The third Coconut Festival came to an end in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre On April 10, with hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign visitors and local people taking part.

This year’s festival included an art installation of a coconut road, a coconut foods festival, a tour of a coconut plantation and a coconut carnival to celebrate the future of coconuts. A seminar on how to increase the value of coconut products was also held along with a beauty contest, for the title ‘ Miss Coconut Land ’.

During the event, Ben Tre People’s Committee met with several domestic and foreign organisations and businesses to promote Ben Tre coconut brand and attract more investment to the area.

During the festival, six investment projects with a total capital of 86 billion VND and 45.6 million USD were granted licences by Ben Tre provincial People’s Committee.

In addition, the province also signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on investment cooperation for five projects, with capital of over 2,500 billion VND.

The event honoured local farmers as well as scientists, researchers and businesses, who have helped to develop the Ben Tre coconut trade mark, not only in Vietnam but also overseas.

The provinces coconut products have been exported to 50 countries and territories across the world, accounting for 25 percent of the total industrial production value in Ben Tre province and 40 percent of its export turnover.

The festival also helped to encourage trade promotion, investment, tourism and marketing in the area and Vietnam in general.

At the closing ceremony, the organisers announced three national records for products made from the coconut tree, which were recognised by Vietnam ’s Record Book.

They also presented certificates of merit and mementos to 14 businesses that produce arts and handicraft products who had won a competition during the festival to create products from the coconut tree.
(Source: VNA)