The Mekong Delta region aims to bring the rate of poor households to 4.5 percent in 2015, or down by 1.2-1.3 percent year-on-year, according to the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region.

To that end, localities will carry out policies, programmes and projects relating to poverty reduction simultaneously and effectively, considering poverty reduction an important task in socio-economic development.

They will combine the development of poverty reduction models with efforts to adapt to climate change, hold campaigns to encourage to the poor to work to rise out of poverty, and add the national goal programme on sustainable poverty reduction to others, particularly the one relating to new-style rural area building.

In 2014, the national goal programme on sustainable poverty reduction provided the localities with over 302 billion VND for the work.

The localities focused on intensifying vocational training for poor people as well as helping them find jobs and develop production.

By the end of the year, the region’s poverty rate was reduced to 5.6-5.8 percent, much lower than the country’s average level. At present, nine out of the 13 localities have the rate of below 5 percent, with Soc Trang recording the highest decrease rate of 4.5 percent.-VNA