Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has issued certificates indicating the homeland’s recognition of services and contributions to the nation to 498 martyrs.

The honoured martyrs come from the Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs and Ministry of Defence and 36 localities of An Giang, Bac Lieu, Bac Ninh, Ben Tre, Dak Nong, Dien Bien, Dong Thap, Ha Nam, Hanoi, Ha Tinh, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Hau Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hung Yen, Lao Cai, Long An, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Ninh Thuan, Nghe An, Phu Tho, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Quang Ngai, Soc Trang, Son La, Tien Giang, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Tra Vinh and Vinh Long.

On the occasion, the PM also renewed the certificates for 11,947 martyrs from 37 localities across the country.

Enchanting small coastal village to be glamorous with luminous murals

Walls of more than 14 houses in Ganh Yen beach in the coastal province of Quang Ngai are decorating with colorful luminous murals. It is expected to be a new tourist destination in the central region.

Paintings, including European classical color pattern pictures featuring daily activities of local people in Thanh Thuy commune, natural landscapes and life in countries, such as Japan, Italia and others. 

The art works are implementing by members of the Kien Hoa art group and expected to be completed at the end of July. Paintings will be luminous in the dark as light is turned on.

Ganh Yen is a seashore area in Binh Son District’s Binh Hai Ward with many coral reefs and interlocking rock columns located along the coast. The wild natural beauty and unique geological structure of the area have been not yet excavated.

Earlier Tam Thanh Village in Quang Nam Province has emerged as a new tourist destination after it was brightened up with murals last year. 

The project was a joint project between Vietnam and South Korea. 18 paintings were painted by Vietnamese volunteers and South Korean artists.

26 int’l students participate in 2017 Syngenta Connections Program

26 students from 8 countries: Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, South Korea and Vietnam took part in the Syngenta connection 2017 that was organized from June 25-July 7 in Vietnam.

Students joined trips, travelling to Ho Chi Minh City and Mekong Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Vinh Long. They visited local farmer cooperatives, talked to farmers to learn about the agricultural situation, the production systems of smallholder farmers and the role of businesses in the agricultural sector, governmental and non-governmental organizations in supporting small-scale farmers and improving food security in the region.

The program opens to students in 2nd year and above, who are undertaking agriculturally-focused degrees. Preference will be given to students studying agricultural science, agricultural technology, sustainable agriculture or similar degrees. 

Students studying a mainstream degree (science, commerce, international business etc), and with a strong agricultural background and desire to develop their career in agriculture, are also invited to apply.

Since its launch in 2010, the program with tours to India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines and Vietnam has brought more than 100 students from across Asia Pacific together. The trip is primarily funded by Syngenta with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Needy children given scholarships in celebration of Nelson Mandela Day

The Consulate General of South Africa in HCM City presented gifts and scholarships to orphans, children with disabilities and those from difficult backgrounds on July 13 to celebration of the Nelson Mandela International Day (July 18).

The event was held to pay tribute to the late President of South Africa who dedicated 67 years of his life to fighting for peace and justice around the world.

Some 50 scholarships, worth 50 million VND in total, 200 colouring books and other gifts were given to the children from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School and Social Protection Centre for Handicapped Children in the city.

Vietnamese people among the most sedentary in the world - survey

Vietnamese people seem to be indifferent to physical exercise, according to a new study tracking people's activity conducted by Stanford University.

On average, Vietnamese people walk around 3,600 steps a day, far less than the global average of 5,000 and leaving the country seventh from bottom in the rankings. Hong Kong residents marched out in front with an average of 6,880 steps per day.

Stanford researchers analyzed a "planetary-scale" data set collected from more than 700,000 people in more than 100 countries who used the same health and fitness monitoring mobile app.

“The study is 1,000 times larger than any previous study on human movement,” said Scott Delp, a professor of bio-engineering and one of the researchers. "There have been wonderful health surveys done, but our new study provides data from more countries, many more subjects, and tracks people's activity on an ongoing basis.”

The researchers said the results provided important insights on how to improve people's health.

However, the frequency of exercise calculated by the average number of steps appears not to correlate with obesity, said the study.

For example, Vietnamese people only take a modest number of steps each day, but according to a study released last month, the country has the lowest obesity rate globally.

The study by the California-based university unveiled that the key ingredient was "activity inequality", which is similar to wealth inequality, except instead of the difference between rich and poor, it's the difference between the fittest and laziest.

The bigger the activity inequality, the higher the rates of obesity.

"When activity inequality is greatest, women's activity is reduced much more dramatically than men's activity, and thus the negative connections to obesity can affect women more greatly," said Jure Leskovec, also part of the research team.

Sơn La to enhance biodiversity protection

The northern mountainous province of Sơn La should mobilise all resources at hand to overcome its current difficulties and enhance biodiversity protection, a senior official has said.

Nguyễn Thế Đông, Deputy Director General of the Việt Nam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said this at a meeting with local authorities on Tuesday.

The meeting aimed to review the province’s enforcement of the law on biodiversity and implementation of the national biodiversity strategy (until 2020, with a vision through 2030).

Relevant departments and sectors, particularly the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, need to thoroughly study the law on biodiversity and the law on forest protection and development to advise the provincial People’s Committee on biodiversity issues, Đông said.

In response, officials of the province called on the ministry to help Sơn La improve the capacity of State management agencies on biodiversity and bio-safety; and to complete relevant legal policies and mechanisms.

The ministry needs to further study local biological resources, particularly special, rare species and sensitive ecosystems, they said, adding that there was also a need to promote public awareness of biodiversity.

Several biodiversity issues were discussed at the meeting, including management, development of rare gene sources; conservation of flora and fauna, development orientations for medicinal plants, functions and tasks of relevant bodies and local budget for protecting and conserving biodiversity.

Officials said the province has issued several legal documents and developed numerous strategies and plans to protect the environment. They said the province has taken steps to strengthen its environment management apparatus and stepped up enforcement of environmental protection regulations as well as its supervision.

Sơn La is said to have 1,800 fauna species, including 61 rare species listed in Việt Nam’s Red Book in 2007.  The province is home to five nature reserves: Copia, Sop Cop, Tà Xùa, Xuân Nha, and Mường La.

Under the province’s plan on biodiversity conservation until 2020 with a vision towards 2030, Sơn La will pay close attention protecting and developing natural biodiversity in submerged areas like the Hòa Bình and Sơn La hydropower plant reservoirs and the upper reaches of the Mã River.

The province has nearly 779,600 hectares of forest, accounting for 45 per cent coverage of the local natural area.

It is home to 622 plant species, including 27 placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Phu Tho works hard to promote sustainable poverty reduction

The material and spiritual lives of residents in the northern province of Phu Tho, especially those from ethnic minorities, have improved in recent years thanks to efforts from local authorities to reduce poverty.

Phu Tho is home to 34 ethnic groups, including more than 200,000 ethnic minority people, accounting for 16 percent of the province’s population. Ethnic minority communities mainly concentrate in districts of Tan Son, Thanh Son and Yen Lap. 

To reduce poverty in ethnic minority-inhabited areas, the provincial authority has used various policies and measures to tap the strengths of each area, focusing on building infrastructure for socio-economic development. 

Head of the provincial Ethnic Affairs Committee Dinh Ngoc Thanh said the locality has invested in developing infrastructure and supported production in disadvantaged communes, villages and hamlets. 

Since 2011, the province has spent more than 600 billion VND (26.3 million USD) on ethnic minority policies, with nearly 500 billion VND (nearly 22 million USD) for building  infrastructure facilities for transport, education, irrigation and health care.  

With tireless efforts by the locality, the rate of poor households has fallen by between 4-5 percent each year. All communes in the locality have medical stations and usable roads and more than 90 percent of hamlets have community houses. 

Thanh said local authorities need to continue investing in infrastructure development in mountainous and ethnic minority areas and promote production through specific policies, towards sustainable poverty reduction.

Vietnamese and Japanese experts share safe food experiences

Vietnamese farmers continue to face difficulties while practicing recognised farming standards for safe products, such as VietGap and GlobalGap.

Customers, meanwhile, have no option but to select food wisely for their families’ healthy living, Vietnamese and Japanese agricultural experts have said.

Experts from Việt Nam and Japan shared their opinions and experiences in promoting and using safe food from both countries at a workshop titled “Safe food for healthy living - What we learn from Japan and progress in Việt Nam,” organised by the Japan International Cooperation Centre (JICE) and JDS Specialists Network in Hà Nội on Saturday.

Speaking at the workshop, Teruyoshi Kumashiro, an agriculture expert from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said the habit of recording farming practice by farmers and the slack connection between good producers and buyers remain the top challenges for the success of improving the reliability of safe crop production in the northern region of Việt Nam.

Kumashiro, who is the chief advisor of an ongoing project on improving the reliability of safe crop production in the northern region of Việt Nam, said surveys showed that farmers in Việt Nam were not efficient in making frequent records of their farming practice, such as when the crops are cultivated, when to use plant protection chemicals and when the crops are safe for harvest.

Research from the project also showed that joint sales of crops by farmers’ groups and ensuring the reliability of safe crops among stakeholders were also challenges to promoting safe crops, he said.

“The project aims to improve agricultural products in two cities and 11 provinces in the north of Việt Nam in terms of safety and reliability and in the long run will promote safe crop production, including safe vegetables at target sites,” Kumashiro said.

The project began in July last year and will continue for five years. It is second phase of a project on safe crops initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) with support from JICA that started in 2010.

According to Kumashiro, in 2008, the agriculture ministry in Việt Nam established a technical standard called VietGAP. However, Viet GAP includes indirect items with cultivation methods and costs a certain amount of money to acquire certification; therefore low-income producers have not been able to apply this standard because it was too strict.
With JICA’s support for the safe crop project since 2010, the project eventually developed BasicGAP for Việt Nam, which extracted 26 important criteria and introduced a self-recording system, Kumashiro said.

BasicGAP was officially approved by MARD in 2014.

Nguyễn Công Thành, deputy head of the Sciences and International Co-operation Division under MARD’s Plant Protection Research Institute, said both VietGap and BasicGap are being applied in Việt Nam and both are good to ensure the safety and quality of agriculture products.

He agreed with the Japanese expert that not all Vietnamese farmers know how to practice VietGap or BasicGap on their crops.

Phí Công Nguyên, an agriculture expert from MARD’s Agricultural Genetics Institute, said even though farmers in Việt Nam stand at the base of the value chain and play the primary role in the value chain, what they get from the value chain is the least.

“One of the reasons is because not all farmers have good knowledge or are well trained in practical production,” he said, adding that slack cooperation among farmers and lack of good support policies from the Government were also to blame.

“Farmers need investment and technology to catch up with consumers’ requirement for safe food in Việt Nam,” Nguyên said.

Participants at the workshop, including safe food distributors and farmers, also shared their experiences.

Vũ Thái Trường, a national technical specialist from UNDP Việt Nam, said the workshop is the first event under the JDS Coffee Corner series, held by JDS alumni who studied in Japan under the Japanese government’s scholarship for human resources development and have returned to contribute to the development of Việt Nam.

All JDS Coffee Corner events aim to leverage the knowledge and expertise of specialists in the network, in particular, and society, in general, to address current serious social and economic issues in Việt Nam, Trường said.

Sick fisherman rescued at sea

A ship from the Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre No 2 rescued an ill fisherman on a fishing boat and took the victim to Đà Nẵng’s port Thursday morning.

The centre said the fisherman, Hồ Thân, 31, suffered a severe bellyache when the ship was fishing in the sea near Hoàng Sa (Paracels) Island of Việt Nam, on July 10.

The rescue ship found the victim and the fishing boat at about 9pm on July 12 and gave first aid to the victim.

The fisherman has been receiving further treatment at the city’s general hospital.

Agriculture, environment sectors cooperate to enhance State management

A three-year agreement of cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) was signed yesterday.

The agreement from 2017 to 2020 aims to enhance cooperation between the two ministries in connection with State managment activities.

The two agencies will cooperate to review, adjust and issue policies and legal documents on natural resources and environment, and agriculture and rural development, including protection of bio-diversity, water resources, sea environment, agricultural restruction and new rural development.

The cooperation will also include implementation of projects and programmes related to the two ministries.

Further, the two ministries will conduct inspections and give instructions for the execution of agriculture and environment-related policies and laws.

Sharing information and databases aimed at improving awareness of climate change impact, natural resource management and environment protection is also mentioned in the agreement.

MARD has pledged to effectively fulfil terms of the agreement and instruct local agriculture departments to carry out related agricuture development and environment protection policies, the minister said.

Meanwhile, MNRE Minister Trần Hồng Hà said the agreement between the two ministries would lift obstacles on mechanism and policies, ensuring benefits for people and the society.

The agreement would also help to promote sustainable development in agriculture production and environment protection, Hà said.

13.3 million social insurance books granted in first half

The Vietnam Social Insurance Agency (VSIA) granted about 13.3 million social insurance books to citizens nationwide in the first six months of this year, accounting for 99 percent of total insurance participants.

Reports from local social insurance agencies reveal that nearly 2.4 million out of 12 million social insurance books were handed to Vietnamese labourers by June 30.

Sluggish progress in insurance book transferring has been seen in some localities, VSIA official Chu Minh To said, adding that VSIA branches need to standardise data of social insurance participants in their management software.

Vietnam has set a target of having half its labour workforce covered by social insurance by 2020.

Kon Tum, Lao province boosts trade union links

The trade unions of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum and the Lao province of Attapeu have signed a cooperation agreement for the 2017 – 2020 period.

Under the agreement, inked on July 12 in Kon Tum, the two sides will enhance the exchange of delegations and conduct training for trade unions and labourers.

Communications will be promoted to raise the understanding of friendship between Vietnam and Laos among labourers of each side.

Trade unions of the bordering districts of the two provinces will be encouraged to attend activities to mark the festival days of the two nations and the two localities.

Vice Secretary of the Kon Tum Party Committee A Pot hailed cooperation between the two agencies over the years, expressing his hope that they will continue exchanging information and experience in trade unions and other cultural activities.

President of Attapeu province’s trade union Phuvanlamaly Phommasan expressed her hope that the two bodies will encourage their members to protect security in the common border area, focusing on fighting drug crime and social evils.

In recent years, the two agencies conducted exchanges and training to enhance the observance of laws among labourers, particularly Vietnamese labourers in Attapeu.

Photo exhibition highlights Hanoi’s past, present architecture

A photo exhibition featuring the past and present architecture of Hanoi as well as the development of the capital city opened at 45 Trang Tien street on July 13.

The exhibition, co-organised by the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists and the Hanoi Artistic Photography Association, showcases 132 outstanding works, reflecting a comprehensive picture of Hanoi’s architecture.

The photos captured traditional and modern characteristics as well as historical and cultural values of different structures in Hanoi such as temples, pagodas, buildings, monuments and urban sceneries, according to Vu Quoc Khanh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists.

They were selected from 1,446 entries sent by 233 photographers to the sixth Hanoi Art Photography Festival 2017.

The jurymen presented two silver and three bronze medals and five consolidation prizes to the most excellent works. 

The exhibition will run through July 16.

Kien Giang intensifies fight against cross-border smuggling

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has taken a range of comprehensive measures to fight against smuggling through the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

Local authorities have tightened monitoring along both the land and sea border, particularly at Ha Tien international border gate in Ha Tien township and Giang Thanh national border gate in Giang Thanh district.

Inspections have been in place on cross-border tracks and waterways while check points were set up and patrols have been conducted to prevent illegal transport of goods across the Vietnam–Cambodia border.

Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Vu Hong said the province has strengthened the fight against cross-border smuggling and trade fraud to protect domestic production and consumers’ rights.

The provincial People’s Committee requested relevant agencies to build plans to crack down  smuggling rings, trade fraud and counterfeit goods, he said.

Communication campaigns have been carried out too raise public awareness of the impact of smuggling, particularly for those in border areas.

According to the Kien Giang Department of Customs, smuggling and trade fraud have seen complicated developments along in the Vietnam-Cambodia border. Most of the smuggled goods are Thailand-produced sugar, cigarettes, fruits and cosmetics.

Kien Giang shares almost 60 kilometres of land border with Cambodia. So far this year, the provincial authorities have inspected over 800 cases, imposed fines on 250 cases, collecting nearly 4.5 billion VND (198,000 USD) for the state budget.

Vice President pays floral tribute to martyrs in Con Dao

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh on July 13 paid floral tribute to martyrs at Hang Duong Cemetery in Con Dao district, the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, in the lead-up to the 70th anniversary of Invalids and Martyrs Day (July 27). 

She offered incense to those who died at Con Dao prison during the war of resistance, patriot Nguyen An Ninh, the late Party General Secretary Le Hong Phong, heroes of the people’s armed forces Vo Thi Sau and Ho Van Nam. 

According to the Con Dao relic management board, Con Dao prison accommodated more than 20,000 prisoners throughout its 113 years. 

Among 1,921 graves of martyrs in Hang Duong Cemetery, more than 700 ones have had their names and homeland identified. 

The Vice President also visited Con Dao Temple dedicating to thousands of martyrs nationwide and lock-ups at Con Dao prison. 

In the morning the same day, the sixth joint commemorative ceremony for the war heroes and patriots who laid down their lives in Con Dao prison was held. 

In the evening the previous day, a ceremony to commemorate the death of 51 soldiers who were shot by French firing squad from October 29, 1947 to November 6, 1953 was also organised. 

During her stay, Thinh presented gifts to 89 policy beneficiary families and war heroes and handed over scholarships from the National Fund for Vietnamese Children to 100 poor students in the district.

Major farm produces enjoy rise in export value despite fall in volume

Major agricultural products enjoyed a rise in export value in the first half of this year despite a fall in volume, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

As of mid-June, Vietnam exported 133,124 tonnes of cashew nut for 1.284 billion USD, a drop of 4.11 percent year-on-year in volume but a 20.71 percent increase in value. Meanwhile, coffee exports fell 14.97 percent in volume and rose 11.5 percent in value.

Dang Hoang Giang, Vice President of the Vietnam Cashew Association said the cashew sector’s productivity plummetted, forcing it to import large amounts of raw cashew. Imported raw cashew nut in the first five months of this year rose 74.8 percent while import value increased 125.3 percent, he noted.

However, the price of exported cashew nut rose by 25 percent compared to the same period last year to reach 9,500 USD per tonne, explaining the rise in export value, he said. Giang also forecast that the situation will be the same for the rest of the year, thus total export volume of 2017 may reach 350,000 tonnes with total revenue of about 3.3 billion USD.

Giang said domestic consumption accounts for only 5-7 percent of total cashew output. Once the Global Cashew Council announces the nutrition value of cashew, the association will launch promotion programmes across the country, aiming to boost domestic sales to 20-30 percent of total cashew nut production, he said.

The fall in volume and rise in value is predicted to happen in coffee sector also. 

Nguyen Quang Binh, an expert in the sector said that coffee prices in the rest of the year may drop slightly due to abundant supply, but will still exceed last year’s average price. 

The General Department of Vietnam Customs reported that the rubber sector saw the highest growth in exports, with 411,960 tonnes of rubber shipped abroad for more than 787,550 million USD, a surge of 63.23 percent in revenue thanks to high price. In the first five months of this year, rubber price for export reached 1,957 USD per year, close to a 60 percent rise over the same period last year.

Among major farm produce, peppercorn suffered the sharpest decrease in export revenue at 16.8 percent year-on-year despite a rise of 18.3 percent in export volume. 

Vice President of the Vietnam Pepper Association (VPA) Nguyen Thi Mai Oanh said the decline was due to a slump in price caused by oversupply. She also predicted the price will continue falling for the rest of the year, leading to a fall in export value for the year.  

To survive and develop, domestic pepper farmers and businesses are trying to improve product quality to meet the requirements of foreign markets. Along with efforts to link exporters and farmers and renovate farming technology, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the VPA are working to build a trademark for Vietnamese pepper, while expanding markets to promising countries in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.

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