Vietnam, China boost cooperation in ethnic affairs

A delegation of the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China led by its Deputy Director Bianba Zhaxi paid a working visit to Vietnam's northern province of Thai Nguyen on June 24.
Representatives of the Thai Nguyen provincial People's Committee and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China at the meeting. (Photo: baothainguyen.vn)
Representatives of the Thai Nguyen provincial People's Committee and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission of China at the meeting. (Photo: baothainguyen.vn)

At the working session with the Chinese delegation, which also saw the attendance of representatives of the Vietnamese Government's Committee for Ethnic Affairs, Vice Chairman of the Thai Nguyen provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh informed the guests about its ethnic affairs.

Thai Nguyen is home to over 1.3 million people of 51 ethnic groups. The ethnic minority groups account for about 30% of the province's population. Over the past years, the province has effectively implemented programmes to address issues for people from ethnic minority groups such as housing, production land, or water supply. The province has invested in developing basic infrastructure to serve people’s daily life and production, improving human resources, preserving traditional cultural values in association with tourism development.

Binh hoped the Chinese delegation’s visit will contribute to further strengthening the exchange and cooperation between Thai Nguyen province and Chinese agencies and localities, opening up opportunities for the two sides to boost cooperation in the fields of mutual interest, especially ethnic affairs.

For his part, Bianba said that the visit was to implement the agreement that the committees for ethnic affairs of China and Vietnam signed in December last year.

He said the two sides have many similarities in ethnic affairs. The Parties and Governments of both countries have attached great importance to ethnic affairs, issued many policies for ethnic minorities and always considered people as the main subject in all activities.

Within the framework of the visit to Thai Nguyen, the Chinese delegation visited Viet Bac Highland High School which was assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training to train ethnic minority personnel for remote and disadvantaged areas in mountainous provinces.

VNA