Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asked the Central Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction to continue perfecting its policies in a bid to achieve positive changes in poverty reduction.

Ninh, who is head of the committee, made the call while chairing the committee’s conference in Hanoi on January 16 reviewing its work in 2014 and launch tasks for this year.

He stressed the need to continue implementing policies on sustainable poverty reduction and overcoming shortcomings in the work, including an overlap of mechanisms.

The committee should carry out a scheme to shift the poverty measurement method from the uni-dimensional to the multi-dimensional, he said, adding that the review of poverty reduction policies needs the involvement of all relevant ministries and agencies which make concrete proposals to improve the effective implementation of the policies.

Priority should be given rural and mountainous areas with high poverty rates, he noted.

According to a report delivered at the conference, 34.7 trillion VND (1.65 billion USD) was invested in reducing poverty in 2014. As a result, the country’s poverty rate was brought down to 5.8 percent and that of poor districts fell to 33.2 percent.

In 2015, the committee set a goal of bringing the national rate of poor households down to below 5 percent and that of poor districts to below 30 percent.

In 2016-2020, it aims to reduce the national poverty rate by 1-1.5 percent each year and increase poor people’s access to basic social services. Infrastructure in poor districts and communes will be improved while the income of poor households is expected to double the 2015 level.-VNA