ANGELINA JOLIE - JOLIE VISITS VIETNAM

ANGELINA JOLIE has taken time out from settling into her new home in New Orleans, Louisiana, to fly to Vietnam to promote economic development. The actress traveled to the Asian country to attend a meeting on behalf of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Project (MJP), a charity formed to aid her five-year-old son's native country of Cambodia. According to MJP executive director STEPHAN BOGNAR, he and Jolie met with officials from the International Finance Corporation's Mekong Private Sector Development Facility, a privately funded World Bank initiative that promotes economic development in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. The MRS + MRS SMITH star is particularly interested in a project to help subsistence farmers grow and sell bamboo, a business that Bognar says could increase their monthly income from $25 (GBP13) to $300 (GBP154). Bamboo crops also filter toxins from water and help stem soil erosion. Jolie's partner, BRAD PITT, was unable to make the trip and stayed with the couple's kids in New Orleans, where he is currently filming THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON.