Viet Nam's policies towards the ethnic minorities are consistently based on the principle that "all ethnic groups are equal, united, mutually respecting and assisting each other for common development" and under the motto '"more difficult regions need more attention and priority" in all fields. In terms of legislation, though there is not yet a separate Law on Ethnicity, ethnic policies were legalized in Constitution 1992 (Articles 5, 36, 39 and 133) and in the legal system such as: the Civil Code, Law on Election of National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels, Law on Citizenship, Law on Education; Law on People's Health Care, etc... Based on these legal regulations, ethnic policies have been integrated into socioeconomic development strategies, plans and in ethnic minority-targeted programs, investment projects which are characterized with appropriate mechanisms and policies. The right to equality of ethnic groups in Viet Nam means they are all equal in terms of both rights and obligations in all political, social, and cultural aspects. First, regarding the right to political equality, it is imperative to act against- all forms of ethnic division, racial discrimination, narrow nationalism extremism and national inferiority. And we did touch upon this topic at the Second session of the Forum on Ethnic Minorities last year. 3. Taking into account the topic of the Third session of the Forum ,"Minorities and effective participation in the economic life"' and the focus of our meeting today, "Meaningful and effective participation in economic and development pony-making", we would like to share some experiences and best practices as follows:  To provide basis for ethnic policy-planning in specific regions, targets and fields as mentioned above, ethnic minority regions are classified according to geographical conditions, namely, totally mountainous areas, areas with mountains, and plain parts with ethnic minorities. Then, they are classified according to the socio-economic development level and condition: region I, initially developed; region II, temporarily stable; and the region III, extremely difficult.  Based on such area classification, the Government makes appropriate decisions on target programs through specific projects with high priority given to extremely difficult areas. 4. Target programs are carried out in accordance with concrete requirements applied to the characteristics and features of each region or 'target, for instance: - Hunger alleviation and poverty reduction programs conducted in extremely difficult areas are more accelerated. As a result, in these areas the rate of poor household is reduced by 4-5% per year (the average national rate is 2%), helping to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor in the society. At present, the Government of Viet Nam continues to accelerate the rapid and sustainable poverty reduction programs in more than 60 extremely difficult and poor districts (where the poverty household rate is over 50%) in the ethnic minority areas. - Priority is also given to building and strengthening infrastructure system in extremely difficult areas, particularly transportation, irrigation network. At the same time, the ethnic