Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi will implement 35 projects to improve the environment pollution for local craft villages in the 2011-2015 period, in a bid to protect the environment and human health. This is part of the city’s plan on preserving and developing its traditional craft villages by the next five years, the Ha Noi Moi newspaper reported. Currently, many craft villages in the city are facing environment pollution seriously. This year, Hanoi will carry out five projects in five trade villages while 30 others will be launched in the next five years. To preserve and develop these traditional crafts, the city plans to provide 85 training courses for 4,250 rural laborers and workshops’ owners will also be trained to develop craft villages. By 2015, Hanoi will focus on developing craft villages and turning them into tourist spots. To reach the goal, it is necessary to improve the environment in such villages. Vietnam has about 2,790 handicraft villages, including 1,340 in the capital with a total number of 670,000 workers.
Traditional craft villages across the country are producing many different products, with some operating for hundreds of years. But, most of them still currently use backward production technology, severely causing environment pollution and harming the human health. (Ha Noi Moi – New Hanoi July 11, Quan Doi Nhan Dan – People’s Army July 12)
