PANO - President Truong Tan Sang on December 15th handed over 50 breeding cattle to poor households in Chi Vien, Dam Thuy and Phong Nam communes, Trung Khanh district, Northern mountainous province of Cao Bang, as part of the program “Breeding cattle help the poor in border areas”, initiated by the military-run telecom group Viettel.

Each 130kg cattle, worth VND 15 million, will help needy locals develop their household economy.

President Truong Tan Sang making a speech at the ceremony

Addressing the ceremony, the State President highly appreciated Viettel’s initiative, as well as its contributions to caring for border people over the past time. He said border areas play an important role, so departments, organs and whole community should make efforts to help the needy in these areas improve their living standards to firmly defend national borders.

On the occasion, Viettel donated 20,000 tonnes of cement to northern border localities to help them upgrade their houses and barns.

The President asked the recipients to well take care of cattle and local authorities to develop plans to use cement effectively, contributing to local economic development.

Handing over breeding cows to households

Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that in spite of receiving care and support of the Party and State, the province still faces high levels of poverty. “Learning the significance of the program, the province will promote dissemination activities to help locals support the program and give the recipients breeding techniques and methods to prevent cattle from diseases,” she said.

Officially launched in June 2014 by the President, the program has presented 2,800 breeding cattle to the needy. Another 7,500 others will go to needy locals by the end of this year. As planned, by October 2016, the program will benefit needy households in 11 Northern and Northwestern provinces. “The progam has attracted millions of benefactors,” said Major General Le Dang Dung, Viettel’s Deputy Director General.

The same day, Viettel presented its first ten scholarships of the program “For student fond of learning”, to primary and secondary schools in Chi Vien commune.

Translated by Tran Hoai