HANOI (Reuter) - Vietnam`s contender for the title of oldest human being in the world appears to have won official recognition, at least in her own country if not in the Guinness Book of World Records. Official media reports said on Thursday that Le Thi Co, who her family claims is 117, was presented with a wheelchair, a piece of silk fabric, a lacquerware painting and the equivalent of about $170 from Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. The Saigon Times Daily headline read: "PM offers gifts to world`s oldest woman." "...You are not only a bright example of maintaining good health but also a symbol of pride, of the vitality of the Vietnamese people," Kiet wrote in a letter to Co. Co, who lives on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, told Reuters recently that she was born in the Chinese year of the goat. She then held up an identity card which was issued in 1961. It says "date of birth, 1880" - which covers the years of the dragon and the rabbit. Her birth certificate has been lost. Then there is the question of her 12 children, the youngest of whom was born when she was apparently 58. The local media has not questioned the claim made by Co`s family. If it is right, she would take the Guinness Book of World Records title from a Canadian woman who turned 117 at the end of last month.