A center of mountain and high-land commune clusters is a place for economic and cultural exchange by ethnic minority people in a region, creating the premise for development into a township of the mountain and ethnic minority population region.

The construction of projects in the centers of mountain and high- land commune clusters under the Prime Minister�s Decision No.35/TTg of January 13, 1997 shall be effected with various capital sources; in addition to the State�s investment capital, it is necessary to mobilize capital from people and different economic sectors.

The plan for investment in centers of mountain and high- land commune clusters from the year 2000 onwards shall be divided into 2 parts: The major part of the investment shall be for new commune cluster centers and the remaining part, for the centers in the transition period. As from the year 2000, investment shall be made for around 100 new commune cluster centers each year so as to basically build around 500 commune cluster centers by the year 2002 and complete the program on the construction of commune cluster centers by the year 2005.

The management of the program on the construction of centers of mountain and high- land commune clusters shall comply with the provisions of Joint Circular No.416/1999/TTLT/BKH-UBDTMN-TC-XD of April 29, 1999 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Commission for Ethnic Minorities and Mountain Areas, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Construction, guiding the construction and investment management of infrastructure projects in commune clusters in mountain, deep-lying and far-flung areas, which meet with special difficulties.- (Summary)