President attends the launching ceremony of the Tree Planting Festival "Forever grateful to Uncle Ho"

The event was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in coordination with the People's Committee of Tuyen Quang province.

Also attending were Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien; representatives of leaders of a number of central ministries, departments, agencies and Tuyen Quang province.

The movement "Tet tree planting to forever remember Uncle Ho" on every Lunar New Year not only contributes significantly to tree planting but also spreads the project "Planting one billion trees".

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Quoc Tri, recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and localities have been determined to bring the Prime Minister's Project "Planting one billion trees" for the 2021-2025 period to the "finish line" on schedule.

During the three years of implementing the project from 2021 to 2023, the whole country has planted nearly 770 million trees, reaching over 121% of the plan. The total capital mobilized to implement the project in the past 3 years is nearly 9.5 trillion VND; of which the state budget capital accounts for 23.8%, the remaining capital comes from socialization and other capital sources.

Some provinces have implemented the Project with high results such as: Lao Cai, Phu Tho, Long An, Gia Lai. Ministries, branches, and central agencies have actively responded to the tree planting movement such as: Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Central Committee of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union. Many businesses and individuals have also responded to the program through establishing a fund to call for receiving and implementing afforestation and tree planting.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, President Vo Van Thuong emphasized that, following the teachings of beloved Uncle Ho: "Spring is the Tree Planting Festival - Making the country more and more springy", from the spring of 1960 until now, every time Tet comes, spring returns, our people organize "Tree Planting Festival".

More than 6 decades have passed, "Tet tree planting to forever remember Uncle Ho" has become a tradition, a custom, a cultural beauty, a widespread mass movement bringing great benefits to the country.

Planting trees and afforestation has contributed to protecting and improving the ecological environment, improving the landscape, proactively preventing and combating natural disasters, responding to climate change, making an important contribution to socio-economic development, and improving the quality of people's lives.

The President expressed his joy at knowing that in 2023, despite many difficulties and challenges, with the efforts of localities and the implementation of the program "Planting one billion trees" by 2025, the whole country has planted 260,000 hectares of concentrated forests and 127 million scattered trees, contributing to providing stable raw materials for the processing and export industry; the forest coverage rate is maintained at over 42%. Forest protection work has had positive changes. For the first time, our country successfully transferred the amount of carbon emission reduction of 10.3 million tons, worth nearly 1,200 billion VND.

The President assessed that, together with the whole country, promoting the tradition of a revolutionary land rich in history and cultural identity, Tuyen Quang province has always been a leading locality in forest management, protection and development; raising the determination to develop agriculture and forestry into a key economic sector, contributing significantly to the goal of building new rural areas and socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security of the province, and improving people's lives.

Tuyen Quang's achievements in the annual new forest planting rate have achieved good results: planting over 11 thousand hectares of forest/year; forest coverage rate has always been maintained and stabilized at over 65%, ranking first in the country, second in the country in sustainable forest management according to international standards; forestry economy has developed strongly, contributing to the socio-economic development of the locality and the whole country.

The President highly appreciated and commended the positive results that Tuyen Quang province and localities, agencies and units have achieved in implementing the movement "Tet tree planting to forever remember Uncle Ho", especially many good, practical and effective initiatives and methods.

The President stated that in the context of increasingly severe global climate change and biodiversity loss, Vietnam's consistent and continuous policy is to aim for sustainable development, determined to respond to climate change, build a green economy, a circular economy, and be environmentally friendly. Vietnam is gradually implementing its commitments with the support of developed countries in technology and finance to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 (Net Zero). Therefore, the task of protecting the ecological environment, planting trees, and protecting forests is becoming increasingly important.

The President hopes that in the coming time, the Party committees, authorities, Fatherland Front, organizations and people of Tuyen Quang, with the glorious revolutionary tradition of their homeland and the aspiration to build their homeland into an increasingly beautiful and prosperous one, will have specific and practical plans and actions, continue to promote the achievements that have been made; arouse the province's potential and advantages in terms of forest resources and forestry land, combine tree planting and afforestation, biodiversity conservation with preserving traditional cultural identity, building new rural areas, improving the quality of life for the people, contributing to building Tuyen Quang province to develop rapidly and sustainably.

The President requested that all sectors and levels organize propaganda and education activities well so that people are fully aware of the great significance and practical benefits of planting trees, protecting and developing forests; strictly implement legal regulations on forest protection and development, contributing to the sustainable protection of the ecological environment.

The organization of tree planting must ensure quality, practicality, efficiency, and not be ostentatious, creating conditions to mobilize the participation of a large number of mass organizations; focusing on selecting native plants and multi-purpose forest trees, suitable for weather, soil, and crop conditions in each locality to ensure that after planting, the trees have a high survival rate, grow well, develop well, and are effective.

“Planting trees is a beautiful and meaningful act. Each tree planted is a priceless gift to future generations. Trees have helped our lives, so we need to protect and plant more trees with love, gratitude and humility towards beautiful nature,” the President emphasized.

Immediately after the drumbeat to launch the Tree Planting Festival by President Vo Van Thuong, the tree planting competition atmosphere has spread throughout the localities in Tuyen Quang province. It is expected that over 3,000 acacia and tissue-hybrid acacia trees will be planted this time, opening the tree planting season in Tuyen Quang in 2024.

On the same morning, President Vo Van Thuong attended the inauguration ceremony of the urban development axis road project from Tuyen Quang city to the center of Yen Son district. The route is of great significance in promoting socio-economic development, completely connecting the traffic system of Tuyen Quang city's inner area with the center of Yen Son district. The project was started in early November 2021 with a length of 10.02km, with a total investment of 635 billion VND. This is considered a large-scale, synchronous level II traffic road with urban standards in the mountainous province of Tuyen Quang.