The Ministry of Fisheries held a ceremony in Hanoi on May 17 to receive the Gold Star Order awarded by the Vietnamese Party and State.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the fisheries sector’s achievements in recent years have greatly contributed to the national socio-economic development. There is great potential for the fisheries sector to develop strongly in the near future.

During the past 20 years, the sector has constantly achieved high growth rates to help improve fishermen’s living conditions. Seafood production hit nearly 4 million tones in 2006, four times higher than the 1990 figure while aquaculture output reached nearly 1.7 million tonnes, 10 times higher than the 1990 figure.

The whole country has nearly 500 seafood processing businesses and many of them are installed with modern production lines. Vietnamese seafood products are exported to 140 markets. The sector earned US$3.36 billion from exports in 2006, up 14 times higher than in 1990, making Vietnam become the 10th largest seafood exporter in the world.

Minister of Fisheries Ta Quang Ngoc said to achieve 4 million tones of seafood and earn US$4.5-5 billion from exports by 2010, the sector will have to make further effort to ensure sustainable development, high growth rate and national security in the sea and island areas.