The central province of Thua Thien-Hue will equip communal post offices with computers, internet and books to promote local readership.

Readers will be able to update their knowledge on a range of fields from science-technology, agricultural production, business experience and legal documents.

The provincial library staff also called for donations of books and newspapers for children at the post offices.

Each post office will have at least 500 books and is expected to welcome 10-20 readers per day.

The Ministry of Information and Communication recently approved the project improving computer usage and public internet access in Vietnam as funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The project supported Thua Thien-Hue with 280 computers and 41 printers at different sites in the provinces, including 21 communal post offices.

The post office in Thuong Quang mountainous commune, for example, serves nearly 20 readers and internet users on a daily basis.

So far, Thua Thien-Hue has 111 communal post offices.

The commune cultural post office (CCPO) is an important policy in Vietnam to reduce the gap between rural and urban areas and increase the public access to information technology knowledge.

The programme was initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communications in 1998, aiming to provide postal and basic telecommunications services, free books and magazines for people in rural areas, especially in difficult communes.-VNA