Paintings depict expatriate’s memory of homeland

An exhibition is underway in Hanoi, featuring 35 paintings by overseas Vietnamese painter Nguyen Duy Minh on his memories of the capital city.

Themed “In memory of Trang An”, all the paintings shared the same name and were sketched on dó (poonah) paper using acrylic paint.

The paintings depict beloved images of Hanoi in the memory of Duy Minh, such as houses in the Old Quarter, Long Bien bridge, the outskirt’s fields, as well as West Lake lotuses.

In most of the paintings, there is an image of a woman, showing his love for Hanoi.

Obstetrics and paediatrics centre inaugurated in Phu Tho

The Centre of Obstetrics and Paediatrics of Phu Tho General Hospital 

An obstetrics and paediatrics centre of the General Hospital in the northern province of Phu Tho was inaugurated on November 24.

On the occasion, the hospital signed comprehensive cooperation documents with the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the National Children’s Hospital.

Addressing the event, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien spoke highly of achievements the provincial health sector has obtained over the years.

She lauded efforts of the Phu Tho General Hospital in improving infrastructure and modern health equipment to enhance its quality, meeting the healthcare demand of people in the province in particular and the northern region in general. 

The health official asked the hospital to streamline administrative procedures and apply information technology in management and treatment for patients.

The Centre of Obstetrics and Paediatrics is the 10th centre of the Phu Tho General Hospital. Its construction started in October 2016.

With a total investment of 1.5 trillion VND (64.5 million USD) from social sources, the centre, spanning in an area of 6.74ha, comprises of two buildings, with 500 beds.

Phu Tho: 14 more Xoan singing artisans recognised

Additional 14 people in the northern province of Phu Tho have been presented with the “Xoan singing artisan” title in recognition of their contributions to preserving and promoting the value of the UNESCO-recognised intangible cultural heritage.

Speaking at a ceremony on November 23, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Ho Dai Dung said that the 14 newly-recognised artisans are prestigious and expert in the musical art.

To date, Phu Tho has 66 Xoan singing artisans recognised by the State, including 20 Meritorious Artists.

Closely linked to the worship of Hung Kings, Xoan singing is a religious practice rooted in the ancestor worship of the Vietnamese people. It is traditionally performed during the first two months of the lunar calendar in holy places such as temples, sanctuaries and communal houses.

There are three forms of Xoan singing: worship singing for the Hung kings and village guardian spirits; ritual singing for good crops, health and luck, and festival singing where villagers alternate male and female voices in a form of courtship.

The Vietnamese musical tradition was inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2011 due to declining appreciation of this tradition, notably among young people.

The performing art was transferred to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2017 in recognition of efforts by the local communities and the national authorities to reinforce the viability of Xoan singing.

Phu Tho now has 34 Xoan singing clubs with 1,557 members.

KOVA Prize 2018 honours groups, individuals in applied science

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam addresses the event

A ceremony to honour outstanding groups and individuals of KOVA Prize 2018 in the fields of applied science and technology and social welfare was held in Hanoi on November 24.

The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, who is also Chairwoman of KOVA Prize Committee.

The 16th KOVA Prize awards include four categories – Innovation, Humanity, Potential and Resilience.

In the Innovation category, a prize was awarded to a project finding the cause and restoring normal kidney function for patients with acute kidney failure, conducted by Associate Professor Dr Tran Thi Bich Huong. 

A research on surgery in treatment of bone cancer developed by Associate Professor Dr Le Chi Dung, and another on safe herbal plant cultivation in Phu Yen province were honoured in the category.

Meanwhile, in the Humanity category, the awards were presented to nine groups and individuals for their actions which have contributed to the national building and safeguarding.

The prize in the Potential category worth 10 million VND each was awarded to 12 outstanding students with prospects in scientific research, while the Resilience scholarships were handed over to 151 students of 60 public universities across the country.

The KOVA Prize, which was set up by former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and Associate Professor Dr Nguyen Thi Hoe, Chairwoman of the KOVA Paint Group in 2002, is held annually to honour individuals and groups who have made significant contributions in the fields of science, education, charities, and other areas.

Over the past 16 years, the awards have been given to hundreds of groups and individuals, with the youngest winner being 19 and the oldest one 101. The organisation aims to encourage students, individuals and groups – especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds – to pursue innovations in science, technology and social welfare.

Dong Nai bolsters cooperation with foreign hospitals

Shing Mark Medical University Hospital in Dong Nai province signs cooperation documents with several hospitals of Taiwan (China) to enhance medical examination and treatment 

Shing Mark Medical University Hospital in Dong Nai province on November 23 inked cooperation documents with several hospitals of Taiwan (China) to enhance medical examination and treatment in the southern locality. 

Director of the Dong Nai-based hospital Su Son said partnering with the foreign hospitals aims to enhance access of patients in Vietnam and Dong Nai province in particular to advance medicine in the world. 

Under the cooperation documents, leading experts from Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital and Joshua medical centre will be invited to work in the province. 

In the coming time, four doctors from Taiwan will come to the Dong Nai-based hospital. They are experts in orthopaedics, oncology, internal medicine and paediatrics.

Son added that Shing Mark Medical University Hospital will arrange health refresher courses for its medical staff. The courses, which will be taught by foreign experts, are expected to transfer advanced technology in treatment for the hospital, he noted. 

The progamme will be carried out until 2022. 

Vietnam, Japan exchange medical experience

Leading Vietnamese and Japanese experts and scientists shared knowledge and experience in medical research, biology and technology at a symposium held at Hanoi Medical University on November 24. 

Speaking at the event, Professor Dr Ta Thanh Van, Rector of the Hanoi Medical University, said Japan has made outstanding performance in medicine, especially basic and applied science. 

Therefore, the symposium offered a chance for Vietnamese experts to learn from their Japanese colleagues’ experience in this field, particularly in nanotechnology, AI and bio-technology, he said. 

Vietnam and Japan marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2018. Over the past nearly half century, Japan has supported Vietnam in such areas as science-technology, agriculture and health care. 

In healthcare and medical education, the country has launched many official development assistance (ODA) projects aiming to help Vietnam develop preventive medicine and improve capacity for health workers. 

Int’l Conference on Sustainability in Civil Engineering held in Hanoi

The second International Conference on Sustainability in Civil Engineering was opened at the University of Transport and Communications (UTC) in Hanoi on November 24.

The two-day conference attracts the participation of scientists, experts and scholars from Vietnam and other countries like France, the US, Russia, the UK, Belgium, Greece, Japan, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

In his opening remarks, UTC Rector Nguyen Ngoc Long stressed the importance of sustainability in civil engineering.

The nature of designing and building sustainable works is to study and seek optimal solutions related to materials, engineering and construction to make the works not only meet the requirements of short-term use, but also be able to be adjusted to meet future use requirements, and not cause bad impact on the environment, natural resources and the ecosystem, Long stated.

Nearly 150 quality reports have been sent to and delivered at the conference. They focus on sustainable development in geotechnical engineering, water resources, works engineering in river-mouth, coastal and marine areas, and transport infrastructure planning and development.

UTC is the largest and oldest technical state university in transport field of Vietnam.

The International Conference on Sustainability in Civil Engineering was first held in 2016.

Hà Tĩnh port suffers difficulties due to sedimentation

An excavator sits idle at Xuân Hải Port in central Hà Tĩnh Province. — Photo: dantri.vn

Once the second most important port in central Hà Tĩnh Province, Xuân Hải Port in Nghi Xuân District is seeing a significant decrease in their business due to river sedimentation.

The sea-river port was expected to be a driving force for the economic development of the eastern area of Hà Tĩnh Province.

Now, it is almost inactive with excavators and cranes seen sitting idle, although the last months of the year are often the busiest days for ports, reported Dân Trí online newspaper.

In the past, the port used to be the main transit hub for timber material imported from Laos to be re-exported to China and other countries in the region. A variety of other products like coal, construction materials, manganese ore and food were also shipped from the port.

But now, only woodchips and plaster are transported through the port, said an official at Xuân Hải Port Enterprise.

According to local customs authorities, the total export-import value of the port last year reached just US$7.1 million, while the figure for the first six months of 2018 stood at US$2.6 million, with the import value accounting for a meager $26,000.

The gloomy situation has been happening for the past two years, local officials said.

Lê Trí Dũng, deputy head of Xuân Hải Port Customs Sub-department said the main reason is sedimentation in the river disrupting vessel traffic.

“Some companies have built infrastructure and installed machines at the port for export-import activities. But the sedimentation has prevented large vessels docking at the port,” he said.

The port was designed to receive vessels weighing up to 3,000 tonnes, but currently only vessels weighing less than 1,000 tonnes can approach.

“Dividing the goods, loading them onto smaller vessels and transporting them to larger vessels anchored further offshore is costly for them,” Dũng added.

He said the customs sub-department had proposed to higher authorities to undertake dredging work to remove sediment and facilitate the docking of vessels, but no action had been taken so far. 

Unhealthy diets pose major risk of NCDs: workshop

A resident in the central province of Quảng Trị shops for fruit at Nam Đông Market in Gio Linh District where vendors are committed to selling safe food. The food environment and behaviour of food choices in Việt Nam need to be improved in order to control non-communicable diseases related to diet, experts have said. 

An unhealthy diet is one of the major risk factors for a range of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes, a workshop heard in Hà Nội on Monday.

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study, which focused on 2017, almost 20 per cent of deaths worldwide were attributable to an unhealthy diet.

About 15 million people died prematurely from NCDs in 2015, an increase of nearly 3.8 million compared with 2000, the study said.

The burden continues to rise disproportionately in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, particularly among younger age groups, while they also face a number of communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

However, in these countries, the implementation of studies related to non-communicable disease is very limited. So far, most of the evidence is based on studies from high-income countries.

According to Professor Đặng Đức Anh, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, with the rapid development of the economy and urbanisation, the food environment and eating habits are changing inappropriately.

"It is time to think seriously and act quickly to improve the food environment and behaviour of food choices in order to control NCDs related to diet," he said at the three-day international workshop titled "Tackling diet related non-communicable diseases in Asia: A regional approach to improve response capacities."

It is estimated that up to eight out of 10 deaths in Việt Nam are from non-communicable diseases.

About 12 million Vietnamese people suffer from hypertension. Nearly 60 per cent have not been diagnosed and over 80 per cent have not been treated, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health.

Hypertension is the leading cause of strokes and heart attacks that cause hundreds of thousands of deaths and disabilities every year.

More than three million people are living with diabetes but nearly 70 per cent have not been diagnosed.

The ministry’s survey in 2015 revealed that more than 50 per cent of adults did not eat enough vegetables or fruit.

People ate more than twice as much salt than is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The rate of obesity was also increasing rapidly.

"Proper nutrition and healthy food are a top priority in preventing non-communicable diseases and improving people’s health," Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Trường Sơn said.

Việt Nam was focusing on preventive measures for the early detection and treatment of diseases, he said.

The workshop serves as a forum for exchanging experiences on improving the food environment through the study, intervention and impact of each country’s policy.

In addition, participants will work together to develop and complete multinational research proposals to improve the food environment.

The workshop, orgainised by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, has drawn the participation of healthcare experts and policymakers from China, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and Việt Nam. 

Truck carrying giant tree fined for overloading

The tractor trailer driver was fined for carrying the giant banyan tree, which exceeded the permitted load weight limit. 

Traffic police in central Bình Định Province fined the driver of a tractor trailer VNĐ12.5 million (US$537) for transporting a giant banyan tree on National Highway 19.

The driver was fined VNĐ1.5 million ($64.5) for failing to present a transportation permit and VNĐ11 million ($473) for not having a vehicle registration certificate. He also had his driving licence confiscated for two months.

Lieutenant Colonel Ngô Đức Hoài, deputy head of the provincial Police Department’s Traffic Police Office, said the giant banyan tree was an oversized object which exceeded the allowed load weight. The police asked the driver to cut the long branches extending from the top part of the tree.

The trailer would be examined for its capacity to ensure its allowed load weight before leaving.

On November 19, traffic police in the province pulled over a trailer for carrying a giant banyan tree on National Highway 19 passing Tây Sơn District.

Đinh Công Vinh, the driver, managed to present legal papers for the giant tree, but failed to present a permit for the transportation and vehicle registration certificate.

Vinh admitted he was hired to carry the tree from Đắk Lắk to Ninh Bình Province.

The tree was found to have the height of more than 2.5 metres, which posed safety risks for other drivers.

Infectious diseases spread due to weak hygiene: experts

Clean water shortages can lead to many infectious diseases. 

Infectious diseases with the highest number of patients were those related to clean water and environmental hygiene, said associate professor Nguyễn Thị Liên Hương, director of the Health Environment Management Agency under the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Infectious diseases were a global concern, including in Việt Nam, she said.

In Việt Nam, infectious diseases with more than 100,000 patients are flu, diarrhoea, dengue fever, foot-hand-mouth disease, mumps and chicken pox.

Besides the risk of new infectious diseases including influenza strains A/H1N1 and A/H7N9 and Ebola, other infectious diseases such as dengue fever, measles and foot-hand-mouth disease remain common.

To prevent diseases, experts from the MOH said supervision and early discovery were very important.

Hương called for different sectors, authorities and organisations to join with the health sector to promote education in the field to improve residents’ awareness of keeping hygiene to prevent diseases.

The MOH has targeted making proper hand washing a typical habit and common practice before meals.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said 88 per cent of childhood fatalities were related to weak sanitation and clean water shortages.

It is estimated that 1.1 million children around the world die per year due to diarrhoea and 1.2 million others die due to respiratory diseases. Weak sanitation also led to skin and parasitic diseases, which are the main causes of malnutrition.

Việt Nam has embraced Global Handwashing Day, October 15, since 2008 to enhance society’s awareness of personal hygiene and preventing epidemics. 

Two options proposed for Cai Lậy toll booth

Cai Lậy toll booth in Tiền Giang Province.

Two options for toll fee collection at Cai Lậy Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) toll booth in Tiền Giang Province will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, said Nguyễn Danh Huy, head of the public-private partnership project management and investment board under the Ministry of Transport, on Tuesday.

Huy said the first option is to maintain the booth’s location on National Highway No1 and reduce toll fees for all types of vehicles by 30 per cent. Fees for cars under 12 seats, trucks under two tonnes and buses will be slashed from VNĐ25,000 to VNĐ15,000.

For the second option, a sub-station will be constructed on the bypass and toll fees will be collected at both stations. The Cai Lậy booth on National Highway No1 will charge VNĐ15,000 per vehicle per time. Toll collection on the alternative road would be VNĐ25,000 per time for cars under 12 seats, trucks under two tonnes and buses.

The Cai Lậy booth in the Mekong Delta province of Tiền Giang, one of the most controversial projects, is located on National Highway No1; however, it collects fees for a 12km bypass of Cai Lậy Town, while some drivers only travel on the highway. Fees range from VNĐ35,000 (US$1.5) to VNĐ180,000 ($7.8), depending on the type of vehicle.

The high fees and inappropriate location prompted drivers to protest several times last year.

Although it started collecting fees on August 1 last year, the toll station temporarily suspended operations from August 14 because of strong opposition from drivers. The second protest broke out in December last year after the toll was re-opened following three months of suspension.

This month, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc ordered the transport ministry and other relevant sectors and localities to review and address shortcomings arising from BOT projects in an open and transparent manner.

Tuesday was the deadline for the Ministry of Transport to submit its report on solutions to address these problems to the PM.

Nguyễn Trí Đức, chief of the ministry’s secretariat, said that they would submit the report on the deadline.

According to the ministry, there are 88 BOT toll stations nationwide, of which 74 are managed by the transport ministry. Others are under the control of provincial people’s committees. 

Long An eyes better transport infrastructure

The provincial road No 830 in Long An Province. The traffic route is one of the major traffic works recently completed in the locality. — Photo longan.gov.vn

Authorities in the Mekong Delta province of Long An have identified building transport infrastructure as crucial to socio-economic development.

The Long An People’s Committee has amended the road development plan for the period until 2020 with a vision to 2030, approved an axis road connecting Đức Hoà District with HCM City’s Bình Chánh District and announced the 1/5,000 plan for National Highway No 1A in the province.

It has also announced the 1/10,000 plan for the northern section of Bến Lức District and called for investments in roads and created favourable conditions for the development of industrial parks, residential areas, and business and service centres in the area.

Compensation payments for lands acquired for construction of roads in the area are almost complete, according to the Department of Planning and Investment.

Deputy secretary of the Long An Party Committee, Đỗ Hữu Lâm, said the province would take a number of measures to speed up transport infrastructure development.

They include a programme to publicise the policies on investment in transport infrastructure, helping speed up land clearance works, he said.

The province would raise funds mobilised from both the public and private sectors for developing transport infrastructure, including in PPP (public - private partnership) form, supervise the use of the lands for PPP projects and resolve delays in the projects, he said.

Long An Province agencies will strengthen co-operation with HCM City for joint projects and to speed up works to connect them such as the Thầy Cai and Rạch Dơi bridges and provincial road No 823.

Long An has also focused on administrative reform and improving its competitiveness index to usher in a more liberal investment environment.

According to its Department of Planning and Investment, the province has completed six of 14 works under a programme to mobilise funds for its transport infrastructure.

Six others are in progress while the paperwork is being completed for the last two.

Three other major works include provincial road No 830, a beltway in Tân An City (including a bridge across Vàm Cỏ Tây River) and an axis road connecting Tiền Giang, Long An and HCM City.

These projects, which have caught the fancy of investors, are expected to help turn Long An into an economic hub of the southern region, the Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper reported. 

Cà Mau prepares to fight forest fires

The U Minh Hạ National Park in Cà Mau Province. 

The chairman of the Cà Mau Province People’s Committee, Nguyễn Tiến Hải, has instructed competent agencies to diligently carry out the task of preventing forest fires in the 2018-19 dry season.

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the U Minh Hạ National Park, the U Minh Hạ Forestry One Member Limited Company, and the people’s committees of U Minh and Trần Văn Thời districts are responsible for implementing the task, he said.

They have to carefully protect more than 8,500ha of cajeput trees in the park, he said.  

It is located in U Minh and Trần Văn Thời districts.

The southernmost province, which has the largest area of submerged forests in the country, has more than 43,500ha of cajeput besides forests on Hòn Khoai, Hòn Chuối and Hòn Đá Bạc islands, which face a high risk of fires in the dry season lasting between November and May.

The agencies have also been ordered to work with the media to disseminate forest protection regulations to the public and raise awareness of preventing forest fires.

Forest management units and companies will go over their plans for fighting fires in the dry season and have human resources and facilities in place for the task.

They have been instructed to carefully keep an eye out for people starting fires in forests and nearby areas.

In the 2017-18 dry season there was one fire that damaged around 3,500sq.m of forests. Since there were measures for preventing forest fires in place, it was extinguished immediately before causing too much damage, according to the Forest Protection Sub-department.

Cà Mau has 95,400ha of forests, which cover about 25 per cent of its land mass, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of the figure, 53,000ha are grown to harvest timber, 18,000ha are special-use forests and 23,000ha are protective forests.

Some 21,600ha have been handed over to 5,000 households to protect and exploit its resources.

Besides harvesting wood, many of these households also earn an income by harvesting honey in the forests and raising shrimp and fish. 

Gia Lai solicits investment in City     

The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai sought investors for 22 projects at an investment promotion conference it held in HCM City yesterday.

The projects are in various sectors, including infrastructure, agro-forestry processing, building materials, consumer goods, education, culture, sport, tourism, and renewable energy.

Spread over an area of 15,500 sq.km, Gia Lai is the country’s second largest province and has a population of more than 1.4 million including 14 ethnic groups.

It grows a lot of major cash crops such as coffee, rubber and pepper, and so investment in processing of agricultural products is required, according to Ho Phuoc Thanh, director of the province Department of Planning and Investment.

The province’s favourable geographic location in the central coast –Central Highlands region and the development triangle of Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam, including the Le Thanh international border gate adjoining Cambodia’s Ratanakiri Province makes it very convenient for trading goods not only within the country but also with other countries in the region, he said.

It has three industrial parks: Tra Da, one belonging to the Le Thanh International Border Gate Economic Zone and the South Pleiku Industrial Park.

The 621.95ha South Pleiku is in the process of building infrastructure.

The province has excellent potential in renewable energy such as solar and wind power, which has recently attracted interest from many investors, he said.

Vo Ngoc Thanh, deputy secretary and chairman of the province People’s Committee, said: “This conference is organised with huge support from Ton Duc Thang University to connect Gia Lai Province with scientists, businesses and local and foreign investors and introduce the potential and strengths of the province and call for investment.

“I hope participants in the conference will share helpful experiences with us, help us with new ideas for collaboration for integrating Gia Lai in the new era.”

In recent years the province had reformed administrative procedures and public services to create the best conditions for investors, he said.

Besides the Government’s mechanisms and policies, the province also had its own policies and mechanisms to create favourable conditions for investors and businesses to make long-term investment, he said.

“We always see the success of investors as the province’s success.”

At the conference, the province issued licences to seven projects with a total registered capital of over VND3.3 trillion (US$141.3 million).

The province also signed memorandums of understanding with seven investors for investment of more than VND5.5 trillion ($235.67 million).

Organised by the province and Ton Duc Thang University, the conference attracted more than 200 local and foreign businesses, representatives of foreign business groups and foreign affairs agencies from Viet Nam and elsewhere. 

First northern specialities week begins at Big C

Specialty products on display at the ongoing “Northwest and Northern Mountainous Provinces Specialties Week” at Big C An Lac in HCM City. 

The first ‘Northwest and Northern Mountainous Provinces Specialties Week’ began on Friday at Big C An Lac in HCM City’s Binh Tan District and the supermarket’s 15 stores in the north.

The specialties on sale include Moc Chau passion fruit, ash gourd, white cabbage from Son La Province, orange and tangerine from Hoa Binh Province, Ham Yen orange from Tuyen Quang Province, ash gourd from Bac Kan Province, dried pork, Gioi Phien vermicelli, thit trau gac bep (smoked buffalo meat) and dried bamboo shoot from Yen Bai Province, besides rice, cham cheo sauce, honey, chilli sauce and other specialties from other mountainous provinces.

Organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in collaboration with Central Group Vietnam and Big C Vietnam, the event will run until November 25.

Le Viet Nga, deputy director of the ministry’s domestic market department, said the event is among activities orgainsed to introduce and promote consumption of safe agricultural products and regional specialties at supermarket chains.

The event offers consumers the opportunities to access 20 specialities from many northern mountainous provinces with clear origins and having VietGap certification.

During the week, many products would be sold at reasonable prices and activities would be held to promote brands and consumption of these specialties, she said.

Le Thi Mai Linh, executive vice president of public relations and corporate social responsibility department at Central Group Vietnam, said Central and Big C are ready to support suppliers and producers, local small- and medium-sized enterprises to expand their distribution network into modern retail channels and add value to agricultural products, thereby developing their brands.

Central Group Vietnam and Big C Vietnam have in the past organised special programmes to promote agricultural products such as “Da River Fish Week,” “Hung Yen Longan Week” and “Son La Safe Longan and Farm Produce Week”.

HCM City wants to become innovative economy     

A roadmap with strategic targets and specific initiatives is needed for HCM City to become an innovative business hub in Southeast Asia, speakers said at an international economic forum held on Friday.

More than 600 local and international experts, scientists, academics and representatives from local and foreign businesses took part in the HCM City Economic Forum, the first of its kind organised by the city government.

In his opening speech, Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, said the city was implementing a project to become a smart urban area by 2020.

Under the plan, the city’s eastern area, including districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc, will be developed into an innovative hub based on a digital and knowledge-based economy.

With adoption of Resolution 54, which allows special policies for HCM City, including more financial autonomy, the city now contributes 23 per cent to national GDP, 30 per cent of State revenue, 16 per cent of industrial output, and 15 per cent of exports.

To build an innovative urban area, the city, which has nearly one-third of the country’s enterprises, needs strong cooperation between the state, enterprises, scientists and investors.

“Enterprises play a key role in enabling innovation and startup activities,” Phong said.

Nguyen Thien Nhan, secretary of HCM City Party Committee, said the city had great potential for innovative urban development.

“It’s important to improve the capacity to research and use the city’s available resources for creative economic development,” he said. “It is vital to strengthen connections between universities, research institutes and enterprises.”

The eastern part of the city has great potential for education, science and technology application, with 16 universities and more than 500,000 students, which is an important factor for innovation, he noted.

Huynh Thanh Dat, director of HCM City National University, said that “innovation districts” would include a high density of creative and startup activities.

"Experience from other countries shows innovation districts are associated with research universities, which supply entrepreneurs, subjects of innovation, and startup activities," he said.

Building an “innovation district” should be viewed as a “roadmap” rather than a specific destination, he added.

According to Nguyen Ky Phung, deputy director of the city’s Department of Science and Technology, exemplary models from developed countries like the US, Japan, and the EU, and emerging economies such as South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, all show that relationships between the state, enterprises, scientists and investors play an essential role in the “smart economy”.

Jay Wadhwani, chief operating officer of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Asia Pacific, said in order to improve innovation capacity of enterprises, it was important to think of solutions for sustainable growth.

“With the region urbanising at an unprecedented rate, changes in consumption are helping to drive rapid growth. Both the public and private sectors need to ensure that this growth takes place in an environmentally sustainable way,” he said.

Sustainable growth also requires an appropriate standard of living, with issues such as traffic and waste management addressed, according to Jay.

Significant investment in integrated solid waste management processes and facilities, such as waste-to-energy systems, is also needed.

Tony Wheeler, founder of ImagineX Ventures, senior mentor to Startup Viet Nam Foundation, said: “We are witnessing many projects with a new vision towards building a smart and sustainable city, while focusing on innovation, development and support for a startup ecosystem.”

With its rapid growth and high population density, HCM City faces many challenges, including housing, traffic congestion and inadequate sewerage system.

A challenge for both the city and Viet Nam, as an emerging economy, is the shift to private businesses and a market economy from long-standing state-owned and operated sectors, according to Wheeler.

The current growth rate in Viet Nam is still strongly driven by foreign investment, a high-growth labour force and local projects, many of which are in agriculture.

“There is a need for a strategy to shift the economic structure towards advanced industry and services, which would need a smaller labour force with higher technological competencies and innovative thinking,” he said.

For emerging economies, this transition demands a significant focus on improving education and skill-building for the labour force, according to Wheeler.

With a rapid advancement of technology, the key question for an emerging economy is how to support tech companies so they can find a solution for challenges and help them commercialise solutions in a sustainable way.

A strong startup ecosystem needs cooperation between stakeholders, including businesses, researchers, government and investors.

According to the 2018 Global Startup Ecosystem Report, an ecosystem evolves through many stages. Viet Nam is in the earlier stages and needs to create a strong foundation before expansion and globalisation. 

“There have been a lot of activities within Viet Nam’s ecosystem but we need to focus on improving their quality before expanding them,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue told the conferees that the Government would continue improving growth quality and competitiveness through healthy economic restructuring.

The country would also ensure a favourable business environment and encourage start-ups, innovation and smart-city measures.

Hue urged HCM City to address problems in infrastructure, human resource development, and administrative reform, as well as climate change and population growth.

"The city needs to maintain macroeconomic stability, control inflation, and promote GDP growth," he said, adding that this would ensure social security, job growth, higher income, and quality of life for its citizens.

With the theme “Fostering Interactive and Innovative Districts: the Prominent Role of Businesses”, the forum featured speakers from respected companies, organisations and educational institutions around the world. 

The event was organised by HUBA and the HCM City Department of External Relations.