FAO Helps Southern Farmers Revive Aquaculture



VNA March 15- The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, is working with authorities in three southern provinces in carrying out a USD 513,000 programme to help revive aquaculture in the region badly affected by last year's floods.

Beneficiaries of the FAO-funded programme are farmers in An Giang, Dong Thap and Can Tho who have started of preparing ponds and restoring other facilities to raise fresh-water fish and shrimp.

Vietnam will create a more atractive for foreign investors



Ha Noi, March 15 (VNA) -- Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has affirmed the Vietnamese government would try to remove all difficulties and obstacles to make Viet Nam a more attractive and successful place for foreign investors.

Expanded immunization programme in 2001



Ha Noi, March 15 -- The State will spend VND 70 billion, about USD 4.8 million, on the national expanded immunization programme this year, ensuring vaccines for all localities and medical centres.

A meeting to launch this year's National Expanded Immunization Programme, NEIP, was held at the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute in central coastal Khanh Hoa province on March 13 and 14.

FAO grants 400,000$ to flood-hit provinces



Ha Noi, March 14 (VNA) -- The World Food Organisation (FAO) has granted USD 402,784 to Mekong delta Can Tho, Dong Thap and An Giang provinces to develop aquaculture.

The project which will start later this month will benefit farmer households hard hit by floods last year.

PM Directive on Year of Social Volunteers for vulnerable children



Ha Noi, Mar. 13 (VNA) -- The Prime Minister has issued a directive to facilitate the implementation of "The year of social volunteers for children living in special difficulities" (2001-2002).

Eleventh Plenum to focus on personnel issues



Ha Noi, Mar. 13 (VNA) -- Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu called for the "most prominent Party cadres, endowned with both virtue and talent" to be chosen and introduced to the ninth Party Congress for election to the new Central Committee.

Hepl for blind people to integrate with society



Ha Noi, March 11 (VNA) -- A rehabilitation and vocational training centre is needed to help the blind find jobs and improve living conditions, says Nguyen Khanh, the Ho Chi Minh City Association for the Blind.

Khanh says the centre will help the blind recover their working capability, and provide vocational training and jobs for them.

New 6 Aquatic breeding centres



Ha Noi, March 11 (VNA) -- Viet Nam's fisheries sector plans to open six national aquatic product breeding centres in the next five years, says Deputy Head of the Fisheries Ministry's Science and Technology Department Tran Van Quynh.

Vietnam's handicrafts gain foothold in world market




Ha Noi, Mar. 7 (VNA) -- Viet Nam's fine art handicraft products, regarded as an expression of the nation's traditional culture and art, have found a stable niche in the world market.

Unlike other items, fine art handicraft articles are made mostly from raw materials available in the country with imported additives accounting only 3-5 percent. Accordingly, the net income of hard currencies earned from these exports is as high as 95-97 percent.

Minority communities prosper from farm economy




Mar. 12 (VNA) -- The farm economy has helped the minority community in Central Highlands Dac Lac province prosper. The number of prosperous or well-off households rose from 3,362 in 1990 to more than 10,300 last year.

Official statistics show that the province now has 331 farms run by minority families, that account for 10.6 percent of the province's farms and plantations.

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