Published:  20:23 Tuesday - November 08, 2011

Situated in the Mekong delta, Soc Trang is covered by vast rice paddies, shrimp galoons and a variety of fruits like longan, rambutan, durian and orange. And this is the first time Soc Trang has been hosted the rice festival.

Nearly 1,000 booths for the Second Vietnam Rice Festival on Nov. 8-11 have already been booked, said Chairman of the Soc Trang Provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Trung Hieu.

Hieu said that main activities of the festival will take place in Soc Trang city and preparations for the event have been completed.

With the theme of Honouring Vietnam’s pearl green environment and golden paddy fields, the festival will promote the trademark of Soc Trang rice and Vietnam and honour the roles of Vietnamese people in rice production, as well as the sector’s scientists, managers and businesses, Hieu said.

The festival will also include exhibitions of agricultural tools and production models from early years to modern times and models of the development of Vietnam’s rice through these periods, as well as a writing and a photo contest.

A list of seminars in the festival will be held in the four-day event including a seminar on “Vietnam – high-quality rice development path”, an international seminar on “Creating Vietnam’s rice trademark - Vietnam ’s rice: Who buys? Who sells?” and a seminar on “Bai Xau (Ba Xuyen) – Soc Trang: from the first international seaport to the development future”. The seminars will focus on analysing Vietnam’s position and strength when competing on the international rice market as well as new demands and requirements when joining the World Trade Organisation.

Vietnam is an agricultural country, so the agriculture still plays an important role in the economic development of the nation. Vietnam exported around 6.5 million tonnes of rice worth 3.3 billion USD in the first 10 months of this year, year-on-year increases of 11.6 percent in volume and 20.3 percent in value, respectively.

The country’s rice export volume is predicted to be 7.1-7.4 million tonnes this year, compared with the previous forecast of 5.5-6.1 million tonnes.

Through this event, Soc Trang surely will attract the participation of not only local people but also visitors coming here in Vietnam tourism. It is a good sign to speed up the development of Soc Trang tourism and attract more tours to Vietnam.

Source: VNA

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