Government Inspectorate detects violations in Vinacomin

The Government Inspectorate has issued Notice No.84/TB-TTCP on the inspection of law compliance during business operations in the Vietnam National Coal – Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) and its affiliates during 2010 – June 30, 2015. 

The inspection found that the Members’ Council and the General Director of Vinacomin in the period violated financial and investment regulations, leading to huge losses. 

They also failed to abide by regulations on production and trade, resulting in higher production costs and reduced the group’s profits and its contribution to the State budget. 

Violations were also found in construction, use of land and natural resources, procurement, asset management, equitisation and divestment. 

The Government Inspectorate requested that the Ministry of Public Security instructs the investigative agency to deal with the case and investigate legal violations in Vinacomin and its affiliates, including Huu Nghi Cement JSC in the northern province of Phu Tho, Ha Giang Cement JSC and Binh Nguyen – Dak Nong JSC.

The Government Inspectorate said the violations involved over 14.882 trillion VND (661.42 million USD) and nearly 6.7 million sq.m of housing and land, proposing the reclamation of more than 1.8 trillion VND for the State budget and all the housing and land. 

The notice informed that Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh had basically agreed with the Government Inspectorate’s proposals and asked ministries, agencies and localities to take relevant action. 

The ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, Public Security, Industry and Trade, Justice, Construction and the Government Office were assigned to work closely with the Government Inspectorate to deal with the case.

More firms register investment in renewable energy in Bac Lieu

A number of businesses in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu have registered investment in renewable energy with a total capital of over 100 trillion VND (4.4 billion USD). 

It was unveiled during a conference on January 17 to provide information about the Bac Lieu Investment Promotion Conference 2018 scheduled for January 29-30. 

Speaking at the conference, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Duong Thanh Trung said it will be the first large-scale investment promotion event after 20 years of the province’s re-establishment. 

A series of activities during the event aim to attract investment resources from different economic sectors and popularise the image of Bac Lieu to businesses at home and abroad, he said, adding that feedback at the event will help Bac Lieu seek proper solutions to socio-economic development. 

Around 500 delegates at home and abroad are expected to attend the event during which construction on the third stage of 142MW Bac Lieu wind power plant, high-tech shrimp farming complex, and the largest symbol of Vietnamese shrimp will begin. 

Bac Lieu has a coastline of 56km with expansive alluvial ground. Wind power averages nearly 7m per second and sun hour exceeds 2,900 hours per year, which is advantageous to renewable energy development.

Binh Duong eyes completion of new-style rural area building in 2018

The southern province of Binh Duong strives to complete the national target programme for new-style rural area building with all communes winning the status in 2018.

The goal was announced on January 17 by Nguyen Tan Binh, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Binh Duong, at a conference to review the implementation of the programme in 2017 and launch tasks for 2018.

By the end of 2017, 94 percent of total communes of Binh Duong had been recognised as new-style rural areas.

Binh said that the province has associated the new rural building programme with its major programmes and projects, thus promoting the potential and strength of rural areas. The policy has helped improve transport, health care, education infrastructure of rural communes, while creating jobs and speeding up the urbanisation process. Per capita income in new-style rural communes rose to 45 million VND in 2017, he added.

Last year, Binh Duong mobilised over 3.03 trillion VND (133.32 million USD) for the programme, including 742 billion VND, or 24.5 percent, from local people.

The programme has brought about positive changes to rural communes, with major infrastructure works upgraded.

So far, 90 percent of rural roads in Binh Duong have been concreted. The local irrigation system has ensured water for all crop area. All locals have accessed power, while 98 percent of them have enjoyed clean water, and 98 percent of the new-style rural communes have had the health care system meeting national standards.

Olympic Run Day raises awareness of physical exercise

The Olympic Run Day for Public Health 2017 will take place in localities across the country on March 25, announced the Vietnam Sports Administration under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The event is part of activities to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the Vietnam Sport Day as well as the 87th year of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

It aims to raise public awareness of the importance of physical exercise and encourage people to do exercise regularly for improving their health.

The organising board is working hard on communication campaigns towards completing the goal of having 85 percent of communes, wards and towns nationwide joining the event.

Sports and art performance activities will be also arranged in the framework of the programme. 

The last year event drew the participation of about 7.2 million people in all 63 cities and provinces across the country.

Public participation in state budget management promoted

Representatives from Hoa Binh and Quang Tri provinces shared experience in implementing the project on enhancing transparency and public participation in state budget management at a workshop in Quang Tri on January 17.

The event was jointly held by Oxfam and the Budget Transparency, Accountability and Participation (BTAP) Alliance. 

The project is being carried out in Hai Lang and Gio Linh districts of the central province of Quang Tri and Luong Son and Mai Chau districts of the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh. 

It aims to promote new initiatives in supervising state budget and public investment, increase connectivity among groups and members of the BTAP Alliance, and encourage citizens’ participation in state budget supervision. 

The participants looked into methods to implement activities of the project and how to encourage people to join the project.

Nguyen Dang Anh, deputy head of the committee for economic and budget affairs under the Quang Tri province People’s Council, said to promote public involvement in state budget supervision, the locality has issued two resolutions on public investment and piloted the 2014 Public Investment Law at provincial, district and communal levels. 

Local authorities have also played an active role in the work through meetings with voters to discuss annual budget estimate and spending, he said. 

To ensure the sustainability of the project, Anh suggested specialised agencies of the People’s Council to conduct policy consultations involving people, and community groups maintain their operation even when the project concludes. 

The participations also underlined the importance of communications work, stressing the need to create a legal corridor for residents and social organisations to take part in local budget management, improve the role of such organisations like fatherland front and associations of women and farmers. 

The project will be rolled out in other localities in Quang Tri and Hoa Binh after the three-year pilot implementation.

Central Highlands region promotes sustainable forest management

Localities in the Central Highlands are working to promote sustainable forest management and certification of forests.

The scheme has been supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the project “Forests for Livelihood Improvement in the Central Highlands” (FLITCH). 

In the region, Dak Lak province has developed five units implementing sustainable forest management, while Lam Dong province has three, and Dak Nong province has one.

In Kon Tum, the Dak To Forestry Company was granted the sustainable forest management certificate in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. The province Kon Tum is working to expand the planted-forest area granted the FSC certificate in the Mien Nam Paper Material Company.

Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Lam Dong provinces are effectively coordinating with authorised agencies to review and make adjustments to the forest development planning in connection with the planning of land use in the localities to 2020.

The Central Highlands region comprises of Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum and Lam Dong provinces.

Forum discusses women’s role in fourth industrial revolution

A forum themed “Womenwill – Women in industrial revolution 4.0” took place in Hanoi on January 17, seeking ways to help women across Vietnam expand start-up activities and participate more deeply in the economy.

The event also offered a chance for experts and female entrepreneurs to share information and experience to make women more active and confident to deal with challenges of the digital era.

Pham Duc Nghiem, deputy head of the National Agency for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialisation Development under the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), said that women often face more difficulties and barriers in work than men due to their responsibility for their family and social preconceptions.

The proportion of women gaining access to technology is also lower than that of men, Nghiem added.

He said as the MoST is implementing the National Project to Support Innovative Startup Ecosystem in Vietnam by 2025, the ministry hopes to receive coordination of other agencies and organisations to encourage more start-ups by women.

Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the fourth Industrial Revolution is creating not only opportunities but also challenges, especially for micro and small businesses, many of which are owned and managed by women.

Therefore, he asked female entrepreneurs to take the initiative in accessing technology and building long-term development strategies in order to catch up with the flow of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.

An International Finance Corporation (IFC) report titled “Women-owned Enterprises in Vietnam: Perceptions and Potential” indicated that businesses owned by women account for only 21 percent of the total.

However, the World Bank has underlined the potential of female entrepreneurs in creating jobs and increasing incomes for millions of people, thus contributing to socio-economic development.

Project to develop Nghe An border communes

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has approved a project on building new-style rural areas in 27 border communes of central Nghe An province, aiming to boost local socio-economic development and ensuring security-defence.

The 27 communes cover more than 472,200 hectares and span the six districts of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Que Phong, Anh Son and Thanh Chuong.

The project, which will be implemented from now until 2020, is expected to improve the localities’ infrastructure system, economic structure, production model, as well as enhance locals’ literacy, protect the environment and strengthen the political system.

In 2020, on average, each commune is set to complete 11.4 out of 19 criteria of the new-style rural area building programme, with per capita income reaching over 22.9 million VND per year. The ratio of poor households under the multi-dimensional poverty standards is hoped to reduce to 30 percent.

By the end of 2020, 10 communes are expected to fulfil the criteria on locals’ income; all 27 communes complete the employment criteria; and 19 meet the production organisation standard.

Capital for the projects will be partly mobilised from businesses and local residents.

The project gives a number of solutions to reach the goals, including promoting communications to strengthen consensus in the community, encouraging locals to transform their production, and enhancing linkage in production and sale of products.

It specifies a number of support policies for the localities in implementing the project, while encouraging businesses, including those from Laos, to foster connections with farmers in selling products.

Alongside, localities are advised to focus on developing their strong products and building production models applying high technology.

Thua Thien-Hue works hard on new rural development

The central province of Thua Thien – Hue plans to spend nearly 1.79 trillion VND (78.5 million USD) on its new rural area development scheme in 2018. 

Of the amount, around 124 billion will come from the central budget, 350 billion VND from the province’s own coffer, 200 billion VND from other programmes, 75 billion VND from local communities’ contribution and the remaining from loans, businesses’ investment and other economic organisations. 

The locality will strive to have ten additional communes meeting the standards of the national programme on new-style rural areas during this year. 

Priority will be given to reducing poverty rate among households, improving incomes for locals, protecting the environment and ensuring food safety. 

Policies will be reviewed and adjusted towards supporting production development and attracting investment into rural areas and agriculture. 

Since 2011, the provincial authority has mobilised over 5.1 trillion VND (223.8 million USD) for the new rural area programme, nearly half of which (2.17 trillion VND) sourced from credit. 

Thua Thien - Hue has 104 communes joining the scheme. By the end of 2017, the rate of communes recognised as new-style rural areas stood at 22.1 percent.

However, many communes could lose the title after the new criterion on poverty line was applied, which set the line at 700,000 VND per capita per month in rural area. 

According to latest statistics of the province’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the average poverty rate among rural households rose to 12.05 percent under the new criterion, almost double the rate under the old one.

Recent scaffolding collapse attributed to overloading

Local authorities have attributed overloading as the initial cause for the scaffolding collapse in Hà Nội’s Nam Từ Liêm District.

The incident, which occurred on Wednesday morning, killed three workers and injured three others, according to local authorities.

The accident occurred at around 2am at a 1,000squ.m construction site of Toyota Mỗ Lao Ltd. Co on Tố Hữu Street.

Around 500 tonnes of cement was poured on the second floor of the project, leading to the collapse of the scaffolding, according to Chu Văn Đức, head of the construction inspection team of Nam Từ Liêm District. Some 258sq.m of the construction site collapsed.

Local authorities have suspended construction of the project until a further investigation is completed.  

The multi-storey car park project, developed by the Việt Nhật Investment Development and Service Joint Stock Company, is being built by Hà Nội Construction Joint Stock Company No 1.

The project is located on an area of 10,000sq.m, which is licensed to build a park and a car parking site.

Local authorities have provided financial aid to the families of the dead and injured victims.

The case is under further investigation. 

Head-on collision kills 2, injures 3

Two people were killed and three others were injured after a car crashed into a truck in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk on Thursday.

A four-seater car hit a truck that was travelling in the opposite direction on a stretch of the Hồ Chí Minh Highway in Ea H’leo District at about 1:30am.

Two passengers died on the spot, while three others were taken to hospital for emergency treatment.

The two vehicles were severely damaged.

The provincial police are working to identify the five victims and the cause of accident.

HCM City hopes to meet tariff target

HCM City Customs Department has collected more than VNĐ109 trillion (US$ 4.8 billion) in export-import duty revenues in 2017, translating to an increase of 7.75 per cent compared to 2016.

A report at the meeting held here yesterday to review the department’s performance last year and deploy tasks for this year said the department had retrieved tax debts of VNĐ1.115 trillion, reaching 118.8 per cent of target and up 326 per cent over 2016.

In the fight against smuggling and trade fraud, the department has dealt with 1,598 violations, an increase of 6.3 per cent over the preceding year.

This year, the department has been assigned to collect VNĐ108 trillion for the State budget. The department said it was determined to meet or surpass the target despite the challenege.

Nguyễn Xuân Bình, head of the department’s Customs Control and Supervision Division, said the target was lower than last year, but it was still a tall order.

Under free-trade agreements that have come into effect, most tariff lines have fallen to zero. For instance, car imports from ASEAN countries will enjoy zero tariff this year. Therefore, collections from import tax will fall, he said.

The volume of petrol imported through ports in HCM City has fallen, he said, adding that budget collection from petrol, iron and steel and fertilises had also gone down year after year.

In addition, import tariff on auto parts will be also disappear if they meet conditions set by the Government.

Speaking at the meeting, Vũ Thị Mai, Deputy Minister of Finance, praised efforts made by the department in the past year and suggested it map out measures now so it can accomplish or surpass the assigned target.

The measures aim to combat smuggling and trade fraud, enhance inspection after customs’ clearance, retrieve tax debts and others, she said.

She also asked the department to enhance administrative reform, modernise customs activities and use automated systems for seaport and airport customs supervision and management.

Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, vice chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said the city would organise more dialogues between businesses and the customs sector to solve difficulties faced by enterprises.

In addition, the city would work to create more favourable conditions for import-export activities via ports in the city, he said.

Experts emphasise gender equality in VN’s HIV response

The current national response to HIV fails to adequately respond to the diverse needs and rights of the main affected groups – women and girls.

Phan Thị Thu Hương, deputy director of the Việt Nam Authority of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC), made the statement at a conference held yesterday in Hà Nội.

Although Việt Nam’s programmes of coping with HIV marked achievements in four fields including prevention, treatment, discrimination prevention and improving on challenges related to gender inequality, it still needed to take more action to ensure that women receive enough help, she said.

Speaking at the workshop, Elisa Fernandez, UN Women Head of Office said, “Women living with HIV face gaps and constraints in accessing prevention, treatment, care and support services. Women, particularly those most affected by the epidemic, also largely remain on the margins of policy and decision-making spaces.”

These are some of the reasons why there is a rise in reported cases of HIV-positive women in Việt Nam from 24 per cent in 2007 to 33 per cent in 2014.

“To achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, HIV response needs to focus on three areas,” Fernandez said.

First, improving access to sexual and reproductive health and HIV services. Second, mobilising communities to transform unequal gender norms and behaviours, particularly by engaging men. Third, empowering women and girls in all their diversity by investing in women’s leadership in HIV response, she said.

Deputy director Hương emphasised that in the future, the Ministry of Health (MoH) would improve education on HIV/AIDS prevention and control, especially for women and children, in which they will prevent discrimination against people living with HIV.

The MoH will improve women’s access to equipment to reduce the spread of HIV, including condoms, and give more training to consultancy workers to help women and girls resolve their problems related to tests, diagnosis and personal information security.

During the half-day workshop, more than 80 participants from international organisations, governmental agencies, academia, civil society and other stakeholders discussed key findings of the VAAC study, identified the gaps and challenges in mainstreaming gender equality and empowering women in the national HIV response, and provided a set of recommendations for improved HIV policies and programmes.

Việt Nam was committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 and had demonstrated political leadership and commitment to join global efforts to address gender inequality and HIV.

By September last year, Việt Nam has 208,371 people living with HIV, more than 90,400 people living with AIDS and 90,000 people died of HIV/AIDS, according to the VAAC.

In the nine first months last year, the country discovered more than 6,800 people living with HIV, more than 3,400 people living with AIDS and 1,260 people died of HIV/AIDS. It was a decrease by 14 per cent, 39 per cent and 35 per cent compared with the same period last year, respectively.

New TV show to seek young talents

A new reality television show to seek young talents in music will kick off this week in HCM City. 

Musician and producer Quang Huy and his agency WePro are the creators of the show, called Dự Án Số 1-The Debut. They will produce and organise live shows in major cities in the country.

The producers will offer training in vocal, dance and performance skills during the show. Underground artists are encouraged to join the show.

In an interview with local media, the show’s creator Huy said: “I decided to produce a TV show for music aimed at young people because I want to provide something new in the industry. My programme will help young people develop their music career professional.” 

“To perfect my show, I will invite skilled music producers, composers and singers to work with young contestants,” said the 38-year-old.  

Huy said that after the show his staff would continue to support winners to organise live concerts and produce albums of different styles to meet the tastes of young audiences.

Huy became a member of the Hải Âu Band when he was 13 years old. He wrote and composed songs for pop stars Mỹ Tâm and Đan Trường.

His hit songs, such as Yêu Dại Khờ (Fool Love) and Bước Chân Lẻ Loi (Lonely Steps), have been performed and recorded many times.

In 2002, he opened his agency WePro to offer training and producing in music and film.   

His company trained and managed young singers Trịnh Thanh Bình, Lương Bích Hữu, Anh Kiệt and the band Weboys.

Huy worked as a manger for pop stars Ưng Hoàng Phúc and Sơn Tùng-MT P and the girl band HAT.

He produced and directed Thần Tượng (Idol) and Chàng Trai Năm Ấy (Dandelion), both romantic comedy films, starring singer Hoàng Thùy Linh, Vietnamese-Korean actress Hari Won, and Sơn Tùng MT-P.   

The qualifying round of Dự Án Số 1 - The Debut will begin on January 20 in HCM City and on January 27 in Hà Nội.  

It will air on Việt Nam Television’s VTV3 channel every Friday.

Trịnh Việt Dũng, a first-year student at HCM City University of Economy, said: “My friends and I heard about Huy’s TV show,  and we appreciate his effort. We hope the producers and their singers will reflect our tastes."