Hanoi will provide 3.6 trillion VND (189 million USD) to preserve and
develop craft villages over 2010-2015 to preserve traditional craft
villages, develop tourism and build new ones while ensuring the
environment is protected.
The city will prioritise 25 traditional villages that are under
threat of falling beyond repair and that need to be restored and
preserved. They include Dong My lacquer village, Dai Ang conical hat
village, Nghia Do “sac” paper village, Van Canh “do” paper village and
Ngu Xa copper casting village.
The project will help to develop
tourism at craft villages, assist family households to maintain their
production for tourist purposes, provide finance for vocational training
and encourage the production of high quality handicrafts.
The
city is also paying more attention to developing new craft villages to
help generate jobs and increase local residents incomes.
In order
to attract investment to preserve craft villages, Hanoi will grant
soft loans to businesses for a duration of 3-5 years, to help them to
promote their trade marks and promote craft villages in the city.
Setting
up and developing the sale of crafts in domestic and foreign markets
with a focus on linking up with supermarkets and trade centres and
assisting craft villages to boost exports will be also be conducted.
In
order to avoid pollution, the city will encourage craft businesses to
move to industrial complexes and help businesses to upgrade their
equipment.
At present, Hanoi has almost 1,350 craft villages,
making up 59 percent of the country’s total, that provide jobs for over
626,000 people, with an annual average income of 13.1 million VND per
person.
In 2009, Hanoi ’s craft villages earned 7.65 trillion
VND (402 million USD), equal to 8.4 percent of the city’s industrial
production value.
According to the Hanoi Centre for Industrial
Promotion and Consultancy, despite the assistance to help traditional
craft villages in Hanoi , they have encountered many problems.
In
order to promote Hanoi ’s craft villages, a festival “Thang Long-Hanoi
craft villages and streets” will be held in Hanoi between September
16-21./.
