VNA
Distinguished orders presented to 30 HCM City�s revolutionary veterans Ho Chi Minh City�s Party Committee held a ceremony to present and posthumously present distinguished orders to 30 revolutionary veterans who have rendered great services to the country on January 3. Eleven Ho Chi Minh Orders, three Independence Orders, Second Class, eleven Independence Orders, Third Class, were posthumously presented and five Independence Orders were presented. Since 1985, the city�s Party Committee has proposed the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee and the State President to present distinguished medals to 1,245 revolutionary veterans of the city. Of the figure, 1,192 revolutionary veterans have been accepted. **** Fisheries exports increase in quality and quantity The Ministry of Fisheries held a meeting in Ca Mau on January 3 to review work on fisheries and aquaculture development in coastal provinces. Despite difficulties in fries, food, irrigation, finance and market, the sector achieved impressive growth in the past year. The fresh water farming land area has covered 600,000 hectares, an increase of 209,000 hectares more than that in 2000. Total farmed aquatic production output was 438,211 tonnes, an increase of 136,208 tonnes more than the figure for 2000, with shrimp production having the highest growth. Initial statistics from nine provinces out of 29 coastal provinces indicated that profit from aquaculture was recorded at VND 931 billion, with Bac Lieu province alone earning VND 717 billion; Tien Giang province, VND 79 billion; Phu Yen province, VND 45 billion; and Haiphong, VND 36 billion. Ninh Thuan province is the locality with a special method of shrimp farming. 260,000 farming households in Ninh Thuan province had received loans from commercial banks for aquaculture development. The Ministry of Fisheries said despite drop in shrimp price in 2002 compared with the price in 2000, shrimp farmers still have higher profit this year. Fisheries Minister Ta Quang Ngoc, in his speech at the meeting, said the most important task is to maintain market and funding as well as aquaculture extension services to help farmers increase production and export. Banking officials present at the meeting, including State Bank Governor Le Duc Thuy and senior commercial bankers, will meet farmers and listen to their demand for better financing aquatic farming projects in order to increase export and develop aquaculture. **** Measures to stabilise prices during Tet issued The Government Pricing Board has instructed finance departments in provinces and cities to take more positive measures to stabilise prices during Tet, the Lunar New Year - Vietnam biggest shopping season. The measures to be taken include close watch of supply and demand to ensure no sharp prices surge for major goods before, during and after Tet. The single pricing system will also be applied for Vietnamese and foreigners, listing of prices for goods and services and preventing businesses taking advantages of the holiday season to increase prices. Other measures are to be taken to enhance investigation and supervision of fake goods and the goods that evades taxes to protect the customers and update information on price changes for provincial authorities to take further action. **** UNDP book on Vietnam's living standards during economic boom makes debut An English-language book entitled 'Living Standards During an Economic Boom: The Case of Vietnam' has been published by the Statistical Publishing House of Vietnam and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi. A launching ceremony for the book was held in Hanoi on January 3 by the General Department of Statistics (GDS) of Vietnam and the UNDP. The book, the fruit of contributions by more than 50 national and international researchers, is the first book that systematically utilises the full richness of the Living Standards Surveys undertaken by the GDS in 1993 and 1998 with support from the UNDP, the Swedish International Development Agency and the World Bank. The book provides abundant information on the cause of poverty reduction and the results of efforts to reduce it. It shows that the transformation to a market economy has rapidly changed the face of Vietnam in the 1990s. High GDP growth, combined with strong growth in the value of exports (from 20 to 30% per year), a boom in foreign investment, and inflation held below the double digit level, have created a foundation for a promising future of sustainable socio-economic development in Vietnam. The book emphasises the ways in which poverty hurts, less access to education, to food and to good health care; poor quality housing; a lack of conveniences such as running water; and insufficient time and means to participate fully in the intellectual and cultural life of the country. "Vietnam faces enormous development challenges. Yet the doi moi (renovation) policy points the way on how Vietnam can become an increasingly dynamic and prosperous society," said Jordan Ryan, UNDP resident representative. "The new book is an important part of our effort to ensure that the poorest participate in and more fully benefit from economic reforms," adds Mr Ryan. (VNA) **** Radio VOV increases Khmer programmes Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) plans to increase broadcasting time in the ethnic Khmer language from the present 45-minute programmes to 60 minute-programmes with three sessions a day in the Mekong River delta. The radio will also start two sessions of 30-minute music programmes a day to serve the one million-strong ethnic Khmer group in the region. This was announced by the VOV at a conference on radio broadcast in the Khmer language held recently in the Mekong River delta province of Soc Trang to find measures to raise the broadcasting quality. The conference affirmed that VOV programmes in Khmer language have become an important bridge linking the Party and the State to the ethnic Khmer people in the Mekong River delta. Besides VOV programmes, the radio and television broadcasting stations of Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Kien Giang, An Giang and Bac Lieu provinces also have their own radio programmes in Khmer language. These programmes have contributed to disseminating the Party and State's policies to Khmer people, encouraging revolutionary movements and good examples in the Khmer community, thus helping push up socio-economic development, preserve and develop the Khmer group's culture as well as get rid of hostile propaganda. Since 1995, the VOV has spent nearly VND 25 billion on construction of 160 radio stations in communes and districts, and granted more than 100,000 radio sets to people in former revolutionary bases and remote areas in 12 Mekong River delta provinces. After the liberation of the south in 1975, the State, with its socio-economic development programmes in mountainous and remote areas inhabited by ethnic groups, has spent hundreds of billions of dong on infrastructure construction and poverty reduction in the region, helping basically improve the living conditions of ethnic Khmer people. The cultural life of the Khmer people has also been markedly improved with about one-fourth of the population attending schools at all levels. All communes inhabited by ethnic Khmer people have medical stations and most of them have radio transmission stations of their own. (VNA _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
