He said the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction has been carried out effectively, helping to emprove the people’s living standards, especially in ethnic minority, mountainous, severely disadvantaged and disaster-hit areas.

The PM added that VietNam’s poverty rate under the multi – dimensional approach is expected to drop from approximately 10% in 2015 to about 4% by the end of 2019.

Speaking at the programme, President of  the Vietnamese Fatherland Front (VFF) Tran Thanh Man said that over the past three years, more than VND 9,000 trillion (US$387 million) has been raised to provide for the poor.

At this year’s edition, individuals and organisations have donated VND 900 billion (US $38.7 million).

He told the audience at the programme, which was broadcast live on national TV, that such funds have helped many poor households to escape poverty in a sustainable manner and helped poor regions to build better communities.

The VFF president stated that the national fund for the poor plans to build 1,000 houses for poor people in a number of border, mountainous and disaster-prone provinces; and to support to students’ continued schooling and provide support to poor households in the upcoming Lunar New Year.

He called on Vietnamese people both at home and abroad, entrepreneurs, good Samaritans and international organisations to continue supporting Vietnamese people.

On the occasion, the organisers launched a messaging programme to support poor people, with each message contributing at least VND 20,000 to the national fund for the poor.

Earlier, the VFF and the Steering Committee for National Target Programmes jointly held a ceremony to receive donations from ministries, agencies, the armed forces, enterprises, and domestic and international organisations.

In a number of provinces, such as An Giang and Quang Binh, similar programmes were also help to call for financial donation for the poor.