Decision No. 186/2001/QD-TTg dated December 07, 2001 of the Prime Minister on the socio-economic development in the six northern mountainous provinces meeting with great difficulties in the 2001-2005 period

DECISION

ON THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE SIX NORTHERN MOUNTAINOUS PROVINCES MEETING WITH GREAT DIFFICULTIES IN THE 2001-2005 PERIOD

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

Considering the proposals of the ministers of: Agriculture and Rural Development; Planning and Investment; and Finance, and the minister-chairman of the Committee for Ethnicities and Mountainous Areas,

DECIDES:

Article 1.-The socio-economic development in the six northern mountainous provinces meeting with great difficulties, including Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Son La and Lai Chau, in the 2001-2005 period, aims to bring into full play potentials, advantages in terms of geographical position, land, climate, forest and mineral resources’, as well as human resources in the region; combine socio-economic development with the implementation of ethnic minority policies, step by step improve and raise the people’s living standards; protect the ecological environment in the region and the lower section in the northern delta, and contribute to firmly maintaining security and defense. The specific objectives till the year 2005 are:

1. To basically settle burning daily-life and social problems of the six provinces: poverty, nomadism, unchecked migration; slash-and-burn farming; shortage of water for production and daily-life use; re-growing of opium poppy; travel, schooling and medical examination and treatment for inhabitants.

2. To step by step develop infrastructures in association with the development of the commodity economy, contributing to raising the inhabitants living standards, gradually narrowing the gap between the region and other regions across the country.

3. Gross domestic product (GDP) shall rise 1.7 times against 2000, with an average increase of about 9.9% a year, of which the industry shall grow 15.5%, agriculture and forestry 5.7%, and services 13.1% a year. Per capita GDP shall increase by 1.5 times over 2000.

4. The sectors GDP ratios shall be: agriculture and forestry 43.3%, industries and construction 20.7%, services 36%; total export turnover shall rise 17.76%.

5. There shall be no households suffering from chronic hunger; the percentage of poor households shall be kept below 17%.

6. Most of zone III communes shall have motorways leading to commune centers; 100% of communes shall have telephone lines to their centers; 70% of rural population shall have clean water; over 75% of communes shall have electricity lines to their centers.

7. To upgrade and solidify commune health stations, ensuring that 100% of communes have health stations suitable to the regions economic, geographic conditions, ecological environment and medical examination and treatment requirements; to cut the rate of malnourished under-five children to below 33%.

8. To consolidate the results of primary education universalization and illiteracy eradication. To mobilize school age children to go to school: primary education 95%, basic secondary education 79% and general secondary education 40%; 100% of villages and hamlets shall have classrooms, and communes shall have classrooms solidified; and 15% of laborers working in the economic branches shall have got training

9. To better deal with social problems, raise the people’s knowledge and markedly improve their spiritual life, especially the cultural life of ethnic minority people.

10. To well prepare resettlement areas and conditions for people living at the reservoir of Son La hydro-electric plant.

Article 2.-Development of economic and social infrastructures

1. To concentrate on developing infrastructures in service of production development and improvement of the peoples life; first of all, to focus on planning and mobilizing every resource for communications development, considering it a breakthrough in the region’s socio-economic development in the 2001-2005 period and afterwards.

The objectives for traffic investment in the 2001-2005 period are: To link all lines so as to form an unbroken and interconnected traffic network among provinces, between provinces and districts, districts and communes; to invest in building graded national highways sections with 90% of the national highway surface and 60-80% of provincial road surface to be asphalted; 100% of communes or commune clusters shall have motorways with asphalted, cement concrete or graded surface leading to their centers, solidify bridges, culverts and underground projects. To invest in upgrading and renovating railway, aviation and waterway lines in the region. To prioritize investment in traffic routes leading to border lines and border-belt areas, border patrol paths, and roads leading to commodity production areas. To continue investment in renovating and upgrading national highways No. 6, 2, 3, 4, 12, 32A, 32B, 32C, 34, 37, 70, 279, Xipaphin-Muong Nhe-Pac Ma road, Lai Chau province, with priority given to investment in such sections as national highway 6 (Hoa Binh - Son La section), upgrading and expanding the national highway between Lao Cai and Doan Hung, Phu Tho province, with a view to stepping up the economic relations between Vietnam and southern provinces of China, national highway 2 (Tuyen Quang- Ha Giang), national highway 3 (Bac Kan-Cao Bang), national highway 4D (the section between Pa So, Lai Chau, and Ban Phiet, Lao Cai), national highway 4C (the section linking Lao Cai, Ha Giang and Cao Bang), national highway 32 (Lao Cai-Lai Chau section), national highway 34 (Cao Bang-Ha Giang section), national highway 37 (the section in Son La), national highway 70 (Dau Lo-Ban Phiet section), national high way 279 (the section in Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Son La, Lai Chau) and a number of other necessary road sections.

2. Regarding irrigation projects: To repair and upgrade existing projects, invest in new ones, with priority given to projects to expand the rice cultivation acreage, supply water for industrial and other plants as well as for daily-life activities. To continue investment simultaneously in small reservoir projects and key projects linking with canals and ditches, in solidifying canals and ditches, in small irrigation projects in communes meeting with great difficulties. To start building a number of projects: Son La flood drainage project, Chieng Khoi reservoir, Son La pilot tea watering project, Na Hy irrigation in Lai Chau, clusters of irrigation projects in Cho Don, Bac Kan, Xin Man and Yen Minh, Ha Giang, Ly Van Ha Lang, Bac Trung Khanh, Cao Bang, Coc Ly and the irrigation system in Than Uyen, Lao Cai. To prioritize investment in building anti-erosion embankments along rivers, streams and for border milestones.

3. Regarding infrastructural projects in communes covered by Program 135; on the basis of the planning to rearrange the population, develop production, it is a must to well integrate them with other programs and projects in the localities in order to make investment in infrastructural projects of the Program.

To invest in schools in the centers of commune clusters, including classrooms, dwelling houses-cum-offices for teachers, hostels for pupils; crèches and kindergartens in communes (if required); regional and commune health stations, including dwelling houses-cum-offices for health workers.

4. To give investment capital priority to building infrastructures in the resettlement areas at the reservoir of Son La hydro-electric plant, with a view to providing inhabitants with all conditions to develop production, soon stabilize a better life than in their old living places.

5. To concentrate on investment in building social and economic infrastructures in communes in the former resistance bases so as to create conditions for production development and raising the living standards of inhabitants in the area, gradually narrowing the gap between the area and other areas.

6. To attach importance to investment in projects in service of cultural, public addressing and television broadcasting activities as well as sport facilities, culture houses, serving local festivals, promoting cultural traditions and preserving the national identity.

7. To prioritize investment in educational and job training establishments, in the research into and application of transferred technical and technological advances to production and people’s life, first of all in the fields of creation of plant and animal varieties, technologies of preservation and processing of agricultural and forestry product, exploitation and processing of minerals.

8. To develop the urban network along the direction of investing in the region’s urban centers like the provincial towns of Son La, Moc Chau, Cao Bang, Dien Bien Phu, Lao Cai, Ha Giang, and Bac Kan. To form new urban centers on the basis of developing specific economic zones such as border economy, tourism, mining industries, hydroelectric and other industrial clusters. To develop the networks of district townships at the district centers and in commodity production areas. To build commune centers which shall function as economic, cultural and service hubs in each population cluster. To upgrade the water supply and drainage systems in urban centers.

To step by step form industrial clusters at the heart of urban centers and concentrated industrial plant areas: Son La, Moc Chau towns (Son La), Dien Bien Phu, Tam Duong towns (Lai Chau), Tang Loong industrial park, the border-gate industrial park (Lao Cai), Ha Giang town, Cao Bang town and Ta Lung border-gate industrial cluster (Cao Bang).

9 To modernize the postal and telecommunications network along the direction of synchronization and digitalization so as to meet the domestic and international communication demands.

Article 3.-Orientations for economic development and restructuring

I.For agricultural production, forestry and aquatic resources

The growth rate of production value shall be 6.63%, on the basis of the production restructuring, to tap the region’s advantages, increase the yield per cultivation land acreage unit by more than two times over 2000. On the basis of continued development of food in localities where conditions permit, concentrate efforts on developing agricultural products which can substitute imports, such as cigarettes, milch cows, vegetable oil’, to continue to strongly develop agricultural and forestrial goods with export edge like tea, Arabica coffee, pulp and paper, wooden products, thus contributing to increasing the export value.

1. Regarding food production:The production output shall be about 1.3 million tons, with efforts concentrated on developing hybrid maize (protein-rich maize strains in particular), high-yield cassava along the direction of commodity production so as to supply enough food and increase incomes for local people.

To stabilize the existing acreage, apply intensive farming measures and quickly multiply hybrid rice varieties, continue expanding the wet rice and dry rice cultivation areas in places where conditions permit. To prioritize the construction of small- and medium-sized irrigation projects, reclaim virgin land and renovate rice fields, create terraced rice fields for on-the-spot production of food for people in remote and deep-lying areas.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall direct its scientific research establishments and breeding establishments together with the localities to quickly multiply new strains, especially hybrid rice, drought-resistant rice, hybrid maize, cassava varieties with high yield and high quality in order to supply enough strains to meet the people’s production needs.

2. Regarding industrial crops:

a/ Tea: To concentrate efforts on practicing intensive farming in the existing areas under tea, gradually replace the existing tea varieties with new ones having the yield and quality suitable with the domestic and foreign markets. To develop the growing of high-quality tea in highland areas so as to turn out rare and precious specialty tea products. By 2005 the acreage shall reach 34,000 ha and the annual output of raw tea shoots shall be about 120,000 tons. To continue investment in building and upgrading processing establishments, thereby increasing the value and quality of their products to be competitive in the world market.

b/ Arabica coffee: To concentrate efforts on practicing intensive farming in the existing areas, continue growing the tree in new areas in Son La, Lai Chau and Ha Giang provinces according to the planning and plans of the Arabica coffee development program funded with AFD loans.

c/ Sugarcane: To continue expanding the areas under sugarcane so as to ensure enough raw materials for the existing sugar mills. To apply the intensive farming methods, increase the percentage of areas under new sugarcane varieties, expand the watered sugarcane areas in places where irrigation projects exist. To survey and make preparations for elaborating a feasibility project on investment in building a raw material zone and a sugar mill in Lai Chau province in order to serve the resettlement of inhabitants living at the reservoir of Son La hydro-electric project.

d/ Mulberry tree: To concentrate efforts on restoring and developing the mulberry-growing and silkworm-raising areas, mostly in Son La in order to reach the mulberry acreage of about 2,000 ha and the cocoon and silkworm yield of about 800 tons by 2005. To invest in cocoon-spinning and silk-weaving establishments in association with raw material areas, aiming to create jobs and receive new settlers in the area.

e/ Tobacco: To develop the growing of high-quality tobacco in the provinces with favorable conditions like Cao Bang and Bac Kan, to supply raw materials for cigarette production plants and for export, contributing to hunger elimination and poverty reduction. By 2005, to reach about 2,000 ha with a production output of approximately 2,800 tons a year.

3. Regarding fruit trees:In the provinces in the region, which enjoy many favorable conditions, it is necessary to develop local specialty fruit trees like orange, mandarine, longan and temperate as well as subtropical fruit trees like peach, pear, plum and persimmon, contributing to the economic restructuring, hunger elimination and poverty reduction and opium poppy replacement. By 2005 there shall be about 55,000 ha under assorted fruit trees with an annual output of about 200,000 tons.

4. Regarding food trees:It is necessary to strongly develop soybeans and leguminous crops along the direction of specialized cultivation and focusing on commodity production. By 2005 there shall be about 100,000 ha with an output of about 300,000 tons a year.

5. Regarding forestry:To develop forestry is an immediate as well as long-term task, aiming to increase the forest coverage to 65%, protect the environment and water sources for big hydro-electric projects and the downstream Red River delta, forming a concentrated raw material zone for the paper and artificial plywood industries and a zone to be grown with big timber trees and specialty trees, thus contributing to increasing incomes and creating jobs.

To well protect forests and zone off existing forests for regeneration, including natural forests, protection forests, national gardens, nature conservation parks and forests already classified as historical relics. To take stringent measures to protect natural forests, especially primitive forests with rare and precious timber trees.

To plant about 160,000 ha of economic forests in service of the paper, wood-chip plank, artificial board and wood-processing industries. To apply scientific and technical advances to cross-breeding, especially the tissue culture and grafting technologies in order to quickly multiply plant varieties that have rapid growth rate, short cycle and high efficiency.

To strongly develop the trees like pine, cunninghamia chinensis, bamboo, eucalyptus, acacia for timber and raw materials for the paper, plywood and wood-processing industries; specialty trees such as cinnamon, mu oil, tea oil, anise, canari, chestnut, tea, north Vietnam snow-bell, and various specialty trees in localities where condition permits, in which investment shall be made to strongly develop the tea oil tree of high-yield varieties so as to not only enhance the protection capacity but also partly meet our country’s increasing demand for vegetable oils. To develop big timber trees in the outskirts of urban areas and along roads.

To continue the contracting of land and/or forests in a stable and long-term manner to organizations, individuals and households for growing, tending and protecting forests; step by step assign natural forest areas to households and communities (villages, hamlets, communes) for management and protection according to community rules.

6. Regarding husbandry:It is necessary to promote the strengths regarding land and pasture so as to develop cattle raising To carry out projects on development of the raising of beef cows and milch cows in Moc Chau (Son La) in association with renovating and upgrading milk-processing establishments in order by 2005 to have about a herd of 800,000 buffaloes and cows, including 5,000 milch cows. The development of husbandry in the region shall be largely based on households and farms. State enterprises, cooperatives and private economic organizations shall be engaged in the provision of breed, veterinary, agricultural promotion services and in the preservation, processing and sale of husbandry products.

7. Regarding aquatic resources:To make full use of the existing water surface, particularly the surface of the hydro-electric plant and irrigation reservoirs for aquatic resource development. Together with rearing indigenous fishes, it is necessary to quickly raise new fish species so as to create high-value products. To add breeding fish to reservoirs so as to restore and develop resources in association with eco-tourism and gene source conservation. The Ministry of Aquatic Resources shall direct the rapid multiplication of appropriate fish species to meet the people’s rearing needs.

II. On industries:

To develop industries in the region, chiefly agricultural and forestry product-processing, hydro-electric and mining industries.

1. The processing industry:To center on and prioritize the completion of the investment in building and upgrading agricultural and forestry product-processing establishments according to planning. The investment in processing establishments must rely on the consumption market and the capability of developing raw material zones. To invest in advanced and modern technologies and equipment which can turn out products suitable to consumer tastes, competitive on the domestic market, and exportable. Specifically:

On the basis of the development of raw material zones, to invest in building pulp and writing paper mills of a suitable size so as to ensure efficient production, thus actively contributing to implementing the State’s program on the paper industry.

To invest in building in Lao Cai an artificial board-processing factory with a capacity of about 30,000 m3 of products a year; to build in Son La, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Ha Giang and Lao Cai provinces each a bamboo plywood factory with a capacity of about 1,000 m3 of products a year, taking into consideration the market demands.

To renovate and upgrade the tea-processing plants in Son La, Lai Chau, Lao Cai and Ha Giang, the milk-processing plant in Moc Chau (Son La) and the silk-spinning plant in Son La.

2. The hydro-electric industry:

To continue carrying out research and investing in hydro-electric projects in association with irrigation, to prioritize investment in small-scale hydro-electric projects in localities where conditions permit. To complete the procedures and preparation for investment in and construction of Son La hydro-electric project so that the first turbine group can be put into operation by 2010.

3. The mining and chemical industries:

The Ministry of Industry shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the provinces in continuing the survey, prospection and additional assessment of the deposits and contents of assorted subterranean minerals and resources in these localities so as to work out effective exploitation plans and measures. To continue exploiting apatite at the existing exploitation sites in Lao Cai, exploring, assessing and opening new exploitation sites in order to raise the exploitation capacity to about 3.0 million tons a year by 2005, thus meeting the requirements of the ore-sorting plant with an annual capacity of 760,000 tons. To start building the copper ore exploitation and sorting project in Sinh Quyen (Lao Cai). To exploit other minerals in service of on-the-sport consumption as well as export demands, such as coal, rare earth (Lai Chau), gold (Lai Chau, Bac Kan), iron ore (Cao Bang, Ha Giang), antimony (Ha Giang), lead and zinc (Bac Kan).

4. The construction material manufacturing industry:

To focus on intensive investment in the existing cement plants, building the Son La cement plant with a capacity of about 500,000 tons/year, and a tunnel brick factory with a capacity of 10-15 million bricks/year so as to meet the needs of constructing a number of key projects as well as local consumption demands.

5. The mechanical engineering, cottage and handicraft industries

To reorganize the mechanical engineering production, make intensive investment in renewing equipment in existing mechanical engineering establishments, to increase first of all the industry’s capacity to repair and produce small mechanical tools in service of agricultural production and forestry. To restore and develop traditional cottage industries and handicrafts, improve patterns and designs, raise the quality of brocaded products made by ethnic minority people.

III. Trade, tourism and services

To promote the advantages of the border-gate areas, historical relics and scenic places in order to develop trade, tourism and services, generating a driving force for socio-economic development in the whole region.

1. Regarding trade:To continue implementing policies to develop trade in mountainous, island and ethnic minority areas. To finalize the policies laid down in the Government’s Decree No. 20/1998/ND-CP of March 31, 1998 on the development of trade in mountainous, island and ethnic minority areas.

To develop the trading network in the provinces, districts, centers of commune clusters and communes, and encourage all economic sectors to participate in the two-way circulation of goods, with a view to creating a driving force for production development, in which State enterprises must enhance their business efficiency and play a key role.

To open more bazaars. To invest in constructing border gates (international and local), border-gate economic zones, border bazaars as well as markets in border-gate economic zones. To invest in building and upgrading a number of trade centers and hinterland markets, combine traffic development with the population planning and rearrangement.

To accelerate border cooperation and commerce, activities of trading and exchanging goods, chiefly agricultural, forestry and aquatic goods, with China and Laos.

2.To concentrate intensive investment in existing tourist centers, select and make investment in places where conditions permit, tap the advantages in terms of eco-tourism, landscape and revolutionary historical relics in the region.

Article 4.-Education and training, health, cultural and social development

1. Regarding education:To raise the quality of comprehensive education at the general level, step by step approaching the national standard level. To increase the rate of school-goers among school-age children. To continue investment in building enough solid classrooms for all educational levels; for zone III communes, villages and hamlets, classrooms and school buildings shall be invested according to Program 135. All districts shall have boarding general education schools for ethnic minority children; the material bases of provincial-level boarding general education schools shall be reinforced, striving to reach the national standards. To develop semi-boarding schools and schools nursing handicapped children in the provinces. To strengthen and develop crèches and kindergartens. To center investment in strengthening the training capability and scale of Thai Nguyen University, invest in building Tay Bac University (Son La) and Bac Kan teachers college. To invest in upgrading and expanding existing vocational training schools and building a number of key vocational training centers in various towns and districts. All districts and cities shall have regular education centers.

2. Regarding health:To continue upgrading, renovating and constructing provincial-level hospitals in Bac Kan, Lai Chau, Son La and Ha Giang, upgrade district-level hospitals and regional general clinics, build in Son La a North-Western region health center; to add medical equipment to some hospitals, solidify and standardize 100% of commune health stations, health establishments in the centers of commune clusters, and regional general clinics.

3. Cultural and social affairs:To attach importance to investing in projects in service of culture, public-addressing and television broadcasting, and in sport facilities and culture houses in service of traditional festivals which promote the cultural traditions and national identities. To conserve and develop tangible and intangible cultures of the ethnic minorities in the region, strengthen grassroots cultural institutions in villages and hamlets by implementing the regulations on democracy. To strive for 80% of the families reaching the cultured family standards, 50% of the rural villages, hamlets and urban quarters reaching the national cultural standards. To build public-addressing broadcasting stations for all communes and commune clusters. To modernize equipment and increase the time amounts of broadcasting programs in ethnic minority languages in districts and provinces.

To effectively implement the national target programs on prevention and fight of crimes, HIV/AIDS and drug-related evils and prostitution.

4. Hunger elimination and poverty alleviation and job creation

The ministries, branches and particularly the provincial People’s Committees must work out concrete plans and measures regarding land, strains, capital, agricultural and forestry promotion work’so as to help poor households to escape from poverty.

To effectively implement the national program on hunger elimination and poverty alleviation and job creation, to create jobs for 220,000- 250,000 laborers by 2005.

5.Population planning and rearrangement, sedentarization, control of free migration and good preparation for resettlement zones for inhabitants displaced from the area of the reservoir of Son La hydro-electric plant.

First of all to plan and rearrange population on the basis of the 2001-2005 traffic development planning and the socio-economic development master plans of the localities; for border areas, this should be associated with security and defense tasks so as to form suitable population clusters and lines, district townships and centers and commune clusters centers. For areas where inhabitants live scatteredly, to mobilize them to move in villages or hamlets close to axial roads, where they have conditions for stabilizing production; for the immediate future, to concentrate efforts on well carrying out projects to stabilize the free immigrants life, send people back to border areas, combine production development with defense tasks.

To sedentarize and stabilize the life of about 7,000 ethnic minority households right in their current residence places. To basically finish the sedentarization work in the outlying and remote areas and former revolutionary base areas, and send people back to border areas; take practical measures to stabilize the life of local free immigrants and restrict people from freely migrating to the Central Highlands and coastal central provinces.

To expeditiously plan and formulate a sedentarization project for Son La hydro-electric plant along the direction of completing social and economic infrastructures (traffic, irrigation, water, schools, health stations), production land and residential land for reception of people to be relocated under Son La hydro-electric project, ensuring that when moving to new residential places, they shall have a better life and better conditions for production development than in their old places; for the immediate future, to well survey, design and elaborate model resettlement projects in Moc Chau in Son La province, Xi Pa Phin in Lai Chau province for expansion by 2002.

Article 5.-Enhancement of the State management effectiveness and effect, construction of a strong political system

To improve the quality of the political system, build administration apparatuses at all levels, particularly the grassroots level capable of directing, administering and managing all economic, daily-life and social aspects. To strengthen national unity, pay attention to promoting the role of village and hamlet chiefs.

To adopt policies on training and use of State officials and employees, primarily ethnic minority cadres from the provincial to grassroots level, policies to encourage them to come and work at the grassroots level. To regularly open training courses for village and hamlet officials so as to gradually raise their social administration capability and agricultural and forestry promotion knowledge, assisting inhabitants in developing production and stabilizing their life.

To enhance the State management effectiveness and effect concerning the management and direction of the implementation of economic and social plannings and plans, and the strict management of land, natural resources and the environment.

Article 6.-On a number of policies and solutions

1. Regarding investment and credit:

a/ On investment:

The State budget capital and ODA capital shall be invested chiefly in the following socio-economic infrastructures:

- On communications: To prioritize investment capital for traffic development in service of economic development, social, security and defense tasks, including national and provincial highways, roads leading to border areas, border belt roads, border patrol paths, roads leading to concentrated commodity zones, communes covered by Program 135, zone III villages and hamlets not belonging to communes covered by Program 135.

- On irrigation: Medium- and large-sized irrigation projects, source-creating projects and projects to supply water for daily-life use in urban centers, population areas and industrial parks. To provide interest rate support for ditch and canal solidification under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 66/2000/QD-TTg of June 13, 2000. To claim virgin land, renovate rice fields, build low-lying and terrace fields.

- Infrastructures in service of education, health, radio and television broadcasting

- Growing and tending of forests according to regulations.

- Program 135, the national target program on hunger elimination and poverty alleviation and job creation, the national target program on population and family planning, the national target program on education, training and vocational training, and the program on prevention and fight of some social diseases, dangerous diseases and HIV/AIDS.

- Border-gate economic zones under the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 53/2001/QD-TTg of April 19, 2001 on the policies towards border-gate economic zones.

- Economic-defense zones.

- Investment in scientific and technological development, agricultural, forestry and fishery promotion, and establishments engaged in breed creation and multiplication in service of production (including the breed import).

- Prospection, survey and additional assessment of mineral resources and other subterranean natural resources.

Each locality shall well organize the integration of the national target programs on its territory for effectively managing and using capital sources allocated from the State budget.

b/ The State’s development investment credit capital: To well implement the current provisions of the Government’s Decree No. 43/1999/ND-CP of June 29, 1999 on the State’s development investment credit and the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 02/2001/QD-TTg of January 2, 2001 on the policy on investment supports from the Development Assistance Fund for export production and processing projects and agricultural production projects; the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 133/2001/QD-TTg of September 10, 2001 issuing the Regulation on export support credits. It is necessary to give priority to providing enough capital for investment projects in this region, particularly projects focusing on tapping the region’s advantages and potentials in the domains of production and processing of agricultural and forestry products.

c/ Credit capital: The State Bank of Vietnam shall direct commercial banks to ensure sufficient capital for the capital-borrowing needs in the region, continue reforming the capital-borrowing procedures, work out concrete measures and send credit officials to personally guide people how to fill in capital-borrowing procedures so that they can manage to borrow bank loans. To coordinate with the Peasants Association in expanding the form of capital-borrowing groups so as to help peasants have better access to credit capital as well as efficiently use this capital source.

To inject more capital into the Bank for the Poor and the national target program on job creation in this region, and poor households, especially ethnic minority households, shall be given priority to borrow capital for production development and poverty alleviation.

d/ To encourage various forms of mobilizing capital from the population, capital of domestic investors for investment in increasing the production capacity, developing small- and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, farms and households.

2. A number of support policies:

a/ Regarding virgin land reclamation for field building: To support Lai Chau province to make investment in 10,000 ha and a number of other provinces in building terraced fields with 5 VND million per ha, and 2 million per ha for building permanent upland fields.

b/ Regarding plant and animal varieties: To support in a lump sum each province VND 10 billion for building right in 2002 establishments engaged in multiplying and producing plant and/or animal varieties (including importing varieties) of high economic value, such as high-quality tea, tropical fruit trees, specialty fruit trees, bamboo for shoots, eucalyptus for paper raw material, milch cow species, and other precious and rare plant and animal varieties.

c/ Regarding housing: The State shall implement the policy to support roofing sheets to improve housing conditions for ethnic minority households and policy beneficiary households which really face housing problems. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the relevant ministries and branches in formulating specific support policies and submit them to the Prime Minister in the first quarter of 2002. The provincial People’s Committees must draw up plans on mobilizing support from capable enterprises and people, and plans on full exploitation of forest timber trees at hydro-electric and irrigation reservoirs in order to help people build their houses so that after 2003 housing problems faced by ethnic minority households and policy beneficiary households shall be basically solved.

d/ Regarding the supply of water for daily-life use: Households living on the highlands and rock mountains, which face shortage of drinking water, mostly in Ha Giang and Cao Bang, shall be supported with VND 1 million each for building rainwater-containing tanks, so that by the end of 2002, the people shall all have adequate facilities for containing water for daily life use.

e/ Support for people returning to border areas and rearrangement of population:

- The support amount for people moving back to live and carry out production in border areas shall be VND 15 million/household.

- The support amount for relocating highland households to live in the lowland areas under various programs, re-arranging and stabilizing their lives permanently shall be VND 5 million/household.

f/ The policy on sedentarization, stabilization of free immigrants life, and development of new economic zones, and the policy on support for opium poppy elimination: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the relevant ministries and branches in finalizing these policies and submit them to the Prime Minister in the first quarter of 2002.

g/ Regarding the education policy: From 2002, to implement the following education policies towards ethnic minority children and communes meeting with special difficulties under Program 135 in the six provinces:

- Exemption from paying school building contributions and school fees. Support for textbooks, papers and notebooks.

- Compilation of coursebooks, textbooks, effecting of the teaching and learning in ethnic minority languages at different educational levels suitable to the characteristics of the region. To teach ethnic minority languages to teachers, health workers, State officials and employees, mass organization cadres and commune administration officials who are not ethnic minority people but work in areas inhabited by ethnic minority people.

- The State shall pay for all meal, lodging and learning expenses at ethnic minority boarding schools (in the districts and provinces). For children who are eligible for learning at boarding schools but learn at public or semi-public schools, they shall be granted scholarships equal to 50% of those of boarding pupils.

- Implementation of the policy on nomination, recruitment and use of ethnic minority children to attend vocational training, university and professional secondary education. Giving priority to those who voluntarily attend school then return to work in their native places, the administrations at all levels shall have to draw up plans, use and arrange local ethnic minority people to work at State agencies, mass, political and social organizations in the localities. To step by step strive that most of health workers and teachers in rural ethnic minority areas shall be ethnic minority people.

- Implementation of the housing policy towards teachers working in communes meeting with great difficulties in the region.

h/ Regarding healthcare:

- The State shall arrange budget so as to exempt ethnic minority people from paying any medical examination and treatment expenses at health stations, health centers and hospitals.

- For hungry and poor households of ethnic minority people in zone III communes, from 2002, they shall enjoy medical examination and treatment free of charge. The medical establishments shall effect payment of actual expenses from the funds of medical examination and treatment for the poor, which are set up by the provinces and managed by the provincial Health Services.

- To open formal courses of training of medical doctors for ethnic minority people in zones II and III. To adopt a proper allowance regime and implement the housing policy for health workers working at communes meeting with great difficulties in the region.

i/ Regarding culture:

- To provide more funding for the production of the local radio and television broadcasting programs and video press in ethnic minority languages to reach hamlets and villages, for the work of conserving and promoting ethnic cultural traits, including both tangible and intangible cultures.

- To increase the time volume of radio and television broadcasting in ethnic minority languages in the region.

- To provide funding support for art troupes, cinema shock teams to serve ethnic minority people, particularly in deep-lying, highland and border areas.

j/ Regarding policies towards various economic sectors:

- For State enterprises:

To well implement the arrangement, equitization, contractual sale and lease of State enterprises. For agricultural and forestry farms in the localities, to review their land funds, and, for the immediate future, transfer unused or ineffectively-used land areas to the localities for assignment to farmers in a stable and permanent manner. The remaining land areas must be assigned and contracted according to the Government’s Decree No. 01/ND-CP of January 4, 1995 and Decree No. 187/1999/ND-CP of September 16, 1999; agricultural and forestry farms shall be only engaged in the provision of strains, supplies, technical services and the processing and sale of agricultural products.

To provide current capital support for State enterprises according to the provisions of the Government’s Decree No. 20/1998/ND-CP of March 31, 1998 and other current regulations.

To continue developing State enterprises in combination with security and defense tasks, especially the continued formation and perfection of economic zones in association with defense tasks in crucial areas and along the borderlines so as to attract people (including local inhabitants and immigrants from elsewhere) to participate in production along the direction that people receive production land in association with population clusters, hamlets and villages in line with the production orientation and security and defense tasks. Each population cluster must truly be an economic and cultural center advancing along the direction of civilization and preservation of national traits.

- For cooperatives: To transform cooperatives according to the Cooperative Law, at the same time to quickly set up cooperation groups and cooperatives which farmers voluntarily join in order to assist one another in technical services, varieties, supplies, sale and processing of farm products.

- The household economy, farm economy and people-founded enterprises shall be encouraged and provided with conditions to develop in order to tap capital, technical and labor potentials. The localities must create favorable conditions for investors to invest in local establishments engaged in agricultural production and forestry, creating more jobs, increasing incomes for local inhabitants, and planting trees on uncultivated land and bare hills and mountains.

- To encourage enterprises and economic sectors to sign contracts with farmers on consumption of farm products and provision of capital and supplies services for production; first of all, production and business enterprises, organizations and individuals shall rely on people’s raw material zones to process farm and forestry products. A production organization mode must be worked out in order to unify the production-processing-consumption activities in the commodity production process in the market economy.

Article 7.-Organization of implementation

1. The provincial People’s Committees shall have to determine the contents of this Decision as major tasks of the local Party committees and administrations in order to concretize them into programs and plans of each specialized branch and each administration of the provincial, district or commune level, then organize the implementation thereof.

First of all, to select and determine a number of urgent target programs and specific contents in each locality so as to organize their implementation right in 2002 and work out specific plans for implementing the contents of this Decision in subsequent years.

The presidents of the provincial People’s Committees shall have to closely coordinate with the ministries and central branches in formulating and organizing the implementation of the set programs and projects.

2. The ministries and branches shall base themselves on their respective tasks and powers to assume the prime responsibility together with the provinces in the region to organize the direction of the implementation of specific programs and projects under the scope of their direction according to the objectives and contents of this Decision.

On the basis of the approved programs and projects, to make concrete annual plans and implement them immediately in 2002 so as to organize the direction, supervise and urge the implementation thereof according to the objectives of the programs and projects of this Decision.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance shall base themselves on the approved programs and projects to arrange annual capital investment plans for the implementation thereof according to the set objectives.

Article 8.-This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing.

Article 9.-The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, and the presidents of the People’s Committees of Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Bac Kan, Son La and Lai Chau provinces shall have to implement this Decision.