Three injured in train-truck crash

Three people were injured when a train crashed into a truck yesterday afternoon in Xuan Tho Commune in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Nai.

Despite the ringing of the train's warning bell, a truck ignored the signal and was struck by the train, traveling on the HCM City – Thua Thien-Hue route.

The train's driver, Dang Quang Hien, 30, was seriously injured in the damaged driver's cabin.

Officials said it took two hours to ease Hien from the train, after which he was rushed to a hospital for treatment.

The truck driver and the train driver's assistant were also injured in the crash.

The tracks were cleared and rail traffic resumed that same evening, according to officials.

An investigation is ongoing.

Vietnam in Asia's top 5 beer drinkers

Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association says Vietnam is fifth in the top ten Asian beer-drinking countries, consuming 31.7 litres a year.

Japan tops the list, with annual per capital consumption of 44 litres. the Republic of Korea is second with 38.7 litres. Thailand and China follow  with 38.1 and 37.3 litres respectively. Philippines has lowest beer consumption of 16.7 litres.

Health Ministry officials said May 7 that pure ethanol consumption in Vietnam had doubled in five years, from four litres in 2005 to 6.6 litres in 2015. They predicted consumption of seven litres by 2025.

Kirin, a major Japanese brewery company, said alcohol consumption in Vietnam was rising fast, rising 7.3% in 2013 year-on-year.

Vu Thi Minh Hanh, deputy head of the Hanoi-based Health Strategy and Policy Institute, said alcohol abuse was a health and safety problem for  Vietnam, damaging physical health, a cause of domestic violence and a growing contributor to traffic accidents.

Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry statistics show 68% of domestic violence is the result of alcohol, as are 38% of incidents of public disorder  and accidents.

The beer industry generates 47,000 jobs and is worth USD1.2bn to annual GDP.

Two Vietnamese arrested in Russia for slaughtering Siberian tiger

Russian police have arrested two Vietnamese men who allegedly killed and trafficked parts of the endangered Siberian tiger, local media  reported.

A video clip posted on Vesti.ru on May 16 said the men, whose identities were not revealed, previously posted their offers to sell tiger parts  online.

Moscow police set up a sting, masquerading as potential buyers to contact the pair and later arrested them.

Following a raid on the pair’s premises, the police found 59 tiger teeth, four sets of tiger bones, 15 kilograms of tiger meat, a set of tiger skin and  a frozen tiger head.

The Siberian (or Amur) tigers are the world's largest cats. They live primarily in eastern Russia's birch forests, though some exist in China and  North Korea.

There are an estimated 400 to 500 Siberian tigers living in the wild, and recent studies suggest that these numbers are stable, according to  National Geographic.

 4 face charges for allegedly importing luxury vehicles

Ho Chi Minh City police have proposed smuggling charges against four people for allegedly importing luxury vehicles from the US under the  names of overseas Vietnamese to evade over VND218 billion (US$10 million) in taxes.

All the suspects, including an immigration officer, could face sentences ranging from a 20-year jail term to death, considering the imported  vehicles were valued at more than US$5.2 million in total.

According to the police, between 2011 and 2013, Nguyen Quang Vinh, 33, and his accomplices brought cars from luxury brands such as BMW  and Porsche, and motorcycles into Vietnam.

They declared the vehicles as properties of overseas Vietnamese who were returning to Vietnam for permanent residency, so they were  exempted from import and value-added taxes under Vietnamese laws.

Customs officers of a Saigon Port in Ho Chi Minh City check an imported car. Photo credit: Vietnam customs' news website Vinh together with Tran Phuoc Thanh, 48, and Tran Thai Nguyen, 33 - all providers of import and export services - had falsified relevant  documents, police said.

Nguyen Giang Lam, 40 and who was then an officer with HCMC Department of Immigration, used overseas Vietnamese's passports to facilitate  the smuggling even though these people did not return to the country at all.

According to police, the ring conducted the scheme in collaboration with several people in the US, but no further details have been revealed.

By the time the scam was busted, 54 cars and 12 motorcycles had been imported into Vietnam, a local newspaper reported.

Vietnamese authorities have been tightening their oversight of vehicle imports by overseas Vietnamese in recent years, after local media  reported that people were abusing the tax exemption policy for tax evasion.

Improvements seen in new rural development in Quang Nam

Quang Nam province has allocated US$650,000 to upgrade the local infrastructure as part of its implementation of a national new rural  development program.

Thanks to government support and joint efforts by local authorities and the public, Quang Nam has seen significant improvements in local new  rural development.

Dien Trung commune in Dien Ban district, Quang Nam province, has been selected as a role model in implementing the national new rural development program. It has invested much money and effort in upgrading the local infrastructure, including paving new roads and upgrading the  local irrigation system.

The local authorities have called on cooperatives to boost collaboration with businesses in collecting and processing agricultural products to  increase economic efficiency and boost farmers’ living conditions.

 Dien Trung has become the first commune to complete all 19 criteria of the national new rural development program, reducing the communal  poverty rate to 3% with an average per capita income of US$2200 USD a year.

Doan Luong, a resident of Dien Ban district said it’s the people who discuss and decide the program’s implementation and benefit from it: "The  national new rural development program has brought us numerous benefits. It has helped us develop higher agricultural productivity and incomes.  

My family has donated land to make roads because we understand that this is all about community development."

Other communes of Duy Xuyen district have completed 17 of the program’s 19 criteria. Nguyen Van Chien, Chairman of the Duy Trinh communal  People’s Committee, said his commune has set a target to complete the remaining 2 criteria by the end of this year.

The commune’s initial success in new rural development is largely thanks to local people’s contributions in addition to government support. All  roads connecting communes in Duy Trinh have been paved and lighted, he added.

Another factor contributing to Duy Xuyen’s successful implementation of the national new rural development program is the application of the  vast-rice-field model. The local government has put much effort into rezoning rice fields, mechanizing, and applying advanced technologies in  agricultural production to boost productivity.

Duy Xuyen has rezoned fields for specific crops like hygienic vegetables, rice, and cash crops. The application of the vast-rice-field model has  helped cut input costs for agricultural production while increasing economic efficiency.

Van Ba Nam, head of the Duy Xuyen district division for agricultural and rural development, said "We have recognized the importance of earning  people’s trust and consensus in new rural development, rezoning fields, applying advanced technologies in agricultural production, restructuring  crops, and promoting connectivity between farmers and businesses, in order to make local implementation of the national new rural development  program a success. Significant improvements have been recorded over the past 4 years."

Quang Nam province has stepped up its efforts to have 44 communes complete all criteria of the program by the end of this year.

Agencies urged to stop illegal dredging

Authorities in central Thua Thien - Hue Province have asked concerned agencies to stop the illegal exploitation of sand from the riverbed of the  Bo River, one of the three biggest rivers in the locality.

On Friday, the province's People's Committee demanded police and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources deal with the  spread of sand exploitation in Huong Tra District.

Using dredges armed with suction pipes, the exploiters can take hundreds of cubic metre of sand from the riverbed at a time, leading to erosion  on the river banks.

The holes left by the dredging are filled with sand from the banks, sometimes changing the flow of the river.

Ly Son says no well-digging

Ly Son Island district's people's committee has warned residents to stop digging wells in the search for water for farming, vice chairwoman of the district people's committee, Pham Thi Huong told Viet Nam News earlier this week.

Huong said some locals had dug up six big wells up to four metres across and 10m deep in an effort to supply watering for their onion farms during the worst drought this year.

"We warned residents in An Hai and An Vinh communes that this could deplete the island's underground water," Huong said.

"We have used a total of 414 traditional wells and 132 drilled wells to provide water for homes and more than 100 hectares of onions and vegetables. But some residents have started to dig wells without permission," she said.

The vice chairwoman said the drought had forced the district to reduce areas of onion farm due to a serious lack of water.

"Between April and May, when there is rarely any rain, farmers switched to drought resistant plants, such as maize, beans, sesame and melons," she said, adding that water spraying had been advised to save water.

Ly Son Island, 30km off the coast of Quang Ngai Province, known as the Kingdom of Garlic, has used 83 per cent of its total groundwater reserves during the worst drought in the island's history.

The island's 20,000 cu.m Thoi Loi reservoir has limited water for farming and living, while nearly half of wells used for farming have become saline.

The local administration also advised farmers to buy or make metal or concrete tanks to store water.

The district has also asked the province to build a VND100 billion (US$4.8 million) desalinisation station.

Ly Son Island has 21,000 inhabitants. They make their living from farming garlic and onions - and fishing. The island provides 3,500 tonnes of onions and 2,000 tonnes of garlic each year.

Cheats at motorbike pumps on Ho Chi Minh City sidewalks

Stopping by motorbike pumps on the sidewalk to inflate their tire, any passer-by may fall victim to cunning repairmen in Ho Chi Minh City.

Their simple trick is to swap qualified parts and intentionally ruin the inner tubes of tires so that clients have to replace the parts at an exorbitant price, and many have been preyed upon on streets.

A wicked repairman admitted to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that he has been “earning a salary equal to that of company directors thanks to the cheating.”

Tuoi Tre journalists recently disguised themselves as passers-by to access some of ‘the sorcerers’ and as the ‘learners’ of the tricks to prepare to run the service later.

You stop by a motorbike pump on the sidewalk to inflate your flat tire and then you cannot start the engine of your bike. Why?

The Tuoi Tre reporters discovered the gimmicks after spending a month in disguise to catch the cheaters and recognized many wicked repairmen, like those at motorbike pumps on the sidewalk of Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District.

Three of the sites are ‘managed’ by four brothers named Phong, Phu, Dong and Son.

Most bikes taken there may have their electronic ignition device, commonly called an IC, swapped with a low quality one.

The device is placed right above the motorbike engine and is easy to be removed by repairmen in less than a minute.

A qualified IC which is original to brand-new motorbikes costs VND200,000 (US$9) and can be replaced with other similar devices which cost just a tenth of that.

A low quality device may be incompatible with your bike and leave the engine unable to be kick-started.

Besides replacing the device, duplicitous repairmen also target inner tubes of tires.

As usual, the most typical characteristic of a repair site is the presence of electric air pumps and a water basin to soak tubes in to find punctures.

But the sites of the brothers on Dien Bien Phu Street have no such water basin. This is because they do not actually mend tubes; instead they ruin them and replace them with new, expensive ones.

Most bikes taken to the above-mentioned sites have to get new inner tubes because they are “unable to be mended,” as said by the repairmen.

After asking their clients to sit on a low chair, the repairmen also choose a seat to begin disassembling the tires. They often turn their back toward the clients to prevent them from monitoring the ‘repair work.’

These ‘smart’ repairmen use the sharp point of an iron lever to push at the foot of the valve of the inner tube, and then pull away the plastic tube to create a puncture.

The puncture should be made at the foot of the valve so that clients think that it is the result of the flat tire rolling on streets.

They charge clients VND95,000-110,000 ($4.4-5) to replace it with a new one, while its price is just one-fourth of that, VND25,000 ($1.2).

The Tuoi Tre reporters took one bike to a site run by Phong on three consecutive days and he created punctures on all three tubes to force clients to get new ones.

When asked by the Tuoi Tre journalists to teach the tricks so that they can “follow the trade” in the future, Dong revealed he had paid VND5 million ($231) before to “learn the trade.”

On April 27, Dong agreed to ride to a rented room in Binh Thanh District to “teach the trade,” including swapping an IC fast and tearing inner tubes of motorbike tires.

“Before tearing the tube, you should spin the wheel to distract the clients. After making a hole in the tube, pretend to plug the valve to pump air in,” Dong said.

“The sound of air leaking out from the holes makes clients believe that their tire has a problem,” he added.

“At night after playing online games or sneaking some heroin, I am eager to ruin bikes and cheat clients to have money,” Dong said.

He said he earns from VND500,000 ($23) to VND2 million ($92) a day from the job.

“It is even better than the salary of a company’s director,” Dong boasted to his ‘learners.’

Dong Nai 2 Hydro-Power plant inaugurated

Trung Nam Hydro-power Corp under Trung Nam Group yesterday organized the inauguration ceremony and put into operation the Dong Nai 2 Hydroelectric Power plant, located in Tan Thuong of Di Linh District in the central highlands province of Lam Dong.

The Dong Nai 2 Hydro-power plant has a total investment capital of over VND 3,5trillion with its capacity of 70MW, built on Da Dang river of upper Dong Nai river.

The plant is expected to yield about 263.8million KWh per year after it is put into operation.

Trung Nam Corp said in order to carry out this project, it compensated for 1,200 households and 1,110 hectares of trees in eight communes of Di Linh district and Lam Ha district in the province.

Son Doong Cave tours booked out until end 2016 after US TV appearance

Tours to Son Doong Cave in the central province of Quang Binh are booked out until the end of 2016, with more than 1,000 people wanting to see the natural phenomenon showcased on a US television programme on May 13.

Oxalis Travel Co, the only tour company licensed to conduct trips to the cave, said some 300 people had been Son Doong since it was opened to visitors in August 2013.

A spokesman for Oxalis said more than 1,000 people had booked the five-day four-night tour, at a cost of USD3,000 a person.

Tours to Son Doong are restricted to 450 visitors a year.

Son Doong is in the Unesco-recognised Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, near the Laos–Vietnam border. It is biggest known cave in the world. Inside is a fast-flowing subterranean river and is so large it has its own ecosystem.

The cave was found by a local man, Ho Khanh, in 1991,  but it was not properly explored until 2009, by a group of scientists from the British Cave Research Association, led by Howard and Deb Limbert. The cave is 150m wide, 200m high and more than 5km long.

In October 2014, local authorities allowed a Vietnamese company to survey the cave for building a 10km suspension cable to transport visitors, but work was suspended following public opposition. There were concerns that large numbers of tourists might damage the cave's ecosystem.

On May 13, the US television network ABC broadcast live from the cave on its "Good Morning America" programme to its six million viewers using drone camera to show off the enormity of the cave and its natural beauty. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam appeared on the show as a special guest.

Dam used the appearance to promote Vietnam as a travel destination.

Concerns are growing that the natural beauty of Nha Trang Bay and access to its beaches may be adversely affected by several proposed high-rise projects.

Dewan group has approval for a multifunctional service complex covering 141,200 square metres on Tran Phu and Pham Van Dong roads in Nha Trang City.

The high-rise project of 40-60 storeys will cost USD2.63bn and is expected to be completed by 2020. It will have a private beach of nearly five kilometres, which will be closed to locals and tourists.

“It’s unfair to ban local people and tourists from the beach," said Nguyen Van Thanh, vice chairman of the Nha Trang-Khanh Hoa Tourism Association.

“Urbanisation projects along Nha Trang beach may cause biodiversity imbalance,” he said.

Pham Van Chi, former chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said, “Nha Trang beach is a common asset for all local residents."

Nguyen Tan Tuan, the deputy secretary of the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Committee, said there would be a review of all planning along the eastern parts Tran Phu and Pham Van Dong roads in Nha Trang City.

Bac Kan city established

A ceremony to announce the Resolution No. 892 on March 11, 2015 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the establishment of Bac Kan city was held in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan on May 16.

The ceremony was attended by former Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh as well as National Assembly Vice Chairwoman and Politburo member Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Speaking at the ceremony, NA Vice Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan spoke highly of efforts made by Bac Kan province in overcoming difficulties in the past years to make achievements in socio-economic development, with an economic growth rate of 19%.

The province was also requested to undertake maximum efforts to tap into their potentials in agriculture and forestry while creating favourable conditions for businesses to attract more investment.

She also stressed the importance of enhancing Party building, forming an ethical and strong political system, improving administration management as well as augmenting the implementation of policies relating to ethnic groups.

Four scientists receive Ta Quang Buu award

Four outstanding scientists received the 2015 Ta Quang Buu Award at a ceremony in Hanoi on May 16.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

The awardees included Prof. Dr. Dinh Dung from the Institute of Information Technology, Vietnam National University, Hanoi; Prof. Dr. Nguyen Dong Yen from the Institute of Mathematics, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology; and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thanh Hai from Hanoi University of Mining and Geology.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Hoang Diep from the Institute of Mathematics, under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology received the prize for most outstanding young scientist under 35.

The annual award honours individuals and groups who have made outstanding achievements to the field and published excellent scientific research in prestigious international journals.

The award is expected to contribute greatly to promoting basic scientific research as well as to the development of science and technology in Vietnam.

Hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the award is named after famous Vietnamese scientist Professor Ta Quang Buu (1910-1986).

Charity walk organised to support school sports

A charity walk themed “Green energy journey” was held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 17, drawing the participation of about 10,000 primary students and their parents.

T he programme aimed to raise funds to provide sports equipment for 10 local primary schools with inadequate facilities.

About 600 million VND (27,700 USD) is expected to have been mobilised at the event.

In 2014, the first “Green energy journey” attracted over 7,000 students.

Friendship medal granted to RoK businessman

The People’s Committee of the northern province of Bac Ninh on May 15 held a ceremony to present the State President’s Friendship Medal to the former Samsung Vietnam General Director Shim Won Hwan.

The Medal demonstrates the Vietnamese State’s recognition of the former Samsung executive’s contribution to the friendship and economic cooperation between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea, said Chairman of the People’s Committee Nguyen Tu Quynh.

Quynh also hoped that Shim Won Hwan continues to contribute to the development of the relations between the two countries.

The Korean man said he was honoured to receive the Friendship Medal, confirming he would do his best to strengthen the RoK-Vietnam relationship.

Samsung first invested in Vietnam in 1995 but made itself known in recent years with its construction of two hi-tech complexes to produce mobile devices and components in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces with a combined investment of 7.5 billion USD.

The two facilities together exported over 26.25 billion USD worth of products in 2014.

Viettel supports education in Mozambique

Movitel, a joint venture of the Vietnamese military-run telecom group Viettel in Mozambique, has become a strategic partner of Mozambique’s education sector and will provide high-speed internet service to schools in the host country.

Minutes on the cooperation was signed by Mozambique’s Minister of Education and Human Development Luis Antonio Ferrao and Movitel Chief Executive Officer Safura da Conceicao in Maputo capital on May 14.

Accordingly, the Vietnamese-invested company will equip 12 senior high schools in 12 Mozambican cities and provinces with all necessary equipment for IT teaching and learning such as computers, projectors, free high-speed internet connection.

In addition, Movitel will launch a new internet package for 120,000 Mozambican teachers, with a subsidy of 35 USD per subscriber per month. The company will also hold activities to raise funds for children with congenital defects.

The cooperation deal is to celebrate Movitel’s third year of operation, 40 years of Mozambique ’s Independence Day, and 40 years of Vietnam-Mozambique diplomatic relations.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister of Education and Human Development Ferrao highly valued the assistance of Vietnam and Movitel in particular, which has helped increase the number of internet users in Mozambique and reduce the IT gap with other nations.

Movitel began operation in Mozambique in 2012. The group has now become the second biggest mobile phone service provider in Mozambique.

Last year, the company provided free internet access to 2,500 schools in the country to mark its second anniversary.

Seventy excellent mathematics researches awarded

The Vietnam Institute for Advance Study in Mathematics and the Ministry of Education and Training announced the awarding of 70 excellent mathematics researches in Ho Chi Minh City on May 16.

At an event held at the University of Natural Sciences under the HCM City National University, they also presented 475 scholarships from the National Target Programme on the development of mathematics to maths students from high schools and universities across the country.

In its third year this year, the awarded researches were selected from 210 mathematics works published on international mathematics journals in the international science indexing from 2013-2014.

According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga, the Ministry has spent 25 billion VND in awards to outstanding mathematics researches and maths students with excellent records over the past three years.

A finding released recently by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of Science and Mathematics ranked Vietnam in the 12th spot of the 76 countries listed.

Vietnam, Mexico universities boost ties

A delegation of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-Hanoi) is on a working visit to Mexico to seek cooperation with Mexican partners.

The delegation had working sessions with the Institute of Social Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City and the University of Emilio Zapata in Monterrey to discuss the possibility of partnership in several areas of mutual interest.

During the meetings, leaders of the Mexican universities hailed huge potentials for cooperation between the two sides, saying that they hope to work together with Vietnamese universities in training, publishing books and text books, delegation exchange and organising science conferences.

Both sides agreed to push for the early signing of cooperation agreements within the framework of the Vietnam-Mexico cooperation agreement in culture, education and sports.

The delegation was also warmly received by Senator Alberto Anaya Gutierrez, General Secretary of the Mexican Labour Party (PT) and President of the Mexico-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group.

The Mexican senator was delight at the positive outcomes of the delegation’s visit to Mexico and suggested the two sides to soon draw up plans for cooperation in 2015.

He also pledged to support activities in the field.

Thousands of workers run for workplace safety and health

Over 4,500 workers from garment and textile factories in Binh Duong and surrounding provinces participated in a run in support of workplace safety and health on May 17 in southern Binh Duong province.

The event was held by Better Work Vietnam, a partnership between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in collaboration with the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.

It was intended to strengthen the relation between workers, employers, clients and the community and raise awareness of occupational safety and health, notably the importance of a healthy eating habit, in the apparel industry.

There are about 350 garment and textile and footwear factories across the country. South Vietnam, including Binh Duong province, is home to 430,000 workers, 80 percent of whom are female.

A recent survey of workers at some clothing factories revealed that there are a large number of garment workers suffering from lack of nutrition due to unhealthy dietary habits such as skipping breakfast. Diarrhoea and respiration diseases are common diseases among them.-

New tea production model aids ethnic minorities

It is hot, although it is still very early in the morning, and a group of ethnic minority women are already at work, picking tender tea leaves on a mountainside in the northern province of Lai Chau.

The Dao Do (Red Dao) women of Tam Duong district are dressed in their colourful traditional clothes, and their nimble fingers and hand movements seem to split the sunbeams slanting through mist as they keep putting handfuls of tea leaves into the papoose they carry on their backs.

Lifting up the papoose and wiping the sweat on her face as she takes a break under a tree on the tea plantation, Phan Thi Mui said she and other growers always harvested the tea leaves early in the morning. When the sun is up high in the sky, it is blazing hot and they cannot do anything, she said.

Mui, who is married and has two children, lives in Ban Bo commune. She said her family previously grew maize and cassava, but this did not go smoothly and they were often faced with the prospect of going hungry.

In 2009, Mui's family began growing tea in 2009 with financial support from provincial authorities and the Lai Chau Tea Joint Stock Company. She said that without the support, her family's life would not have been as stable as it was now, and her children would not have been able to continue their schooling.

"My family earned 70 million VND (3,200 USD) last year, nearly half of it from tea. We now have some savings for the future."

While her family's income is not high compared to urban areas in the country, it is a significant sum in Tam Duong District, where the average annual household income is 17 million VND (790 USD).

Mui's family is one of many who have benefited from the schemes carried about by the local tea company.

Located in a valley surrounded by many mountains, the company's Tam Duong factory is now seen as the heart of the tea business in Ban Bo commune.

The factory, the second one opened by the company, began operations last June. It imparts tea cultivation knowhow to local residents, buys their produce and processes them for domestic and export markets.

In the past, more than 320 farmers from Ban Bo commune sold their tea leaves to small processing facilities at low prices and in small volumes.

Today, the new factory on the spot allows for fresh tea leaves supplied by small producers to be processed very soon after harvest, helping the growers save significantly on transportation costs.

"In the past, the transportation cost was subtracted from tea leaves' prices. Now, that cost is fully credited to farmers. The local farmers harvested 558 tonnes of fresh leaves last year. They are estimated to have earned 1,500 VND (0.07 USD) extra per kilogramme from this," said Director of Lai Chau Tea Joint Stock Company Nguyen Thi Loan.

Loan said local tea production had developed strongly since it began receiving technical support from HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation in Vietnam. HELVETAS works in the field of development cooperation, helping disadvantaged people and communities in developing countries improve their living conditions.

"HELVETAS has helped us increase linkages between tea farmers and buyers of finished products, improve the quality of tea production at both the farm and processing levels, and supported us in building an environment that enables sustainable tea value chain development."

Until 2011, when HELVETAS began supporting the company and farmers, residents were growing tea in a very unprofessional way, and lacked the knowledge to produce and harvest quality leaves.

"It was difficult. It took a really long time for us to persuade the ethnic minority people, who were most used to shifting cultivation, to develop tea gardens," said Loan.

She said two factors decided the quality of tea, the way it was harvested and how it was processed.

"It sounds so simple, the technique of pick one bud and two leaves, but we had to spend about half a year to persuade the growers to follow it. If they picked more than two, they would have more in quantity, but it would not meet our quality needs," she added.

Nguyen Hong Son, deputy head of Tam Duong district's Agriculture Division, said Lai Chau province had 2,500 hectares of tea plantations, and 60 percent of these were managed by the Tam Duong tea factory.

In Tam Duong District, 1,025 households grow tea and earn an average annual income from 5-10 million VND (230-460 USD) each, the highest one earning 50 million VND (2,340 USD).

Son said the district had identified tea as a key crop for poverty reduction and sustainable development. The district administration and the Lai Chau Tea JSC had canvassed households to try the new value chain model and guided them in implementing it.

"To kick start development, the district has provided money to growers to buy tea varieties and the Lai Chau Tea JSC has transferred knowhow and lent fertiliser and plant protection chemicals. The farmers have contributed their land and labour," Son said.

Loan said her company had been providing the farmers with fertiliser and plant protection chemicals for several years, but was yet to recoup its investment.

Lai Chau is located in the tropical zone and in a mountainous region endowed with a temperate climate "characterised by a strong monsoon influence, a considerable amount of sunny days, and with a high rate of rainfall and humidity."

Tea plantations have changed the landscape of Tam Duong District, replacing haphazard cultivation of various crops with one that benefits farmers and provides good quality produce to the company, serving the administration's poverty reduction target.

Looking out at the lush green plantations from atop a small hill, Loan said she had a dream. She hoped that this area would not only become the cradle of tea cultivation in the northern region, but also a popular tourist destination.

Thua Thien-Hue remembers martyrs in Laos

The central province of Thua Thien Hue held a reburial service at the Hue city martyrs’ cemetery on May 16 for the remains of 13 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who lost their lives during wartime in Laos.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from Laos’ Salavan province, ministries and sectors, the Military Zone 4, as well as Thua Thien-Hue provincial leaders and locals.

In his speech, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Cao expressed his gratitude to the Lao Party, authorities and people in general, and Salavan province in particular for their support in repatriating the remains, which were collected in Laos during the 2014-2015 dry season.

In the coming time, Thua Thien-Hue will continue coordinating with authorities of Salavan and Sekong provinces to search for and collect more remains of Vietnamese soldiers fallen there.

Millions of Vietnamese fallen down for national liberation during the two resistance wars against French and US forces as well as in international missions in Laos and Cambodia.

The search for, gathering, repatriation and re-interment of the martyrs is conducted annually, receiving due attention from the Party and the State.

Since May 13, the central provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Binh and Ha Tinh organised reburial ceremonies for the remains of fallen soldiers and experts repatriated from Laos.

Thanh Hoa to promote cooperatives

Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Nguyen Thien Nhan, praised recent efforts by the central province of Thanh Hoa to improve the effectiveness of local cooperatives while pushing for a thorough assessment on their operations in order to prepare for further development plans.

Nhan was speaking during a field trip to the province in mid-May.

Although provincial authorities last year issued a five-year cooperative development plan towards 2020, nearly 1,000 cooperatives are still facing problems.

Those co-operatives run business in various sectors, including agriculture, industry, commerce and fisheries and transport services. Small size and a lack of infrastructure result in the low effectiveness of most cooperatives in the province, representatives said at a meeting with Nhan.

Difficulties in borrowing loans from banks to expand operations was also another obstacle, said Hoang Kim Trung, chairman of the Trung Nghia Cooperative.

"Many cooperatives did not even have sufficient documents to borrow loans as required under the amended Law on Cooperatives 2012," he said. "We suggest that the authorities allow banks to accept our current situation for easier loan processing," Trung said.

Nhan acknowledged the importance of the cooperative sector in the socio-economic growth of Thanh Hoa and asked the authorities for a better management at cooperatives to gain higher profits and raise farmers' incomes.

"The cooperatives should research the market, give farmers advice about which plants and animals to grow, and help make their products accessible to consumers," Nhan said.

Charity walk organised to support school sports

A charity walk themed “Green energy journey” was held in Ho Chi Minh City on May 17, drawing the participation of about 10,000 primary students and their parents.

T he programme aimed to raise funds to provide sports equipment for 10 local primary schools with inadequate facilities.

About 600 million VND (27,700 USD) is expected to have been mobilised at the event.

In 2014, the first “Green energy journey” attracted over 7,000 students.

Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam restore coral reefs

Thousands of square metres of degraded coral reefs in central Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa provinces have been restored thanks to a nursery project conducted by the Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography between 2011 and 2013.

The project “Application of techniques for hard coral restoration in targeted marine areas” has revitalised over 10,700 square metres of coral in the Cham Islands (Cu Lao Cham) Biosphere Reserve in Quang Nam and the Nha Trang Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Khanh Hoa.

According to Dr. Dao Viet Ha from the Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography, each coral species was placed in the most ecologically suitable areas, ensuring survival rates over 60 percent.

Coral coverage in Nha Trang Bay MPA has significantly expanded to 5,550 square metres and coral-reef fish density has grown 1.4 times in the northeast coast of Hon Mun Island and 2.1 times in Vinpearl. Additionally, several marine species were newly found in the area including giant clams.

The Cham Islands also enjoyed similar project outcomes as coral-reef fish density in the surrounding area multiplied 1.6 times and 1.2 times in Bai Bac and Bai Huong beaches, respectively.

After the conclusion of the project, managers of Nha Trang Bay, Vinpearl and the Cham Islands will apply their amassed knowledge and techniques to protect and further expand the coral reefs.-

Da Nang: Cultural programme calls for support for AO victims

A cultural programme themed “Join hands to ease Agent Orange pain” was held in the central city of Da Nang to raise funds for over 5,000 Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims in the locality.

Organised by the Da Nang Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, the programme also called for contributions to the Da Nang Detoxification and Rehabilitation Centre.

The event ultimately raised over 3 billion VND (138,000 USD) for the Agent Orange Victims Association.

Also on the occasion, the organising board granted the Golden Heart Certificate to 50 organisations and individuals for their support to AO victims.

Young doctors provide health checkups for the poor

More than 6,000 young doctors partook in a volunteer event for community health in 63 cities and provinces across Vietnam on May 17.

They offered free health check-ups and medicines to 100,000 people, provided free eye surgeries for 1,000 elderly people and trained 5,000 teachers in first aid at 700 kindergartens and primary schools in rural and far-flung areas.

During the day, 13,000 units of blood were collected and 50,000 children participated in hand washing with soap activities.

On the occasion, the Vietnam Young Doctors’ Association commended 10 outstanding young doctors and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union presented its most notable insignia “For Young Generations” to leaders of the Health Ministry.

Young Doctors’ Day aimed to raise awareness of improving community health and strengthening unity and coordination among young doctors in community activities.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri