Chairman of the Government Committee for Ethnic Affairs Giang Seo Phu has called on localities to pay more attention to appointing ethnic minority officials and attracting more students and intellectuals from the communities into the local political system.

He also called for greater policy support from the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region for new rural area development, hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

In a working session on April 5 with the committee in charge of social and economic development in the southwestern region held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, Phu also highlighted the importance of improving education levels among ethnic minority communities.

Land policies should also be adjusted to meet local requirements, he added.

Ha Huu Lien, head of the steering committee's department for ethnic and religious affairs, said that the southwestern region comprised of 1.4 million ethnic minority people, accounting for 8 percent of the region's population, with 12 religions.

Lien said that the rate of poor households among ethnic minorities had decreased from 36.6 percent in 2011 to 16.47 percent in 2014.

The ethnic minority people have gained achievements in economic development and education, he said.-VNA