Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan visited Brazil to learn from the country’s experience in sustainable poverty reduction, as shared by the Brazilian ministries of social development, hunger prevention and education.

The Deputy Prime Minister’s visit from April 16-18 is part of a programme to survey experience in poverty reduction in Brazil held by the World Bank and the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) in collaboration with relevant Brazilian ministries.

Within the programme’s framework, Deputy PM Nhan toured Rio de Janeiro, which is the first state to implement the national poverty reduction programme. He also visited several establishments registered to Bolsa Familia, the programme providing allowances for the poor, and the management system and units providing consultancy to those who are in difficult circumstances or facing violence.

At his meetings, the Deputy PM stressed the Vietnamese Government gives high priority to poverty reduction and said the country has obtained achievements in the field that were recognised around the world.

He spoke highly of Brazil’s efforts in poverty reduction, saying that he attributed the country’s achievements to strong coordination between relevant ministries and grassroots agencies to form task teams to help the poor.

Brazil also built a national database on the poor, in order to effectively implement work relating to poverty reduction, health care and improvement of education for the poor, he said.

On this occasion, MoLISA Deputy Minister Doan Mau Diep and Deputy Minister of Social Development and Hunger Prevention Romulo Paes de Sousa signed an action plan to realise the memorandum of understanding on fighting poverty signed by the two countries on July 10, 2008 in Hanoi .

Thanks to the Brazilian government’s policies on combining economic development and poverty reduction, about 28 million Brazilian people escaped from poverty. About 16 million others remain under the poverty line. The country is striving to become the first developing country in the world to meet its poverty reduction target according to the first UN millennium development goal./.