Minister attends 144th FAO Council session

The Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat, attended the 144 th session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Council, in Rome on June 11.

Phat delivered a report on the outcomes of the 31 st FAO Regional Conference for Asia-Pacific (APRC 31) in Hanoi on March 12-16.

APRC 31 attracted more than 300 delegates, including 19 ministers and eight deputy ministers from 39 FAO member countries, along with 34 observers.

With the theme ‘food security and poverty reduction in rural areas’, the conference discussed measures to ensure food security and help rural residents to reduce poverty levels.

According to the minister, there was a consensus on the need to raise people’s awareness of the importance of nutrition and education while carrying out short term programmes and longer term strategies to ensure that poor people and farming households with no land have a nutritious diet.

It also emphasised on the necessity of encouraging member countries to draw up agricultural and rural development policies, diversify the varieties of plants grown and animals bred, introduce new products and enhance the roles played by farmers’ associations and cooperatives.

Phat said that APRC 31 had agreed with the FAO Director-General’s initiative on the strategic thinking process which ensures the region prioritises certain issues.

The Asia-Pacific region put forward five priority issues, including strengthening food and nutrition security; stepping up agricultural production and rural development; ensuring the sustainable use and management of natural resources; capacity building to cope with agricultural and food crises; dealing with the impacts of climate change in agriculture and providing the poor with adequate nutrition.

The FAO Director-General also pointed to South-South cooperation in the region as well as around the world, saying that it is one of the most effective models of cooperation.

Phat added that the conference backed the FAO’s priorities for Asia and the Pacific, and underlined that the FAO must allow the region access to capital so it can ensure food security for almost two thirds of the hunger people around the world.

The delegates suggested that the FAO also provides support for the region to cope with the challenges emerging from the negative impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

It was also decided that the 32 nd Regional Conference for the Asia-Pacific region will be held in Mongolia in 2014.

On the sidelines of the 144 th Session of the FAO Council, Minister Phat met with FAO officials to discuss a FAO-funded project worth 500,000 USD to control the spread of disease amongst shrimps.

At his meetings, Phat said that Vietnam wants the FAO to enable Vietnamese specialists to work for the organisation after it was first suggested by the FAO Director-General at APRC 31.

In the near future, Vietnam will send specialists in rice and seafood production and rural development to work at the FAO, he added.

Leading Vietnamese Buddhist visits Cambodia

A delegation of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) led by Most Venerable Thich Tri Quang, Deputy Head of the VBS Executive Council, is paying a visit to Cambodia from June 11-13.

At a meeting with the Cambodian Minister of Cults and Religious Affairs Min Khin, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on June 12, the Most Venerable Thich Tri Quang said the VBS delegation’s current visit to Cambodia is to bolster the relationship the Vietnamese and Cambodian peoples have with Buddhism.

Minister Khin briefed the delegation on the development of Buddhism in Cambodia since the country escaped from the genocidal regime of Pol Pot in 1979 with only one monk alive. Cambodia now has more than 4,300 pagodas and almost 60,000 monks.

The country has three Buddhist universities and will soon have a post graduate course in Buddhism, said the Cambodian Minister.

The Most Venerable Quang used the occasion to invite the Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong of the Mohanikaya sect and the Supreme Patriarch Bou Kry of the Thomayut Tekanikaya sect to visit Vietnam.

Later the same day, the delegation visited the Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong and the Supreme Patriarch Bou Kry at the Ut Nalom and the Svay Pho Pe Pagodas.

Prisoners receive legal training, life skills

Eighty prisoners at An Phuoc Prison in southern Binh Duong Province last weekend completed a two-day law consultancy course organised by HCM City's Youth Union and HCM City Law University.

Entitled Hanh trinh cua niem tin (The Journey of Hope), the programme discusses criminal, civil, labour laws and other regulations.

The experts also taught prisoners life skills and helped them fill out job application forms and apply for bank loans.

Organisers said the programme was designed to help prisoners reintegrate into society when released.

Police chief loses Party positions, faces dismissal

The Khanh Hoa Province Party Committee yesterday, June 12, removed Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Trung, chief of police of Khanh Son District, from his Party positions for his wrongdoings related to forest use, management, and protection.

Trung had been secretary of the District Police Party Committee and a member of the Standing Board of the District Party Committee.

According to results of the investigation, Trung has used more than 20 hectares of forest land illegally by allowing deforestation in the area while building a 500-meter road without permission from a competent agency, said Nguyen Chuyen, chairman of the provincial Party Committee’s Commission for Inspection.

The opening of the road had facilitated activities of wood exploiters and traffickers in the area, Chuyen said.

Trung also randomly gave four hectares of the forestland to others for forestation.

As a police chief, Trung has failed to prevent illegal exploitation, transport and trading in wood in the district, Chuyen said.

In addition, he managed to get financial support in relation to varieties and seedlings from authorities, although in fact he was not eligible for such support.

The Party Committee also proposed that the provincial Police Department demote Trung to lieutenant colonel and dismiss him as chief police of the district.

The department earlier suspended Trung, from April 27 to May 27, for his wrongdoings, but the suspension has since been extended for 30 days more to facilitate further investigations.

Temporary petrol outlets shut down

The market watch force in southern Binh Duong Province inspected and seized hundreds of temporary petrol retail outlets in Thu Dau Mot and Thuan An towns on Monday. The retailers did not have business licences and failed to show where the petrol had come from.

According to the local market watch team, there are about 800 temporary petrol outlets in the province.

Steps taken to protect ‘Sua' trees

More than 20 sua trees (Dalbergia tonkinensis Prain) in the Central highlands province of Dak Lak will be surrounded by iron fencing to prevent illegal logging.

The fences will be 2.5m high and 1.2m wide. However, Dinh Van Son, from Dak Lak Urban Environment Company, said these measure were only temporary until a more permanent solution to illegal logging could be found.

Blaze kills shoestore owner in north

The 35-year-old owner of a shoe shop was killed and his younger brother injured after a blaze destroyed the shop's warehouse early yesterday morning in northern Bac Ninh Province's Bac Ninh City.

The shop specialises in selling Viet Nam's Biti's brand.

The cause is still unknown.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre