One dead, one missing in boat accident

One person died and another went missing after their boat flipped over in the Đáy River on Monday afternoon.

The accident occurred at about 3.30pm on Monday when the boat weighing up to 300 tonnes was carrying rocks on the Đáy River section through Yên Phú Commune, Ý Yên District of northern Nam Định Province, close to Gia Viễn District, Ninh Bình Province.

At 7.15pm the same day, Ninh Bình Province police announced that the body of a man named Nguyễn Văn Thượng, 32, was pulled out from the river.

Thượng’s wife, also on board at the time of the accident, was still missing.

According to the initial investigation, the two victims were the boat’s owners, with residency registration in Nghĩa Hưng District in Nam Định Province.

The boat did not collide with any other waterway vehicle at the time of the accident.

The authorised agency is continuing the investigation and its search for the missing woman.

Rain envelopes northern provinces

Rainfall will occur in the northern localities from Tuesday until Thursday following the impact of a trough, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting said.

The northern mountainous provinces are predicted to experience heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, strong winds, and even whirlwinds.

Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Lào Cai, Hà Giang provinces have been warned of landslides.

According to the centre, upper Hồng (Red) River will witness the water level rising 2-3m. This may lead to flooding in some low-lying areas along the river, affecting agricultural production.

Hà Nội will experience heavy downpour and it will be cloudy all the day, with temperature ranging from 17 to 24 degrees Celsius. 

Cyclists face traffic jam at Bến Tre Cycling event

A traffic jam yesterday did not affect the final result of the third stage of the Bến Tre Television Cycling Tournament from Phan Thiết City of Bình Thuận Province to Đồng Nai Province over 160km.

Cyclists faced traffic congestion near the finish line because part of the road was under construction. Athletes had to carry their bikes over the road barrier to the other side of the road and continue their race.

The general referee said it was an unexpected problem but fortunately it did not change the result of the race.

Nguyễn Tuấn Vũ of Dogarlic Đồng Tháp finished first with a time of 3hr 55.33min. Nguyễn Huỳnh Đăng Khoa (Asanzo Đà Nẵng) and Lường Văn Sinh (Bikelife Đồng Nai) came in second and third, respectively.

Lê Nguyệt Minh of Mathnasium HCM City who came eighth maintained his position as tour leader with an overall time of 8:49.28.

He also jumps to top of the green jersey race with 38 points.

In the team ranking, An Giang are the leading crew, with a time of 26:31.56 over three stages. Domesco Đồng Tháp and Hạt Ngọc Trời are close behind.

The fourth stage is from Đồng Nai to Bình Phước Province over 113km. 

Pharmacy degrees rental a flourishing market

A drugstore opening using a rented pharmacist’s degree has become common in HCM City, and the authorities remain clueless about how to tackle the problem.

In a contract obtained by Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper between a 60-year-old man called K and a 47-year-old pharmacist named T, an agreement was made to rent T’s pharmacist degree issued by the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy to open a drugstore on Tân Hòa Đông Street in District 6 on March 1, 2011. K had to pay T VNĐ5 million (US$220) a month over the first year of the contract, and the amount would increase by VNĐ500,000 on a yearly basis until March 1, 2016.

That meant T would earn a total of VNĐ360 million over a five-year period just by renting out her pharmacist degree.

The law requiring drugstores to be registered under the name of legitimate pharmacists has indirectly led to a booming degree rental market.

A number of pharmacists aware of the issue told Tuổi trẻ that the average rental price now ranges from VNĐ5 million to VNĐ10 million a month based on the location of the prospective drugstore and the popularity of the pharmacists involved. A well-known pharmacist, and even better if they are working at a health management agency, could command a much better price. Penalties for such violations remain lenient and do little to deter the practice.

The problem has become so rampant that it is very easy to find posts on the internet asking to rent pharmacist degrees, in which personal information like names, phone numbers and email addresses are all on public display.

HCM City Department of Health Chief Inspector Bùi Minh Trạng blamed the situation on a loophole in the Law on Medicine, which allows pharmacists to use their names to open drugstores anywhere.

"This makes no sense, as a pharmacist based in Hà Nội can legally open a drugstore in HCM City," he said.

The law does not force a pharmacist to be present at his drugstore at all times, and he could ask another pharmacist to take care of the drugstore. Many took advantage of the loophole, leading to the booming black market.

Regarding the public posts on the internet, Trang said that the inspectors were aware of the situation, yet could not do anything about it.

"We can only handle the violation when the drugstore’s operation licence has already been granted and the inspectors manage to prove that a rented degree has been used in the case," he said.

HCM City Department of Health Deputy Director Phạm Khánh Phong Lan acknowledged the problem of rented degrees in HCM City, which had become "very serious when a number of pharmacists could not resist the temptation of earning a living from renting their degrees."

Lan said that a lack of regulations on opening drugstores was the cause of the problem.

"Pharmacies are all around hospitals in HCM City while there are only a few in remote areas like Cần Giờ District," she said. "HCM City has more than 5,000 pharmacies for 10 million citizens, or more than one pharmacy per 2,000 citizens. It is too many."

The health department was stepping up efforts to inspect drugstores, which would then face higher fines if the pharmacist in charge was found to be absent on two occasions. Yet even these measures were far from enough, she admitted.  

600,000 more City locals insured in 2016

Increasing hospital fees and benefits from health insurance helped increase the number of people buying health insurance in HCM City last year by nearly 662,000 compared to 2015, according to the city’s Social Insurance Agency.

At a meeting reviewing the agency’s activities last year held last Friday, Cao Văn Sang, the agency’s head, said that the city last year had around 6.4 million of people buy health insurance.

The number is the city’s highest compared to last several years, Sang said, and added that health insurance covered 78 per cent of the city’s total population.

This year, the city aims to increase the coverage to 80.7 per cent, he said.

Although hospital fees hiked by 30 per cent last March under the Ministry of Health’s roadmap to the end of 2017, the city’s health insurance fund still ensures the balance and its abundance is nearly VNĐ700 billion (US$30.8 million).

The fund in 2015 was VNĐ1.1 trillion ($48 million), but the city only kept 22 per cent according to the government’s regulation. The rest was used to buy and provide free health insurance cards for people near the poverty threshold last year.

Health insurance helps reduce the burden of paying higher hospital fees which could reach VNĐ500 million-VNĐ600 million ($22,026-$26,431).

A 52-year-old woman of Đồng Nai Province who suffers from breast cancer said that she enjoys benefits from health insurance for her treatment.

Sang said that the cost for every outpatient and inpatient to examine and treat each time is the highest in the country, with the average 1.5 times higher than in other provinces and cities.

People who buy household-based health insurance receive the discount. The second member pays 70 per cent, 60 per cent for a third one, 50 per cent for a fourth one and 40 per cent for the fifth one.

The benefits helped increase the number of people buying under this method last year by more than 300,000 compared to 2015.

More than 2 million people bought compulsory social insurance last year, nearly 7,000 people voluntary social insurance, and more than 2 million people unemployment insurance.

According to Sang, the number of people with voluntary social insurance reduced because the insurance did not attract people. They pay the total amount to buy social insurance while people who buy compulsory social insurance pay a part of the charge. [Their employers have to pay the larger part for them.]

People who buy voluntary social insurance are at least 15 years old.

Trade Union hands out goodies to needy workers

The Trade Union of the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority in HCM City is set to organise various activities to help workers celebrate Tết (Lunar New Year) this month.

A total of 6,000 bus tickets will be donated to disadvantaged union members to return home for a family reunion during the year’s biggest festival.

The beneficiaries will be workers who have not returned home for Tết for years. Companies normally keep track of which ones go home for the New Year and which ones do not.

The union also plans to give gifts to 3,000 workers who will stay back in the city.

It will organise a flower fair and a trade fair for workers at the Hiệp Phước Industrial Park in Nhà Bè District from January 12 to 27.

It gave gifts worth VNĐ6 billion (US$265,500) to needy workers, Nguyễn Thành Đô, its chairman, told a meeting held on Monday (Jan 9)

Scholarships were given to 232 children of workers in industrial parks and export processing zones, he said.

Last year too the union had organised various activities for workers and protected the rights of its members, he said.

It had opened a supermarket each at the Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone and Saigon Hi-tech Park, which sell goods at 10-30 per cent discounts.

It has opened a cultural house at the park, he said.

Last year the union admitted nearly 21,200 new members, raising the total number of members to 235,820.

Highlanders unhappy after shifting to growing Inca peanut

Farmers in Chư A Thai Commune in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai are incurring losses after shifting to growing Inca peanut since late last year.

Inca-peanut, also known as sacha inchi, sacha peanut or mountain peanut, is native to much of tropical South America, parts of the Windward Island in the Caribbean and is now being cultivated commercially in Southeast Asia, most notably in Thailand.

Last October, Hoàng Ninh Xứ Nghệ Ltd Company based in Hà Nội’s Thanh Xuân District first introduced the Inca peanut in the Central Highland province.

Phú Thiện District’s People’s Committee granted the company a licence to grow Inca peanut on 2ha of land with some 3,300 Inca peanut seedlings under a pilot programme in the district’s Chư A Thai Commune.

The company then organised a workshop to introduce local farmers to Inca peanut – and said it was a highly profitable crop. It also displayed posters in front of the office of the commune’s People’s Committee, referring to a project to grow the crop on 10,000ha in Phú Thiện District, under which the company would offer seedlings and buy the entire harvested product.

Following these “advertisements”, local farmers rushed to buy Inca peanut seedlings. Some bought a few hundreds of seedlings while others bought thousands.

Vũ Văn Khuyến, 55, a farmer from Chư A Thai Commune, said their traditional crops were sweet potato or cassava, which brought them very low profits.

“On seeing commune agriculture officers inviting us to the Inca peanut workshop, my family borrowed money to invest in Inca peanut,” he said.

His family spent tens of millions of Vietnamese đồng to build poles and nets to grow the crop. They ended up paying VNĐ10,000 for the seedlings, with no discount from the company, but the crop did not grow as planned.

Hoàng Văn Chi, another local farmer, said he planted 2,000 seedlings, but 400 died and the others were stunted.

“The company told us that it’s easy to grow Inca peanut and that it was profitable. But now, we are in debt,” he said.

Bùi Trọng Thành, head of Phú Thiện District’s agriculture department, said the company illegally organised the workshop and displayed advertisements with false information, with relevant agencies failing to examine and assess the economic value of growing Inca peanut in the Central Highland.

An official from Gia Lai Province’s agriculture department told the Giao thông (Transport) newspaper that farmers in the province’s districts were growing Inca peanut, but the province did not have any plan to cultivate it.

The agriculture department was observing the situation and would deliver warnings to farmers if necessary, he said.

Meanwhile, the newspaper also reported that the director of Hoàng Ninh Xứ Nghệ Ltd Company refused to reveal what the company would do after buying the Inca peanut crop from farmers.

An Giang aims to fight smuggling

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình has urged police and market watch forces in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to intensify their fight against smuggling and trade fraud.

The Deputy PM-who is Head of the  National Steering Committee for Anti-Smuggling, Trade Fraud and Counterfeight Goods-has said An Giang, with its long border with Cambodia,  should focus more on the fight against border smuggling and trade fraud in bordering areas.

The province should handle violations with stricter punishment to smugglers and officials found supporting smuggling, Bình said on Monday.

In addition, Bình asked provincial anti-smuggling authorities to consolidate their co-operation with Cambodian partners, including border guards and authorities, to prevent and discover smuggling cases, trade fraud and counterfeit goods.

The deputy PM on Monday visited the Tịnh Biên Border Station, where he praised border guards and soldiers for their contribution to the province’s anti-smuggling fight.

Meanwhile, provincial authorities shared their opinions on the province’s transport planning and upgrades at a meeting with the deputy PM, saying that they wanted the Government to interfere on a project to upgrade a road section into national highway 80B, connecting Cao Lãnh District in southern Đồng Tháp Province with Vĩnh Xương border gate in An Giang Province.

It also requested a support toward building the Long Bình-Chrey Thom bridge connecting An Giang Province with  Kandal Province of Cambodia.

The province proposed the Government not allow auctions of seized illegal sugar products and promulgate relevant policies for re-exporting seized illegally imported tobacco.

An Giang Province borders Cambodia, and it has become a hotbed for smuggling in recent years.

Despite police steps to prevent the illegal practice, it is becoming more complicated. Smuggling is particularly on the rise as Tết (Lunar New Year) approaches and demand for goods increases. Gold, electronics, tobacco, wood and wine are some of the most popular smuggled products.

Smugglers often transport goods in the middle of the night or early in the morning to get them over the border more easily, local officials said.

They also separate products into smaller packages to make them easier to hide and change locations to make it more difficult for authorities to discover them. More seriously, smugglers have sometimes been violent against authorised forces. 

Nghe An raises over 43 billion VND for poor people on Tet

287 individuals and groups donated more than 43 billion VND (1.89 million USD) at the fund-raising event “Lunar New Year (Tet) for the needy” held in the central province of Nghe An on January 9.

This was the fourth year the event had taken place in Nghe An. It is also a chance to honour outstanding supporters of the poor.

Nghe An is home to 74,740 households living in poverty.

In 2016, the Vietnam Fatherland Front provincial committee in Nghe An added 22 billion VND (968,000 USD) to its fund for the poor. The funds were used to build and upgrade 798 houses for the disadvantaged.

Binh Thuan resident donates 230 artifacts to Ninh Thuan Museum

Nguyen Ngoc An, a resident in Binh Thuan province, donated 230 artifacts to the Ninh Thuan Museum.

The artifacts donated by An, a passionate collector of antiques, include many of significant value, such as stone axes from the Sa Huynh Culture which flourished between 1000 BC and 200 BD, or jars and knives with two handles of Champa culture dating back to the 15th century.

There were also artifacts of the Tran and Nguyen Dynasties dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

 Warning signs as Hanoi releases daily pollution data for the first time

The city has started to report air quality readings on an official website. And the numbers don't look so good.

warning signs as hanoi releases daily pollution data for the first time hinh 0 For the first time, Hanoi has released daily readings of the Air Quality Index (AQI) allowing the public to keep track of pollution in the city on a website.

The website, hanoi.gov.vn/quantracmoitruong, which is only in Vietnamese at the moment, provides updates on both air quality and flooding based on real-time data collected by tracking stations around the city.

The AQI record of the first week of 2017 may worry many.

It showed that air pollution measured at the Nhon tracking station in Tu Liem District was at a "hazardous" level (AQI > 300) for the first two days, "very unhealthy" (200-300) on January 3, and "unhealthy" (100-200) in the next four consecutive days.

On January 9, the index improved to "average" after a "hazardous" on January 8.

The website also displays visual updates for rain in 16 most flood-prone areas in Hanoi. The city authorities are planning to make more indicators, notably water quality, available to the public.

The daily updates come amid growing concerns that air pollution in Hanoi has been worsening and reached dangerous levels, as warned by environmental experts in recent years.

Hanoi’s air has been repeatedly ranked as "unhealthy" and at times “hazardous,” which means everyone should avoid being outdoors. "Unhealthy" and "very unhealthy" levels mean children, old people and those with respiratory conditions should stay in.

Industrial activities and vehicles have been blamed for the problem. The capital city now has 5.5 million individual vehicles including more than 4.9 million motorbikes, or more than 70 cars and nearly 700 motorbikes on every kilometer of road.

New road helps ease traffic congestion

A road connecting Nguyễn Văn Cừ Street in Long Biên District to the left bank of the Red River was inaugurated on Monday in the capital city.

The road is 1.5km long and 40m wide. It was constructed with total investment of VNĐ985 billion (US$43.6 million).

It has synchronous technical infrastructure consisting of a water supply-drainage system, lighting system, trees and power and TV cables that are laid underground. 

Some 470 households and organisations were relocated for the construction of the road.

The road creates an interconnection between Chương Dương, Vĩnh Tuy and Thanh Trì bridges and the Hà Nội-Hải Phòng Expressway, helping to ease traffic congestion on the streets of Nguyễn Văn Cừ and Nguyễn Văn Linh, the Chui Bridge and the Long Biên-Bát Tràng embankment. 

Cao Bang’s last remote commune accesses power

Son Lap commune in Bao Lac district has become the last commune in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang to access electricity from the national power grid.

Total investment for the project to supply power to the remote commune is 23.83 billion VND (1.05 million USD). The project includes 6.738km of 35kV middle-voltage transmission line, three transformer stations with a total capacity of 300kVA, and 9,379km of low-voltage line.

Located about 140km from Cao Bang city, Son Lap commune covers over 4,000 hectares with many high rocky mountains. Its residents are mostly from ethnic minority groups, including Mong, Dao, Tay and Nung.

The majority of local households are poor, with backward customs and low literacy.

The project, invested by the Electricity of Vietnam’s Northern Power Corporation (EVN NPC), is expected to improve socio-economic situation in the localities, while enhancing political-social awareness of locals.

Institute of Natural Resources and Environment established

The Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) held a ceremony on January 5 to announce the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2218/QÐ-TTg dated November 17, 2016 on the establishment of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment under the VNU.

The institute was established on the basis of upgrading the VNU’s research centre for natural resources and the environment, with the functions of facilitating the conduct of scientific research and technological applications in the fields of natural resources, environment and sustainable development; organising training activities in relevant branches in line with current regulations; and provide relevant consultations and services in the fields of natural resources, environment and sustainable development.

Addressing the event, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Kim Son, President of the VNU, highlighted the significance of the establishment of the institute, hailing the facility as a central national agency that gathers forces to facilitate intersectoral researches on the preservation of natural resources, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and sustainable development towards green growth.

He urged the institute to focus on completing the organisational structure with a staff of competent, specialised, creative and wholehearted officials; implement topics for basic research, applied research and technology transfer; and develop models for preserving natural resources, protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development in the current globalisation context.

The institute also needs to implement PhD training programmes on environment and sustainable development; work with the VNU’s member units in providing intersectoral PhD training and capacity building programmes for different subjects across the country; and expand domestic and international cooperation, Son said.

At the ceremony, the VNU also announced the decision to appoint Hoang Van Thang, director of the VNU’s research centre for natural resources and environment, as the first head of the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment.

In his speech, Thang pledged to do his best to join officials and scientists in developing the institute into a leading intersectoral research institute in Vietnam on environmental protection and biodiversity preservation, serving sustainable development and community-based policy making.

Artists provided with favourable conditions to produce quality works

Politburo member and Secretary of Ho Chi Minh city People’s Committee Dinh La Thang has stressed that city authorities always create the most favourable conditions for artists to produce high-quality works.

Speaking at a meeting with over 300 artists in the city on January 5, he spoke highly of the achievements made by the city’s artists over the past year, which have contributed to the country’s development of culture and arts.

He expressed his hope that the artists would work harder to preserve and uphold the glorious tradition of Vietnamese revolutionary arts.

Artists should attempt to portray the good as well as the bad witnessed in all fields of socio-economic life, bringing them into their works in a frank and sincere manner in order to meet the recreational and entertainment demands of Vietnamese people, he said.

He also asked the city’s departments and sectors to attach more care and provide more support to the artists so that they can enjoy quality of life in this occupation.

At the meeting, the guests contributed their opinions to improving the quality of the city’s cultural and arts activities.

The city’s literature and arts saw encouraging progress over the past year. The city union of literature and arts associations has been active in organising field trips for its members, training younger members, and supporting them in releasing and advertising their works.

More 250 people were killed by natural disasters throughout Vietnam in 2016, the government said in a recent announcement.

The wrath of mother nature claimed more than 250 lives in Vietnam and dealt a VND39 trillion (US$1.7 billion) blow to Southeast Asian country’s economy last year,  Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said at a press conference on January 5.

The number of casualties, over 10% higher than the ministry’s reported yearly average of 226 deaths, was unfortunately unsurprising.

2016 was a year of extreme and abnormal weather phenomena for Vietnam – beginning with the worst drought and salt water intrusion the country has seen in decades and ending with heavy downpours pummeling the central region and Central Highlands throughout November and December.

Damage to the economy was about three times higher than the VND13 trillion (US$571.7 million) yearly average typically seen in the Southeast Asian country, Minister Cuong said.

In a recent announcement, the weather forecast center in Thua Thien- Hue, a north-central Vietnamese province commonly hit by floods, stated that last year’s total rainfall in the locality hit a record high compared to the past four decades.

Torrential rains caused three separate waves of flooding in the province during December, the center reported, adding that weather forecasts were inaccurate due to strange weather patterns, resulting in a serious impact to the provincial economy, particularly the agricultural sector.

Vietnam's human trafficking victims rise 13% in 2016

Police received reports of 1,128 victims last year, but only rescued around half of them.

The Vietnamese government has reported nearly a 13% increase in the number of human trafficking victims in 2016.

The Ministry of Public Security said its forces detected 383 cases of human trafficking in 2016, which was down 6% from the previous year, but the victims involved was up a staggering 12.8% to 1,128.

Police managed to rescue 600 victims last year and provide them with healthcare and legal and vocational support, according to a statement from the National Committee for AIDS, Drug and Prostitution Prevention.

Most of the victims were uneducated women and children from poor areas, including many from ethnic minority groups in Vietnam’s northern highlands.

They were sold to men seeking wives in China, Malaysia and South Korea, or just to bear children or work as prostitutes in these countries.

Many of the children were approached through social networks such as Facebook and Zalo, Vietnam's popular messaging app.

Besides financial difficulties, police also blamed negligence, easy immigration procedures and gender imbalance in destination countries as the major reasons for the increase.

Rapid economic growth in Southeast Asia has also created more opportunities for criminals to dupe workers, Mimi Vu of the Pacific Links Foundation, a counter-trafficking NGO, told Reuters last year. 

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' shift towards a formal community with freer movement of trade and capital would increase trafficking risks, she said.

According to the United Nations, nearly 21 million people are lured into forced labor every year worldwide and 1.2 million children are trafficked. A third of trafficked women and children are from Southeast Asia.

UK newspaper dubs Vietnam a safe place to visit

Vietnam was named among nine countries with a 'low' terror threat by the Telegraph but didn't do so well in terms of road safety.

U.K.-based newspaper the Telegraph has classed Vietnam as a pretty safe country to travel to in a recent survey, but highlighted the risks traffic accidents pose to visitors.

On Tuesday the newspaper released a series of graphics that remap the world in a wide range of perspectives, from gun ownership, energy consumption and criminal executions, to happiness, obesity and Miss World competitions.

Vietnam was one of the few countries listed as "safe to visit”.

Asian neighbors such as India, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand were considered "not completely safe", with the U.K.’s Foreign Office advising against traveling to parts of these countries.

The report named Vietnam, together with Japan, Bolivia, Ecuador and five European countries, as destinations with a “low” terror threat. More than 30 countries received a "high" terror threat rating, including holiday favorites such as Spain and France, as well as popular Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines and Thailand.

According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, there are only ten countries in the world that are free from conflict right now, and Vietnam is one of them.

However, that changes when you decide to walk down the street in Vietnam.

Vietnam is listed among the more dangerous country in terms of road deaths. The Telegraph ranked the countries based on the number of road fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year, and the ratings range from 1.9 in Maldives to 40.5 in Libya.

The report did not mention the figure in Vietnam, but according to new statistics from the National Traffic Safety Committee, it would be 9.4. The committee said road crashes killed 8,685 people in Vietnam in 2016, which means one every hour.

Traffic in Vietnam seems to either puzzle, impress or annoy outsiders, and even locals sometimes. The seemingly chaotic streets have even inspired Enomoto Kaori, a 30-year-old Japanese woman and game designer who arrived in Vietnam in July 2015, to create a mobile game called Vietnamese Road that trains people how to cross the streets.

The game has become so popular that last October it received a US$40,000 grant in the form of tools and services from a Facebook start-up fund.

But thanks to other strengths such as its delicious food and beautiful beaches, Vietnam is becoming an increasingly popular destination, with foreign visitor numbers hitting a record high of more than 10 million in 2016, up 26% from the previous year.

Nearly 255,000 of them arrived from the U.K., up 20% from 2015. Tourists from the U.K. can now visit Vietnam for 15 days without a visa.

Southwest region thrives amid challenges: Deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue 

The Southwest region recorded a gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 6.9 percent, higher than the nation’s average of 6.21 percent, in 2016.

The region saw a surge in total retail sales of goods, exceeding 13 percent, almost double the national figure. Regional budget collection also exceeded its target by 11.3 percent

The figures were released by Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue at a conference to review the work of the Southwest Region Steering Committee in 2016 and discuss plans for 2017 in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on January 8.

The Committee worked with regional localities to instruct, coordinate and support localities in socio-economic issues, national security, ethnicity and religious affairs, among others, said Hue, who is also Head of the Committee.

He hailed efforts the region made to overcome difficulties like historic droughts and salt water intrusion in 2016.

Elections for the 14th National Assembly and the People’s Councils at all levels for 2016-2021 were successfully held across the region, Hue added.

However, the Deputy PM pointed to several shortcomings in the region, including a slowing economic growth rate, low GRDP per capita, poor FDI appeal and struggles in enterprises development, labour training, health care services, traffic infrastructure and new-style rural areas.

He requested the Committee continue consulting the Government on incentives for the region to develop, with a focus on its strategic tasks.

He assigned ministries to accelerate planning work, including zoning off areas for adapting to climate change and restructuring and to develop regional connectivity and values chain for the four key agricultural products of the region; shrimp, tra fish, rice and fruit.

Investment is needed in the traffic network, such as the National Road 60, Quan Lo - Phung Hiep, and the national road section through Ca Mau city.

Localities in the region were also directed to complete planning on education and health care development while focusing on ethnicity issues, religious affairs, national defence, border, economic and traditional security.

In 2017, the region aims to achieve a GRDP growth of 7.9 percent. It also targets earning 22 billion USD from export, collects 75.5 trillion VND (3.32 billion USD) for the state budget. Its total investment is expected to reach 317.9 trillion VND (13.98 billion USD).

Food safety needs added urgency

As the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival is just weeks away, food safety acquires added urgency as it is a time when consumption of food reaches its annual peak. 

A representative of the Food Safety and Hygiene Department has said food safety inspection teams have been set up with inspectors from the ministries of Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, Public Security, and other departments and agencies.

These teams will carry out inspections in 12 cities and provinces: Hanoi, Bac Ninh, HCM City, Binh Phuoc, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Phu Tho, Tuyen Quang, An Giang, Dong Thap, Gia Lai and Kon Tum. At the same time, cities, provinces, districts and communes will establish inspection teams of their own to check food hygiene and safety in their localities.

The inspections are aimed at evaluating State management of food safety from provincial to commune levels, as well as the observance of relevant regulations by producers, traders and caterers. Authorities are hoping to prevent violations in a timely manner, and minimise the number of food poisoning cases and food-borne diseases. 

Vietnam’s notorious internet cable leaves surfers adrift at sea

Meanwhile, another cable fired up early this year to boost Vietnam's internet speed has been experiencing issues too.

Vietnam’s internet speed slowed on January 8 following problems with the notorious cable that connects the country with the US, local media reported, quoting internet provider VNPT Vinaphone.

This is the first time that the Asia America Gateway (AAG) has been disrupted this year following several ruptures last year.

The disruption was triggered by a problem off the southern town of Vung Tau, VNPT Vinaphone said, without saying when it will be fixed.

Vietnamese service providers have been trying to ease their reliance on the AAG in recent years. The 20,000-kilometer system, installed in 2009, has broken or been shut down for maintenance many times since 2011.

A new undersea cable costing US$450 million connecting Vietnam with neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region was officially fired up on January 3, promising internet speed twice as fast.

However, the new cable has already experienced a number of issues, prompting operators to conduct maintenance work only a few days after it opened.

The Asia Pacific Gateway (APG) Submarine Cable linking Japan with Hong Kong, mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam took four years to complete.

NEC, a Japanese IT corporation, finished construction of the cable last November. The cable, with a total length of around 10,900 kilometers, passes through Vietnam’s central city of Danang.

Car owners flood registration offices in HCM City

Many car registration offices in Ho Chi Minh City are being overwhelmed by a large number of applicants who have decided to empty their pockets on new automobiles before the Lunar New Year.

Hundreds of cars lined up for several hours in front of such bureaus for registration.

Some offices have reported a three-fold hike in the number of applicants compared to an average day, whereas others have to temporarily cease accepting new forms.

According to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters’ observation at a registration office on Hong Ha Street, Tan Binh District, a large number of automobiles had already gathered at the location by 7:30 am on January 6.

As there was no space left on its premises, the registration bureau had to stop receiving further cars.

According to Nguyen Dinh Quan, director of the office, the place has been filled with applicants since Tuesday.

“We have to halt the reception of application forms to prevent newcomers from parking their vehicles outside of the facility while waiting for their turn, which compromises traffic safety and is against traffic regulations,” Quoc stated.

Many residents decided to purchase new cars for use for their festive activities during the Lunar New Year, leading to this crowding, the director explained.

The Lunar New Year, or Tet, falls on January 28, with preparations and celebrations taking place one week before and after the date.

Other registration offices in District 11 and Thu Duc District faced similar problems as the number of vehicles coming to these facilities was many times higher than normal days.

According to some car owners, they arrived at as early as 6:00 am and were still unable to complete the registration procedures hours later.

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