The Vietnamese Government highly values the Cambodian Government’s closure of its Phnom Penh temporary camp for ethnic minority people of the Central Highlands of Vietnam, in accordance with the schedule Cambodia had previously announced, said a spokesperson from the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry.

FM spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga told reporters Wednesday, “the Vietnamese State always prioritizes promoting socio-economic development in remote and mountainous areas in order to improve the life of ethnic minorities, including those in the Central Highlands, in all aspects.”

She went on to say, that “in reality, the Central Highlands has been one of the regions that have enjoyed a high economic growth rate and the life of ethnic minorities in all fields has been further improved over recent years.

“Ethnic minority people who returned from Cambodia were not discriminated against but have always been assisted to stabilise their life and reintegrate into the community,” she added.

“The Vietnamese Government highly values the Cambodian Government’s close collaboration with Vietnam and the United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) over the recent past in settling the number of people in the temporary camp on the basis of the tripartite Memorandum of Understanding signed on Jan. 25, 2005 and its closure of the temporary camp on schedule as it had announced,” said the Vietnamese spokesperson.

Wednesday, Vietnam received the remaining 10 ethnic minority people of the Central Highlands and returned them safely to their locality, where measures have been taken to reintegrate them, she added.

(Source: TuoitreNews)