The Secretariat of the Communist Party Central Committee of Vietnam issued a directive to enhance biotechnology development and application in the country. The Vietnam News Agency reported that the directive outlined the following goals:

• Create quality and high-yield crops and domestic animals to improve the competitiveness of local farm produce, and increase the proportion of processed farm, forest and aquatic products.
• Reduce drug imports through the production of essential drugs.
• Expand biotechnological application in protecting the environment.
• Promote the application of biotechnology in agricultural production and rural areas.

The directive called for more efforts to build up scientific and technological capability and provide additional investment to build a network of biotechnological laboratories in the regions.

The article on the directive is available at
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/newsa.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=32&NEWS_ID=141594 

Hanoi, Vietnam
March 17, 2005

President Tran Duc Luong visits Agricultural Genetic Institute

On March 17th, during a working to the agricultural genetic institute, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, President Tran Duc Luong affirmed that the Party and State regard biological technology as one of the key technology fields. Therefore, we have to develop policies to encourage the field to thrive in order to meet the country’s urgent demands both now and in the future.

President Tran Duc Luong emphasized the Party and State are prioritizing this urgent problem. This is how Vietnam will approach the latest technology, and science and within 5-10 years, Vietnam expects to make achievements in this field. In the near future, top priority will be given to industrialisation and modernisation in agriculture although the target isn’t easy to apply.

In producing rice, the main sector of the country, President Tran Duc Luong affirmed that scientists’ decisive contributions not only create good seeds, but also meet market’s demands. The President wants the agriculture sector to take the initiative in genetic engineering because there is a problem of food security and social welfare.

In researching genetic engineering, a specific program and plan must be drawn up to meet the country’s domestic demands and export demands.

(Communist Party of Vietnam / According to Nhan Dan Newspaper)