Cabinet members briefing the media in Hanoi Tuesday.

The government is set to spend VND32.67 trillion (US$1.82 billion) to provide vocational training to around 12 million rural residents by 2020, an official said in Hanoi Tuesday.

The plan envisages providing training to 830,000 rural workers by next year.

From 2011-15, 4.7 million more rural residents are expected to undergo training, and 500,000 officials will attend refresher courses in administration, socioeconomic management, among other subjects.

The figures for the five subsequent years will be 5.5 million and 500,000.

The training, with poor, ethnic minority and disabled people to especially benefit, will be in areas like irrigation, drainage, rural hygiene, farm and cooperative management, and agriculture services.

There will also be courses in nonagricultural areas like science and technology, production and processing, health, social services, tourism and handicrafts.

All vocational training establishments will be mobilized for the program.

At least 70 percent of the people undergoing the vocational training are expected to get jobs, Dac said.

Officials, chairpersons and vice chairpersons of commune people’s committees will attend refresher courses in development planning at the communal level, management of the agricultural economy, preservation of farm produce, prevention of natural disasters, implementation of rural social welfare measures, and other skills.

Poor, disabled and ethnic minority trainees and those whose farmlands have been taken over by the authorities will get a maximum assistance of VND3 million for training fees, VND15,000 daily for cooking, and VND200,000 as traveling allowance.

Others will get a subsidy of VND2 million for their training fees.

Now only 18.7 percent of rural residents receive vocational training compared with the national average of 25 percent, according to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs.

In the Red River delta, 19.4 percent of rural workers get training, while the percentages are 17.9 percent in the Mekong Delta and 8.3 percent in the northwestern region.

Most vocational training establishments are concentrated in urban areas. In rural, remote and mountainous areas, there are only a few small establishments that offer training of modest quality.

Cabinet meeting

The chairman of the Government Office, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said the regular Cabinet meeting on May 4-5 focused mainly on reviewing two years of World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, vocational training for rural workers, and implementation of the National Assembly’s resolution on abolishing district and commune people’s councils.

The meeting also discussed the socioeconomic scenario this year and preparations for the upcoming National Assembly session, he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the Cabinet that the socioeconomic situation saw positive changes and social welfare and national defense were well conducted though the country is still affected by the global economic slowdown, natural disasters and diseases.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Truong Van Doan said industrial production rose 3.3 percent year-on-year in the first four months.

The trade surplus was $801 million, or 4.3 percent of exports. In the same period last year the country saw a trade deficit of $11.1 billion, or 60.8 percent of exports.

Exports this year have been worth $18.64 billion, the same as last year, and imports $17.8 billion, down 29.5 percent.

Foreign direct investment plummeted 72.2 percent to $6.4 billion, Doan said.

The number of jobs created in the period was 426,600, down 19.5 percent over the same period last year, with 25,485 going abroad as guest workers.

Phuc said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered local and other authorities to ensure smooth economic development in the remaining months, the budget deficit does not exceed 8 percent this year, and foreign exchange and interest rate policies are properly implemented.

He instructed the concerned agencies to warn local residents about the influenza A (H1N1) epidemic and closely monitor it.

He also ordered relevant agencies to strengthen anti-corruption efforts and administrative reform and to ensure social welfare.

Reported by Bao Van