General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Nguyen Phu Trong, launched the Lunar New Year by planting trees in Hanoi’s outlying district of Ba Vi on February 3, the fourth day of the traditional Tet holiday.

The event was to mark the 84th founding anniversary of the CPV and 45 years since late President Ho Chi Minh planted a banyan tree on Dong Vang hill, Vat Lai commune to celebrate the first day of the Year of the Rooster 1969.

The tree, which represented the beginning of a national planting campaign, has now become a cultural relic site.

Talking with local residents, Party chief Trong noted his pleasure that the district Party Committee and locals have followed Ho Chi Minh’s appeal for forestation, which has been developed into an annual mass campaign.

As the country is on a path towards industrialisation and modernisation led by Hanoi , the tending, protection and planting of trees are crucial, he said.

Ba Vi district’s acreage of forest land now accounts for 25 percent of its total area and some 40 percent of the city’s total forest area.-VNA