VNA
President Luong visits Tien Giang province President Tran Duc Luong asked ministries and agencies at the central level as well as authorities of southern Tien Giang province to work harder to minimise both human and property losses caused by the seasonal flooding to locals, who have to cope with floods every year. They should also initiate appropriate plans to exploit the potential left by the flood, said the president. This was during President Luong's two working day visit to Tien Giang province on October 30-31 to inspect socio-economic development in the area and the implementation of key measures in the flood control. President Luong also visited a number of dykes, flood-stricken areas, shrimp raising farms, families of priority, war martyrs, Heroic Mothers, day-care centres for children and flood victims, and monitored dykes and other flood control projects in Tan Binh and My Thanh Bac communes in Cai Lay district, My Bac A, Hau Phu My and My Duc Dong of Cai Be district. He visited some families hit by the flood and paid attention to the relief activities to help people stablise life and restore production. He praised the efforts made by local authorities in controlling floods. "The Party and State are always looking for ways and means to help people ensure a safe and stable life during the flood season in the Mekong river delta and minimise any risk to their lives and property," President Luong told local and government officials at a meeting in the province today. He also called on both central and local level concerned branches to provide support to flood victims such as the supply of plant varieties and animal breeds, fertiliser and other essentials such as the medical sector to prevent unexpected diseases. Adverse and unpredictable weather and natural disasters this year have caused great losses to the Mekong delta, the country's biggest rice bowl. However localities in the province have carried out many flood control programmes such as the building of houses in flood-prone, thus reducing the damage as compared to the year 2000. He asked government and local officials, as well as scientists, to study and draw up solutions for the coming years and emphasised that construction of canals, embankments and dykes in Tien Giang province must be comprehensively planned and suitable to the local conditions. **** PM urges focus on economic restructure of agriculture Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on October 31, urged the agricultural sector to consider agricultural and rural economic restructuring as a key task for effective use of natural resources and the people's dynamism and creativity. He told the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) at a two-day conference which opened in Hanoi on October 31 that it should strengthen its capacity to analyse market information, promote trade activities and support businesses to increase market share. He also asked the sector to combine cultivation, livestock breeding, and processing with production and consumption. MARD was urged to use animal and plant strains of high quality and economic value, to invest in the development of locally-available farm produce, to boost scientific research and apply technical advances in production, and to provide further training to staff to help them adapt to economic restructuring. Prime Minister Khai also urged MARD to give guidance to localities in the effective use of land; to exercise stricter control of crop strains, insecticides, and veterinary work; to implement renovation in State farms and co-operatives and to give priority to the building of processing facilities to focus more on producing agricultural products for export. The agricultural sector has recorded a relatively comprehensive development over the past year, the prime minister assessed. It grew rice on 7.64 million hectares which yielded about 31.4 million tonnes of rice. The maize growing area was about 750,000 hectares with a total output of 2.1 million tonnes. Livestock breeding developed well this year, with 2.95 million heads of buffalo, 4.2 million cows, 21 million pigs, 220 million chickens, and 60,000 tonnes of milk. The sector may earn an export turnover of US $2.6 million this year. (VNA) **** Poverty reduction work hailed by IMF Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Shigemitsu Sugisaki expressed his joy at Vietnam's 7% GDP growth rate this year and the fine results of its poverty reduction programme during his a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on October 31. He told the deputy prime minister that the outcome of co-operation projects between Vietnam and the IMF would lay the foundation for the success of bilateral co-operation. Mr Dung expressed his appreciation for the initial results of the Vietnam-IMF co-operation projects in poverty reduction as well as banking, commerce, and enterprise restructuring. He said that the IMF co-operation has contributed positively to developing Vietnam's economy, accelerating poverty reduction activities, and improving social equality. (VNA) **** Mass media's role in environmental protection discussed Vietnam's mass media should play a greater role in raising rural people's awareness with regard view to issues of safe water and environmental protection. This was voiced at a seminar in Hanoi on October 31. The seminar stressed that the mass media should also work together to encourage rural people to change some of their harmful habits and pay for the construction and management of water supply and public works. Participants at the seminar were briefed on the national strategy on water supply and environmental hygiene in rural areas for the next 20 years and the implementation of a national programme on safe water and rural environmental hygiene in the 2001-2005 period. Models applied effectively by several localities and international assistance to the national strategy were also reported on. The seminar was held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nhan Dan newspaper, and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA). Officials from international donors such as the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Japanese International Co-operation Agency and DANIDA were also present. (VNA) **** Hanoi launches donation campaign for flood victims The Hanoi's Fatherland Front Committee, in co-ordination with the municipal People's Committee and other organisations, held a meeting in Hanoi on October 30 to conduct a donation campaign for flood-hit areas. The one-month campaign, which calls for people of all strata in the capital city to contribute donations to flood victims, starts on November 1. Through the campaign, Hanoi city's authorities are striving to collect over VND 4 billion to help flood affected people in central Vietnam and in the Mekong river delta provinces overcome the flood consequences. The Ho Chi Minh City's Labour Confederation has donated VND 1.3 billion for flood-stricken provinces in the Mekong river delta provinces. The city's Labour Confederation has also sent two delegations to flood-hit areas to present money and gifts worth VND 625 million. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
