Secretary General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) Angel Gurria has hailed Vietnam as a success in
meeting millennium development goals (MDGs) and taking new approaches to
social cohesion and poverty reduction.
At the
OECD Global Forum on Development that began in Paris on April 4,
Gurria said the world has made great strides in alleviating poverty, yet
the global crisis is posing challenges in implementing the OECD’s
post-2015 development vision and 2050 environment strategy.
He said the significant event will discuss ways on how to step up the
fight against poverty for a sustainable environment and comprehensive
development.
Tring Cong Khanh, head of the Ethnic
Minority Policy Department under the Vietnamese Government’s Committee
of Ethnic Minority Affairs, said thanks to initial successes in
fulfilling MDGs, especially in the fight against poverty, OECD has
chosen Vietnam as one of the countries to carry out poverty
reduction projects on the basis of social cohesion for the first time.
Ji-Yeun Rim, Special Assistant to the Chief
Operating Officer at the OECD Development Centre, said the social
cohesion and harmony project, expected to launch in Vietnam this
May, focuses on assessing the rapid and strong economic growth’s impacts
on social cohesion.
According to her, it is
necessary to consider vulnerable people’s quality of life, the wealth
gap and mobilisation of mass power while alleviating poverty.
Three working sessions at the event looked at the themes: “The poverty
challenge – Global trends, uncertainties, and national policy
frameworks”, “Beyond poverty reduction: The challenge of social cohesion
in developing countries”, and “Innovative approaches to measuring
poverty, well-being and progress, and implications for statistical
capacity development”.
The two-day event drew leaders and
representatives of OECD member and non-member nations from North
America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.-VNA