Phu Tho (VNA) – Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinhlaunched a tree-planting festival at the Hung Kings special national historicalrelic site in the northern midland province of Phu Tho on January 30 or thesixth day of the first lunar month.
The event also saw the presence of Chairman of the PresidentialOffice Dao Viet Trung, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front CentralCommittee Phung Khanh Tai, and local leaders and people.
In her remarks, Thinh said planting trees on the occasion of Tet(Lunar New Year) has become a beautiful practice of Vietnamese people over thepast six decades since President Ho Chi Minh initiated the campaign, which hascontributed to environmental protection, socio-economic development, andnational defence and security.
She called on all people to engage in tree planting and takespecific measures to protect forests.
According to Vui Van Quang, Chairman of the provincial People’sCommittee, Phu Tho aims to plant more than 10,000 ha of concentrated forests in2020, while stepping up forest protection.
The province will also apply scientific advances to improveproductivity and quality of the forestry sector, and ensure green, sustainablegrowth.
On November 28, 1959, President Ho Chi Minh wrote an article which was published on Nhandan (People) newspaper, stressing the significance of tree planting to eachperson, each family and the entire nation.
Since then, the tree planting festival hasbecome a practice whenever a new year comes. Tree planting and afforestationactivities have been conducted in a widespread and effective manner and greatlyhelped with environmental protection and socio-economic development in Vietnam.
In accordance with the Target Programme onSustainable Forestry Development for 2016-2020, the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development targets raising forestry production value by 6-6.5 percent,increasing forest coverage to 42 percent and forestry export to 10 billion USDby 2020, contributing to mitigating natural disasters and reducing poverty incombination with new-style rural development and ensuring national defence-security./.
VNA