Eradicating poverty

We should learn a lesson or two from Vietnam.

At the recently concluded UN Summit in New York where the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was officially adopted, Vietnam’s president Truong Tan Sang delivered an impressive keynote speech, where he mentioned both the country’s successes in meeting the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) as well as and the South China Sea issue.

In recent years, Vietnam has been widely praised as one of the countries that have fulfilled early many MDGs, which are the world’s time-bound and quantified targets for addressing extreme poverty in its many dimensions - income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter, and exclusion - while promoting gender equality, education, and environmental sustainability.

According to an official report from its Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietnam fulfilled the goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger in 2002. It was able to cut poverty rate to six percent in 2014 from 9.6 percent in 2012 and 58.1 percent in 1993. This, according to observers, was a result of high economic growth and concerted effort on the part of the entire political system which made poverty reduction top priority in the national agenda throughout the past two decades.

The country has also succeeded in universalizing primary education in 2010, and is working to give all children access to secondary and high schools soon. Vietnam has basically reached the goal of gender equality, eliminating the gap in accessing primary education and the high proportion of women in the active workforce and government activities.

Meanwhile, there is broader progress in economic and social rights as shown by the increased participation of the population in the national workforce. By 2014, the employment-to-population ratio reached 76.1 percent, the highest rate in recent decades. Also, Vietnam was able to reduce the proportion of households living in temporary houses down to five percent (from 22.5 percent in 1999), reaching 90 percent of the population with access to safe water, and almost all people having access to the national electricity gridline.

Vietnam has also been able to achieve the universal right to education with 99 percent of children enrolled in primary school at their right ages. The right to health has likewise been significantly improved, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.

The government of Vietnam has demonstrated strong commitment towards the realization of MDGs, integrating MDG content into national development programs and policies. Huge efforts made by local and central organizations and agencies, as well as support from the community, have contributed significantly towards achieved results. Tremendous financial and technical support from international development partners and many other agencies have also played an essential role towards the success of Vietnam.

President Truong also highlighted in his speech the need for the international community to uphold international law in order to realize the goals set in the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs). He said that peace and development were intertwined and that SDGs will not be realized when there is war, conflict and instability.

He added that it is only by ensuring peace and stability that adequate resources can be pooled and the necessary partnerships can be fostered for SDG implementation. The President noted that maintaining peace and security on the basis of respect for international law is a precondition for the successful implementation of the SDGs and that it is incumbent upon all of us to find peaceful and satisfactory solutions to conflicts and disputes, exercise self-restraint, refrain from the use or threat of force, and strengthen cooperation among all countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

 As for the South China Sea issue, he said that ASEAN and its partners are engaged in common efforts to maintain and consolidate peace and security in the region, including ensuring maritime safety and security, and freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea - the main artery connecting ASEAN with other regions. The Vietnamese president said they believe that any and all disputes in the South China Sea can only be resolved by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, effective and full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and early conclusion of the Code of Conduct (COC).

 The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 goals and 169 targets, presents a new strategic vision that reflects the aspiration of humanity to live in a world of peace and prosperity, of equality and justice, a world where development is green, clean and sustainable. In realizing this ambitious Agenda, all nations should have high-level political commitment and determination. With its successes in attaining the MDGs so far, Vietnam may once again set a bright example for countries in the region to follow.

Interesting pair

 It is interesting to see how common folks – drivers, security guards, minimum wage workers – seem to be rooting for the looming tandem of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano for the 2016 presidential and vice presidential elections.

After all, Duterte and Cayetano’s performances as public officials have been characterized by fighting crime and being successful as it. And the people seem to want our future leaders to represent real change. Enough of the all-talk, no-action type of leadership.

Observers note that taken as a team, there’s experience and youthful dynamism in the Duterte-Cayetano team as a catalyst for real and meaningful change in the fight against poverty, rising criminality, rampant graft and corruption and the present rudderless foreign affairs policies that allow the likes of China to bully us.

Duterte of course can offer his proven executive leadership that has caused Davao City to prosper economically and to earn praises for its law and order and discipline. 

Meanwhile, as a fiscalizing senator, Cayetano has been at the forefront of the fight against corruption in government throughout his political life. He has been consistently focused on graft and corruption issues, not caring whether the government officials on the receiving end belong to the administration or the opposition.

Even without them campaigning, we already know what they can bring to the table, which is a good thing. Cayetano’s youthful dynamism would complement the wisdom that someone like Duterte has, one that cannot be learned from books or schools but from vast experience earned through many years of being a public servant.

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