(VOVworld) – Commercial banks will engage in a program to assist fishermen to go offshore fishing, upgrade ships, and build high capacity ships which contribute to protecting the national sea and islands.

A Chinese ship chases and hits a Vietnamese fishing ship (photo: vov.vn)

The State Bank of Vietnam Governor, Nguyen Van Binh, said on the sidelines of the National Assembly’s 7th session on Monday that the central Bank and commercial banks will reserve a credit package of 470 million USD to assist fishermen to upgrade their ships and build high capacity ships.
The government will offer 70% for the insurance for the new ships. The central Bank is considering new programs of 0% interest rate for fishermen with certain conditions to ensure credit organizations will see their loans returned.
Mr. Binh said: “The Government has assigned the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to develop a government decree on the aid package. The government has discussed the draft decree and asked the Ministry to boost the drafting process to have a legal framework for implementing the program nationwide. We will disburse money immediately when there is a sound legal basis.”