Rural transport development helps promote poverty reduction

The event aimed to gather opinions of NA deputies, experts, scientists, and managers on the current rural transport development and issues in the coming time.

Participants said transport has significantly contributed to promoting socio-economic development in general and serving agricultural production and rural development in particular.

 Rural transport development helps promote poverty reduction.

In recent years, capital sources for developing rural transport infrastructure have been increasing, including ODA. The Government has spent a remarkable amount of ODA capital for rural transport projects.

In the last five years, about 48 trillion VND (2.1 billion USD) was poured into rural transport, up over 10 trillion VND from those for the 2005-2010 period. The ODA capital for rural transport accounted for between 10 percent and 15 percent of the total source for transport construction.

Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong underlined the importance of stepping up transport development, which he described as a foundation for developing other sectors.

While highlighting the role of rural transport in poverty reduction, deputy head of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Affairs Bui Si Loi affirmed the NA and Government need to continue prioritizing investment for transport development, and consider the work as part of activities to promote sustainable poverty reduction.

Deputy head of the NA Council of Ethnic Affairs Nguyen Lam Thanh emphasized the involvement of local people and authorities in rural transport development.