Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to provide 19 magazines and publications for ethnic minority-inhabited, mountainous and disadvantaged regions in the 2019-2021 period. The move aims to enhance information and communications work serving political tasks in the regions. The publications to be distributed to the localities include those focusing on ethnic affairs and mountainous areas, along with border security and youth start-ups in Vietnam’s major newspapers and magazines of the Government Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs, the National Assembly Office, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, and the Vietnam Farmers’ Union, among others. The PM assigned the Government Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs to work with relevant agencies to keep a close watch on the implementation of the decision. Earlier, PM Phuc decided to provide rice as food aid for people in northern and central mountainous provinces ahead of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. The Ministry of Finance was asked to allocate more than 3,700 tons of rice from national reserves for poor households in the provinces. The rice will be distributed among the northern provinces of Ha Giang (359 tons), Yen Bai (380 tons) and Cao Bang (603 tons), the central provinces of Phu Yen (399 tons), Binh Dinh (1,000 tonnes) and Quang Binh (975 tons). (VOV Jan 23)
