Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the conference. Attending the central bridge were leaders of ministries, branches, and socio-political organizations, Son La Province, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Viet, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Thanh Cong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of several provincial departments and branches.

To date, the National Target Program on New Rural Development has fundamentally completed the goals assigned by the National Assembly and the Government. Of the 08 principal targets, 05 targets completed and exceeded, notably: 79.3% of communes meeting new rural standards; 51% of districts meeting standards or completing tasks; 24 provinces and cities have 100% of communes meeting standards; 12 provinces and towns recognized as completing the task of building new rural areas. In 2024, the average income of rural people is going to reach 54 million VND per person per year, with an anticipated increase to approximately 58 million VND per person per year in 2025.

The sustainable poverty reduction program has achieved and exceeded the set targets. Annually, the poverty rate according to the multidimensional poverty standard has decreased by an average of 1.03%. In poor districts, it has dropped by 6.7% annually, among ethnic minorities, it has declined by 4.45% annually. There have been 19 challenging disadvantaged communes and 03 poor districts that have escaped poverty. By 2025, there will be 19 more districts. Nationwide, there have been more than 10,500 livelihood models, supporting jobs for over 134,000 poor workers, exceeding the set target (at least 100,000 workers).

The movement "The whole country joins hands to build new rural areas", the movement "For the poor - No one is left behind", has been widely launched; there have been many good and creative ways of doing things, bringing practical results, and many advanced examples have been recognized and commended.

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that agriculture, farmers, and rural areas are three closely linked pillars and played a particularly crucial role in the sustainable and modern development of our country. Agriculture is the pillar of the economy; farmers are the economic center; rural areas are the productive foundation. The Prime Minister requested Party committees and authorities at all levels to focus on four tasks: perfecting institutions and policies suitable to the characteristics of agriculture and rural areas; developing infrastructure to serve production and life; training human resources, improving knowledge for farmers; and diversifying agricultural products in a green and clean direction to meet people's needs.

The Prime Minister also called on farmers to be pioneers in four areas: pioneering poverty alleviation, competing to get rich with their hands and minds; pioneering in building the image of civilized and modern farmers; pioneering in green, circular, and sustainable agricultural production and pioneering in digital transformation of agriculture and rural areas. He asked ministries, branches, and localities to strictly implement the guidelines of the Party Committee and mobilize the combined strength of the entire political system to effectively implement the two national target programs on new rural construction and sustainable poverty reduction.

 Quoc Tuan

Translated by Tuan Minh Dang