Vietnam’s oldest woman receives Asian record certificate

Nguyen Thi Tru, 121, received the Asian record for the oldest woman alive at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on September 26.

Born on May 4, 1893, Nguyen Thi Tru, living in Da Phuoc commune, Binh Chanh district, was officially recognised as the oldest woman in Asia on August 27.

She was first recognised as the oldest living person in Vietnam in 2011.-

The HCM City Criminal Science Institute yesterday released the results of the tests done on three samples of yellow viscid substances sent earlier by the HCM City Customs.

According to the results, the samples contained pseudoephedrine and ephedrine which are often used to manufacture crystal methamphetamine.

The substances were hidden in three jars of honey that weighed a total of 2.6 kilograms, and had been sent by a person living in HCM City's District 8 to a person in Australia on September 22. The HCM City Customs sent samples of the substances for tests as they had doubts about their nature.

The honey jars contained 1.5 kilograms of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine.

Last month, the city customs had discovered four kilograms of pseudoephedrine hidden in yellow sugar that was being sent to Australia.

State Bank vows to support fishermen

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) will carry out measures to help fishermen access loans and feel financially secure during their time at sea, SBV Governor Nguyen Van Binh declared.

Binh held a meeting with leaders of Ly Son island district in the central province of Quang Ngai on September 25.

He urged the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s Ly Son branch to improve its transaction policies and open more transaction counters on the island to provide loans for fishermen and businesses in an effort to develop the maritime sector and invest in tourism.

On this occasion, the governor also handed over VND10 billion (US$470,000), donated by commercial banks, to the district’s authorities. The money will be used to build toilets for disadvantaged households.

Binh also met with several fishermen on the island and gave them gifts.

Vietnam facilitates foreign investment in minority communities

A joint cooperation programme for the 2014-2020 period was signed between the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs and the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) on September 25 in Hanoi, aiming to attract foreign investments in ethnic minority-inhabited areas.

Accordingly, the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs pledged to propose mechanisms and policies to create favourable conditions for investments by foreign organisations and individuals in ethnic minority communities. The Committee will also implement measures to support the communities’ development in line with the Government’s policies on ethnic minority affairs.

In addition, the Committee will coordinate with relevant ministries and localities to launch campaigns to attract foreign investments and suggest poverty reduction measures.

Meanwhile, VUFO was asked to mobilise its members and call upon Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and individuals to contribute to hunger and poverty reduction efforts in a bid to achieve sustainable development. VUFO will select appropriate NGOs and international aid projects to implement programmes in ethnic minority communities.

The two sides agreed to jointly manage their projects to support ethnic minorities in Vietnam and utilise foreign expertise efficiently.

Vietnam loses 5.5% of GDP to environmental pollution

Environmental pollution in Vietnamese has caused damage that deprives the country off 5.5% of its GDP annually, Bui Cach Tuyen, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, citing the World Bank, said on Wednesday.

Environmental pollution in Vietnamese has caused damage that deprives the country off 5.5% of its GDP annually, Bui Cach Tuyen, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, citing the World Bank, said on Wednesday.

Tuyen released the striking figure at a ceremony held by the ministry in Thai Nguyen Province yesterday to launch activities in response to the “Clean Up the World” campaign in 2014.

This campaign was first initiated in Australia in 1993. It was later launched globally by the United Nations Environment Program in the third week of September every year, attracting more than 130 countries.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Tuyen said experience from developed countries shows that the cost of activities to handle pollution is higher than the cost of investment in facilities to control pollution from the outset.

Besides the above GDP loss, the country also suffered a damage of nearly US$800 million in the field of public healthcare caused by environmental problems, he said.

According to the General Department of Statistics, Vietnam’s GDP value in 2013 reached approximate US$176 billion, up 13.2 percent from 2012.

In response to the above world campaign, which draws 130 countries, activities will be launched in Vietnam with the theme  “Take action for an environment without garbage,” said Deputy Minister Tuyen.

These activities are aimed at enhancing the awareness of environmental protection among the public and fighting acts that violated regulations on environmental protection, especially in waste collection and treatment, he said.

Dialogue focusses on improving jobs for female workforce

The Vietnam General Confederation of Labour and the ASEAN Services Employees Trade Union Council (ASETUC) of Vietnam held a national social dialogue on September 25 highlighting the efforts undertaken to increase jobs for female workers in Vietnam and ASEAN.

The dialogue aimed to discuss the impacts of ASEAN economic integration on female workers in Vietnam and the region, whilst reviewing cooperation efforts and the engagement of national and regional partners in providing jobs for women.

Participants discussed safety and hygiene measures in the workplace, social support policies and professional skills development for female labourers.

Marina Christina, ASETUC’s Project Coordinator, highlighted the potential negative impacts of ASEAN economic integration in 2015 on female labour, including a lower ratio of female workers in highly-skilled jobs and positions of leadership, as well as a higher proportion of females in non-professional and insecure jobs.

At the same time, unemployment is higher amongst females, while wages are lower than their male counterparts’ wages, even in the same job position, she noted.

Gender inequality was still rife in terms of recruitment, education and appointment, she said, adding that many women working in hazardous environments had yet to receive proper support and those living in remote areas had poor access to health care services.

According to Marina , the opinions gathered during the dialogue would help ASETUC make concrete proposals to ASEAN to boost women’s access to education, training, and health care services.

National legal procedures against gender discrimination need to be strengthened and policy frameworks on labour and employment need to be completed in a bid to secure sustainable jobs for workers, especially women, she stressed.

Since 2007, ASETUC has focused on increasing social dialogues as a means to ensure employment in the ASEAN integration process.

The council organised a number of dialogues in Vietnam , Indonesia , Malaysia and Cambodia , with different topics according to ASETUC’s priorities for each country.

Da Nang builds storm resistant shelters for the disadvantaged

A total of 320 disadvantaged households in the central City of Da Nang are building storm resistant shelters thanks to a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, an American philanthropic organisation.

The project is being implemented by the city’s Women’s Union (WU) and enables each female representative of low-income households to access a loan of 20–30 million VND to construct a shelter using storm resistant techniques.

More than 105 storm resistant shelters will be built by 2016.

As a coastal city, Da Nang is affected by intense storms and frequent floods. The city is one of the first 33 cities to join the Rockefeller Foundation’s global “100 Resilient Cities Challenge”. The storm resistant shelter project is part of a range of activities conducted by the charity in Da Nang.-

HCM City considers low home loan rates

Local authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have proposed an annual interest rate of only 3 percent for the most preferential home loans to benefit the poor, and seek the Government’s approval to extend the disbursement of the 30-trillion-VND home loan package up to 60 months, the Saigon Times Daily reported.

In a document just submitted to the Government, the city also suggested that poor people be subject to the so-called “social housing” policy, enjoying the 3 percent interest rate for loans of up to 15 years. This policy will help ease difficulties faced by low-income earners, workers and college students in the city.

The 30-trillion-VND credit package currently offers homebuyers a lending rate of 5 percent per annum, and the package was initially set to wind down within 36 months. However, only 10 percent of this credit line has been disbursed for both homebuyers and housing developers after more than 15 months of implementation.

Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA), told the Daily that the association earlier proposed the Government lower the annual interest rate for buyers of budget homes to 3-3.5 percent and offer a three-year grace period.

In the document, municipal authorities called for accelerating the disbursement of the 30-trillion-VND credit package by allowing enterprises to mortgage their land ownership certificates and projects as collateral.

The city also suggested establishing a support fund for individuals to buy, rent and repair homes.

Enterprises should be allowed to take out loans to build budget housing projects and convert commercial homes into budget ones. They should also be allowed to invest in housing for workers with zero interest loans.

Individuals and households who want to buy budget houses for lease and sale to workers, low-income people and students, among others, should be allowed to borrow from the credit package in line with Resolution 61/NQ-CP.

In related news, the newspaper said the Credit Department under the State Bank of Vietnam is mulling a low-interest credit package for civil servants and soldiers to buy homes. If realised, each household can borrow up to 2 billion VND with a lending rate of 6-7.5 percent per annum in a maximum period of 10 years.

Perks for foreign and Vietnamese expat scientists

A new Prime Ministerial Decree offers preferential policies for overseas Vietnamese and foreign experts in science and technology working in Vietnam.

Their relatives, including parents, spouses and children under the age of 18, will be granted multiple-entry visas or temporary residence permits in accordance with the law. During their stay in Vietnam, they will receive support to find appropriate accommodation, jobs and research opportunities in academic institutions.

Individuals with orders or titles granted by the Vietnamese State will be considered for permanent residence.

Overseas Vietnamese and foreign experts will be able to work for scientific-technological agencies and supervise the innovation process.

To qualify for the preferential policies, individuals need to have developed patents or seed varieties that are protected by intellectual property laws in their countries.

Individuals with ground-breaking peer-reviewed research, a doctorate degree and three years’ working experience in prestigious institutions and companies are also able to apply.

In some cases, individuals who do not meet the above requirements might still be considered eligible by the Ministry of Science and Technology, other ministries and the Prime Minister, based on their employers’ needs.

The decree will enter into force on November 10, 2014.

Internal capacity to combat HIV/AIDS strengthened: experts

Vietnam should enhance its national capacity to achieve its target to end HIV/AIDS by 2030 independently rather than rely on international assistance, a conference in Hanoi on September 25 concluded.

The country needed to empower community-based organisations in the field and increase State budget allocations to implement long-term measures, Dr Kristan Schoultz, Country Director of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Vietnam, said.

According to Dr Nguyen Hoang Long, Director of the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control, the number of HIV infections remains high, especially in mountainous and ethnic minority communities.

He said international partners had provided up to 80 percent of expenditures to control the disease, but funding for projects was in its final stage or being reduced. Furthermore, the State budget for the fight against HIV/AIDS was cut to 85 billion VND (4.04 million USD) this year from 245 billion VND (11.5 million USD) in 2013.

Participants suggested increasing the capacity of civil society organisations to strengthen prevention efforts at all levels and increase funding for highly-vulnerable groups and regions, with a particular focus on financial sustainability.

Vietnam reported 12,599 new HIV cases in 2013, down by 60 percent since 2007. The number of AIDS patients and fatalities was halved during the 2007-2013 period.

Saigon Tax Trade Center officially closes down

The Saigon Tax Trade Center in Ho Chi Minh City’s downtown has officially closed down since 2 p.m. on September 25 for construction of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro project.

According to the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade, the center has 125 companies and 105 household businesses selling various commodities such as cosmetics, handicraft items, jewelries, clothes, watch, eyeglasses, electronic products and handbags.

The department has worked with other trade centers such as Saigon Square, Vincom, Parkson and Lucky Plaza assisting the traders to seek new places.

The traders were exempt from rent in August and September and helped sell their stocks. The HCMC Taxation Department has extended tax payment deadline for them by one year.

Public concern banned chemical residues in animal meat, veggies

At a meeting on September 25 in Hanoi presided by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cao Duc Phat, many representatives of food safety management agencies said that the threats of banned chemicals use in breeding and dangerous pesticide on vegetables are alarming.

Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Phat said that public gets angry over contaminated veggies. Nguyen Xuan Hong, head of the Plant Protection Department, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, confirmed the situation adding that his department is going to issue a circular to tighten control over pesticide usage.

Moreover, not only normal veggies  but imported agricultural produces are soaped with chemicals. Some importer countries have warned over pepper contaminated with pesticide residues.

Following the warning, the Plant Protection Department has taken 30 percent of pepper samples for testing and discovering one sample has higher pesticide content than the allowed rate.

Related agencies also discovered through tests that 13 over 30 samples of pork meat from nearby provinces such as  Binh Duong, Ben Tre, Dong Nai and Binh Thuan have excessive content of sulfadimidin.

The Animal Health Department continued testing pork and chicken meat importing into HCMC. Tests result showed that two samples are contaminated with banned chemicals including one chicken meat with chloramphenicol and one pork meat with salbutamol.

More Vietnamese teenagers give birth in early age: UNFPA

The United Nations Population Fund ( UNFPA) yesterday warned that  the rate of Vietnamese teenagers giving births was higher than their peers in other Asian coutries.

The warning has just been released at a meeting to discuss teenagers' reproductive health policy and regulations in Hanoi.

UNFPA representatives said that more Vietnamese teenagers gave birth at their ealy age than their Asian peers. According to UNFPA's social study, 46 of 1,000 Vietnamese girls of the age from 15 to 19 give births while the rate in Singapore is 5.2 over 1,000 and it is 17.4 over 1,000 in Myanmar.

More worrisome, it has seen high rate of teenagers giving births in the group of low education women, in the midland and northern mountainous districts and rural regions. Giving births at early age badly influences to mothers and children who are at risk of death.

In addition, studies also showe that child marriage and sex before marriage are reaching alarming level. By statistics of Vietnamese Family Planning Association, the country has around 3,000 abortions performed each year among teenagers.

Accordingly, young participants and representatives from related agencies proposed more synchronous measures to provide reproductive and sex healthcare to teenagers as well as open more places to give consultations on contraceptive method to young people in and out schools.

Vietnam to enhance supervision to Taiwanese food

The General  Customs Department has just ordered local customs bureaus to enhance supervision to contaminated foodstuffs imported from Taiwan ( China) into the country.

Under the order, local customs bureaus will have to strengthen check to foodstuff batches imported from Taiwan (China) into Vietnam including oil and processed foods. These bureaus need to inform to health watchdogs to closely check these commodities.

It must be under food safety supervision before customs clearance. The authority will not even allow enterprises to keep substandard commodities in their frozen warehouses, noted by the General Customs Department.

More heart patients waiting for operations

Doctors of Heart Institute in Ho Chi Minh City are currently being overloaded with around 3,000 patients annually who are waiting for their operations.

Mrs. H from the central province of Phu Yen was bursting in tears, saying that her child was suffering from congenital heart disease and because of long wait for the operation, the child died of the disease.

Around 10,000 inpatients stay in the institute for their surgery. Head of the institute Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chieu said that the number of heart disease patients has increased fourfold compared to 1998.

77 percent of them can cover an operation charges while the remaining is expecting the assistance of benefactors.

10,000 patients are waiting for the operation, 25 percent of them are from Ho Chi Minh City while the remaining is in other provinces, he said

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Chieu said that the institute’s doctors had to carry out operations in Saturday to reduce the waiting people.

Along with this, the institute has transferred the techniques to other hospitals that have conducted around 5,000 heart surgeries. For instance, the Children Hospital No.2 has performed around 300 surgeries, the Central Hue Hospital has operated 2,000 open heart cases.

In addition, the Institute has assisted to build Tam Duc Heart Hospital with capacity of nearly 1,000 cases a year. Doctors of Tam Duc Hospital have performed 250 operations so far.

Though the Heart Institute in HCMC conducts around 1,250 operations a year, it can’t meet the increasing demand. Dr. Vu Minh Phuc, chairman of Heart and Congenital Heart Disease in the city, said that the country has had around 8,000-10,000 babies with inborn heart diseases and half of them needed a surgery soon.

The Children Hospital No.1 has around 2,000 infants with congenital heart diseases waiting for an operation. Similarly, the Children Hospital No.1 also performs 6-8 operations coronary artery bypass grafting surgeries a week and 2-3 open heart operations a week.

Around 2,000 infant patients are waiting in the institute for an operation. Medical experts said that heart disease children might die during long waiting for a surgery to save their life.

Vietnam Airlines flights affected by unruly passengers, one delayed

Two disruptive passengers affected two flights of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) at two airports in central Vietnam on Tuesday, causing one to be delayed by 40 minutes.

Two disruptive passengers affected two flights of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines (VNA) at two airports in central Vietnam on Tuesday, causing one to be delayed by 40 minutes.

The disruptive behavior of the two passengers erupted when they are completing their boarding procedures at Da Nang and Cam Ranh airports in the central city of Da Nang and the central province of Khanh Hoa, respectively, said VNA representative.

At Da Nang Airport, passenger Pham Van T., expected to board flight VN172 from the central city to the capital city of Hanoi, showed up drunk, abusing VNA staff and security personnel at the door of the aircraft.

After security personnel determined the passenger was not eligible to take the flight, they conducted a offload procedure for the passenger, said the VNA representative.

On the same day at Cam Ranh Airport, passenger Vu Quang H., taking flight VN1560 from Cam Ranh City to Hanoi, showed disruptive behavior to security personnel at security screening process.

As a result, security personnel had to make a record on the case and denied to complete the aviation security procedures for the passenger.

VNA representative said flight VN172 departed on time, but flight VN1560 was delayed for 40 minutes.

In related news, Southern Airports Authority (SAA) has sanctioned two employees of Jetstar Pacific (JP) at Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City for not performing their tasks properly.

According to SAA, the two JP staff were fined VND7.5 million (US$353) each for not implementing their work properly, thus threatening aviation safety.

Earlier, on August 22, when completing the procedures for a group of four passengers taking flight BL790 from HCMC to Hanoi, the first employee did not thoroughly check all the passengers presenting at the counter.

She gave them four boarding passes instead of three as only three of them showed off and took the flight. The group of four included a couple and their two grandchildren.

When passing through security gate, the group of three passengers still holding four boarding pass including one of the absent one.

Until three people went to the boarding gate, the name of the absent passenger still appeared on the system. The second employee in the area let the three go through again, still holding four boarding passes, without rechecking the actual number of passenger showed up there.

However, Duong Thi Kim Xuan, the daughter of the couple, said in fact her father, Duong Van Thu, did not take the flight as the flight was rescheduled by 10 hours 45 minutes on that day. Only her mother, Nguyen Thi Bay, and the two grandchildren, took it.

A few days after the group of three landed in Hanoi, Xuan called JP operator to ask for the refund of her father’s ticket, and was informed that her father had already taken the flight, so the refund could not be done.

World-class UK university professor to talk higher education governance in Vietnam

Associate Professor Alan Floyd, from the UK’s University of Reading, which is listed among the top one percent of the world’s best universities, will speak at a workshop focusing on university governance to be held in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, the International Education Institute (IEI) says on its website.

Organized by the university and IEI, which is under the Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, the event titled “Leading and Managing Higher Education Institutions in Global Contexts” will showcase perspectives on higher education leadership and management.

According to the organizers, the workshop promises to bring knowledge and experience to participants from an educational expert at a leading university.

Participants, who are advised to have at least five years of experience in the education sector and be fluent in English, will also have the chance to discuss how the world’s educational situation affects Vietnam.

The workshop will take place from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm on September 26 at the IEI office at 146 bis Nguyen Van Thu Street, District 1.

Associate Professor Alan Floyd began his career as a teacher and has taught at a range of secondary schools and colleges throughout the UK.

Within the higher education field, Assoc. Prof. Floyd previously lectured at the Carnegie School of Education, Leeds Metropolitan University, and most recently at the Westminster Institute of Education, Oxford Brookes University, where he contributed to both undergraduate and postgraduate programs and held a senior management position.

He joined the University of Reading in 2010.

The University of Reading ranked 194th in the top 200 of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2013-2014, representing one percent of the world’s higher education institutions.

The rankings, powered by Thomson Reuters, judge world-class universities across all of their core missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer, and an international outlook.

The university rankings, which list the world’s top 400 universities, employ 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators to provide the most comprehensive and balanced comparisons available, which are trusted by students, academics, university leaders, industry, and governments.

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