Party General Secretary meets with ethnic minority exemplars

Hanoi (VNA) – Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong had a meeting in Hanoi on December 18 with 80 ethnic minority exemplars who are prestigious persons, intellectuals and entrepreneurs.

They are among 512 role models from the 53 ethnic minority groups in 52 provinces and cities nationwide who are honoured for their efforts and achievements.

The oldest is Mua A Pao of the Mong ethnic group, born in 1930, while the youngest is Khmer woman Thach Thi Kim Danh, born in 1992.

The delegates appreciated the Party, the State and all-level authorities’ attention to ethnic communities, affirming their absolute trust in the Party’s leadership.

They informed the Party leader about the works they have done such as encouraging local residents to keep solidarity and security, prevent social crimes, promote production, and protect the environment, helping children to go to school, building civilised lifestyle, and maintaining their ethnic groups’ cultural identities.

They asked the Party and State to continue supporting ethnic minority communities so as to improve their material and spiritual lives.

General Secretary Trong emphasised that the Party and State always pay attention to people of ethnic minorities and in mountainous and remote regions. Many programmes and policies targeting them have been issued and carried out effectively, especially those on poverty reduction, infrastructure building, and manpower training.

As a result, 98 percent of the communes in mountainous ethnic minority areas have been accessible by car while 98.5 percent have had medical stations and 94 percent have accessed electricity from the national power grid. All communes have had kindergartens as well as primary and junior high schools. The household poverty rate in ethnic minority areas has dropped to around 20 percent.

He partly attributed those attainments to efforts and wisdom of the prestigious persons, intellectuals and entrepreneurs.

He called on the honoured persons to continue encouraging their communities to uphold the patriotism tradition and solidarity to overcome difficulties, contribute to socio-economic development, and build a well-off and happy life.-VNA