Minister requests fruitful cooperation in defence industry with other countries hinh anh 1
A vessel of the Vietnam Coast Guard. The country's defence industry has built many modern multi-purpose vessels highly valued by international experts. (Source: People's Army Newspaper)
Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang chaired a meeting with the General Department of Defence Industry on February 3, asking for effective implementation of cooperation agreements on the field with other countries.

This is among the tasks set by Minister Giang, who is also a Politburo member and Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission, for the general department in 2023.

He requested it coordinate closely with agencies and units within and outside the army to develop and manufacture products that effectively serve both the national economy and military - defence duties, boost digital transformation, build brands for products and businesses of the defence industry, strengthen partnerships with international partners, and fruitfully hold trade promotion activities to introduce and export products of the defence industry.

The general department reported that in 2022, it proactively submitted proposals on the development of a self-reliant, multi-use, and modern defence industry to the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry, effectively carried out programmes and projects, promoted the application of science and technology, and mastered core technologies to design and produce new and modern equipment.

It also worked with other agencies and units to prepare for and successfully organise the first Vietnam International Defence Expo, thereby opening up many cooperation opportunities for developing the defence industry and military trade.

Over 240 face charges for alleged violations in auto testing

The police have so far searched 32 vehicle registration and inspection centers nationwide and pressed charges against 248 individuals working at these facilities, said a Ministry of Public Security (MPS) official.

They were accused of taking bribes, falsifying documents, manufacturing, trading, and providing equipment and software for illegal purposes, Lieutenant General To An Xo, spokesperson of the MPS, said at a regular Government press briefing yesterday, February 2.

“This is an organized bribery case involving Vietnam Register officials and leaders of vehicle testing centers across the country, causing substantial losses for society,” he said.

Investigations found that a number of Vietnam Register officials allegedly took bribes from auto testing centers on a monthly and quarterly basis to overlook violations while providing auto testing services, the MPS spokesperson added.

The fact that these suspects infringed violations in auto testing activities is one of the reasons behind traffic accidents in the country, Xo continued.

As for two cases linked to Viet A test kits and Covid-19 repatriation flights, which have captured public attention, Xo said that the police in January filed charges against 41 people in the repatriation flight bribery scandal, up by two suspects month-on-month.

Besides, 104 more suspected were prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the Viet A test kit case, up by two suspects month-on-month.

Minister requests fruitful cooperation in defence industry with other countries

Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang chaired a meeting with the General Department of Defence Industry on February 3, asking for effective implementation of cooperation agreements on the field with other countries.

This is among the tasks set by Minister Giang, who is also a Politburo member and Vice Secretary of the Central Military Commission, for the general department in 2023.

He requested it coordinate closely with agencies and units within and outside the army to develop and manufacture products that effectively serve both the national economy and military - defence duties, boost digital transformation, build brands for products and businesses of the defence industry, strengthen partnerships with international partners, and fruitfully hold trade promotion activities to introduce and export products of the defence industry.

The general department reported that in 2022, it proactively submitted proposals on the development of a self-reliant, multi-use, and modern defence industry to the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry, effectively carried out programmes and projects, promoted the application of science and technology, and mastered core technologies to design and produce new and modern equipment.

It also worked with other agencies and units to prepare for and successfully organise the first Vietnam International Defence Expo, thereby opening up many cooperation opportunities for developing the defence industry and military trade.

Ministry of Public Security has new office manager

The director of the Police Department of Yen Bai Province, Colonel Dang Hong Duc, has taken up the post of office manager of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), replacing Lieutenant General To An Xo.

The decision was announced during a ceremony to announce the ministry’s personnel decisions held yesterday, January 31.

Lieutenant General To An Xo is no longer the office manager of the MPS, with effect from today, February 1, but he remains the spokesman of the MPS and assistant to Minister of Public Security To Lam.

HCM City to face high tides

HCM City has been forecasted to see two high tide fronts this month, according to the Southern Hydrometeorological Observatory.

The centre said that the high tides would occur in the middle and end of this month.

Last month, the highest tides were measured in Phu An and Nha Be areas with the water level 4cm higher than the 10cm during the same period of last year.

HCM City often experiences high tides which cause serious flooding for many local areas. It is common to see many local streets to be turned into rivers due to high tides.

The city is carrying out some anti-flooding project to improve the situation.

Large bomb found in Ca Mau shrimp farm

A bomb weighing 250 kilogrammes has been detected at a shrimp farm in the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

According to local authorities, Pham Van That from U Minh Town saw the bomb while dredging his shrimp farm. 

The MK82 bomb is 1.6 metres long and has a diameter of 30 centimetres. It has been left from the American war.

The bomb has been relocated to a military site for detonations.

Bac Giang opens Tay Yen Tu Spring Festival, Culture - Tourism Week

The Tay Yen Tu (West Yen Tu) Spring Festival and the Culture - Tourism Week 2023 of northern Bac Giang province opened with a ceremony held at the Tay Yen Tu spiritual and ecological tourism complex on February 2.

Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Mai Son said the Tay Yen Tu tourism complex, located on the path of propagating the Dharma of the founders of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist sect, holds a special position for developing cultural, spiritual, ecological, and relaxation tourism.

Given this, Bac Giang is developing a tourism space here and working with nearby Quang Ninh and Hai Duong provinces to compile a dossier seeking UNESCO recognition of the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac landscape complex as world heritage.

The recognition will help promote tourism as well as economic, cultural, and social development in the region, the official noted.

The Tay Yen Tu Spring Festival and the Bac Giang Culture - Tourism Week feature 15 main activities and a wide range of cultural, sport, and tourism events, which will be held in Son Dong, Yen Dung, Luc Nam, and Luc Ngan districts from now to February 6.

Notably, a procession of the set of woodblocks carved with the poem “Cu tran lac dao phu” took place on February 2, bringing the set from Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Yen Dung district to Thuong Pagoda in the Tay Yen Tu complex.

The woodblocks on “Cu tran lac dao phu”, written in the Nom and Han (Chinese) scripts, are among the Buddhist woodblocks kept at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda that were listed as documentary heritage in the Memory of the World Programme for the Asia-Pacific region.

The 70km-long procession aimed to honour the ideological values of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist sect and re-enact the sect founders’ path of propagating the Dharma. It was recognised by the Vietnam Records Organisation (VietKings) as the biggest of its kind held in Buddhist rituals in Vietnam.

HCMC reviews prolonged projects causing concerns to residents

Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Bui Xuan Cuong has just required the People’s Committee of Thu Duc City and districts to establish working teams to review the prolonged projects causing concerns to people.

A household that has not received compensation at Vinh Loc Residential Area in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward, Binh Tan District.

Therefore, the city leader requested proactive collaboration between departments and relevant units to timely review and propose solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles during the implementation process and the results report to the municipal People’s Committee.

The city leader’s direction was imposed as the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District and the Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 had submitted the collaboration plan to support the progressive acceleration of some sub-projects in Vinh Loc Residential Area in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward, Binh Tan District.

Over two decades, the project has not been finished causing concerns to voters in Binh Tan District at the meetings with voters of the National Assembly and HCMC People’s Council delegates.

According to the plan, Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 will hand over nine land plots with infrastructure and 32 ones being performed compensation along with site clearance to the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District.

Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Bui Xuan Cuong assigned the municipal departments to promptly give guidance to the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District and the Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 to implement the plan mentioned above in accordance with the regulations.

Former Dutch diplomat donates paintings to Vietnamese museum

The Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum has recently received two paintings from former Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands to Vietnam Ellen Berends.

The former diplomat collected the two lacquer paintings entitled "Kieu hanh" (Pride) and "Nhung nu hon tinh yeu" (Kisses of Love) by painter Phung Pham when she worked in Vietnam from 1997-2001.

She fell in love with Vietnam as well as its landscapes, people and fine arts while she was in the country.

Although Berends left the Southeast Asian country more than 20 years ago, her memories of and love for Vietnam have never faded away.

She came to the Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands to express her wish to donate the paintings to the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum so that the Vietnamese public could contemplate the works which Berends had brought with her to many other countries.

The museum's representative highly appreciated Berends's good deed and thanked the Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands, especially Ambassador Pham Viet Anh, for their efforts to bring the paintings back to Vietnam.

Painter Phung Pham said he was moved to see the paintings again as they now become parts of the museum’s collection.

Wild elephants attack Dak Lak conservation centre

A wild elephant herd has attacked a facility of the Dak Lak Centre for Elephant Conservation, Animal Rescue and Forest Protection Management.

According to Tran Xuan Phuoc, director of the centre, the incident happened on February 1 in Krong Na Commune in Buon Don District.

A staff member from the centre said that while he was sleeping, he heard a big noise. Then the wild elephant herd damaged the centre’s fence and rushed in to take the food that was left for some domestic elephants being kept here.

Phuoc added that the elephant herd came from a forest in Krong Na Commune.

The centre has cooperated with Krong Na Communal authorities to adopt measures to ensure the safety of local residents.

Tet train schedules remain in place

The railway industry will keep in place the extra train schedules designed for the Tet holiday season, according to the Hanoi Railway Transport JSC (HARACO).

TN3 and SE9 trains will be in service longer than expected to meet the travel demands of passengers from central provinces to HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai after the 10th day of the lunar new year.

Particularly, the TN3 train will continue to serve passengers until February 5 (the 15th of the first lunar month) instead of February 2 as in the previous schedule. The train departs Hanoi Railway Station at 12:25 p.m. and arrives at Saigon Railway Station at 3 a.m.

Meanwhile, the SE9 train will run until February 7 instead of February 5 as earlier scheduled, departing Hanoi Railway Station at 9 p.m. and arriving at Saigon Railway Station at 10:30 a.m.

The tickets for those train trips are available at the normal price, 20% lower than during the peak period at Tet, according to a representative of the Hanoi Railway Transport JSC.

Two carriers conduct nearly 400 ferry flights from Tan Son Nhat airport

Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air operated a total of 399 ferry flights from the Tan Son Nhat airport to take passengers from northern and central provinces to HCMC from January 26 to 30 as the Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) ended.

Migrant workers in HCMC and some neighboring provinces returned to their hometowns in northern and central Vietnam in droves to celebrate Tet with their family. Since the holiday ended last week, they have got back to work in large numbers, leading to an upsurge in air traffic from northern and central provinces to the southern city.

Among 720,000 passengers going through the Tan Son Nhat airport during the five days, domestic passengers to HCMC skyrocketed compared to the pre-Tet period and accounted for 60%.

According to the Southern Airports Authority, the number of passengers going through Tan Son Nhat has dropped from its peak at an estimated 135,000 passengers a day and is forecast to decline in the coming days.

The number of ferry flights highlighted a big imbalance between the travel demand to and from HCMC but could not lead to a drop in air ticket prices as expected, as a ferry flight’s cost is just a little lower than that of a commercial revenue-generating flight.

HCMC needs over US$385,739 for fresh recruits’ eye surgeries

Ho Chi Minh City needs around VND9billion – VND10 billion (US$385,739-US$429,338) for fresh recruits’ eye surgeries.

This afternoon, the municipal Military Service Council’s second session was chaired by Mr. Phan Van Mai, Chairman of the city People's Committee cum Chairman of the Military Service Council.

At the meeting, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department mentioned difficulties when the percentage of citizens with refractive errors is high. Statistically, nearly 300 new recruits with nearsightedness registered to become policemen. Many of them are from low-income families who can’t afford eye surgery fees.

The Chairman of the People's Committee has directed to carry out eye operations on them since the beginning of 2023, but it has not been implemented until now. Therefore, no raw recruits receive financial assistance for the surgeries.

Mr. Phan Van Mai said that city leaders will check this matter as well as clarify who will be responsible for this.

Regarding this, Director of the City Health Department Tang Chi Thuong said that the Eye Hospital agreed to reduce the cost of surgery by 30 percent. With about 300-400 surgeries, the total cost is about VND9 billion-VND10 billion.

Answering the funding issue, a leader of the City's Department of Finance said that this year, relevant units have mobilized families and other fund sources for eye surgeries of these special recruits. He proposed that localities and related agencies estimate the amount to submit to the municipal People's Council for approval of the total funding.

At the meeting, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nam, Commander of the Ho Chi Minh City Command cum Standing Vice Chairman of the Military Service Council, assessed that army recruitment was done better in 2023 than the previous year.

Regarding the cost of eye surgery, the Lieutenant General suggested localities summarize the number of fresh recruits with eye diseases who need to undergo surgeries and report to the Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for approval of the funding estimate. Anyone does tattoos after a medical examination or an order to enlist, the Ho Chi Minh City Command will take appropriate punishment.

Mr. Phan Van Mai suggested that local administrators should listen to young recruits and their families from now until the day of the army handover to help them. Regarding the recruitment of young men to join the army, he requested that it be done openly and transparently on the basis of the law.

Over 7,700 drink driving cases detected during Tet

The number of drink driving cases skyrocketed to over 7,700 during the seven days of the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, up nearly 600% versus the year-ago period, according to the Traffic Police Department.

The country has seen nearly 22,000 cases of traffic violations, with fines totaling over VND50 billion. The police have detained nearly 640 automobiles and 10,000 motorcycles, and suspended 5,000 driving licenses.

Over 7,700 cases were related to drink driving, accounting for over 35% of the total traffic violation cases, up nearly 600% over the nine days of the Tet holiday in 2022.

The northern province of Haiphong ranked first with over 600 drink driving cases, followed by Hanoi with 560 cases, HCMC and Quang Nam with 480 cases each, Thai Nguyen with 460 cases and Nam Dinh with 240 cases.

The Traffic Police Department reported that law enforcement strengthened supervision during Tet and set up many checkpoints on roads near pubs and restaurants.

For example, the police set up 141 checkpoints in Hanoi to supervise thousands of drivers on Lunar New Year’s Eve.

The strict supervision helped decrease the number of traffic accidents.

Within seven days of Tet, the country saw 152 road accidents with 89 deaths and 11 injuries, dropping by 12 accidents and three deaths over the same period last year, respectively.

Higher interest rates preventing young people from obtaining accommodation

The recent increase in loan interest rates of most banks has made the wish of young people to possess their own house more challenging to fulfill.

Right after Tet holiday, 30-year-old Nguyen Hoang is trying to balance his household spending account when receiving the news that the interest rate of his house loan is going to increase from less than 9 percent to 13 percent. This means the money he has to pay the bank now rises by VND4 million (US$170) to reach VND21 million ($895) per month, which is rather troublesome now that his wife might face a layoff from her company.

Such a situation like Hoang above is not at all rare in Vietnam at present, when banks nationwide have increased deposit interest rate, leading to an unavoidable rise in loan rate. All people borrowing money from banks to buy their house are negatively affected, especially white-collar workers without any additional income source.

Minh Anh from Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh City shared that she filed for a loan of VND1.4 billion ($59,700) to buy her house near the East Coach Station, to be paid back in 25 years. All have gone on smoothly as she and her husband have stable incomes until her mother-in-law was seriously ill not too long ago. She then needed a large sum of money for hospital fee immediately and thus could not afford this loan anymore. Now she has to sell the house and pay back the loan to the bank.

Obviously, when applying for a house loan, many young people have not considered any unexpected situations that require them to spend a large amount of money. Therefore, they could not manage the case when it actually happens. Now that they encounter a financial problem, all they can do is to decrease their daily expense to the minimum.

Buying a house is a long-term financial plan that needs careful consideration before giving a final decision. People should take into account certain negative situations and save money for that besides their daily spending on essential commodities and basic services. This will help them avoid more stress in life.

House prices in the outskirt of HCMC like Hoc Mon District, Cu Chi District, District 12 have witnessed a significant rise. For instance, the price of a small house in an alley in District 12 used to be VND800 million ($34,115) 7 years ago, but now it quadruples, posing more challenges for the young wishing to own a house in the city.

Seeing that, many young people have opted to purchase a house in neighboring provinces of HCMC like Long An Province. Others pool money to buy a house together to live, and then sell it when the price becomes better. Adding to further savings, they could gradually move nearer to the downtown.

Clearly, with a wise financial plan, the young can obtain a private house of their own. However, they should not try to have a house at all cost and increase pressure for their life, which will eventually destroy their health.

Foreign passenger returned lost jacket with cash at Noi Bai Airport

Officials of Noi Bai International Airport have just supported a French traveler to find a lost jacket containing more than €2,300 (nearly VND60 million).

In the afternoon of January 30, after finishing the check-in procedures for flight VJ513 departing from Hanoi to Da Nang, a French traveler detected that he lost his jacket in a restaurant in a restricted area of the T1 Terminal of Noi Bai International Airport.

The passenger promptly halted the procedures for the upcoming flight and declared the information to the nearest security staff.

In fact, the jacket was reported and transferred to the security staff of Noi Bai International Airport by a restaurant employee.

The two sides made a record and checked the jacket containing an amount of foreign currency of more than €2,300 (nearly VND60 million).

After receiving information from the passenger, the Security and Order Team of the Domestic Terminal of Noi Bai Airport performed a double check and identified that this passenger was the jacket’s owner.

By 4:30 p.m. on the same day, the Security and Order Team of the Domestic Terminal and security forces of the airport had handed over the jacket along with lost money to the French passenger.

The passenger expressed his thankfulness and touched with the services of Noi Bai International Airport.

Ha Long Bay among top ten most incredible tourist attractions people should visit once in life

The Canada-based travel magazine The Travel has just named the famous Ha Long Bay one of its “Ten Natural Attractions Around The World You Need To Visit At Least Once In A Lifetime”.

According to Joshua Chiedu, the staff writer of the magazine, the world is filled with so many awe-inspiring natural wonders from towering waterfalls to unique rock formations. It takes the ‘Mother of Nature’ thousands of years to create these outstanding beautiful landscapes.

“Besides being inspiring, beautiful, and relaxing, many of these natural attractions also offer the opportunity for some exciting adventures to allow visitors to get the best out of their visit,” she wrote.

The Ha Long Bay of Vietnam ranked second on The Travel’s list of wonders that every people should visit once in their lifetime.

“Ha Long Bay is a part of Vietnam characterized by stunning limestone islands carpeted with green vegetation and surrounded by mesmerizing emerald waters,” according to the travel newspaper.

In fact, the wonderful bay has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it now welcomes visitors from all over the world to come to enjoy its great scenery with thousands of gigantic limestone pillars rising from the clear turquoise waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in the East Sea of Vietnam.

The world’s natural wonder covers an area of 1,553 sq kilometers, with around 2,000 islets, most of which are limestone forged over 500 million years in different conditions and environments.

The Travel suggests some of the most exciting activities for visitors to Ha Long Bay which are kayaking, cruises, cave exploration, and rock climbing.

In addition, international visitors come in abundance to Ha Long Bay with many opting for cruise tours, including the day-cruising tour around the bay; the two-day-one- night or event three-day-two-night tours to relax on board or explore juggle and fishermen life surrounding the stunning ‘the wonder of the world’.

In 2022, Ha Long City alone welcomed over 7.1 million tourists, 1.5 times higher than scheduled. The coastal city aims to attract about 8.5 million tourists in 2023.

Other famous spots which made it to The Travel’s list are Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia; the Uluru, or Ayers Rock in the heart of the Northern Territory, Australia; the Geirangerfjord Fjord of Norway and Galápagos Island in Ecuador, among others.

HCMC reviews prolonged projects causing concerns to residents

Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Bui Xuan Cuong has just required the People’s Committee of Thu Duc City and districts to establish working teams to review the prolonged projects causing concerns to people.

A household that has not received compensation at Vinh Loc Residential Area in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward, Binh Tan District.

Therefore, the city leader requested proactive collaboration between departments and relevant units to timely review and propose solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles during the implementation process and the results report to the municipal People’s Committee.

The city leader’s direction was imposed as the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District and the Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 had submitted the collaboration plan to support the progressive acceleration of some sub-projects in Vinh Loc Residential Area in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward, Binh Tan District.

Over two decades, the project has not been finished causing concerns to voters in Binh Tan District at the meetings with voters of the National Assembly and HCMC People’s Council delegates.

According to the plan, Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 will hand over nine land plots with infrastructure and 32 ones being performed compensation along with site clearance to the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District.

Deputy Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Bui Xuan Cuong assigned the municipal departments to promptly give guidance to the People’s Committee of Binh Tan District and the Public Service One Member Limited Liability Company of District 5 to implement the plan mentioned above in accordance with the regulations.

Quang Nam creates signature dishes from jackfruit

In Tam Ky City of Quang Nam Province, besides eating ripe jackfruits, the locals have also created many exotic dishes from the fruit, such as jackfruit salad, boiled jackfruit served with fish sauce, etc. However, a specialty of the province is the Tam Ky steamed jackfruit, with its intense aroma and sweet taste, making it hard to resist.

The Tam Ky locals have grown up eating steamed jackfruit. Jackfruit seeds are separated from the flesh and mixed with green beans. The mixture is then steamed and pureed. The cook adds familiar spices such as salt and sugar to the mixture, stuffs it into the jackfruit flesh and steams it again for 20-30 minutes.

When steamed, the jackfruit turns bright yellow, with an inviting aroma and soft and smooth flesh. The dish is served with shredded coconut and roasted peanuts.

Using just three simple ingredients, the Tam Ky people have created this rustic dish, that is best enjoyed when it is hot.

Ta Oi ethnic woman promotes traditional ‘zeng’ weaving products to the world

‘Zeng’ weaving is a typical traditional craft of the Ta Oi ethnic people in A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province. With a hope to preserve and promote her ancestors’ craft, Ta Oi ethnic artisan Mai Thi Hop has worked to bring traditional ‘zeng’ weaving products to the world.

Artisan Mai Thi Hop was born in A Dot (now Lam Dot commune), a remote and disadvantaged commune of A Luoi district. She was taught weaving ‘zeng’ at a very young age, and she completed her first ‘zeng’ product by herself at the age of 15.

She sold her products to Co Tu and Pa Co ethnic people living in the area. She found that the most difficult challenge facing ‘zeng’ weavers was how to find the market for their products.

Given this, Hop established a weaving group for local women in A Dot commune in 2004. The group was then upgraded to the Zeng-Brocade Weaving Cooperative (now Aza Kooh Green Brocade Cooperative).

Not only just creating jobs and improving skills for women, artisan Mai Thi Hop has also created many new designs and patterns for ‘zeng’ products.

As the Director of Aza Kooh Green Brocade Cooperative, artisan Mai Thi Hop has actively participated in fairs, exhibitions, and traditional craft festivals both inside and outside the province in order to promote the cooperative’s products to wider customers.

In particular, in 2015, Hop was selected to represent Ta Oi ethnic women to participate in craft demonstrations at the Fukuoka International Congress Center in Japan, during which she introduced the weaving craft of Ta Oi people to international friends.

Since then, she has joined many trips to promote the craft to people in Thailand and European countries.

While witnessing Hop’s demonstrations, Japanese people showed their interest in ‘zeng’ products because they are environmentally-friendly. Meanwhile, French customers like brocade products with red as the background colour and decorated with purple myrtle flower-shaped patterns.

To date, A Luoi ‘zeng’ weaving products are widely known and loved by many domestic and international tourists.

Recently, Aza Kooh Green Brocade Cooperative received a contract to produce 50 sheets of ‘zeng’ measuring 0.7x1.5m each for export to the Canadian market.

A Luoi district is home to nearly a dozen zeng-weaving facilities, which have helped to preserve the traditional craft of the Ta Oi people, which was recognised as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2017.

According to Hop, many things need to be done to keep the vitality of ‘zeng’ weaving craft in today’s life.

She stressed the need to teach this weaving technique to the younger generations while raising their awareness and responsibilities in safeguarding and upholding their ancestor’s heritage.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes