Infrastructure development needed to improve people’s living standards

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the conference 

The development of physical infrastructure as well as educational and health infrastructure is essential to improve the living standards of people across the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

He made the statement at a conference in Hanoi on February 28 to review the implementation of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee’s Resolution No.13-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2012 on building a synchronous infrastructure system in order to turn Vietnam into a modernity-oriented industrial country by 2020.

The resolution requires focusing investment on transport infrastructure, electricity supply, irrigation networks, climate change adaptation and urban development. 

From 2012, the Government promulgated an action programme to realise this resolution.

PM Phuc recognised infrastructure development over the past years, but pointed out shortcomings in the field such as asynchronous planning and snail-speed implementation of some projects. 

Poor infrastructure also hinders the country’s development with urgent issues like traffic congestions and hospital overload.

The supplementation, revision and reform of mechanisms and institutions are needed to develop infrastructure, the PM said, underlining the proposal of the Ministry of Planning and Investment to promote public-private partnership (PPP) form.

He noted that when the economic scale has increased to over 5 quadrillion VND (218 billion USD) and the public debt reduced to 61 percent, it is necessary to weigh measures to seek financial resources from official development assistance (ODA), Government bonds, and international bonds for infrastructure development.

Vietnam's public and private sector infrastructure investment averaged 5.7 percent of gross domestic product in recent years, the highest in Southeast Asia and compares with 6.8 percent in China, according to the Asian Development Bank. Indonesia and the Philippines spend less than 3 percent, while Malaysia and Thailand spend even less at under 2 percent.

The ADB estimates that emerging economies in the region will need to invest as much as 26 trillion USD through 2030 to build transport networks, boost power supply and upgrade water and sanitation facilities. Vietnam, among the fastest-growing nations in the world, is boosting infrastructure to lure more foreign investors as it positions itself as Asia's next Tiger Economy.

Vietnam needs about 480 billion USD through 2020 to construct 11 power plants with total capacity of 13,200 megawatts and about 1,380 kilometres of highways as well as carry out other environment, health and education projects.

Poverty reduction policy should be encouraging: Deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue chairs a meeting of the Central Steering Committee on National Target Programmes in 2016-2020 in Hanoi on February 28 

The average household poverty rate in Vietnam dropped by 1.51 percent from 2016 to 6.72 percent in 2017, according to the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction.

The decline rate is higher than the target set by the National Assembly, 1.3 percent to 1.5 percent.

The country has also mobilised almost 400 trillion VND (17.7 billion USD) from the State budget, enterprises, organisations and individuals for the cause of new-style rural area building and poverty reduction.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, while chairing a meeting of the Central Steering Committee on National Target Programmes in 2016-2020 in Hanoi on February 28, asked member ministries of the committee to be more active, determined, creative and aggressive in sustainable poverty reduction.

Bui Sy Loi, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Social Affairs, praised the Government’s efforts in poverty reduction in 2017, saying he was especially impressed by the fact that the Government had called on enterprises, organisations and individuals to make donations of more than 126 trillion VND (5.6 billion USD).

For his part, Hue said the remarkable achievement was the completion of the legal framework document for the phase 2016 – 2020 in terms of new criteria for new-style rural area models and multi-dimensional approaches for sustainable poverty reduction. The framework also includes new models for agriculture restructuring, climate change adaptation and sustainable livelihoods.

“The important thing is that member ministries and localities have to be active when implementing programmes and ensuring efficiency in investment,” he said.

The Deputy PM required that in the next two years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to work on the new criteria set for “poor districts”.

“The new criteria should be able to encourage localities to try and escape poverty, not encourage them to maintain poverty to enjoy supporting policies like they do currently,” Hue said.

According to the Ministry of Investment and Planning, in 2018 the country would try to reduce the rate of poor households from 1 to 1.5 percent per year, basing on the multi-dimensional poverty approach.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong said the building of new-style countryside needed to focus on improving income for residents while still protecting the environment and conserving local cultural characteristics.

The country would try to have 15,000 agriculture cooperatives by 2020, he added. 

Over 2.2 billion USD spent on national target programmes

As much as 51.7 trillion VND (2.25 billion USD) of the State budget was spent on implementing national target programmes in 2017, including 15.2 trillion VND (664.2 million USD) sourced from the central budget and 11 trillion VND (480.7 million) of investment capital for development. 

About 36.5 trillion VND (nearly 1.6 billion USD) sourced from localities’ budget was allocated for the scheme, with 33.8 trillion VND (nearly 1.48 billion USD) for the national target programme on new rural development and over 2.6  trillion VND (113.6 million USD) to promote sustainable poverty reduction. 

The bank sector invested in communes across the country, contributing to realising targets related to new rural development. 

Banks also provided low-interest loans to poor and near-poor households, those newly escaped from poverty and other policy beneficiaries, aiming to foster sustainable poverty reduction and ensure social welfare. 

Notably, the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies disbursed 55.1 trillion VND (2.4 billion USD) in the year, contributing to accelerating the implementation of criteria on new-style rural area building. 

By the end of 2017, the outstanding loan  balance of credit institutions in communes nationwide reached 871 trillion VND (38 billion USD), up 20.02 percent against the end of 2016. 

Besides sources from the State budget and support from credit institutions, national target programmes also received resources from Vietnam’s development partners, businesses and individuals. 

More than 64.2 trillion VND (2.8 billion USD) was mobilised from enterprises and individuals for social welfare activities, new rural development and building of essential infrastructure facilities in disadvantaged localities. 

Several donors pledged to provide over 3.646 trillion VND in official development assistance (ODA) for the country’s national target programmes in 2016-2020, including 153 million USD from the World Bank, and 12 million USD from the Irish government. 

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the disbursement rate for national target programmes in 2017 was estimated at 74.6 percent, with those in the northern provinces of Bac Kan, Lai Chau, Hai Duong and Nam Dinh, the central provinces of Ha Tinh and Quang Nam and Mekong Delta Tien Giang province reaching 100 percent.

Gathering marks Vietnamese Doctors’ Day in Cambodia

Vietnamese Cambodians held a get-together to celebrate Vietnamese Doctors’ Day in Phnom Penh on February 27.

The event gathered Cambodian doctors of Vietnamese origin, Vietnamese businesses operating in Cambodia and representatives of Vietnamese representative agencies in the country.

Speaking at the gathering, Hoang Hoa, deputy head of the association of Vietnamese Cambodian doctors, said the organisation, operating since February 26 last year, has engaged in charity activities in healthcare for the Vietnamese community in Cambodia, such as providing free medical advices, check-ups, and medicines.

Lauding the association’s contributions to public health, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Vu Quang Minh and head of the General Association of Vietnamese Cambodians Chau Van Chi congratulated the doctors on their day.

They said they support upcoming activities of the association of Vietnamese Cambodian doctors, urging the organisation to soon hold a congress to elect an executive board, increase its membership, and boost connectivity with Cambodian doctors.-

Traffic police help ensure traffic safety, social order for Tet

Traffic police nationwide stepped up cracking down on traffic rule and law offences from January 16 to February 15 and ensured traffic safety and social order during the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday (Tet).

According to the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, the numbers of traffic accidents, deaths and injured people declined compared to the same month-long crackdown for 2017 Tet. 

Notably, traffic congestion before, during and after Tet was improved, the department noted, adding that police handled more than 327,100 traffic rule violation cases in the month.

They also uncovered 586 cases of criminal, economic and environmental law offences, detaining 343 suspects and seizing 57 heroin bricks, 20kg of marijuana, over 5kg of drugs of different kinds, over 77,600 smuggled cigarette packets, over 3 tonnes of firecrackers, and many other types of smuggled goods worth over 6 billion VND (263,400 USD).

Particularly, along the National Highway 1A section from northern Lang Son to southern Dong Nai provinces, traffic police dealt with more than 30,200 traffic rule offences and discovered 142 criminal law violation cases.

During the month, traffic police also actively made working plans with regard to local situations, carried out communication activities, gave advice to local authorities, increased patrols, and mobilised civil forces’ engagement in crime prevention, helping to ensure traffic safety and social order for Tet, the Traffic Police Department added.

Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund inspires poor students’ dreams

A meeting was held in Hanoi on February 27 to review Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund’s activities in 2017 and embark on its working programme for this year.

The fund, established in 1999 by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee, is designated to support ethnic minority students who are from poor families and achieve outstanding academic performances.

At the meeting, former President Truong My Hoa, Chairwoman of the Vu Anh Dinh Scholarship Fund, said the fund attained the set targets and actively supported disadvantaged students and people in disaster-hit areas last year.

She also thanked the Thieu nien Tien phong, a newspaper for teenagers, for assisting the fund and wanted more coordination in the time ahead.

In 2017, the fund presented 5,120 scholarships to ethnic minority students. Its “Vi Hoang Sa-Truong Sa” (For Hoang Sa-Truong Sa) club granted 2,130 scholarships to students in coastal and insular areas and those who are children of soldiers on duty at sea.

Meanwhile, the “Mo duong tuong lai” (Pave the way to the future) project, carried out by the Vu A Dinh Scholarship Fund and VinaCapital fund, finished the first phase last year, helping 46 students complete courses at colleges and universities.

Thanks to the “Thap sang tuong lai” (Light the future) project, one high school and one kindergarten in Dien Bien province and a house for boarding students of a school in Yen Bai province were built.

Most of the students aided by the Vu A Dinh fund have obtained good academic results, the fund reported, adding that it also organised a number of charitable activities in mountainous, rural and disaster-hit areas in 2017.

HCM City promotes diverse ethnic cultures

Ho Chi Minh City, which is home to 437,000 people from 51 ethnic groups, has been carrying out a number of the Party and State’s ethnic affair policies to take good care of ethnic minority people as well as promote their cultural diversity.

Addressing a Lunar New Year meeting held by the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee’s chapter in the city on February 27, Permanent Vice Secretary of the municipal Party’s Committee Tat Thanh Cang recognised the practical contributions by local ethnic minority groups to the city’s growth in numerous fields, including social affairs, economics, culture, and defense-security.

The event drew 200 representatives from the ethnic groups who expressed their hope to expand community-based and cultural activities across the southern economic hub to strengthen the great national unity.

Cang urged local authorities and fronts at all levels to implement policies promoting unique culture of each ethnic group as well as improving their material and spiritual lives.

He suggested increasing education of young generations about the significant contributions of the ethnic groups to the city’s building and development over the past 42 years.

The official encouraged ethnic minority people to learn and follow the moral example of late President Ho Chi Minh and make more contributions to building HCM City as a civilised and modern city.

Health sector asked to focus more on people’s healthcare

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam has urged the health sector to continue striving to care for people’s health as this is always among the top priorities in action programmes of the Party and the Government.

Addressing a ceremony yesterday to mark Vietnamese Physicians’ Day, which falls on February 27, Đam asked the Party and Government at all levels to support, integrate and facilitate resources and investment so the health sector can carry out its duties.

He called on all people to support and create favourable conditions for medical workers to do their jobs, by which people will also enable them to stay healthy. He urged the immediate and proper implementation of requirements of health institutions and physicians in physical practices, food safety, labour safety, periodic health checks, drug use and specially stressed the need to participate in the health insurance system.

Đam sent greetings to Vietnamese physicians and medical staff, especially those who are working in remote, border, island and mountainous areas. He also praised the sector for its achievements in recent years, which had helped Việt Nam implement the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals in healthcare.

At the ceremony, leaders of the Party, State and the Ministry of Health handed over a copy of a letter late President Hồ Chí Minh sent to the Health Officials’ Conference in early 1955 together with certificates of merit to organisations and individuals who have made excellent achievements in protecting and caring for people’s health.

Đồng Tháp eyes over 2,000ha of giant river prawn farming

The Đồng Tháp Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will earmark over 2,000 hectares of land for farming giant river prawns, most of it in Tam Nông, Thanh Bình, and Cao Lãnh districts and Hồng Ngự town.

Hồ Thanh Dũng, deputy director of the department, said since 2013, when the land available for breeding these prawns peaked at 1,133 hectares, yielding over 1,000 tonnes, the area had been decreasing.

Last year it had fallen to just 248ha, yielding around 77 tonnes.

The reason for the drop is climate change due to which there have been floods and worsening water quality, affecting the growth of the prawns.

In recent years seaside provinces such as Trà Vinh, Kiên Giang and Bến Tre have undertaken intensive farming of giant river prawn with low cost and high output, leading to lower demand for the crustacean from Đồng Tháp.

To facilitate prawn farming in Đồng Tháp, the province has proposed several policies such as creating co-operative groups, linking farmers with suppliers, production facilities and distribution channels, setting up research into farming techniques and technologies and reducing the use of chemicals. 

Last year it implemented crop rotation with farmers growing rice after harvesting prawns. The organic waste from the giant river prawns at the bottom of the lake greatly increases soil fertility and rice output.

Nguyễn Huệ Flower Street proves popular

HCM City’s Nguyễn Huệ Flower Street welcomed more than a million visitors during the seven-day Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday.

Speaking at a summation conference yesterday, Vương Anh Tuấn, deputy director of Saigontourist, the regular flower street organiser, and deputy head of the steering committee for the street, said: “After 15 years of establishment, Nguyễn Huệ Flower Street has become a traditional and cultural trait of HCM City during the national festival.

“It attracts more visitors, including foreigners, overseas Vietnamese, and locals from the city and neighbouring provinces, year after year.”

This year the 720-metre street was themed Khát Vọng Vươn Cao (Aspiration for a Bright Future) and opened to the public from February 13 to 19.

It received praise from visitors especially for its dog models made of various materials such as flowers, plastic, and wood as a symbol of the Year of the Dog. — VNS

Visitors flock to hear love duets in Bắc Ninh

The Lim Festival featuring quan họ (love duet singing) kicked off yesterday, the 12th day of the lunar new year, in the northern province of Bắc Ninh, attracting thousands of visitors from all over the country.

Festival goers could indulge in the melodies of love duet songs performed by local artists on the main stage of the festival, along with six booths in Lim Hill as well as on boats in local ponds and lakes, communal houses, pagodas and artists’ houses in 10 villages near the hill.

Folk games like breaking pots, wrestling, Phù Lãng pottery and Đông Hồ paintings were also exhibited.

Nguyễn Thúy Hạnh from Thanh Xuân District, Hà Nội arrived at the Lim Festival on Monday. “My friends and I often choose Lim Festival as the first destination for the new year,” Hạnh said. “This year, we rented áo tứ thân (four-flap dress) to take photos. We will also wait until night to watch local veteran artists perform at their houses.”

Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, Head of the Tiên Du District’s Culture and Information Department and deputy head of the organising board, said, “This year, the number of visitors to the Lim Festival is expected to increase. We have strengthened staff forces to ensure the festival occurs in order and smoothly.”

About 500 security officers were mobilised.

This year, all forms of asking festival-goers for tips are banned. All singers are supposed to sing love duets only. Other art forms like chèo (traditional opera) and chầu văn (ceremonial singing) are not encouraged. The use of excessively loud microphones and beggars are prohibited.

Cork fighting and betting are not allowed as these games are easily turned into gambling by players.

From Saturday to Monday, Bắc Ninh also organised 2018 Quan Họ Singing Contest with more than 300 actors, actresses and musicians competing in quan họ stage competition and 106 amateur and professional quan họ singers performing 150 ancient love duet songs.

Quan họ was recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2009.

There are believed to be 49 original quan họ villages where quan họ was performed and preserved continually; 44 of these villages now lie in Bắc Ninh province.

While performing love duets, female singers traditionally wear distinctive large round hats and scarves. The men’s costumes include turbans, umbrellas and tunics.

The more than 400 song lyrics, sung with 213 different melody variations, express people’s emotional states of longing and sadness upon separation, and the happiness of the meeting of lovers. Custom forbids marrying a singing partner.

Quan họ singing is common at rituals, festivals, competitions and informal gatherings, where guests will perform a variety of verses for their hosts before singing farewell.

60-year-old woman becomes Vietnam’s oldest mother

A Vietnamese woman has given birth to a healthy child at the age of 60, making her the oldest woman in the country to become a mother.

The woman, named only as Ngan, hit menopause several years ago after struggling for a long time to have a baby. She and her husband eventually decided to resort to IVF, using donated eggs and her husband’s sperm.

The baby was born in mid-February via C-section and weighing 2.6 kilograms, and has been given extra formula milk as Ngan cannot produce enough.

A 60-year-old woman delivers a healthy baby in Hanoi in mid-February, thanks to an egg donor.

Doctors at the Post and Telecommunications Hospital in Hanoi, which handled the delivery, said Ngan is the oldest on record to give birth in Vietnam.

She had to receive special care for gestational diabetes during the pregnancy, a condition that occurs when a pregnant woman without diabetes develops high blood sugar levels, which is more common among older women.

If untreated, it can cause stillbirth or leave the child with a higher risk of being overweight and developing type 2 diabetes.

Both mother and daughter are doing fine.

More than one million, or 7.7% of married couples in Vietnam, are infertile, according to the health ministry.

Medical checks for fertility issues are recommended if a woman does not conceive after having regular sex without contraception for six months, for couples under 30, or 12 months for older couples.

Fire destroys 3 wood processing factories in Binh Duong province

A fire suddenly broke out in a workshop of a wood processing company in Thuan An town, Binh Duong province at 10pm on February 27, and then spread to the nearby wood pellet workshops of other two companies, completely destroying all of them overnight.

One person was seriously injured and hospitalized.

After detecting the fire, security guards and local residents used water and mini fire extinguishers to stamp out the flame but failed.

The local fire brigade and 10 fire engines were mobilized to the scene and the blaze was extinguished in two hours.

The cause of fire is still under investigation.

Vietnamese girl gives away her eyes

The girl, who died of a brain tumor last week, has given two adults clear vision for the first time in many years.

Doctors at a Vietnamese hospital performed corneal transplants on two patients on February 26 thanks to donations from a 7-year-old girl, a rare act that has been hailed as heroic across the country.

The operations were performed at the National Hospital of Ophthalmology in Hanoi on a 73-year-old woman who had suffered from corneal scarring and a 42-year-old man who had congenital cataracts that had left him with blurred vision for the past eight years.

Nguyen Hai An, 7, smiles as shown in the photo provided by her family. She agreed to donate her cornea before dying of brain tumor on February 22, 2018.

“Their eyes have reacted well,” a doctor said after the procedures.

The two adults received the cornea from Nguyen Hai An, a Hanoi girl who died of a brain tumor on February 22.

Her family had wanted to donate all her organs, but Vietnamese laws only allow hospitals to receive cornea from donors under 18 years old.

“Let's give your light to other people, my dear,” the girl’s mother told her on her death bed, said Nguyen Huu Hoang, director of the eye bank at the hospital, who witnessed the scene.

The mother kissed her daughter’s forehead, Hoang said, describing the scene as the “most emotional” thing he had ever seen.

It took him half an hour to remove her cornea. The mother then looked at her daughter and said: “I’m proud of you.”

An was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September 2017, and her condition had degenerated rapidly.

During her time in hospital, her mother discussed the idea of donating her organs with An. After seeing many people struggling in the hospital, the little girl agreed, her mother said.

“I spent time talking with her about death and she believed she would see me again in heaven,” her mother said.

The family’s act has won the hearts of people across the country.

Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien sent them a note on the day of the funeral.

“You did an unbelievable thing,” she said.

Tien signed up to be an organ donor herself in 2015, becoming the first politician in Vietnam to register as she called for efforts to help alleviate the severe shortage of donated organs in a country where there’s a strong belief that people need all their body parts for the afterlife.

Vietnamese doctors have only performed around 1,500 organ transplants since 1992, according to figures from the health ministry.

That has left more than 16,000 patients suffering from heart, kidney, liver and lung diseases and more than 6,000 blind people awaiting donations, said the ministry.

Hoang from the National Hospital of Ophthalmology said its waiting list has nearly 1,000 patients on it.

He said the eye bank, which is usually underresourced, had received around 400 donations in the last 10 years. The youngest donor was a six-year-old boy from Ninh Binh Province near Hanoi, who died of head injuries suffered in a road crash seven years ago.

Solutions to Da Nang steel plants’ pollution to be given by March 5

 Leaders of the central city of Da Nang held a dialogue on February 28 with locals in Hoa Lien commune, Hoa Vang district where Dana-Italy and Dana-Australia steel factories are reportedly causing environmental pollution.

Many people around the two plants in Van Duong 1 and Van Duong 2 villages said that they have no problem with the city’s economic development policy. However, the serious pollution caused by the two plants makes them angry.

The majority of them wanted to stay in their localities, asking the city to remove the two plants out of the area.

Huynh Van Tan, General Director of the Dana-Italy company, highlighted the need for a roadmap for the removal of the plants with proper resettlement and financial plans.

Currently, the firm has halted its plant’s operation to wait for the city’s direction.

Meanwhile, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Ho Ky Minh said that the city needs time to gather advices from authorised agencies to deal with the issue in line with the law.

He noted that in previous meetings to discuss the construction of the plants, most of the locals agreed to evacuate to give space for the plants.

Minh also vowed to give the final and detailed answer to people in the two villages by March 5 morning.

After the talk, locals left the entrances of the two factories after two-day gathering to ask the municipal authorities and businesses to move the polluting facilities.

HCM City steps up cooperation with German universities

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan highly valued cooperation between Vietnam and Germany, including educational collaboration, while receiving Professor, Honorary Doctor Horst Hippler, who is President of the German Rectors’ Conference, on February 28.

Nhan said Hippler’s visit demonstrates German universities’ interest in and creates cooperation opportunities between German universities and HCM City, and universities in the city in particular.

He urged Hippler to share his experience in connecting universities with local authorities in innovative research, and social development promotion, while calling for his support to HCM City in organising workshops between universities in recognising and handling challenges to the training sector during the fourth industrial revolution.

The official expressed his hope that Hippler will contribute further to enhancing cooperation between German universities and their counterparts in HCM City, as well as cooperative activities in scientific research, especially in scientific and technological application in urban development.

For his part, Hippler applauded educational collaboration between Germany and Vietnam, including partnerships between their universities, pledging that he will work to further boost cooperation in higher education.

According to the Professor, apart from training, the Vietnam-Germany University has great opportunities to participate in HCM City’s development projects.

Hippler said he is willing to introduce universities with a lot of experiences in personnel training to HCM City to help the Vietnamese southern metropolis improve the quality of human resources, thus meeting increasing demand for construction and development.

Study helps complete legal framework to combat corruption

Vietnam needs a number of mechanisms to ensure the enforcement of the 2015 Penal Code regulations regarding the act of bribing foreign public officials, according to a study carried out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam and the Hanoi Law University.

At the thematic discussion held in Hanoi on February 28, UNDP Country Director in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen highlighted that control of corruption must be sped up  for sustainable development of all nations and societies.

The UNDP supports the study as part of efforts to share experience with Vietnam in penalising the bribery of foreign public officials, thus helping the country complete its legal framework to combat corruption in the business sector, she said.

A member of the research group, PhD Dao Le Thu, director of the comparative legal research centre under the Hanoi Law University, said that global economic integration has increased the risks of local investors giving bribes to officials at foreign governments, agencies and organisations to seek competitive advantages in international trade and investment.

The US, the UK, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, which have criminalized the act of offering bribes to foreign officials, were chosen as case studies in service of this study, she noted.

The bribery of foreign cadres should be prescribed in the anti-corruption law to ensure comprehensive legal mechanism, the group suggested.

Gerry Macgowan, a representative from the British Embassy in Vietnam, said that Britain’s Bribery Act 2010, an act that covers the criminal law relating to bribery, was issued in 2010 and takes effect from 2011. It is considered as one of the world’s most stringent laws.

He pointed to the need to have a strong enforcement strategy as well as the involvement of legislative organisations, human resource training, infrastructure, and other support techniques for the law enforcement forces to deal with the bribery of foreign public officials.

The study recommended that Vietnam should improve its cooperative mechanism in detecting and addressing the bribery of foreign officials and raising the law enforcement officers’ awareness of the bribery cases.

HCM City begins trial on intentional violation of rules at Navibank

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on February 28 opened the first-instance trial on the case of deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences at Navibank, now National Citizen Commercial Joint Stock Bank (NCB).

The 10 defendants brought to trial are former General Director Le Quang Tri, former Deputy General Directors Cao Kim Son Cuong, Nguyen Giang Nam and Nguyen Hung Son, and six others who are former heads of different divisions at Navibank.

They are charged with deliberately violating State regulations on economic management causing serious consequences.

This case is related to the swindle involving Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, former deputy chief of the risk management department of the HCM City branch of VietinBank.

Earlier, the appeal judging council of the Huyen Nhu case had overturned part of the verdict issued at the first-instance trial, requesting more investigation into Huyen Nhu’s acts in the misappropriation of 1.285 trillion VND (56.1 million USD) of some companies, persons and banks. 

The appeal verdict also requested the investigation agency clarify the responsibility of some competent persons at Navibank who had allegedly mandated the bank’s employees to deposit money in the Nha Be branch of Vietinbank to profit from an interest rate that exceeded the ceiling rate, through which Huyen Nhu appropriated Navibank’s money.

Huyen Nhu, Vo Anh Tuan – former Deputy Director of the Nha Be branch of Vietinbank, and 11 other persons relevant to the case were summoned to the court on February 28.

According to the indictment of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, from November 19, 2010 to May 27, 2011, the credit council of Navibank, which comprised Le Quang Tri, Cao Kim Son Cuong, Nguyen Hung Son, Nguyen Giang Nam, Tran Thanh Binh (former chief of the division for relations with client businesses), Dinh Thi Doan Trang (former chief of the client services division), Pham Thi Thu Hien (former chief of the legal division), and Nguyen Ngoc Oanh (former chief of the risk management division), signed a document giving credit of 1.543 trillion VND (67.4 million USD) to 14 employees who later deposited the money in the Nha Be branch of Vietinbank to gain the extra interest that was not shown in contracts.

The extra interest that Huyen Nhu paid was more than 24 billion VND (1 million USD), of which over 15 billion VND was transferred to the account of Huynh Vinh Phat (former chief of the accounting division) and over 9 billion VND in cash given to Doan Dang Luat (former chief of the capital source division).

Huyen Nhu took advantage of the defendants’ acts to appropriate 200 billion VND (8.7 million USD) of Navibank, the indictment read.

The first-instance trial is scheduled to last until March 16.

Binh Thuan faces high risk of forest fires

Over 150,000 hectares of forests in the south central coastal province of Binh Thuan are now on high alert for fires as it is in the peak of the dry season, according to the provincial Forestry Management Department on February 27.

Heat waves put forests in Tuy Phong, Bac Binh, Ham Thuan Nam, Ham Thuan Bac, Ham Tan districts, La Gi township, Phan Thiet City in a high fire alert.

The province, where the lowest rainfall is recorded in the country, has over 370 hectares of forests.

According to the agency, numerous preventive measures have been taken in each locality and by all relevant bodies during the dry season, which begins in November and ends in April every year.

Forest protection teams have been set up at all levels, involving more than 1,000 people, while 150 forest rangers have been trained on forest fire prevention.

Besides, numerous works serving forest fire prevention were put into operation, including two fire monitoring towers in nature reserve zones.

Local households living near the Ta Cu nature reserve in Ham Thuan Nam district have been encouraged to join fire prevention and control.

The Ta Cu nature reserve management unit also joined hands with the Ta Cu cable network and ecotourism zone in protecting the forests.

Communications, supervision and patrol work have been intensified around the clock to prevent forest fires.

Japan installs LED lights for fishing vessels in Quang Tri

The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) of Japan will help Vietnam’s central coastal province of Quang Tri install nearly 1,800 LED lights worth over 3.4 million USD for 40 fishing vessels to serve their offshore activities.

The two sides signed an agreement to hand over the equipment to fishermen in Vinh Linh, Gio Linh and Trieu Phong districts on February 28.

All fishing boats equipped with LED lights have a minimum capacity of 90 CV.

Japanese experts will be sent to the province to help fishermen install the lights to ensure the best efficient usage.

During the implementation of the project, the provincial Department of Science and Technology will coordinate with Japanese experts and Eternal Technology – Energy Joint Stock Company to set out technical standards and installation procedures to meet the real situation in Vietnam.

The use of LED lights helps save more than 70 percent of fuel costs on each sea trip as well as increase profits and safety for the operation of fishing vessels.

Ban flower trees planted at NA House

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan on February 28 joined others to plant 40 Ban flower trees at the area of the NA House, which is located in front of the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. 

The trees are the present of the Party Committee, authority and people of the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien to late President Ho Chi Minh.  

Addressing the ceremony, NA Chairwoman Ngan highly valued Dien Bien province’s present in the context that the entire nation is responding to the annual tree planting festival. 

Tran Van Son, Secretary of the Dien Bien province Party Committee, said Ban flowers (scientifically known as Bauhinia Variegata) have links with the Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7, 1954), which ended the French colonial rule in Vietnam, as they bloomed during the campaign. 

The annual New Year tree planting festival was initiated by late President Ho Chi Minh in 1960.

Spring festivals in full swing in Lao Cai province

The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai is buzzing with several spring festivals to pray for a prosperous year.

The Tay ethnic people in Bac Ha district hold land and water processions on the 15th day of the first lunar month every year to wish for good weather, bumper crops, good health and happiness.

From early morning, a procession including a wizard, drums and gong groups and local farmers climb Pan Pho Mountain to urge land and water souls to attend the festival.  

The fire dancing ceremony or Put Tong festival of the Red Dao ethnic people is a highlight of spring festivals in the mountainous province. It is an ancient custom in which supernatural power is believed to strengthen the dancers, helping them dance on burning coals in their bare feet.

The ceremony is held from the first day to the 15th day of the first lunar month to celebrate harvest, please God, bring prosperity and wipe away evils and illness.

Meanwhile, Gau Tao, the biggest festival of the Mong ethnic people, is held at the outset of the year to pray for good weather, harvest and health. Khen (panpipe) dancing, pillar climbing, top spinning and stick pushing are among activities of the festival. 

Other festivals like Thuong Temple festival and Co Tan An Temple festival also attract visitors to the locality.