Bac Giang (VNA) – The Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) and the People’s Committee of Bac G🔴iang province have recently held a conference in Bac Giang city to review the five-year implementation of a programme on supporting the application and transfer of scientific and technological advances to boost socio-economic development in the rural, mountainous and ethnic-inhabited areas in the 2016-2025 period (Mountainous Rural Area Programme).

MST Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Giang, Vice Chairpersons of the People’s Committees of Bac Giang, Thai Binh, Dong Thap, Gia Lai and Lang Son provinces, and representatives from the Departments of Science and Technology of 55 provinces and cities, along with scientists attended the event. The conference aimed at assessing the results of the implementation of the programme so as to put forward orientations to carry out the programme in the 2021-2025 period. The mountainous and ethnic-inhabited areas, which account for over 60 percent of the country’s total area, hold a special importance in terms of socio-economy, defence and security, and have great potential for development. However, at present, the development of the mountainous and ethnic-inhabited areas has yet to match their role, position and potential. Therefore, one of the most important solutions is to apply scientific and technological advances in production and daily life. After five years of implementation, the Prime Minister-approved programme has created bright spots in the application of science and technology advances in production, thus bringing about socio-economic efficiency and boosting socio-economic development in the rural, mountainous and ethnic-inhabited areas. To date, 400 projects have been approved and carried out in 61 provinces and cities with a total investment of over 3 trillion VND. The projects have been implemented in numerous fields such as cultivation, husbandry, aquaculture, preservation and processing technologies. Once completed, the projects are expected to build over 1,300 application models, transfer over 2,100 new technologies, train and increase the management capacity for 1,800 managing officials and over 3,500 technicians, and train over 78,000 farmers to help them receive and master technologies. However, the implementation of the programme is facing several difficulties and shortcomings in making and issuing documents, in funding, in project management, and in maintaining and duplicating models and projects. Director of Bac Giang provincial Department of Science and Technology Nguyen Thanh Binh said that several projects of the programme have to adjust locations and production scales and have shown slow progress. Projects with regional connectivity and linkages between organisations, businesses and producers are still lacking, while investments are low and the progress of disbursing investments remains slow, Binh added. Delegates proposed clarifying the management function of Departments of Science and Technology, speeding up the approval, assessment and provision of investment of projects, issuing support policies and mechanisms, and encouraging the duplication of the results after the projects are completed. In addition, management units of the MST and localities’ Departments of Science and Technology should intensify training in project implementation, while management units at the central and local levels should step up inspections over the implementation of the projects. Deputy Minister Giang stated that the programme basically achieved the targets set out until 2020. To fulfill all targets for 2025, he asked relevant ministries, sectors and localities to seek more suitable measures in organizing and choosing projects and technologies for each field, supplement and adjust the legal corridor to facilitate the implementation of the programme, build plans for the implementation for each year and for the entire 2021-2025 period, and push organisations in charge of technology transfer to implement projects effectively. Local Departments of Science and Technology needs to advise local People’s Committees in how to propose and carry out projects in accordance with development policies, while organisations that take charge of implementing the projects and support technology transfer should coordinate closely and mobilize resources to successfully carry out the projects and duplicate the successful models./.