As many as 34,000 cows will be given to poor households in the northern border areas between now and October 2016, as part of a State plan to reduce poverty there. For a start, 24,000 of them will be sent to the provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Son La, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An. Speaking at a Hanoi conference on June 24, President Truong Tan Sang asked ministries, agencies and businesses to back the initiative while spreading more productive business models in frontier areas. Representatives from ministries, companies and localities signed an agreement to launch the project and offer an aid of VND394 billion ($18.7 million USD), equivalent to 26,000 cows. The conference was co-hosted by the Border Guard High Command, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, the Central Committee of Vietnam Red Cross Society, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viettel telecommunications group, the State Bank of Vietnam, and the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies. (vietnamplus.vn Jun 25)
