In September 12 and 13 this month, Mekong Bamboo program cooperates with Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to organize a workshop in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city.

Bamboo enterprises are invited to attend this upcoming roundtable discussion, along with other businesses with an interest in the future of bamboo in Vietnam, to discuss these opportunities and provide input to the Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development’s development of a new Bamboo Master Plan and Policy Decision. Through the discussions, MARD hopes to increase attention and awareness to the new opportunities in bamboo; and, to hear your ideas and concerns related to building a sustainable business plan in this growing sector. Please join us for this informative and idea sharing meeting to help advance Vietnam’s bamboo industry.

Ideas gathered in two workshops will be considered for the development of bamboo policy in the future.

Prosperity Initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Lam Dong Province and Winrock International, participated in the Bamboo
Sector Conference “Emerging Trends for the Bamboo Industry in Vietnam” on May 14, 2010 in Da Lat city.

At the conference, MARD announced its plan to develop a national bamboo strategy. This strategy will include policies for land, finance, technology development, trade promotion and product standards and research. Upon MARD’s request, Prosperity Initiative’s Mekong Bamboo programme will assist in the development of this national strategy.

On March 18, 2010 The Thanh Hoa People's Committee Secretariat and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have signed a project agreement with Prosperity Initiative to review and update the Bamboo Policy for the province. The agreement also supports the creation of several sustainable luong bamboo harvesting demonstration sites in Thanh Hoa - home to Viet Nam’s largest bamboo industry.

Through this collaboration, Prosperity Initiative’s Mekong Bamboo programme will work with Thanh Hoa to attract bamboo business investment in the province.

A domestic investor working in construction material also attended the signing ceremony. With Mekong Bamboo’s assistance, this investor will establish a pressed bamboo and construction board production facility in Thanh Hoa later this year.

The signing of this agreement is another step forward in Prosperity Initiative’s long term collaboration with Thanh Hoa province.

17-19 September. Prosperity Initiative recently attended the world’s major annual bamboo conference. The triennial World Bamboo Congress took place in Bangkok and involved the participation of more than a hundred researchers, policy makers, bamboo enthusiasts and NGO representatives from 30 different countries.

John Marsh, Executive Director of Prosperity Initiative, was invited to speak at the session on Bamboo in Thailand and Southeast Asia. He presented on the Northwest Vietnam Industrial Bamboo Cluster and the cluster’s current and future potential impact on large scale poverty in Viet Nam and Lao PDR.

9-13 September 2009. Members of Prosperity Initiative’s Mekong Bamboo Team participated in this year’s VietBuild conference in Ho Chi Minh City. Over the last ten years, VietBuild has become Viet Nam’s biggest construction material exhibition. This year, more than 2,600 companies, ranging from material producers, construction companies, furniture manufacturers, designers and home décor consultants participated in VietBuild.