Having had 20 years’ experience implementing the Communist Party’s Renovation (Đổi mới) Policy from 1986 to 2006, Vietnam has attained many important achievements in socio-economic development. Despite this, however, the development of rural areas in the Mekong Delta - one of the country’s key economic regions- still encounters many difficulties and challenges, especially when faced with the impact of climate change, rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion and freshwater scarcity, riverbank erosion, lack of large floods that is necessary to bring illuvium for the fields, etc., which have led to serious problems that need to be solved. Within the framework of this article, the author wishes to elucidate the policies and guidelines of the Party, the State and the Mekong Delta provinces towards the agricultural and rural development process in this region, and at the same time, the author aims to throw light on the changes that have taken place in the agricultural and rural economy, the farmers’ lives, as well as innovation in the appearance of the Mekong Delta rural areas during the period of 1996 to 2006.