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Trial on Construction Bank case resumed
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court on July 24 resumed the trial on the case of “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences” at the Vietnam Construction Bank (VNCB, now Construction Bank).
This is the second phase of the case, which involves Pham Cong Danh, ex-Chairman of VNCB Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Members and General Director of Thien Thanh Group, and Tram Be, former Vice Chairman of Saigon Thuong Tin Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Sacombank), and 44 accomplices. In this phase, they are accused of causing economic losses of more than 6.1 trillion VND (268.4 million USD) to the VNCB (The first phase involved 9 trillion VND).
The trial was held for the first time in January 2018. However, on February 7, the court decided to return the dossier of the case and requested further investigation. On June 20, the Supreme People’s Procuracy supplemented documents and handed over the dossier to the court, and affirmed the result of further investigation would not change the case content mentioned in the 2017 indictment.
At the July 24 court, 45 defendants were brought to the trial, while one was absent as being hospitalised for treatment.
Apart from the defendants, the court summoned over 200 people with related interests and obligations, including Tran Bac Ha, former Chairman of BIDV. However, Ha was also absent as he is under treatment in Singapore.
More than 70 lawyers defend legitimate rights and interests of the defendants and concerned people.
According to the indictment, in 2013 and 2014, Pham Cong Danh needed money but was unable to directly borrow from VNCB. He ordered executives and staff of VNCB and the Thien Thanh Group to compile false documents in the names of 29 companies which were established in Danh’s name or others, in order to take loans from Sacombank, TPBank and BIDV.
Danh used the borrowed money for personal purposes and failed to pay off the debts.
He and his accomplices also used VNCB’s money to deposit at Sacombank, TPBank and BIDV as guarantees for his companies’ loans. The banks later kept the money as payment for the loans. Danh and his accomplices’ acts caused losses of 6,126 billion VND to VNCB.-VNA
A Vietnam Post staff member takes pictures of a martyr’s tomb while collecting data for the web portal
A web page containing information on martyrs and where they are buried will be launched on July 26.
The website, thongtinlietsi.gov.vn has been designed by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) and Vietnam Post.
Relatives and comrades can supply additional information about fallen soldiers which will be added to the site.
The portal would help people to find their relatives more quickly, said Dao Ngoc Dung, MOLISA Minister.
The website provides a list of martyrs’ cemeteries nationwide, maps, an overview image of the cemeteries, and details of the graves.
Minister Dung said the portal is only the first step. Local MOLISA agencies need to cooperate with Vietnam Post to review the information, note any data changes and update images. Authorities also needed to continue examining DNA to establish identities.
Vietnam Post said that 836,700 martyrs’ graves over three thousand cemeteries had been documented, with almost 2.6 million images.
According to the ministry, there are still over 200,000 unidentified bodies and over 300,000 bodies with insufficient information relating to them.
Newcater wins grand prize in TomoChain Hackathon 2018
The application TomoCater of the engineer group from the technology startup Newcater excellently won the heart of the jury in the pitching session, overcoming 8 challenging competitors. This has made its creators achieve the first position in the first season of the TomoChain Hackathon competition.
Newcater has a project about an e-commerce trading floor cum online auction center making use of the Blockchain technology and smart contract. This allows users to manage their business, trade or rate products, raise a public fund, and carry out international electronic payment.
TomoCater of Newcater is an application to manage the task of raising decentralized funds or charity money based on the Blockchain platform, where fund raisers create a campaign for the public and maecenas to donate their money or vote for opinions so that the fund can be allocated to the people in need.
TomoChain officially launched the event of TomoChain Hackathon 2018 in order to support the young who are now interested in the blockchain field and have a wish to challenge themselves or to experience building a real blockchain project.
The competition also aims at seeking and fostering potential programmers and developers who possess valuable ideas while helping contestants to digest this state-of-the-art technology.
"The grand prize in the TomoChain Hackathon 2018 will be a boost for Newcater to successfully finish the project about an e-commerce trading floor cum online auction center as well as a forum to attract public capital for exotic products, traditional handicrafts, environmentally friendly products, or local specialties”, commented Khang Nguyen, CEO of Newcater.
The Australian Government on July 24 officially kicked off its Gender Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT) programme in northwest Vietnam, which aims to create jobs and improve incomes for local women.
The 33.7 million AUD (24.9 million USD) programme, which began last year and will end in 2021, will empower local women to engage in agriculture and tourism markets, and enhance women’s voices in economic decision-making.
It is expected to help 40,000 self-employed women to improve their incomes and create 4,000 jobs for women to drive economic growth in the provinces.
The programme will partner with a diverse range of actors, including private and non-government sectors in agriculture and tourism, to improve the environment and stimulate inclusive and equitable growth in the mountainous northwestern region of Vietnam.
Justin Baguley, Counsellor at Economic and Development Cooperation at the Australian Embassy, said: “Gender equality is a priority for both Australia and Vietnam and a critical part of the Australian Government’s development cooperation in Vietnam.”
The programme aims to stimulate innovative solutions to enhance the lives of women, their families and local communities in northwest Vietnam, and will also contribute to higher productivity and economic growth in the region, he said.
More volumes of Ho Chi Minh complete works translated into Lao
At the launching ceremony
The Lao translations of the second, fourth, and sixth volumes of the Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh were introduced at a ceremony in Vientiane on July 24.
Attending the launching ceremony were Vo Van Thuong (Politburo member, Secretary of the CPV Central Committee, and head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education), Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune (Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee, and head of the LPRP Central Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Training), among others.
The Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh feature the journey of late President Ho Chi Minh to save the country and lead the Vietnamese revolution from victory to victory.
The translation project was jointly carried out by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Lao National Academy of Politics and Public Administration as part of the 2014 cooperation agreement on economy, culture, and science and technology between the Vietnamese and Lao governments.
The second volume of the book highlights President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary activities in China during 1924-1929, before the foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
The fourth reflects the President’s notable activities when encountering difficulties in economic, military, political, and social matters after the August Revolution.
The sixth features the President’s revolutionary guidelines and strategies in the 1949-1950 period to promote the cause of national construction.
Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Thao, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said the experience gained from the bilateral cooperation will be an important foundation for the two sides to soon complete the remaining translations of the complete works.
The first volume of the Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh was completed in September 2017.
More volumes of Ho Chi Minh complete works translated into Lao
At the launching ceremony
The Lao translations of the second, fourth, and sixth volumes of the Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh were introduced at a ceremony in Vientiane on July 24.
Attending the launching ceremony were Vo Van Thuong (Politburo member, Secretary of the CPV Central Committee, and head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education), Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune (Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee, and head of the LPRP Central Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Training), among others.
The Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh feature the journey of late President Ho Chi Minh to save the country and lead the Vietnamese revolution from victory to victory.
The translation project was jointly carried out by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Lao National Academy of Politics and Public Administration as part of the 2014 cooperation agreement on economy, culture, and science and technology between the Vietnamese and Lao governments.
The second volume of the book highlights President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary activities in China during 1924-1929, before the foundation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).
The fourth reflects the President’s notable activities when encountering difficulties in economic, military, political, and social matters after the August Revolution.
The sixth features the President’s revolutionary guidelines and strategies in the 1949-1950 period to promote the cause of national construction.
Associate Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Thao, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said the experience gained from the bilateral cooperation will be an important foundation for the two sides to soon complete the remaining translations of the complete works.
The first volume of the Complete Works of Ho Chi Minh was completed in September 2017.
Programme helps raise Mekong Delta’s resilience to climate change effects
The Integrated Coastal Management Programme (ICMP) in the Mekong Delta region has brought about marked economic benefits to targeted localities, heard a conference in Can Tho city on July 24.
The programme was launched in 2011 at a cost of 23 million EUR (26.9 million USD) funded by the German and Australian governments via the German Development Cooperation Organisation.
Running five projects, the programme has come to the Mekong Delta provinces of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Kien Giang, and An Giang, with the aim of coastal protection using the ecosystem; supporting local farmers in agriculture and aquaculture; and promoting cooperation among provincial governments.
Its overall objective is to make the Mekong Delta region more resilient to the severe effects of climate change.
At the event, participants looked into the projects’ achievements in response to climate change over recent years in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sectors.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched a programme on climate change adaptation in the Mekong Delta based on human approaches and science and technology for 2019-2021.
The Mekong Delta is Vietnam’s most important agricultural region, contributing around 52 percent to the country’s rice production. It is also a biological hotspot, with many endemic species.
According to official studies, 38 percent of the Mekong Delta region is at risk of being underwater by the year 2100, with some parts of the coast facing erosion at a pace of 30m each year.
Furthermore, the protective mangrove forests are in considerable decline, and the intrusion of saltwater into ground water is becoming a serious problem as it damages the fertile soil for agriculture.
In addition, human activities in the region, such as clearing coastal forests, altering natural waterways, and adopting intensive agriculture and aquaculture practices, are threatening the ability to provide essential ecosystem services in the Mekong Delta.
The Netherlands’ Ocean Cleanup organisation had a working session with leaders of Can Tho city on July 24 to discuss the implementation of automatic garbage collection in the Mekong Delta city of Vietnam.
The project aims to help reduce the amount of trash discharged into the sea causing severe environmental pollution in the immediate and long run, as well as reducing labour costs in this field.
Tim Van Emmerick, a Dutch representative, said the plans for a trash-collecting system along the rivers consists of boats of about 6m by 18m, the size of a small ferry, that automatically removes floating garbage and stores them in bags for safe disposal later.
The system is controlled by a simple electronic board along with cameras connected to the Internet, allowing the operator to conduct the trash collection on a smart phone.
Trash collection boats are operated by solar energy and automatic sensor systems. Each boat is worth around 300,000-400,000 EUR (350,850-467,800 USD).
Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Dao Anh Dung said he was optimistic about the feasibility of the project.
If successful, the project will be expanded to other provinces in the Mekong Delta which have a dense system of rivers.
He asked relevant departments to work closely with the Dutch organisation to carry out the project.
The project is due to be piloted near the walking bridge in Ninh Kieu district and the Cai Rang floating market in Cai Rang district. Both river locations have become eyesores of floating rubbish bags.
The project to provide power access to villagers in Hamlets 5, 6, and 7 in Dak R’Mang commune, Dak G’Long district kicked off in mid-2017, according to the Dak Nong Power Company. After the construction of electricity infrastructure was completed, every household was then connected to the national grid earlier this month.
Having relocated to the area more than 15 years ago, the villagers have now been presented with this basic necessity, offering them a greater opportunity to expand their production and improve their incomes.
It is part of a larger rural power supply project in the province for the 2014-2020 period which aims to have all villages and a majority of the rural population connected to the national grid by 2020.
Dak R’Mang is a quite isolated commune which is hard to reach. It has a population of more than 7,000 people, 95 percent of whom are from the H’Mong and M’Nong ethnic minority groups.
The living standard in the commune has been much improved over recent years thanks to the construction of a number of roads, schools, and healthcare centres, said Pham Van Tinh, Chairman of the communal People’s Committee.
According to Tran Nam Thuan, Vice Chairman of the Dak R’Mang People’s Committee, most of the residents in this area are incredibly disadvantaged with very low incomes, and as such the stable power supply will give them a chance to develop production and escape poverty.
Nguyen Huu Tri from the Dak Nong Electricity Company said the project to supply electricity to three hamlets in Dak R’Mang had a total investment of nearly 12 billion VND (516,000 USD). The company has been working to give power access to more disadvantaged hamlets in Dak Ha and Quang Hoa communes, in G’Long district, he added.
Telemedicine system transferred to Laos’ Hospital 103
A ceremony to transfer the telemedicine system to Hospital 103 of the Lao People’s Army took place in Vientiane, Laos, on July 24.
The system is the second stage of a project launched in December 2015, connecting surgery, image diagnosis, and consultation rooms between Hospital 103 and the Central Military Hospital 108 of the Vietnamese Defence Ministry. It is Hospital 103’s first modern telemedicine system built by the ministry, done under strict technical standards and with state-of-the-art equipment.
Since it became operational in April 2016, the system was used by doctors and professors of Hospital 108 to treat over 20 difficult cases, as well as linked up with 35 domestic and international seminars held by the Vietnamese side.
Speaking at the event, deputy head of the General Logistics Department under the Vietnam People’s Army Le Hong Dung said the event is another demonstration of the solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Laos.
For his part, eputy head of the General Logistics Department under the Lao People’s Army, Major General Khampheth Sisanon, spoke highly of the project’s effectiveness, saying that it will improve not only the expertise of Hospital 103’s staff, but also healthcare for local soldiers and residents.
He asked Hospital 103 to work closely with Hospital 108 to fully understand the system and recruit qualified staff to run it.
On the occasion, he conveyed sincere thanks to leaders of the Vietnamese Defence Ministry and General Logistics Department for offering timely and effective support to Laos.
Samsung Vietnam opens more training courses for consultants in support industry
Samsung Vietnam opened training courses for Vietnamese consultants in the support industry on July 24
Samsung Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) opened the third and fourth training courses for Vietnamese consultants in the support industry in Ho Chi Minh City on July 24.
The training courses, aiming to improve production efficiency of Vietnamese support enterprises, thus gradually meeting the requirements of global supply chains, are part of a memorandum of understanding between the MoIT and Samsung Vietnam signed during the visit by the President of the Republic of Korea to Vietnam in March 2018.
The courses in HCM City are designed for consultants from southern localities. The first two courses were held for northern provinces, with one just ending in July and the other currently underway.
A total of eight courses will be held during 2018 and 2019, with each course lasting three months, aiming to train 200 consultants in total.
The third and fourth courses attract a total of 50 participants, who will be provided with theoretical knowledge on quality control and production management during four weeks, followed by eight weeks of practice at enterprises, where they will apply Samsung’s tested process. The process starts with assessing operations and business situation of the enterprises and advising the enterprises in how to renovate their production process, quality management and circulation of products by maintaining a good working environment and improving productivity.
The Director General of Samsung Vietnam, Shim Won Hwan said from the success and positive feedback of the first and second courses, it can be expected that the training for southern provinces will provide new knowledge and useful experience for the learners, who will later become the core human resource for domestic enterprises in enhancing their capacity and competitiveness, thus joining supply chains of trans-national groups, including Samsung.
Samsung has been providing support for Vietnamese enterprises in this field by sending experienced experts to help them improve their capabilities. A total of 32 Vietnamese firms have benefited from the support.
Poor people lack access to mobile banking
A large number of poor people and women in Vietnam have not accessed mobile banking.
Statistics from the World Bank showed that only 8 percent of adults in Vietnam use mobile phones to access their bank accounts compared to 40 percent in China, 33 percent in Malaysia and 17 percent in Thailand. In addition, many poor people in Vietnam have not accessed mobile banking services.
Speaking at the workshop on mobile banking for the poor and women held in Hanoi last week, Pham Xuan Hoe, Deputy Director of the Banking Strategy Institute under the State Bank of Vietnam, said poor people faced two big difficulties in accessing and using financial products and services.
“Firstly, the financial channels for people in remote and mountainous areas have been limited. In addition, products and services of financial institutions including banks have not been simple and suitable for them,” Hoe said.
Kieu Kỵ village in Hanoi’s Gia Lam district has 39 households borrowing loans under the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) credit programmes. Most of them are women using the loans to invest in gold-laminating craft and leather making.
The households regularly get updates on the loans, such as payment deadlines and term deposits through texts on their mobiles. No one faces overdue debt thanks to the mobile banking service, despite the total outstanding loans of 1.5 billion VND (64,937 USD).
Vu Thi Thanh Huyen from Kieu Ky village said the households received texts relating to the loans regularly thanks to VBSP’s mobile banking project. Banks did not have to meet them to remind them about their debts.
Luu Thi Thao, deputy director of VBSP’s Centre for Information and Technology, said the bank would continue to pilot mobile banking services with more than 30,000 borrowers to help poor people access their services.
“With more than 130 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide, the use of VBSP’s mobile banking would contribute to complete the national overall financial strategy. The central bank is building the strategy and will submit it to the Government for approval by the end of this year,” Thao said.
She also said the strategy would provide favourable conditions for adults and businesses to access and use financial products and services conveniently at a reasonable cost.
The State Bank of Vietnam is building a national overall financial strategy which values digital technologies of banks and credit institutions. The ultimate target is to popularise access and use of financial products and services, especially to poor people.
“SMS services would be one effective tool to help poor households get acquainted with digital technologies. It would also help banks diversify their products and service,” Thao added.
She said the SMS service had affected customers’ awareness and responsibility in debt payment and saving accounts.
According to the VBSP, the SMS service provided to its 856,608 customers in 10 localities helps them save more than 42.8 billion VND. The service costs the bank 250 VND per SMS, thus reducing their operation costs by 12 times.
The bank has provided SMS through mobile phones to its customers in 63 cities and provinces nationwide since 2016. It has sent more than 6.9 million SMSs to customers.
The workshop was under the cooperation of VBSP, Mastercard and the Asian Foundation with supports from the Australian government to increase access to a full range of financial services for low-income households, especially women-led micro-enterprises.-
National football team receives more support
At the ceremony to announce to renew Yanmar's sponsorship held on July 23
Japan-based Yanmar company will continue to be the main sponsor for the national men’s football team and U23 team, heard a ceremony to renew the sponsorship on July 23.
At the event, Secretary General of the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) Le Hoai Anh lauded the company’s efforts since March 2015 to improve practice environment, contributing to the development of the Vietnamese national football team.
According to Director General of the company Takehito Yamaoka, Yanmar will also sponsor the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup 2018.
The final round of the tournament will be held from November 8 to December 15. Vietnam are in Group A with Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
Group B consists of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and the winner of a play-off match between Timor Leste and Brunei.
Yanmar hopes that with its sponsorship, the Vietnam national men’s football team will harvest new successes in the future, especially towards the goal of becoming the champion at the AFF Suzuki Cup this year, he noted.
Earlier, the Vietnam Professional Milk JSC (VPMilk) was announced as the official football sponsor of the national men’s team to support the squad’s international tournaments in 2018.
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