15 years of Russian science, culture centre marked

Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov speaks at the event 

A ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Vietnam took place in Hanoi on October 17. 

Speaking at the event, Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov said the centre has conducted multidimensional activities as part of cultural, scientific and educational cooperation between the two countries over the past years, contributing to bilateral comprehensive partnership. 

He expressed his hope that with joint efforts, both sides will successfully hold the Russia – Vietnam Year and the Vietnam – Russia Year next year. 

Phan Xuan Dung, Chairman of the Vietnam – Russian Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, lauded the centre for holding activities to raise mutual understanding between the two peoples, including concerts and discussions on Russia’s potential in science-technology, economy and investment. 

Both sides organised forums, round-table seminars, meetings between young people, photo exhibitions, film screening, classical and contemporary Russian concerts. 

From October 10-17, a show staged by dancers from the Moscow State Dance Theatre Gzhel, an exhibition by Russian painter M.V. Stoyachko were held. 

Four contemporary Russian films were also screened Hanoi, Da Nang city and Ho Chi Minh City.

TV programme marks Day for the Poor in Vietnam

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan speaks at the event 

A ceremony marking the Day for the Poor in Vietnam 2018 was broadcast live on Vietnam Television’s VTV1 on October 17.

The event aimed to honour organisations and individuals in Vietnam and abroad who made significant contributions to supporting the disadvantaged through the National Fund for the Poor and social welfare programmes. 

It was attended by National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Acting President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Tran Thanh Man.

Speaking at the event, NA Chairwoman Ngan said the Party and Government consider poverty alleviation a requirement for sustainable growth. It is among the UN’s millennium and sustainable development goals which Vietnam is committed to, she added.

She said with delight that the number of poor households defined by multidiscipline standards has dropped to 6.7 percent, surpassing the target set by the NA.

The Party, NA, Government, enterprises, individuals and organisations have joined hands in boosting socio-economic development in difficult areas, she noted, saying the National Fund for the Poor has received dozens of trillions of Vietnamese dong, helping build thousands of charity houses and offering access to healthcare, education and business opportunities to hundreds of thousands of needy people.

Pointing to the figure of 2.9 million poor and near poor households nationwide, the top legislator said the road to sustainable poverty alleviation remains difficult, requiring creative initiatives and more resources.

Ngan called for continued assistance from the business community and individuals at home and abroad as well as foreign countries and international organisations for Vietnam’s growth and poverty eradication efforts.

The TV programme featured people who told their stories of overcoming poverty and of supporting the needy. Among them were Ho Minh Hieu, an orphan boy, who raised pigs to earn money for school, and Phan Ba Manh and Hoang Duc Minh, creators of “charity aid” and “good friend” applications, which helps coordinate charity groups and organisations.

On the occasion, President of the VFF Central Committee Tran Thanh Man launched the action month for the poor, which lasts from October 17 to November 18.

Between October 2017 and October 2018, the National Fund for the Poor and social welfare programmes raised more than 2.9 trillion VND (123.7 million USD), which were used to build 28,000 charity houses, and aid dozens of millions of poor people in terms of production capital and materials, healthcare services and hunger alleviation. 

According to the organising board, during the course of the TV programme, 100 organisations pledged to donate 857 billion VND (36.57 million USD).

Donations in response to the action month have arrived in some localities, with Hanoi recording 77 billion VND (3.28 million USD), Ho Chi Minh City 38 billion VND (1.62 million USD), and Bac Giang 47 billion VND (2 million USD).

Meanwhile, 2,000 texts worth more than 4.4 billion VND (187,763 USD) were sent in support of a fund-raising texting campaign. As part of the campaign, willing donors can send the code VNN to 1409 from October 1 until the end of December 31, 2018 to contribute 20,000 VND towards helping the poor.

Man gets public apology for wrongful conviction

Bùi Xuân Quang (left) gets a public apology from local judicial body for wrongful conviction. — Photo baodongnai.com

Bùi Xuân Quang, a 44-year-old man in southern Đồng Nai Province’s Vĩnh Cửu District, who was wrongly convicted of robbery in 2015, got a public apology from the district’s People’s Procuracy on Monday.

 At a meeting held by the judicial body to announce the public apology, deputy head of the district’s People’s Procuracy Phạm Thị Mến apologised Quang and his family for the wrongful conviction and said the case was a lesson for judicial bodies.

The People’s Procuracy was working with relevant agencies, lawyers and Quang to develop a proper compensation plan for the wrongful conviction, she said.

In November 2015, police of Vĩnh Cửu District decided to prosecute Quang for the charge of stealing 922 tràm (aquilaria crassna) trees from a local resident, worth nearly VNĐ27 million (US$1,170). The decision to prosecute Quang and put him in temporary detention was approved by the district’s People’s Procuracy.

In March 2016, the case was put on trial by the district’s People’s Court, which then required further investigation into the case. Quang was out on bail after being put in temporary detention for four months and nine days.

After conducting further investigation, police of Vĩnh Cửu District failed to find enough evidence to convict Quang. As a result, the case was suspended in April, 2017.

Highway opened for use without lighting system

A view of Bạch Đằng Bridge. 

The Bạch Đằng Bridge and Hạ Long-Hải Phòng Expressway opened to traffic on Monday, but without streets lights along most of the route.

Only 300m of the road near the Bạch Đằng toll booth are illuminated at night, meaning vehicles travelling along the 30km expressway connecting Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh are effectively driving blind.

Vũ Văn Khánh, director of the Quảng Ninh Department of Transport, said that the lighting system had not been completed.

The Hạ Long-Hải Phòng Expressway has a speed limit of 100kmph.

The first part of the highway connects Hạ Long City with Bạch Đằng Bridge and is 19.3km in length. It cost VNĐ6.4 trillion ($278.9 million) from the local budget. The second section is Bạch Đằng Bridge which covers 5.3km. This was constructed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model with investment of VNĐ7.2 trillion ($316.3 million). The BOT Bạch Đằng Bridge Joint Stock Company is the investor.

A company report claimed that the work had been completed. 

Ha Long converted into civilized sea tourism

 The PM has passed a master plan for Ha Long City by 2040 with a vision towards 2050.

The city has an administrative boundary of 27,753 hectares. 

The master scheme targets to raise status for Ha Long city in particular and Quang Ninh province in general; develop the city in a sustainable manner, with green growth and good climate change response capacity.

Ha Long will be converted into a civilized sea travel city, and a world-class tourism and service hub, where Ha Long Bay Natural World Heritage is preserved.

In the city, technical and modern urban infrastructure will be built. The city will serve as an important transport center for the whole country, and a sea gate in the North. 

Ha Long will become a national service-tourism urban area; a driving force for regional growth; develop smart urban model, green urban areas, in response to climate change.

HCMC expands roads to ease traffic congestion at airport

Traffic congestion is a usual sight on Truong Son Street, a key road leading to Tan Son Nhat International Airport 

The HCMC government has approved a number of projects to expand some streets around the Tan Son Nhat International Airport to reduce traffic congestion in the area, following the Ministry of Transport’s release of the expansion plan for the airport.

The first project is to develop a road over 3.5 kilometers long and 20 meters wide, running parallel with Cong Hoa Street from Tran Quoc Hoan Street and connecting with Cong Hoa Street at a section adjacent to Truong Chinh Street in Tan Binh District. The road will mainly run through military land.

The project requires a total investment of more than VND1.4 trillion (US$60 million), with site clearance costs amounting to VND734 billion (US$31 million).

Once in place, the new road will lead to the forthcoming third passenger terminal of the airport, known as Terminal T3, which connects with terminals T1 and T2, thereby relieving traffic congestion on Truong Son Street.

The second project is to expand Hoang Hoa Tham Street in the section between the military barrack gate and Cong Hoa Street. The street, which will be 783 meters long and 22 meters wide, costs an estimated VND254 billion (US$10.8 million), including VND170 billion for site clearance.

Some alleys, which shoulder part of the traffic from the main roads, will be expanded, including alley number 2 connecting the Tran Quoc Hoan and Thang Long streets, with a total investment of VND142 billion (over US$6 million).

The local government has also approved a project to widen a one-kilometer-long section of Truong Chinh Street between the Cong Hoa and Au Co streets. Its construction costs some VND278 billion.

Affected residents in Tan Binh District are receiving a total of more than VND1 trillion in compensation, while those in Tan Phu are getting VND759 billion.

Nguyen Van Tam, deputy director of the HCMC Transport Department, said these approved projects have received the required investment capital. Once the local administrations complete their site compensation payments, the projects can get off the ground.

Standard presentations required for tour operators in Danang

A group of Chinese tourists visit Danang Museum, one of the most popular destinations for international visitors in Danang City 

Danang City’s Department of Tourism has asked local tour operators to deliver standardized presentations to local and foreign visitors visiting popular destinations in the city.

The department will team up with the Department of Culture and Sports and the Danang Association of Sciences and History to issue standardized presentations about the Danang Museum and the Cham Sculpture Museum in three languages, Vietnamese, Chinese, and South Korean.

Meanwhile, an overview presentation regarding the city, as well as those of other destinations, such as Linh Ung-Son Tra pagoda and Ngu Hanh Son, will be released soon.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, deputy director at the municipal tourism department, said that the move aims to provide accurate information about the popular destinations in the central coastal city to tour guides at home and abroad, especially Chinese and South Korean, and minimize the delivery of distorted information related to Vietnamese culture and history.

Many travel operators approved the use of standardized presentations, saying that they should have been introduced four to five years ago when the number of Chinese and South Korean visitors coming to Danang was on the rise.

“Better late than never,” said Le Tan Thanh Hung, deputy general director of Danang-based travel company VITOURS. He added that standard presentations are urgently needed, as the volume of tourists traveling in groups or alone is rapidly increasing, aside from those booking tours from travel agencies.

Inexperienced tour guides should learn by heart the standardized presentations. Also, they can add relevant details at each destination to interest tourists, while still ensuring the accuracy of the information, said Nguyen Ngoc Anh, director of Omega Tours company.

Data from a recent report released by the municipal People’s Committee reveals that the city welcomed over 6.5 million tourist arrivals in January-September, up 27.7% year-on-year, which nearly reached 90% of this year’s target. Of these, international tourists exceeded 2.4 million arrivals, an increase of 40% from one year ago.

Olympic 2030 sporting event kicks off in HCMC

The Fourth Olympic 2030 sporting event for Vietnamese entrepreneurs, organized by the 2030 Business Club under the Saigon Times Group, kicked off at Ly Tu Trong Technical College in HCMC last Saturday, October 13.

The annual event aims to raise awareness of physical training and create a networking playground for entrepreneurs to build business links.

The Fourth Olympic 2030 attracts more than 3,000 participants competing in 14 sports namely football, table tennis, badminton, swimming, bowling, cycling, billiards, Chinese chess, archery, golf, running, mountain bike racing, off-road racing and tennis.

The organizer also holds side contests such as the fair-play moment called King & Queen and the best written commentary for matches.

With the theme “A Green Olympic”, the event requires athletes, referees and members of the board to follow rules of conduct such as not smoking or littering, saving water and behaving politely.

Hero Dog Bino has been selected as the main mascot to create a spirit of fair play and complete dedication to the sporting event.

The Fourth Olympic 2030 is sponsored by furniture distribution company D’Furni, U.S. Investment Services Company, SHP Gourmet Company and Phu Hoang Land Real Estate Company. It will wrap up on November 30.

Mottainai festival supports child victims of traffic accidents

The Vietnam Women’s Association in collaboration with the Japanese Embassy organized the sixth Mottainai festival in Hanoi on October 13 to support child victims of traffic accidents.

With the theme “Give Love - Receive Happiness”, the program included a wide range of cultural, artistic and sporting activities. Particularly, the Mottainai Run was held as part of the program to raise funds for child victims of traffic accidents.

The organizers also presented scholarships to 71 children who lost father or mother by traffic accidents, and those who are direct victims of traffic accidents, as well as gifts to nearly 300 children from child care centers in Hanoi.

Mottainai is a Japanese word that means “regret for something to be wasted”, according to Vietnamplus news website. First held in 2013, the annual Mottainai festival has supported about 3,000 child victims of traffic accidents in the country.

Vietnam Airlines organizes drawing competition for Hanoi students

Vietnam Airlines, in partnership with the Department of Education and Training of Hanoi, is organizing a drawing competition with the theme “Journey of Love”, attracting more than 700 primary students in the capital city.

Nguyen Van Thinh, director of the national flag carrier’s North branch, said the competition is an annual event as part of Vietnam Airlines’ series of community activities, aiming to nurture the soul and talent of Vietnamese children.

The award ceremony and an exhibition showcasing the best paintings are slated for late November. The exhibition is expected to bring emotional moments to the viewers through the children’s creative paintings that reflect the love between people, the care for environment, and kind acts in daily life.

Grading will be based on two criteria, including relevance to the theme and creativity. The organizer will present 100 individual awards to students with the best photos and group awards to education units of schools and districts with the best results.
Photo exhibition on rural women’s contribution to sustainable development

UN Women, the United Nations’ agency for gender equality and women's empowerment, is holding a photo exhibition on rural Vietnamese women’s contribution to sustainable development at the Vietnamese Women’s Museum in Hanoi.

Photos on display are top 40 photos shortlisted from more than 1,000 entries of the “Rural women and sustainable development” photo contest which was launched in March on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) by UN Women with the support of the Australian and Canadian embassies.

The photos give viewers a glimpse into the lives of rural women, the challenges they face, and the important contributions they make to Vietnam’s development across many areas, including technology, sustainable agriculture, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, entrepreneurship, leadership and decision making.

Addressing the exhibition’s opening ceremony last week, Elisa Fernandez, head of the UN Women Vietnam office, said: “Even in the absence of words, photographs can portray reality in a manner that is honest, eye-opening, thought-provoking and reflective, while still being entertaining and easily understood.”

“We believe that photography is a powerful tool to raise awareness and to trigger positive development in society. Looking at all of the entries, we see positive changes regarding the empowerment of rural Vietnamese women,” she added.

“Canada is committed to sustainable development and women’s empowerment. Through the exhibition, we want to raise awareness for and celebrate the women who have helped shape Vietnam into the thriving and prosperous country that it is today,” said Robert Bissett, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. at the Embassy of Canada in Vietnam.

According to a report of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2015, women constitute a significant percentage of the agricultural workforce in the country. In rural areas, up to 63.4% of working women are in agriculture compared to 57.5% of working men. Rural women make substantial contributions to the country's economic growth.

However, rural women and girls remain among those most likely to experience poverty and lack access to resources, such as land, agricultural extension, finance, education and healthcare. As a direct result of gender inequality, rural women and girls fare worse than their rural male counterparts on almost every measure of development.

October 15 has been chosen the International Day of Rural Women. This year the United Nations commemorate the day under the theme “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

The “Rural Vietnamese women’s contribution to sustainable development” exhibition will run until November 10.

Vietnam faces challenges in tackling tuberculosis

For years, the health sector in Ho Chi Minh City has built a network to diagnose tuberculosis and provided the medical service in districts as well as applied advanced treatment techniques for the target of ending the disease by 2030.

However, there have been some hiccups along the way.

According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis ranks the ninth cause of deaths in the world. The Southeast Asian country has the burden of tuberculosis; in 2017, the country had 126,000 tuberculosis infections and over 13,000 people died of the disease.

Vietnam was ranked 12th among the tuberculosis drug-resistance high-burden countries, with a prevalence of smear-positive tuberculosis of 89 per 100 000 population.

HCMC is one of localities with high tuberculosis infection cases with annual fresh cases making for 15 percent of the whole country’s total cases. Twenty percent of them are immigrants. The city is also the place with high number of multi-drug resistance tuberculosis cases.

Director of Pham Ngoc Thach Hospital cum head of the anti-tuberculosis program Dr. Nguyen Huu Lan said that project “For a Vietnam without tuberculosis case” is being piloted in the city to enhance capacity of discovering tuberculosis infected people in the community

The project comprises of screening those who contact with tuberculosis patients and testing those who are at high risk of contracting the disease by advanced equipment to help save time. However, Dr. Lan said that resources for research and prevention task is little. Many private establishments made half-hearted participation in the program; plus there has been personnel shortage because of lack of funding.

Dr. Lan pointed out that just 377 non-public clinics join the program in the public-private-partnership format. Notwithstanding, merely one private clinic provide treatment and transfer samples for testing while others just send tuberculosis to public infirmaries for further treatment.

Meanwhile, averagely 25,000 tuberculosis patients are discovered in public and private medical facilities annually making up 16 – 19 percent of total fresh cases yearly.

According to the National Anti-Tuberculosis program, though more tuberculosis are discovered, the system has neglected tuberculosis senior people.

Therefore, the campaign “ Actively detect and manage tuberculosis people” in HCMC set treatment target to help end the disease including over 60 percent people receiving an X-ray and over 90 percent people undergoing Xpert testing. Moreover, the target aims to cure more than 90 percent patients.

Districts 12, Go Vap and Binh Chanh health sector often leave out tuberculosis in carrying out the program “ Proper care of tuberculosis patients” launched by the municipal Public Health Association and Pham Ngoc Thach hospital under the sponsor of FIT.

Because tuberculosis patients undergo long treatment, the Public Health Association has called for support and its appeal receive contribution from international organizations such as StopTB, IRD which provide funding and new techniques to diagnose fresh infection cases to manage.

According to Chairman of the Public Health Association Dr. Le Truong Giang, the World Health Organization has verified that screening, diagnosis, and treatment are the most important task in ending the disease.

To strengthen screening effectiveness, the Public Health Association and the ZTV project management board in co-ordination with people’s committees in districts launched a campaign “ Take initiative in detecting tuberculosis patients and treating them” from now to September, 2019 in districts 12, Go Vap and Binh Chanh.

Mr. Giang said that with the progress in the medicine, tuberculosis is not incurable disease any longer yet it is still a problem in the world. Ending the disease requires the efforts of all people. People’s awareness of the disease should be raise to curb discrimination against tuberculosis patients.

Vietnam observes Global Hand Washing Day

Pupils from Hanoi’s Ngo Gia Tu Primary School washing hands with soap in response to the Global Hand Washing Day on October 15. (Photo: tuoitrethudo.com.vn) 

Over 1,300 pupils from Hanoi’s Ngo Gia Tu Primary School washed their hands with soap in response to the Global Hand Washing Day on October 15.

The event was co-organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET)and Unilever Vietnam Foundation to observer the annual global campaign, which falls on October 15 each year, to motivate and mobilise the public to improve their handwashing habits.

With the benefits of hand-washing with soap, the Global Handwashing Partnership launched the campaign for the first time in 2008, stating that the habit is a simple but effective way for disease prevention that is within the reach of everyone.

At the meeting to respond to the Day at Ngo Gia Tu Primary School, Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, Head of the MoH’s Health Environment Management Agency, said that washing hands with soap is a simple task but has great practical meaning to prevent diseases. For pupils, the future generations of the country, keeping clean hands and fighting diseases is a good thing and good health starts with clean hands.

A representative from Unilever Vietnam Foundation said that following the event, the fund, in collaboration with the MoH and the MoET, will strengthen communication activities on personal hygiene at 100 primary schools in the southern province of Binh Duong to create a habit of washing hands with soap to help prevent diseases, thus improving health for students and the community.

The same events were also held on the same day at the Hanoi-based Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics and the Central Military Hospital 108.

New Zealand shares education expertise with HCMC

John Laxon, Education New Zealand’s regional director of South, South East Asia & the Middle East, speaks at the seminar

Education New Zealand and the HCMC Department of Education and Training (DoET) last Friday, October 12, organized a seminar for 200 high- and secondary-school representatives to share New Zealand’s expertise in preparing students for the future.

This is the first collaboration between the two entities, conducted as part of the New Zealand-Vietnam Strategic Engagement Plan on Education signed during Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to New Zealand in March 2018.

As the key findings from Economist Intelligent Unit’s report, the rapid development of digital technology and the globalized nature of economic systems are new educational challenges for the world to adapt to. The workers of the future will need to master a suite of adaptable interpersonal, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, and navigate an increasingly digital and automated world.

For developing countries like Vietnam, where young populations (from 10 to 24) accounts for approximately 40% of the populations, the need to prepare a workforce for future starting from secondary to high school sector is even more emerging. 

As the leading country in The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Educating the Future Index in 2017, New Zealand is willing to share its experiences with Vietnamese partners, specifically at Friday’s seminar.

The Future Index specifically assesses the effectiveness of education systems in preparing students for a successful global career. New Zealand was ranked the best education system in the world in preparing students with interdisciplinary skills, creative and analytical skills, entrepreneurial skills, leadership skills, digital and technical skills, global awareness and civic education.

The seminar focused on New Zealand’s curriculum framework for future skills, the effectiveness of New Zealand’s teacher education system, career counseling, cultural diversity and tolerance which supports students in having a global outlook.

The seminar also saw the exchange of experiences from New Zealand’s high school sector in developing international networks to provide global exposure for their students and how this practice can be applied to Vietnamese institutions.

John Laxon, Education New Zealand’s regional director of South, South East Asia & the Middle East, said: “We are thrilled that Vietnamese families and students are increasingly choosing to study in New Zealand, with 36% more Vietnamese school students and 14% more university students enrolling in New Zealand institutions over the past year.

“Conducting this seminar for the first time allowed us to share further about New Zealand’s future focused approach in schools, which promotes inquisitive and project-based learning, and provides flexible learning pathways for students. New Zealand is committed to the education partnership with Vietnam, to future-proofing Vietnamese students, and enabling Vietnamese students to pursue successful global careers.”

In addition to the seminar, Education New Zealand will also organize road shows at nine schools in HCMC and Hanoi to promote New Zealand’s culture, people and education system, and foster future exchanges between New Zealand and Vietnam’s education institutions.