(VOV) - The annual Kovalevskaya awards 2012 honoring outstanding female scientists were presented at a ceremony held in Hanoi on Monday.

The individual prize went to Associate Professor, Dr Bach Khanh Hoa, former director of the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. The 17-member staff of the Experimental Biology Centre within the Technological Application Institute of the Ministry of Science and Technology received the award for numerous projects researching into the production of nutritious supplementary products from sea weed as well as biological waste treatment solutions. Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, expressed his hope that prize winners would continue to do their best to contribute to national scientific and technological development: "I hope that you will continuously overcome all difficulties in pursuing your scientific research, and to come up with new initiatives and inventions for the benefit of national construction and development. In future, the award should continue to honor creativity and the great contributions made by Vietnamese women in  scientific research and national development", Phuc said. 

Besides the Kovaleskaya award, the Vietnam Women’s Union also presented awards in a writing contest entitled “Vietnamese women reflect self-confidence, self-esteem, loyalty and responsibility” and launched Vietnamese women’s Innovation Day 2013. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa, Chairwoman of Vietnam Women’s Union, said: "We’re trying to encourage more people to save at least 5,000 VND per month to help others to realize the goal of poverty reduction. If this campaign is implemented effectively, we can save trillions of VND as loans to assist poor women to develop their production. We can also provide women with information and consultation in the areas of family, child rearing and business".