Vietnam Women's Union

With domestic resources and international assistance, including that from UN organisations, approximately 88 percent of poor people were provided with free medical care; 400,000 new houses were built and there were no more temporary houses in 2,000 communes and five provinces, Duong Hoai Nam, Second Secretary of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN, told the Second Committee of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly.

"Vietnam has also successfully eliminated illiteracy and achieved universal primary education back in 2000 and nearly half of the provinces in the country have attained universal junior secondary education," he further said.

Affirming the support to the Report of the UN Secretary General on Eradication of Poverty and other Development Issues, especially the recommendations and solutions relating to the implementation of the first UN Decade for the Eradication of Poverty and the realization of the MDGs until 2015, the Vietnamese official stressed the need for "more proactive responses at national, regional and international levels as the fight against poverty requires comprehensive, systematic efforts and more effective mobilization and use of all resources."

He also said that developing countries should be assisted to improve their export capacity and structure of exports to industrialized countries; increase access to high-tech and financial markets as many developing countries, especially the least developed countries, are still far behind and in danger of not attaining the targets set under the MDGs.