Workshop spotlights draft APEC action plan on rural-urban development

A consultation workshop took place in Hanoi on July 20, focusing on a draft action plan on rural-urban development to strengthen food security and quality growth in APEC economies.
Workshop spotlights draft APEC action plan on rural-urban development ảnh 1Farmers plant rice seedlings in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – A consultation workshop took place inHanoi on July 20, focusing on a draft action plan on rural-urban development tostrengthen food security and quality growth in APEC economies.

The event was held by the Institute of Policyand Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) and theInternational Cooperation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development. It was the fourth activity within the framework of the APECPolicy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS) in 2017.

Director of the International CooperationDepartment Tran Kim Long said as the host of APEC activities and the PPFS in2017, Vietnam has built a draft action plan for the APEC Strategic Framework onRural-Urban Development to Strengthen Food Security and Quality Growth,approved at APEC Peru 2016.

The growth quality in rural areas amidurbanisation and globalisation needs to be associated with income raisingopportunities, ensuring employment, forming local and regional chainconnectivity, and settling social issues such as gender equality, communityintegration and knowledge improvement, he noted.

At the workshop, participants discussed the maincontent and priorities that should be part of the draft action plan, includinginclusive economic development, social issues, sustainable management ofnatural resources, and State management efficiency.

Rural development and poverty alleviation inAPEC are considered important issues of almost all member economies. Theregion’s efforts in rural development and poverty elimination have so farresulted in encouraging outcomes.

However, there remains an array of challenges inthe region such as the global economic crisis, climate change and epidemicsthat have negatively affected the socio-economic situation, especially in ruralareas, and the stability in each member economy as well as the whole APECregion. They have also hampered the realisation of APEC goals and theMillennium Development Goals of the United Nations.-VNA
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