The forum, which is organised to replace the Consultative Group (CG), has proved to become an effective and practical discussion platform between the Vietnamese Government and development partners.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, Nguyen The Phuong said relevant ministries and localities have co-ordinated in implementing action plans to reduce poverty for the ethnic minority groups and enhance the capacity of state agencies and related parties in carrying out VDPF’s commitments.

World Bank (WB) Country Director for Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa, said development partners have acknowledged Vietnam's poverty reduction achievements . However, the country should take proper measures to improve the quality of human resources and consider it an important factor behind the development of the national economy in the context of international integration.

She also underscored the need to revamp the legal framework and encourage private businesses to invest in building irrigation infrastructure and get further involved in the market.

According to a Ministry of Planning and Investment (MoPI) report, the rate of poor households was reduced from 58% in 1993 to 5.97% in 2014. At present, 84.5% of people living in rural areas have access to safe water.

In addition, the country has had 1,456 vocational training establishments, meeting the demands for national economic development.

Experts also highlighted the Vietnamese Government’s policy reform efforts in accordance with the market economy. In the 2015-2016 period, Vietnam should continue to carry out institutional reform to make breakthroughs in economic restructuring, said experts.