietnam (WB in Vietnam implemented) which was the important contributions to research and policy advice of VASS in the coming time.
At the seminar, Dr. Obert Pimhidzai presented the report "The New Step - Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Vietnam". The report pointed out that in six years, 1.8 million ethnic minorities in Vietnam escaped from poverty, down from 8.4 million in 2010 to 6.6 million in 2016. Of the 9.1 million poor people in Vietnam in 2016, ethnic minorities made up 72% equivalent to 6.6 million. The Northern Mountain regions and the Central Highlands were home to 56% of the poor in the whole country.
The World Bank report also showed that the percentage of the poor who are declining in every region in both urban and rural areas. Annual poverty reduction in the period 2014 - 2016 is 1.85% higher than the target of the National Target Program. Meanwhile, the overall poverty rate in Vietnam decreased more than 3.5% to 10%. In addition, the rural poverty rate for the period 2014 - 2016 was also reduced by 5% and in urban areas by 2.2%. Accordingly, although ethnic minorities have reduced poverty, they still faced many challenges. According to the report, less than 32% of ethnic minorities aged 20 - 24 have post-secondary education; 45% of ethnic minorities have been approached to hygienic toilets (compared to 89% for Kinh ethnic people and Chinese).
Moreover, Dr. Obert Pimhidzai also analyzed the poverty reduction program (the creation of wage-earning jobs is a way of maintaining income growth from wages, enhancing agricultural transition and changing land use policies, and equal access to education). This would ensure that 98% of people above the poverty line in 2014 didn't become poor again in 2016 and pointed out that not only was poverty escaping but also developed economic and improved life quality.
The seminar has received many opinions and discussion of the participants. VASS scientists highly appreciated the results as well as the positive contributions of the research team (Report by the World Bank in Vietnam); especially the notable findings on 62% poor people who are earning salaries, thus suggesting issues related to the environment, immigration, ethnic minorities, multidimensional poverty, industrial revolution 4.0... which should be studied in depth to address other aspects of poverty reduction in Vietnam.
At the end of the seminar, Prof.Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh expressed his sincere gratitude to the World Bank's experts in Vietnam for spending time researching and sharing studies results with VASS scientists. The results of the study shared by Dr. Obert Pimhidzai would be a valuable source of reference for academics, contributing to proposed research directions on poverty reduction and towards shared prosperity in Vietnam in the future.
Nguyen Thu Trang
