(VNA): International donors joined Vietnamese government officials at a meeting in Hanoi on August to review Vietnam's first-ever national report on its progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

International organisations that have close co-operation with and thorough knowledge of Vietnam, such as UNDP, UNICEF, ILO and Action Aids, contributed concrete comments and suggestions to completing the report on Vietnam's achievements and challenges in the process of realising eight MDGs.

The consultation is one of the final steps to perfect the report so that President Tran Duc Luong can present it at the UN World Summit in New York in September.

According to the report, during the past five years since Vietnam joined 188 other countries in signing the Millennium Declaration which committed signatories to reaching the MDGs, the country has carried out practical activities and recorded remarkable results in all eight committed targets. Progress has been made in eradicating poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development.

The country has included the MDGs in both short-term and long-term socio-economic development strategies, solidified and developed them into national development targets and mobilised all resources to realise them. Its efforts in reducing poverty and hunger have been highly praised by the international community.

The Vietnamese Government agreed with the international organisations' remarks on significant challenges for the country's development. For example, the average GDP per capita per year is only 600 USD, the scale of the economy is still modest, the economic restructuring process is slow, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, and the quality of education and health care needs to be improved.

"The achievements of Vietnam in implementing the MDGs to date can be attributed to the mobilisation of all domestic resources, as well as the assistance, both in terms of resources and experience, of the international community including donors, NGOs and UN agencies," said Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Dinh Khien. He added that Vietnam hoped to receive more assistance to cope with challenges in the coming years.