Contest to help raise public awareness of resilience

Director of AFD Fabrice Richy speaks at the press conference (Source: sggp.org.vn)

A contest for making infographic and video clips, and translating the “Resilience” term into Vietnamese was launched at a press conference held by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Central Committee and the French Development Agency (AFD) in Hanoi on August 22. 

As part of the activities to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-France diplomatic ties, the competition aims to raise Vietnamese youths’ awareness of the impact of environmental and social changes in Vietnam, thus calling for the community’s joint effort in overcoming the environmental consequences and promoting sustainable development. 

The contest is available for individuals or teams with a maximum of five persons who have the Vietnamese nationality and are under 35 years old. 

Entries should be submitted to the organising board via the email: cuocthiresilience@gmail.com from August 27-October 14. Those that meet the set requirements will be posted at www:resilience.doanthanhnien.vn and the fanpage https://facebook.com/cuocthiresilience2018. 

The entries will be graded basing on the number of like and share in the fanpage, and the assessment from the contest’s examiners. The awarding ceremony of the contest will be held in Hanoi in November. 

The contest is expected to raise public awareness of impacts and ways to deal with social issues in Vietnam, especially pressures related to environmental pollution, climate change or consequences of rapid economic growth and urbanization.

Director of AFD Fabrice Richy said the improvement of youths’ awareness of great social challenges, especially those related to resilience and development, will be one of the important factors to help increase the efficiency of new sustainable development models in the future. 

According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, resilience is “the ability of individuals, communities, organizations or countries exposed to disasters and crises and underlying vulnerabilities to anticipate, reduce the impact of, cope with, and recover from the effects of shocks and stresses without compromising their long-term prospects”.

Vietnam – Japan youth exchange underway in Binh Phuoc

The third Vietnam – Japan youth exchange started in the southern province of Binh Phuoc on August 22, which draw the participation of 27 outstanding delegates of Vietnam and Japan besides over 600 youths from Binh Phuoc.

Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Akinori Seki from Japan’s Keizai University, head of the Asia Association of Education and Exchange, thanked the provincial authorities for creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese and Japanese students to carry out their exchange. 

The professor said the programme helps young generations of the two nations increase mutual understanding and contribute to tightening Vietnam – Japan friendly relations.

The exchange is scheduled to run mainly in Bu Dang district from August 23 to 26. It is set to feature an English speaking contest on ‘education and poverty’ as well as hand-on experiences in farming and teaching. The delegates will have a chance to learn about local life in Bu Dang and the culture of ethnic minorities in Binh Phuoc.   

As part of the programme, 40 gifts will be presented to disadvantaged residents in the locality.

The activity aims at fostering the friendship shared between Vietnamese and Japanese. It offers opportunities for young people to practise international communication skills, learn about bilateral relations, and demonstrate their roles in enhancing Vietnam – Japan ties.

Activities to care for the poor draw public attention

Cows presented to poor households 

Individuals and businesses have donated to charity drives for the poor, contributing to the implementation of the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction.

The statement was made by President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee Tran Thanh Man on August 21 when co-chairing a working session, together  with Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, on the outcomes of “For the poor” fund raising activities and preparations for a live programme themed “Joining hands for the poor”.

Man noted that the poverty rate in remote, border and island areas remains high, stressing the need to continue implementing the “Joining hands for the poor” programme annually to raise public awareness and mobilise more resources for poverty reduction.

Deputy PM Hue, head of the Central Steering Committee for National Target Programmes, spoke highly of the outcomes of the “Joining hands for the poor” programme 2017, and asked ministries and sectors to work with the VFF to organise the 2018 programme slated for October 17.

Along with intensifying communications, it is necessary to honour individuals who stand out in poverty reduction work and launch a text-message campaign to raise funds for the poor, he added.

According to Vice President of the VFF Central Committee Truong Thi Ngoc Anh, during the “Joining hands for the poor” programme in 2017, 104 enterprises, units and individuals registered to donate nearly 280 billion VND (12.3 million USD) to the “For the poor” fund and social welfare programmes.

In the first half of this year, the “For the poor” fund also received 529 billion VND (23.3 million USD), while agencies and businesses donated more than 1.6 trillion VND (70.5 million USD) to social welfare programmes in localities nationwide.

In the period, from the “For the poor” fund, the VFF spent 13 billion VND building houses for poor households, providing scholarships for poor students and presenting gifts to the poor on the occasion of the lunar New Year festival.

Localities also helped build or repair nearly 18,000 houses, provided support for more than 114,000 poor households and offered free medical check-ups and treatment for nearly 2 million poor people.

VSS, Danish Embassy ink deal on health insurance-related cooperation

Deputy Ambassador of Denmark Louise Holmsgaard (L) and VSS Deputy General Director Dao Viet Anh sign the MoU on August 21 (Photo: baohiemxahoi.gov.vn)

The Vietnam Social Security (VSS) and the Danish Embassy on August 21 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to help the VSS improve its health insurance verification staff’s capacity in 2018 and 2019.

Under the document, the Danish Embassy will organise training courses in Vietnam and fund short-term courses in Denmark for VSS staff. It will help the VSS take part in international seminars and expand cooperation in various fields.

Deputy Ambassador of Denmark in Vietnam Louise Holmsgaard said health care is one of the top priorities in the two countries’ development cooperation. She lauded the VSS’s achievements in patient information management and health insurance coverage, adding that health insurance is crucial to promoting primary health care.

The MoU will be an important stride to help improve the capacity of the VSS’s health insurance verification specialists, enhancing the management of the health insurance fund, she noted.

VSS Deputy General Director Dao Viet Anh said health insurance has covered about 84.5 million people or more than 87 percent of Vietnam’s population, and this coverage is almost 100 percent among students.

However, there remain challenges such as low insurance premiums and high medical service prices. Therefore, he hoped that the cooperation with the Danish Embassy will help the VSS learn other countries’ experience in the insurance fund management and insurance verification, address difficulties, develop health insurance sustainably and expand partnerships to other areas.

Photo exhibition on August Revolution, Southern Resistance War

Visitors at the exhibition on the August Revolution and Southern Resistance War 

A photo exhibition on the August Revolution and Southern Resistance War opened in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on August 22.

On display at the Can Tho Museum are 116 photos reflecting the triumph of the August Revolution which opened a new era of independence, freedom and socialism in Vietnam.

The August Revolution was launched by Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against French colonial rule in Vietnam on August 14, 1945.

Within two weeks, forces under the Viet Minh had seized control of most rural villages and cities throughout the north, centre and south of Vietnam. 

On September 2, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence, declaring to the world the foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

An exhibition showcasing more than 200 documents, photos and archaeological treasures of the southwest dating back from the first to seventh century was launched the same day at the museum.

They include labour tools and statues made from metal, stone and timber.

The exhibition on the August Revolution and Southern Resistance War will run until September 22 while the exhibition on south-western archaeological treasures will run until December 15.

Thua Thien-Hue spends 11 million USD to support mountainous locals

The central province of Thua Thien – Hue has invested 257 billion VND (11.05 million USD) in building infrastructure and developing production in mountainous regions and areas where ethnic minority people reside in the past 10 years.

The capital, of whichmore than 196 billion VND (8.42 million USD) came from Programme 135 for supporting poor localities, was used to build 151 transportation works, 23 irrigation works, 24 cultural houses, 29 education facilities and 10 water works.

All rural areas in mountainous regions across the province are accessible to cars and they all have primary and secondary schools, and health care stations.

Ho Xuan Trang, head of the provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs, said the province has focused on assisting poor ethnic minority households in the areas of construction, farming land, water, equipment, plant and animal varieties as well as vocational training.

The province has also spent 95.2 billion VND on developing nine concentrated settlement areas for the local ethnic minority community, three of which have been completed.

The support has helped the community settle down, develop production and improve their living conditions and tackle poverty.

Recently, the province issued a plan to assist communes with poverty ratio of above 25 percent in A Luoi and Nam Dong districts to 2020. Up to 57 agencies and units have registered to get involved in the plan to support 19 communes.

Statistics show that Thua Thien-Hue currently has 38,898 households in mountainous areas with 170,223 people, of whom 54,324 are from ethnic minority groups residing mostly in Nam Dong and A Luoi districts, and some communes of Phu Loc, Dong Dien district and Huong Tra town.

Coach fares to jump 40% on National Day

A view of Mien Dong Coach Station in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District. Coach fares are to jump 40% on the National Day 

Passenger numbers on coaches and buses from Mien Dong and Mien Tay Coach Stations in HCMC on the occasion of the National Day on September 2 will rise strongly, with fare hikes reaching a maximum of 40% on routes to Mekong Delta provinces and not exceeding 30% on routes to other localities, the local media reported.

The operators of the two coach stations have already started issuing tickets for passengers.

Coach stations in the city have mapped out plans to serve the anticipated transportation demand during the upcoming national holiday and to ensure public traffic safety. Between August 31 and September 1, Mien Dong Coach Station will apply hikes of a maximum of 30% to coach fares on routes to provinces in the southeastern, Central Highlands, and Central regions.

The number of passengers taking short-distance coach trips to tourist destinations such as Vung Tau, Nha Trang and Da Lat will likely soar in the late afternoon of August 31 and September 1. On the peak date of September 1, the volume of travelers through the station could hit some 43,000 people, along with 1,500 vehicles, according to Kieu Nam Thanh, general director of Mien Dong Coach Station.

As for Mien Tay Coach Station, one representative of the station said that transport operators were required to hike coach fares within reason to offer a good service at a reasonable price to passengers during the holiday. The fares will be raised no higher than 40% versus normal days and are valid for trips on August 31 and September 1.

The number of passengers traveling through Mien Tay Coach Station on the National Day this year may nudge up by 4-6% against the year-ago figure. The operator forecast that some 60,000-62,000 passengers will flock to the station on September 1.

In addition, Mien Tay Coach Station has proposed the municipal Department of Transport provide 30 backup buses to serve skyrocketing passenger numbers on peak days, as well as team up with the Traffic Inspectorate and police to ensure security and smooth traffic flows in front of the station.

Vietnam among 25 best places for retirement

Preparing for old age overseas? Check out Vietnam, which has made it to the top 25 places for retirement in 2018.

It secured 23rd place with a score of 76.6 out of 100 on the annual Retirement Index put out by International Living, an Ireland-based publishing company that writes about retiring overseas.

Buying and investing, renting, benefits and discounts, visas and residence, cost of living, fitting in, entertainment, healthcare, healthy lifestyle, development, climate, and governance are factors it uses for the rating.

Vietnam scored the best in renting and cost of living with 97 and 96 points respectively.

Other places in Southeast Asia that have made the top 25 are Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Bali in Indonesia.

Malaysia even made it to the top five behind leader Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, and Ecuador.

Ba Vì farmers on guard for infectious diseases

A worker gives vaccination to pigs at Ba Trại Commune in the outskirt Ba Vì District of Hà Nội. Farmers in the district are working to keep their farm animals fat and healthy. 

Farmers in the countryside district of Ba Vì in Hà Nội are working to keep their farm animals fat and healthy for the upcoming year-end festive season. Their main concern is how to protect the herds from fatal diseases.

Đặng Văn Thanh is the owner of a large barn in Minh Quang Commune, raising 250 sows and up to 400-500 pigs. With such a large number of pigs together, if one catches an infectious disease, it would be a disaster for the farm.

Thanh said he went extra mile to prevent his pigs from getting sick.

“Every pig will have vaccinations for as many kinds of diseases as possible from the beginning. I also spray disinfectant in the barn once a week and use chemicals to remove odour twice a month,” he said.

The farmer also tried to make homemade feed for his pigs by grinding local food and veggies to make nice, clean and cheap meals for the animals. Thanh said he wanted to rely less on industrial feed to have better quality pigs and better control disease outbreaks.

In the neighbouring commune of Thụy An, Nguyễn Thị Yên has a new small-scale 500 chick flock for Tết (Lunar New Year) holiday. Yên said that not only her but many other households also expanded their poultry flock to prepare for expected high demand in the next few months.

She, however, was worried as it is now rainy season and the weather this year was unpredictable, perfect conditions for a disease outbreak.

Ba Vì Veterinary Station recently warned farmers to stay on guard this time of the year. 

Station chief Hoàng Văn Dương said the rainy season was not favourable for the health of the animals. Their immune systems were weakened and they could easily catch a disease.

“To help the farmers, the station will closely work together with the vet commissions in all 31 communes and town (of Ba Vì) to monitor slaughtering activities, to carry out the second universal vaccination campaign and the fifth disinfectant campaign by the end of 2018,” he said.

Over the past four disinfectant campaigns since early this year, Ba Vì vet station provided 13,300 litres of chemicals to spray more than 17 million sq.m of barns and farms in the locality. 

It also vaccinated 36,000 cows for foot and mouth disease, 85 per cent of the total number of cows raised in Ba Vì.

More than 50 per cent of pigs received vaccinations for foot and mouth, blue ear and diarrhea diseases, while the same rate for poultry were vaccinated for bird flu. 

3 -4 day tours lure tourists on National Day

Many travel agents in HCMC said the 3 to 4 day tours on the National Day September 2 are attracting more tourists.

Up to now, 80 to 90 percent tourists have booked tours starting on September 1.

Short tours starting from HCMC to Ba Ria Vung Tau province, Nha Trang province, Da Lat City, Ben Tre province, Tien Giang province become “hot” products.

A travel agent said this year’s the number of clients to book tours on the National Day increase from 20 to 25 percent compared to normal days.

Young clients often book discovery tours in the country or low-cost tours to Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, costing around VND 10 million to VND 13.3 million.

New stamp issued featuring animals at Kon Ka Kinh National Park

The stamp block depicts the natural environment of the animals at Kon Ka Kinh National Park 

The Ministry of Information and Communications on August 18 made public a postage stamp collection featuring special animals living at Kon Ka Kinh National Park in Gia Lai province.

The stamp collection, designed by artist To Minh Trang from the Vietnam Post Corporation, includes four samples and one block.

The four samples portray four animals endemic to the park while the stamp block depicts the natural environment of the animals there, with images of forests and mountains in Gia Lai province painted on the background.

These stamps will be put into circulation by June 30, 2020.

The release of the stamp collection aims to promote the diversity of flora and fauna at Kon Ka Kinh National Park to visitors, thereby enhancing the conservation of wildlife and promoting tourism in the locality.

A stamp exhibition of the central and Central Highlands regions kicked off on the same day, displaying 171 stamps selected from entries of 10 stamp associations in the regions.

PM calls for joint efforts to preserve cultural heritage

More efforts are needed to enhance preservation of Vietnam’s national heritage, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a recent meeting in Hanoi.

He urged authorities at all levels to upgrade the legal framework and to define each agency’s responsibilities in supervising and protecting national treasures.

As a country comprised of 54 ethnic minorities, Vietnam boasts a dizzying amount of diverse cultural identities. At present, Vietnam has more than 13,000 heritage sites and more than 61,000 intangible heritages. Eight of them have been recognized as the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and 12 others as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

In 2017, Vietnam welcomed more than 16 million visitors to its 8 World Cultural and Natural Heritages, earning more than US$110 million from ticketing and service fees.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism recently held a meeting in Hanoi, centered around preserving and promoting Vietnam’s cultural heritage for sustainable development. Addressing the attendees, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc underscored that protecting tangible and intangible cultural heritage is of great importance to national construction and defense.

“Heritage is a valuable endowment of nature or essence of our predecessors’ creativity, generation after generation. We should understand that anything can be built, produced, and created, but heritage cannot. We are not allowed to destroy, damage or sacrifice heritage for anything, even growth. Losing heritage means losing national identity,” said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. 

The Prime Minister called for creativity and dynamism to ensure the value of heritage lingers in modern society, and education of the nation’s heritage to inspire national pride and self-respect.

"Education of national heritage is of great necessity to nurture patriotism and national pride. Proper policies and measures are needed through revising laws and improving the management and personnel training for heritage preservation, to better protect national identities and promote Vietnam’s unique tourism trademarks. This will contribute to ending poverty and improving people’s livelihood," added Mr. Phuc.

Prime Minister Phuc said that protecting and promoting the value of Vietnam’s heritage is the responsibility of both the Government and the entire society. While the government creates legal frameworks and policies, the community plays a key role in maintaining and passing the value of their heritage to younger generations, he added. 

Microsoft Vietnam, state-owned Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group and Vietnet Information Technology and Communication Centre (Vietnet-ICT) today jointly held a forum entitled “Challenges and technological solutions in information security” and provided intensive training for students.  

The three-day event attracted the participation of more than 200 lecturers and students from several technology universities in Hanoi such as the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology, Thang Long University, Academy of Cryptography Techniques, University of Technology and Hanoi Open University.

Within the collaboration between Microsoft Vietnam and state telco VNPT since 2016 in three main areas of cloud computing, information security, and smart cities, this event was also the next step for the Information Security Contest which was successfully organised in May 2018 for university and college students by VNPT (VNPT SecAthon 2018).

The contest sought to raise awareness and promote learning and researching on information security.

The forum aims to raise awareness, develop skills in young people about information security and create career opportunities for students.

While participating in the forum, students had great opportunities to discuss with representatives of management agencies, organisations in the IT field and experts in information security in Vietnam about challenges and solutions.

They were also able to discuss career positions and career opportunities in information security. In particular, young people directly experienced the technology through the demonstration of solutions for information security from experts.

After the forum, more than 50 outstanding students who won prizes in the VNPT SecAthon 2018 competition will participate in intensive training held by Microsoft on security technologies on Windows and Azure, and analytical skills on decryption such as file format analysis, decompiling, identification and access to malicious code.

“With the commitment to sustainable development, besides building and supporting technology solutions, Microsoft is willing to join with other organisations in fostering young people to use technology responsibly, safely and effectively.

“We hope that in the future, Vietnam will become a provider of highly-qualified labourers in information security, not only for our country but also for many other countries around the world," said Pham The Truong, general director of Microsoft Vietnam

Huynh Quang Liem, VNPT deputy general director, said, “VNPT always respects and promotes the quality of human resources in IT, especially in information security. In particular, the group has always focused on building, recruiting, training and facilitating the staff: the future of VNPT.”

The programme was supported by the Ministry of Information and Communication - Department of Information Security, Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team (VNCERT) and the Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA).

Thanh Hoa supports flood-hit residents after storm

The north central province of Thanh Hoa has called for the Government’s support to help local people to overcome consequences of natural disasters and stabilise their lives.

The province has asked for medicine, antiseptic, protective clothing and 20,000 doses of vaccines to ensure hygiene after storm Bebinca. It also requested seeds to help recover farmers’ production.

Four dykes of the province which run along the Chu, Ma and Len rivers need urgent repairs this year, along with the reservoirs Xuan Lai in Nhu Thanh district, Ben Bang in Cam Thuy district and Hon Mon in Thuong Xuan district. 

The province also has to repair parts of national highways and provincial and border roads which were damaged by landslides.

A report of the provincial Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control showed that heavy downpours on August 15-18 triggered by the storm caused huge losses in Thanh Hoa province. Two people were killed and another went missing, while 10 houses were destroyed and nearly 5,370 others were submerged. 

Some 4,300 hectares of rice fields were flooded and 13,500 heads of cattle and poultry were killed.

Personnel and vehicles have been deployed to support flood victims and help them recover production. Local authorities have enhanced humanitarian aid and worked to repair basic infrastructure and handle transport difficulties in flooded regions.