Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asked ministries and localities to make greater efforts to reach the goal of reducing the rate of poor households nationwide from 9.6 percent to 7.6 percent by the end of this year.

Ninh made the call while chairing an online conference between the Central Steering Committee for Sustainable Poverty Reduction and representatives from all the 63 cities and provinces nationwide on April 22.

To help the poor households in poor communes fall from 43.89 percent to 38.89 percent by year-end, the Deputy PM called on ministries and localities to review current regulations to ensure that they are effective and fair.

He stressed the importance of vocational training and job creation for the poor and asked cities and provinces to include these types of poverty reduction programmes into their local socio-economic development plans.

The Government has announced that it will reduce some financial subsidies for disadvantaged people and focus instead on implementing vocational training programmes as it looks to stimulate the role played by the poor in improving their own lives, he said.

He asked for the introduction of a time limit for the recipients of subsidies to demonstrate that they are making concerted efforts to improve the quality of their life.

If they fail to show their intention to work hard, their government support could be cut and given instead to other beneficiaries, he said.

Participants at the conference pointed out many shortcomings in the implementation of sustainable poverty reduction programmes, including inefficient investment, a lack of policies creating sustainable income for the poor, and slow issuance of support for near-poor families and those who are just escaping poverty.-VNA