Hieu said that main activities of the festival will take place in Soc Trang city and preparations for the event have been completed.

With the theme of Honouring Vietnam’s pearl green environment and golden paddy fields, the festival will promote the trademark of Soc Trang rice and Vietnam and honour the roles of Vietnamese people in rice production, as well as the sector’s scientists, managers and businesses, Hieu said.

The festival will also include exhibitions of agricultural tools and production models from early years to modern times and models of the development of Vietnam’s rice through these periods, as well as a writing and a photo contest.

A seminar on “Vietnam – high-quality rice development path”, an international seminar on “Creating Vietnam’s rice trademark - Vietnam ’s rice: Who buys? Who sells?” and a seminar on “Bai Xau (Ba Xuyen) – Soc Trang: from the first international seaport to the development future” will be included in the four-day event. The seminars will focus on analysing Vietnam’s position and strength when competing on the international rice market as well as new demands and requirements when joining the World Trade Organisation.

In Vietnam, agriculture plays an important role in the economy. Vietnam exported around 6.5 million tonnes of rice worth 3.3 billion USD in the first 10 months of this year, year-on-year increases of 11.6 percent in volume and 20.3 percent in value, respectively.

The country’s rice export volume is predicted to be 7.1-7.4 million tonnes this year, compared with the previous forecast of 5.5-6.1 million tones.