Decision No. 656-TTg on the development of the economy and society in the Central Highlands region for the period 1996-2000 and 2010.

Pursuant to …;

On the Development of the Economy and Society in the Northwest Region for the Period 1996-2000 and 2010

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Government Organization Law dated September 30, 1992;

At the proposal of the Ministers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Planning and Investment Ministry, the Finance Ministry, and the Chairman of the State Committee for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas.

DECISION:

Article 1.

A. Position, Potential, and Advantages for Economic and Social Development in the Northwest Region

The Northwest region holds a strategically important position regarding economy, politics, and national defense and security for the entire country. Protecting and promoting the advantages of the Northwest region concerning its geographical location and natural conditions, including climate, forests, red laterite soil, water resources, and other favorable conditions for agricultural and forestry development—especially important industrial crops—will create dynamic development in the Northwest region within a sustainable ecological environment, directly improving the living standards of the people in the Northwest region, particularly ethnic minorities, while also creating factors that connect the economic development of the Northwest region with the coastal South Central region, Southeast region, and the whole country.

Currently, the protection and exploitation of the significant strengths and potential of the Northwest region are still limited. The forest, which is the most valuable and largest resource remaining in the Northwest region, continues to be cut down and depleted; the very precious red laterite soil has not been rationally exploited, water resources are showing signs of depletion, technical infrastructure remains weak, a portion of the ethnic minority population in the region continues to practice shifting cultivation, the poverty rate remains high, and cultural life is still low. To address these issues and promote the advantages of the Northwest region, the State has adopted a consistent and long-term policy on encouraging policies and mechanisms to mobilize all local and national resources for comprehensive economic and social development in the Northwest region.

B. Main Objectives for Economic and Social Development in the Northwest Region during the Period 1996-2000 and 2010 are:

1. Regarding Agricultural and Forestry Production Development.

a) Forestry:

It is necessary to fully and deeply recognize the task of protecting and developing forest resources as a vital long-term issue for the Northwest region and the entire country. Forests must be considered a strength and key economic factor, a primary element for the comprehensive development of the economy and society in the Northwest region.

The protection and development of forests in the Northwest region must achieve the following goals:

- Developing forest-based economies in the Northwest region should aim to enrich forest resources, effectively exploit and utilize the advantages of forests, protect the ecological environment, conserve water sources, regulate water flow, mitigate natural disasters, prevent erosion, and increase social products.

- Cease the destruction of forests through burning, strengthen management and protection, improve the quality of the existing 3 million hectares of forest, and plant an additional 300,000 hectares of new forest and 400,000 hectares of long-term industrial crops, increasing the forest coverage rate to over 70%. Consider the task of intensifying the construction of upstream protective forests for water conservancy and hydropower projects, national parks, and nature reserves as a critical requirement for environmental protection and water conservation for the Northwest region and other extensive areas of the country.

- Promote the planting of industrial raw material forests and specialty forests, mainly applying intensive cultivation methods and selecting fast-growing tree species that provide early products, achieving high yields and efficiency, linked to planning for the development of paper industry, wood processing, and other forest product facilities.

- Encourage the people to utilize land outside planned areas for planting firewood trees, gradually replacing firewood with alternative fuel sources, primarily in urban areas and concentrated residential zones; strictly prohibit the use of firewood as fuel in construction materials production and commercial charcoal production.

- Convert the majority of existing natural forests to protective and special-use forests to implement strict management and protection measures. Each village, commune, and unit must establish regulations for forest management and protection for everyone to follow.

- Apply scientific and technological advancements, including biotechnology, tissue culture, hybridization, and seed selection to quickly develop suitable and valuable tree groups (timber trees, resin trees, fruit trees, construction material trees, industrial raw material trees, medicinal plants, etc.) to serve the goal of afforestation.

- Mobilize all capital from various economic sectors domestically, including joint ventures and collaborations with different economic components, to invest in forest development (in areas where security and defense conditions permit, foreign direct investment may also be mobilized).

b) Regarding Industrial Crop Production:

Focus on developing the main industrial crops of the Northwest region, primarily rubber and coffee, while expanding the area of other industrial crops such as cotton, mulberry, sugar cane, etc., based on survey and planning.

- Rubber: This crop has great potential in the Northwest region. To achieve the target of 350,000 hectares by 2010, make full use of suitable vacant and barren hills to develop rubber to supply raw materials for the rubber industry, cover the land, and improve the ecological environment. Strive to plant approximately 20,000-30,000 hectares annually, diversifying economic components planting rubber (state-owned, people's rubber, smallholder rubber), mobilizing all domestic capital, enterprises of all economic sectors, and utilizing preferential loans from the World Bank for rubber planting.

The Vietnam Rubber Corporation, together with the Northwest provinces, must plan investments to develop preliminary processing and deep processing industries, making the rubber product processing industry one of the key industries in the regional economic structure of the Northwest region.

- Coffee: This is a major commodity crop not only for the Northwest region but also for the entire country, contributing to prosperous communities, new towns, new districts, many villages have escaped poverty, and a considerable proportion has become wealthy. However, it is necessary to immediately stop the uncontrolled expansion of coffee plantations without planning, causing imbalances in water resources and severely infringing upon forest resources. Strictly prohibit illegal land transfers and disputes over land among ethnic communities in the Northwest region.

The objective of coffee tree development is to maintain and intensify cultivation to improve the quality of existing coffee gardens, expand the area of Robusta coffee in places that meet planning conditions, balanced with water supply capacity, and protect forest capital. Strive to achieve an average yield of 2 tons of coffee beans per hectare or more, to produce about 300,000 tons of coffee beans annually.

The Vietnam Coffee Corporation, together with the Central Highlands provinces, should promptly develop plans for the processing industry of coffee products, diversifying products such as roasted coffee and high-quality ground coffee with attractive designs, meeting export conditions suitable for customer preferences, making Vietnamese coffee competitive in the long term on the global market.

- Cotton: This is a crop that has been closely associated with the traditional custom of planting cotton for weaving ethnic textiles among ethnic minorities, many areas in the Central Highlands are suitable for growing cotton (intercropping with other crops, both irrigated and non-irrigated). It is necessary to promote initial results in integrated pest management techniques, hybrid breeding, and developing hybrid varieties, boldly investing and implementing preferential policies and measures regarding seeds, agricultural extension services, loans, and subsidies to expand the area under cotton cultivation, quickly making cotton a new major industrial crop with economic efficiency in the Central Highlands, aiming to meet the large domestic demand for fiber and cotton.

- Mulberry: Apply measures to intensify the current mulberry area in the Central Highlands based on accumulated experience in planting mulberry and raising silkworms, using high-yielding mulberry varieties, good silkworm breeds, and modern silk reeling technology to increase silk production and quality; gradually develop the industry of producing silk and silk products. Silk production should reach approximately 3,000 tons per year, meeting domestic consumption needs and export requirements.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, along with relevant ministries and agencies and the People's Committee of Lam Dong Province, must evaluate and conclude on the mulberry-silk region of Bảo Lộc to determine the direction for developing mulberry and silk there. In the short term and urgently, all joint ventures, linkages, and attraction of all sources of capital must be utilized to effectively exploit the full capacity of existing processing facilities of the Vietnam Mulberry-Silk Corporation in Bảo Lộc.

- Sugarcane: The development of sugarcane must be consistent with the development of infrastructure, processing capacity, and based on comparing climatic and soil advantages in the Central Highlands with other crops to select appropriate levels of development that are solidly effective.

c) Regarding food production.

Food production in the Central Highlands holds a significant position in the national food security strategy, directly contributing to stabilizing the lives of ethnic groups, reducing deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, and nomadic lifestyles. It is necessary to rapidly increase the area of high-yield winter-spring rice where conditions permit, gradually reduce and eventually eliminate low-yield unstable upland rice, strongly develop high-yield corn and cassava production to increase the grain equivalent of food crops. Strive to bring the Central Highlands' food production to over 1.5 million tons per year.

- Rice: Strive to achieve an area of 200,000 hectares by 2000 and 240,000 hectares by 2010, mainly relying on irrigation development to increase the area of irrigated rice and open additional paddy fields in suitable locations, applying intensive cultivation systems to increase rice yields.

- Crops: Leverage the potential of the Central Highlands to develop high-yield corn, cassava, and potato production. Establish concentrated high-yield corn and cassava regions linked to processing industries, using hybrid varieties with advantages to reach 600,000 to 700,000 tons of grain equivalent, meeting local needs and supplying other regions nationwide, solving raw material issues for industry and livestock feed.

d) Vegetables, fruits, and flowers.

Leverage the climate advantage on the plateau to develop vegetable, fruit, and flower production for domestic consumption and export. For high-end vegetables and flowers exported, they must be produced according to advanced industrial methods, from production to packaging, preservation, and transportation, aiming to capture markets in many countries.

Regarding vegetables, strive to bring the total area and production of the region to about 20,000 hectares and 400,000 tons by 2000, and to 30,000 hectares and 750,000 tons by 2010.

Regarding fruit trees, renovate an additional 14,000 hectares of mixed orchards to have approximately 40,000 hectares by 2000 and 60,000 hectares by 2010.

Specifically in Lam Dong, it is necessary to choose to plant temperate vegetables and fruits with advantages over other regions such as Chinese cabbage, spinach, potatoes, cauliflower, peaches, strawberries... to supply Da Lat City, Ho Chi Minh City, and other cities and industrial zones; plant valuable flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, lilies, tulips... for export.

đ) Livestock farming.

Along with the development of forests and industrial crops, the Central Highlands also has strengths and potentials in large livestock (cattle) breeding, which needs to be developed.

Strive to have a beef herd of about 1 million heads by 2010 with good cattle breeds, including about 10% high-quality beef and 10,000 dairy cows, milk production exceeding 30 million liters per year. Develop local milk, meat, and leather processing industries, forming an important industry of the Central Highlands.

Develop projects to develop beef and dairy cattle breeding regions with new technologies based on intensively cultivated pastures, with part of the pasture area being irrigated during the dry season.

Chapter on the development program for cattle breeding (meat and milk) and semi-wild animals in the Central Highlands shall be oriented towards concentration, diversification of breeding forms, with households as the mainstay, and state enterprises as the core in providing good breeds, agricultural extension services, organizing sales, and processing livestock products.

2. Industrial development.

The goal of industrial development in the Central Highlands mainly focuses on industrializing agriculture and forestry, and developing processing industries for agricultural and forest products.

- Industrializing agricultural and forestry production: involves quickly applying scientific and technological advancements and industry to agricultural and forestry production such as crossbreeding, selecting new high-yield and quality varieties of plants and animals, tissue culture methods, grafting techniques, new cultivation methods, integrated pest management to reduce the use of chemical pesticides, using microbial fertilizers, growth stimulants; mechanizing plowing, irrigation, harvesting, and transportation gradually.

- Processing industry for agricultural and forestry products: expanding scale, modernizing paper, rubber processing, coffee, cotton, silk cocoons, vegetable oil, cassava starch, sugar cane, candy, food, beverages, rice milling, corn milling, processing grains and foodstuffs, animal feed.

- Mechanical industry mainly involves repair, production of simple machinery, farming tools serving production, spare parts, and some consumer metal goods, especially for ethnic minorities in remote and mountainous areas.

3. Education, healthcare, cultural and social affairs.

- Strive to achieve universal primary education by 2010, ensuring all children of school age attend school, expanding boarding and half-day schools for children of ethnic minority groups. Expanding vocational training forms to train technical workers. Developing teaching curricula in general schools in both Vietnamese and ethnic languages.

- The overall goal of healthcare development in the Central Highlands is to prevent and treat diseases through various forms: state-run, private, and individual; combining civilian and military healthcare, modern medicine with traditional ethnic medicine; developing fixed and mobile healthcare services to serve mountainous and remote areas. Strive to reach 100% commune health stations for routine medical care by 2000.

- Promote the traditional cultural heritage of ethnic groups within communities, building villages, hamlets, settlements, and families with new cultural lifestyles. Eradicating superstitious customs, promoting various forms of folk art and traditional culture, ensuring that all social strata enjoy cultural arts.

- Strive to achieve full radio and television coverage across the Central Highlands by 2000, with 100% communes having radio stations, approximately 80% households able to listen to the radio, and about 60% households able to watch television. Focus on constructing seven key projects in poor communes: roads for all-season vehicle travel, electricity to commune centers, classrooms for students, health clinics, telephone exchanges, markets for communes and inter-commune areas, and clean water supply for residents.

4. Settling down, resettlement, migration, and developing new economic zones.

First, settling down and stabilizing the lives of 1 million ethnic people. Completing basic settlement work in remote, mountainous, former revolutionary base, border regions, implementing resettlement for 60,000 households, arranging for 27,000 self-migrating households facing difficulties, and stabilizing the lives of new economic zone residents (including self-migrating people) who have arrived over the years.

Migration to build new economic zones must follow national planning and projects to attract additional labor from densely populated provinces to the Central Highlands, primarily northern and central coastal provinces. By 2010, the Central Highlands should have a stable population of around 5-6 million people.

5. Eradicating poverty.

Eradicating poverty is a crucial program for the Central Highlands. Ministries, sectors, and particularly local People's Committees at all levels in the Central Highlands must concentrate on implementing this program through all means to ensure by the end of 1998 there are no persistent, intermittent, or near-starvation households, and gradually reduce poverty levels. Strive to ensure by 2000, most poor households have conditions to self-reliantly improve their living standards and reduce poverty, especially ethnic households and policy beneficiary families, reaching or exceeding the average community standard of living.

Article 2. Basic solutions:

To achieve these main goals, several fundamental solutions need to be implemented synchronously as follows:

1. On transportation:

Transportation development plans for the Central Highlands must be based on socio-economic development plans, with optimal planning, specific steps, and prioritized projects. Priority should be given to expanding the transportation network and upgrading it gradually according to economic capacity. Strive to implement the principle of "transportation leading by one step" to serve and meet all requirements for Central Highlands' economic development, as well as to support and respond to the planning of residential areas, concentrated economic zones, and national defense security needs. Transportation in the Central Highlands must facilitate interaction with other developed regions.

- For national highways and provincial roads.

+ Upgrading and improving the longitudinal highway system in the Central Highlands including National Highway 14 from Kon Tum to Dak Lak; and the Buon Ma Thuot - Chon Thanh section to Ho Chi Minh City, National Highway 14C running along the Central Highlands.

+ Improving and upgrading the spine highways connecting with National Highway 14 are: Highway 24 linking Kon Tum to Quang Ngai, Highway 19 from Qui Nhon to Gia Lai meeting Highway 14C, Highway 27 from Phan Rang to Lam Dong - Buon Ma Thuot, Highway 28 from Phan Thiet to Gia Nghia, Highway 20 from Dau Giay to Da Lat - Don Duong.

- For rural roads.

+ Planning, developing, and upgrading rural road networks to allow year-round travel.

+ Concentrating on building roads from districts to communes without existing roads for motor vehicle travel.

+ Maintaining and upgrading approximately 4,000 km of district roads and over 8,000 km of commune roads to ensure long-term usability, increase transport capacity, and meet the travel needs of the people.

The communes need to cooperate with forestry and farm enterprises to improve the quality of main roads that combine economic activities with public welfare.

- The Ministry of Transport and the western provinces must immediately study and develop plans for constructing, upgrading, maintaining, and repairing the road system in the Western Highlands (including National Highways, Provincial Roads, and rural transportation); at the same time, they should promptly research and survey to plan for the construction of a trans-Western Highlands railway by after the year 2000.

- It is necessary to promote and effectively utilize all possible sources of funding according to the principle that "the whole country, every person, and every organization have the responsibility and obligation to participate in transportation development," specifically:

+ For national highway projects funded by state budget, ODA funds, select a number of priority national highways to be implemented with state budget funding accounting for 40%, bank commercial loan credit funding accounting for 30%, bond sales and other source funding accounting for 30%; after completion of upgrades, traffic fees will be collected to repay principal and interest, first repaying the principal and interest of the loan credit.

+ For provincial roads and inter-district roads mainly funded by local state budgets, annually balanced central state budgets to support.

+ For rural transportation, rely primarily on the people to build, including local residents in villages, hamlets, and communes who need to construct transportation infrastructure, and residents from cities, towns, and market towns in other communes with good transportation infrastructure also need to contribute to construction.

+ For rural roads in remote and mountainous areas where living conditions are still poor and there are no motor vehicle passable roads throughout both dry and rainy seasons, local residents mainly contribute through labor, while the central government and province will provide technical assistance for route opening, blasting rocks, asphalt, and additional food supplies to enable residents to participate in road construction beyond their mandatory public service days.

2. On water resource protection and exploitation.

Developing irrigation is a decisive prerequisite for land use, labor distribution, population settlement, and ecological environment improvement. Each change in the upstream forest system and the exploitation pattern of river flows has an impact on the overall underground water resources and their exploitable capacity in the Western Highlands.

- Regarding water resources for production:

The construction and operation of irrigation works in the Western Highlands are closely linked to the construction of reservoirs for irrigation and ecological environment improvement. It is necessary to focus on utilizing specific topography and land conditions and reasonably planning large, medium, and small reservoirs in the design, along with protecting forests and planting new ones, exploiting underground water, combining irrigation with hydropower to irrigate rice, coffee, fruits, concentrated pastures, and livestock breeding.

+ Continue to upgrade and reinforce existing irrigation works, gradually solidifying small-scale irrigation works to ensure that all paddy fields in the Western Highlands have sufficient water for two crops per year.

+ Focus on upgrading, supplementing, and completing medium-sized irrigation works with low efficiency by investing in supplementary, upgrading, and completing primary canal systems such as Hoang An, Buon Trieu, Eakao, Biển Hồ, Krongbuk Lower... striving to achieve a capacity of 60%-70% of the designed capacity.

+ Urgently complete and soon implement the construction of medium and large-scale irrigation works, including water source projects such as Dak Cam (Kon Tum), Lak, Buon Trac (Dak Lak), Iamo (Gia Lai), Cat Tien (Lam Dong).

+ Promptly complete ongoing reservoirs such as Easoup 1B Reservoir (Dak Lak), Ayun Ha Reservoir (Gia Lai), Da Te Reservoir (Lam Dong), start construction of new Easoup 2 Reservoir (Dak Lak), Dak O Reservoir (Kon Tum), Iamla Reservoir (Gia Lai), Krong Buk Lower, Krong Pak Upper Reservoirs (Dak Lak).

+ Encourage all organizations and individuals to invest in building medium and small reservoirs and irrigation works to irrigate industrial crops, vegetables, pastures, and provide water for daily life in the Western Highlands.

+ Continue to study, supplement, plan, and establish a comprehensive exploitation scheme for the Serepok, Sesan, Ba, and Upper Dong Nai rivers to prepare for the next phase.

- Regarding water resources for daily life:

In the coming years, the program for providing drinking water in the Western Highlands needs to focus on:

+ Basically solving drinking water for highland ethnic groups severely lacking water, initially for 300,000 highlanders in new economic zones.

+ Developing water storage methods during the rainy season, planning to research the use of underground water for irrigation and daily water supply needs. By the year 2000, basic clean water supply for daily use for the people (including those in new economic zones) and other needs must be resolved.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must develop a project to plan the protection and exploitation of water resources (including underground water) to meet the needs for the socio-economic development of the Western Highlands.

3. On electricity:

- Utilize the advantage of being the upper reaches of rivers to develop hydropower in the Western Highlands. By the year 2000, bring 100% of the capacity of the Yaly Hydropower Plant into operation (700 MW), and from 2000 to 2010, complete the construction of the Se San I, Se San II, and Serepok Hydropower Plants with a total installed capacity of 1,771 MW and total power generation reaching 8,400 million kWh (delivered to the national power grid). Alongside large hydropower plants, medium, small, and micro hydropower plants, wind power, solar power... will be developed to supply electricity to highland and remote areas.

- Strive to reach 65% of households using electricity from the national power grid by the year 2000, with the remaining households using local power sources: small and micro hydropower, solar power, wind power.

- The construction and renovation of power sources and grids (high, medium, and low voltage) to bring electricity to residential clusters shall be carried out under the joint effort of the State and the people. The Ministry of Industry and Vietnam Electricity Corporation must have specific plans and projects in the direction:

+ For high-voltage power sources and grids: the State balances from state budget funds, OSA funds, and state loan credit funds.

For medium voltage power distribution networks: The central budget and local budgets invest 30% to 40%, preferential interest rate loans account for 30%, and the remainder is raised through bond issuance and other sources of capital.

For low voltage power distribution networks: Encourage and mobilize all resources (capital and labor) from local residents to construct and diversify organizational forms in building and managing power distribution networks such as electricity management boards, electric cooperatives, private companies... to bring electricity to households and clusters of residents. Projects for low voltage power distribution networks constructed with capital and labor from residents, once completed and put into use, Vietnam Electricity Corporation must allocate and gradually deduct from the electricity selling price to repay their capital according to the agreement between the capital contributors and Vietnam Electricity Corporation.

Link the formation of resident clusters with the construction and renovation of power distribution networks to these clusters. For areas where ethnic minorities live too far apart and sparsely populated, seek humanitarian funding to develop alternative power sources locally (small and micro hydropower, wind power, solar power...).

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead in coordinating with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, and Vietnam Electricity Corporation to promptly study and build specific mechanisms to mobilize resources for power development in the Central Highlands to be submitted to the Prime Minister for decision.

4. Urban Development:

This is a long-term strategic issue for urbanization in the Central Highlands provinces. The Ministry of Construction shall coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to promptly plan urban development and residential areas in conjunction with the development of core cities such as Da Lat city, Buon Ma Thuot city, Pleiku town, Kon Tum town, and the existing 65 towns, along with the resettlement of residents and the construction of national highways and provincial roads. There needs to be planning and specific identification of established towns and marketplaces, gradually forming concentrated resident clusters, village centers, and inter-village centers (markets) to form new towns and marketplaces, creating conditions for gradually transforming the economic and social structure and rural urbanization.

5. Regarding human resource development:

Creating and improving the quality of human resources is a very important factor for economic and social development in the Central Highlands.

- First, improve literacy, train human resources, nurture talents locally, while attracting human resources, scientific and technical cadres, and excellent experts from outside the region to work in the Central Highlands.

- Strengthen the education system, especially for ethnic minorities, incorporating agricultural and forestry vocational training, agricultural and forestry extension services into boarding schools for ethnic minorities, and implementing policies to encourage graduates from these schools to participate in agricultural and forestry extension services, community health development, and illiteracy eradication in the Central Highlands.

- Encourage and create conditions for children of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands to study at universities and vocational schools in the Central Highlands through preparatory schools and boarding schools.

- For children of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands who study at universities and vocational schools outside the Central Highlands, there should also be policies to attract these students to return after graduation to contribute to the economic and social development of the Central Highlands.

- Encourage and create favorable conditions to attract students from outside the region to study at universities and vocational schools in the Central Highlands and voluntarily stay to work there.

- Build sufficient classrooms for primary schools, construct solid secondary schools. Implement preferential policies for teachers working in the Central Highlands, particularly in areas inhabited by ethnic minority groups, highlands, and remote areas.

- Establish district hospitals, regional hospitals (inter-village), these hospitals need to strengthen disease prevention teams, malaria control, goiter prevention, maternal and infant health care, chronic disease treatment, and social diseases.

- Based on surveys and classification of poor households and the causes of poverty, measures should be taken to address poverty alleviation by creating conditions for households to overcome difficulties, produce effectively, and increase income.

For households suffering from poverty due to lack of agricultural and forestry production land, which leads them to clear forests to plant food crops, People's Committees at all levels need to immediately implement measures to allocate land and forest management contracts to these households so they can have combined agricultural and forestry production land, while providing food aid for 1-2 years to allow these households to have the conditions to produce and stabilize their lives.

For households suffering from poverty due to lack of capital and production experience, People's Committees at all levels need to create conditions to help these households obtain loans from banks serving the poor, programs 327, program 120... through voluntary loan groups, credit guarantees... linking loan access with guidance on effective agricultural and forestry extension methods.

For households suffering from poverty due to being policy beneficiaries without labor capacity, People's Committees at all levels (province, district, commune) need to conduct detailed statistics and include them in the annual social assistance recipient list to provide food support policies for these households.

Establish a long-term financial assistance fund (from the State budget and other sources of funding) to mobilize personnel knowledgeable about agriculture and forestry in the Central Highlands to enter villages and guide the people to engage in progressive livelihoods and build civilized lifestyles, initially focusing on regions where ethnic minority groups still face many difficulties.

Mobilizing human resources from elsewhere to develop the Central Highlands must follow specific plans and projects. This is a very important measure to prevent deforestation and spontaneous migration.

Promptly approve the establishment of some new concentrated residential areas according to planned projects.

Invest comprehensively according to approved projects, including the state's investment in constructing key infrastructure such as: transportation routes, irrigation systems, health stations, schools, and water supply facilities to create initial conditions for residents to stabilize their lives and develop production.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, together with the People's Committees of the Central Highlands provinces from which people move, shall convene meetings with the People's Committees of the Central Highlands provinces receiving people early to negotiate responsibilities and obligations of each party, specific policies and mechanisms for implementation. The sending provinces must register plans according to standards, while the receiving provinces must prepare land use plans and initial infrastructure construction to jointly implement the relocation and reception of people to develop the economy and society of the Central Highlands. It is encouraged to mobilize all technical labor forces in agriculture, forestry, irrigation, healthcare, education, and other services to meet the development needs of the Central Highlands.

6. On science and technology development.

- Investment should be made to strengthen scientific research institutions in agriculture and forestry in the Central Highlands to quickly introduce new technological advancements and innovations into production. Firstly, it is necessary to fully utilize the capabilities of local research institutions, and encourage domestic and foreign scientific agencies to study and transfer technologies to farmers and rural areas in the Central Highlands.

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in coordination with relevant ministries and sectors, will develop a proposal to transform the Coffee Research Institute (Eakmat) into the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology Institute, to be submitted to the Prime Minister for decision.

- The Ministry of Science and Technology and Environment should appropriately allocate funds in the annual research plan for programs and projects researching agriculture, forestry, and rural development in the Central Highlands.

The Ministry of Education and Training should have plans to upgrade the Central Highlands University and Dalat University, researching possible reforms in training content and methods to align with the development direction and content of the Central Highlands. There should be a program and content for close cooperation with the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology Institute to transfer scientific and technological advancements and innovations to serve production and life in the Central Highlands.

7. On land and forest resource protection.

- For agricultural land, it is necessary to complete the allocation of stable and long-term agricultural land to households and individuals according to Decree No. 64/CP dated September 27, 1993 of the Government. For forestry land, immediate allocation of stable and long-term forestry land to households and individuals according to Decree No. 02/CP dated January 5, 1994 of the Government is required. For agricultural and forestry land of state-owned enterprises, implementation should follow Decree No. 01/CP dated January 4, 1995 of the Government.

- For households currently without land for production, especially ethnic minorities, local People's Committees at all levels must immediately take measures to ensure these households have production land according to planning and stabilize their lives.

- Within the allocated forestry land for each household, there must necessarily be agricultural land for them to carry out combined agricultural and forestry production such as planting industrial crops, fruit trees, food crops, animal husbandry, garden economy, residential land, this is a decisive condition for ethnic groups to feel secure in their forest work and protect the forest.

- For the long-term use of forestry land that includes economic forests, including natural forests, planted forests, and protected regenerating forests, they need to be primarily protected and developed, combined with harvesting according to planning, schedules, and technical procedures. The State will only collect resource taxes and a portion of the value of permitted harvested products. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will provide detailed guidance to localities on implementation.

Implement policies to allocate and lease barren mountainous land to various economic components within and outside the region for investment in developing forests.

- For special-use forests and protective forests, including land planned for developing these types of forests, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in collaboration with relevant ministries and sectors, will study and promptly issue specific mechanisms and policies for localities to implement contractual management and protection, maintaining these types of forests, combining protection with the exploitation of forest advantages in water source conservation, environmental protection, gene fund preservation, and ecotourism development.

It is necessary to urgently conduct forest surveys to establish the basis for forest development planning, determining the area of each type of forest, categorizing them into special-use forests, protective forests, economic forests, areas requiring reforestation, identifying optimal tree species for each type of forest, gradually improving the quality of existing forests, and enhancing forest management, moving towards regular inspections and inventories of forests. For economic forests, plans for planting and harvesting must be established to ensure growth rates and rapid forest coverage exceed harvesting rates, gradually restoring deforested areas.

Redefine the forest compartments of each province, district, commune, and even village, ensuring that wherever there is still forest, appropriate management and protection measures must be taken, and where new forests need to be planted, policies encouraging the mobilization of all capital sources and economic components to participate in forest development should be implemented to quickly achieve the targeted forest cover.

Starting from 1997, the State will retain all forest resource taxes, proceeds from standing timber sales, fines, and revenues from forest products for provincial investment in forest protection and planting. The Ministry of Finance will provide detailed guidance to localities on implementation.

- The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee must coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to issue orders to close forests in prohibited areas, mobilizing all forces including police, military, agencies, and schools to participate in preventing and extinguishing forest fires, and stopping illegal logging. Mass media must regularly remind and announce the situation regarding forest fire prevention and illegal timber harvesting. From now on, if any locality or unit allows forest fires or destruction, the first responsibility lies with the Chairmen of the People's Committees at all levels and the heads of those units.

8. On capital and investment.

Mobilize and use effectively various sources of capital, including state capital, capital from enterprises within and outside the region, people's capital, and foreign investment to develop agriculture, forestry, and socio-economic activities in the Central Highlands in a manner where both the state and the people participate, maximizing all sources of capital and local labor from organizations and different strata of residents currently living in the Central Highlands.

a) State capital,

- State budget capital supporting investment mainly in the following areas:

+ Water resources: Medium and large-scale water conservancy projects, water source projects, urban water supply projects for concentrated residential areas and industrial zones.

State budget support for water resource investment over the five-year period from 1996 to 2000 was approximately 1.8 trillion VND, and during the period from 2001 to 2010, it was approximately 2.2 trillion VND.

+ Deeply remote mountainous areas and former revolutionary bases: The state will support social works tied to settlement programs for about 100 communes, 700 villages, and around 40,000 households of ethnic minorities.

+ New economic zones: The state will support infrastructure development such as transportation, water resources, electricity, telecommunications, education, healthcare... in key areas like Ea Soup, Ayunpa-Krông Pa, Ia Lâu, Ia Mơ... which have great potential for developing commodity economies, stabilizing the lives of local residents, and receiving labor from other regions.

Initially, focus on mobilizing funds to implement essential projects that need to be put into operation soon, then gradually upgrade and complete them during subsequent development.

+ For national programs such as Program 327, Program 120, poverty reduction program, settlement program, and poor people's bank service program... priority should be given to allocating funds and personnel to implement this decision.

- State credit capital: Allocate sufficient capital for various economic sectors to borrow for developing agriculture, forestry, and agricultural and forest product processing industries. The state will have appropriate interest rate policies for individuals and organizations borrowing to plant long-term industrial crops and raw material forests, prioritizing ethnic minorities residing locally.

Allocate approximately 100 million USD from the World Bank loan for rubber planting, in accordance with the regulations and guidance of the State Bank.

Investment credit capital for planting economic forests shall be implemented according to the policy stipulated in Decision 264-CT dated July 22, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the State Bank, to develop mechanisms and policies to support and mobilize all sources of capital for the socio-economic development of the Central Highlands, to be submitted to the Prime Minister for decision.

b) Capital from enterprises and people.

+ State-owned enterprises: Use basic depreciation funds, self-owned funds, and borrowed funds to invest in developing perennial crops, afforestation, animal husbandry... on assigned land areas and developing processing industries.

+ Non-state-owned enterprises and people are encouraged by the state to invest capital in developing agriculture, forestry, and agricultural and forest product processing industries in the Central Highlands.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take the lead, along with relevant ministries and sectors, to promptly develop and submit to the Prime Minister specific mechanisms and policies to attract capital and labor, ensuring that all organizations and individuals feel secure investing.

+ People's councils at all levels must fully understand that each locality's efforts are crucial for the development of the Central Highlands, mobilizing all resources and creating favorable conditions for enterprises and people in the area to build rural infrastructure and public welfare facilities.

c) Foreign capital.

Based on approved planning in line with economic development linked to national defense and security, localities and relevant ministries and sectors are responsible for seeking foreign aid and direct investment capital in areas and places permitted by national defense and security requirements to serve the development of the Central Highlands. The Ministry of Planning and Investment will study allocating a reasonable proportion of non-repayable aid from international organizations, governments, and non-governmental organizations to support the development of agriculture and forestry and rural construction in the Central Highlands, particularly focusing on the most difficult areas.

ODA funds (which will also be prioritized by the state) will be used to develop major traffic routes (Buôn Ma Thuột to Chơn Thành section of Route 14, Buôn Ma Thuột to Di Linh section of Route 27, Route 24 from Kon Tum to Dung Quất); hydropower, water resources, urban water supply, postal and telecommunications projects, prioritizing urban infrastructure projects.

d) Capital from provinces outside the region and private capital are also considered important for attracting investment in production, especially for export crops.

9. Reform state-owned enterprises and develop cooperative economic forms.

- Conduct reviews and reorganize state-owned enterprises in agriculture and forestry in the region. Forestry farms shall implement land allocation, garden tree contracting, and forest contracting to households according to Government Decree 01/CP.

- Urgently reorganize the system of forestry farms and wood processing facilities. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will plan, guide, and assist localities in formulating plans to reorganize the system of forestry farms and wood processing enterprises in the direction of:

Only retaining a very small number of forestry farms capable of complying with new requirements for forest protection and profitable business operations as stipulated in Government Decree 388/CP.

Other state-owned forestry farms must transform into service units for forestry, promotion of forestry, or become management boards for forest development projects, providing services for forest protection and development.

The Ministry of Industry will specifically consult with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the western provinces to plan and construct raw material areas for paper and establish large-scale modern paper production projects in the Central Highlands.

- State Forestry Holding Companies, Rubber Holding Companies, Coffee Holding Companies, Sugar Holding Companies, Cotton Holding Companies, Silk Worm Oil Holding Companies, and other state enterprises must play a core role in mobilizing capital, providing high-quality seedlings, breeding stock, ensuring quality materials, guiding technical skills, and training staff for related programs.

- Reform existing agricultural cooperatives and develop diverse forms of cooperative economies in accordance with the spirit of the Law on Cooperatives adopted by the National Assembly.

Article 3. Implementing organization.

1. Ministries and sectors shall, based on their functions and authorities, take the lead in organizing and directing the implementation of specific programs and projects within their scope of management according to the objectives and contents set forth in this Decision, together with the provinces of the Central Highlands.

Based on approved programs and projects, detailed plans for five-year, ten-year periods, and annual plans starting from 1997 must be established to organize, inspect, and urge the implementation in accordance with the goals of the programs and projects.

Each relevant ministry and sector must assign competent and technically skilled officials who are deeply familiar with the Central Highlands to assist leadership in coordinating with the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands, as well as related ministries and sectors, and provincial People's Committees in implementing these tasks.

Quarterly and annually, reports evaluating work results of ministries and sectors must include assessments of the implementation of programs and activities in the Central Highlands, identifying difficulties and obstacles to devise measures for resolution.

2. People's Committees at all levels in the Central Highland provinces must consider the contents of this Decision as primary tasks of Party committees and local administrations, and concretize them into programs and plans of each specialized department and level of administration for implementation.

First, select and determine some urgent program targets and specific contents of localities to organize and direct implementation in the fourth quarter of 1996 and in 1997, and have detailed plans to implement the contents of this Decision in subsequent years.

People's Committees of Central Highland provinces need to seek opinions from provincial Party committees to formulate specific policies and measures to mobilize all social resources for infrastructure development (transportation, irrigation, electricity...), submit them to the Provincial People's Councils for consideration and decision-making, thereby fostering a nationwide movement to fulfill public duties.

The Chairpersons of People's Committees of Central Highland provinces must be responsible for closely coordinating with central ministries and sectors in formulating and implementing proposed programs and projects.

3. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors, and People's Committees of Central Highland provinces to develop programs on forestry development, agriculture, water resource exploitation and management, settlement and new economic development.

4. The Ministry of Transport shall cooperate with People's Committees of Central Highland provinces to plan and direct the development of transportation infrastructure in the Central Highlands.

5. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take the lead and coordinate with relevant sectors to review the overall planning of the Central Highlands, submitting it to the Prime Minister for approval by October 1996, serving as the basis for developing specific programs and projects to be implemented from the beginning of 1997.

Study and establish policies and mechanisms to encourage and attract resources for the implementation of this Decision.

Based on approved programs and projects, ministries must allocate budgets for the year 1997 and subsequent years for the implementation of these programs and projects according to the goals set out in this Decision.

6. The Ministry of Finance shall take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and People's Committees of Central Highland provinces to study policies for reinvestment from hydropower and forest resource exploitation in the Central Highlands, submitting them to the Prime Minister for approval.

Establish a Steering Committee for the Central Highlands comprising leaders from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance, and other relevant ministries and sectors. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall serve as the head of the steering committee.

Article 4. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies equivalent to ministries, heads of government-affiliated agencies, and Chairpersons of People's Committees of Central Highland provinces are responsible for enforcing this Decision.