The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has targeted to cut the number of poor households by 1.5 to 2 percent per year while doubling annual per capita income of ethnic minority people to 50 million VND between 2014 and 2019.

The set targets were told at the second Ethnic Minority Congress (2014 – 2019) in Kien Giang on November 26.

The congress saw the presence of Government Committee for Ethnic Minorities Deputy Head Hoang Xuan Luong and 160 delegates representing over 250,000 ethnic people of the province.

Delegates also mapped out some other goals including new classroom buildings in every community; encouraging at least 96 percent of school-aged children to attend schools; and providing vocational training for over 40 percent of working-age population.

Kien Giang province is home to 1.7 million people of 27 minorities, of which ethnics account for 14.88 percent.

The province has been bumping thousands of billion VND to develop infrastructure and economy in far-flung areas where those people live, for example, the 200 billion VND (9.36 million USD) project to supply electricity for Khmer people and the construction of a boarding school with an investment of 50 billion VND (2.34 million USD) at the first phase.

In addition, through a series of provincial efforts to reduce poverty, the living standard of local ethnic people has been notably improved.

The province currently has 9 communes and 11 hamlets under the government’s poverty reduction Programme 135, compared to 18 communes and 12 hamlets in 2009.-VNA