President remembered for his sentiments towards his homeland

Le Kim Toan, former teacher of President Tran Dai Quang at Kim Son B high school, look at an old picture to remember his student. 

Born and bred in Kim Son district, in the northern province of Ninh Binh, President Tran Dai Quang always held close sentiments towards his hometown. 

During a meeting with the provincial authorities in 2016, when he undertook the position of State leader, he attributed his success to the support and education of the Party, State, and people, including the Party unit, armed forces, compatriots, and voters of Ninh Binh. 

He reminded the provincial Party Committee, authorities, and people to develop the locality economically and attract more tourists. 

On the occasion of the Lunar New Year celebrations in 2017, he visited and presented gifts to war invalids and ill soldiers at the Nho Quan convalescent centre. 

He said that care for war invalids and ill soldiers is a consistent policy of the Party, State, and people. He expressed his delight that the provincial authorities realised well the Party guidelines and State policies, including caring for the health of war veterans. 

On the occasion of the 71st anniversary of August Revolution and National Day (September 2) and ahead of the 2016-2017 new school year, the leader attended a ceremony to inaugurate Kim Son B and Kim Son C high schools. 

The President lauded the Party committee and authorities of Ninh Binh province and Kim Son district, as well as philanthropists nationwide for upgrading education infrastructure to meet the demands of teaching and learning. 

Congratulating the staff and students of Kim Son B and Kim Son C high schools on their studies in the new schools, he affirmed that the resolution adopted by the 12th National Party Congress set the foundations for comprehensive education reform and human resources development as a top national policy, towards turning Vietnam into a future-focused industrialised nation by 2020. 

The leader expressed his hope that staff and students in Ninh Binh will strive to score new achievements, contributing to national development. 

In his capacity as Minister of Public Security, General Tran Dai Quang founded and became Honorary Chairman of the Dinh Bo Linh study and talent encouragement fund. It has so far raised about 31 billion VND (1.34 million USD) from philanthropists and organisations. 

It earmarked over 5 billion VND to honour nearly 1,200 poor students with outstanding academic performances, and donated about 4 billion VND to local education and talent encouragement funds. 

Whenever the President visited his homeland, he left a deep impression on the provincial Party Committee, authorities, and people. Anyone who had the chance to meet the President found him close, friendly, and dedicated. 

Microfinance provides leverage for women to escape poverty: official

Microfinance, with easy access to capital, is an effective measure to strengthen the confidence of women and encourage their engagement in production activities, thus improving incomes and reducing poverty, stated Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Kim Anh.

Addressing a conference in Hanoi on September 25, Anh said that microfinance in Vietnam has long been one of the key components of the financial system and an efficient tool for poverty reduction.

The majority of the policy beneficiaries are low-income, disadvantaged, and vulnerable groups in society, and women in particular, she said.

Statistics have shown that in recent years, the ratio of poor households based on the new poverty standards has reduced from 9.88 percent in 2015 to 6.7 percent in 2017, along with a strong rise in average household incomes.

However, she also pointed to a number of shortcomings in Vietnamese microfinance, such as small-scale and limited range of products and services, along with an incomplete and incoherent legal framework.

Moreover, financial management consultation, support, and education activities for customers of microfinance have been inefficient, which will pose negative impacts on the long-term economic development of business households, including women, Anh added.

Addressing the event, Tran Thanh Long, Director of the Phu Yen branch of the Banking Academy, said that financial, social, and human resources are the three major demands of low-income customers. He stressed the need for financial education to promote the quality of human resources.

Long held that private finance education helps enhance the efficiency of capital use, ensuring the safety of loans and preventing violations from intermediary organisations.

The current financial education programmes have yet to meet the demands of customers, he said, stressing that vulnerable groups must be trained in microfinance before receiving loans in order to optimise the use of borrowed capital. At the same time, it is necessary to train lecturers and build suitable courses on specific subjects for loan borrowers.

Deputy Prime Minister instructs study on upgrading Dien Bien airport

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has instructed the Transport Ministry to coordinate with the northwestern province of Dien Bien and relevant ministries to study the upgrading of Dien Bien airport in the province. 

The Government’s Office has just released a document on the Deputy PM’s instructions on the implementation of a project on upgrading the Dien Bien airport in accordance with approved planning. 

According to the Prime Minister-approved development plan for aviation transport to 2020 with a vision to 2030, the upgrade of Dien Bien airport will be considered and carried out from now to 2020, in order to remove a bottleneck in transport and allow the mountainous province of Dien Bien to attract investment and better tap its advantages and potential, particularly in tourism. 

Under Decision 2501 of the Transport Ministry, Dien Bien airport is envisioned to have an annual capacity of 300,000 passengers and 500 tonnes of cargo by 2020. Its capacity will be raised to 2 million passengers and 10,000 tonnes of cargo by 2030.  

In the period from now to 2020, the airport will serve flights between Dien Bien and Noi Bai airport in Hanoi and Cat Bi airport in the northern city of Hai Phong. 

By 2030, two more routes will be open to connect Dien Bien with the central city of Da Nang and Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City. 

After 2030, it might be upgraded further into an international airport with services to Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Texting campaign to raise funds for those less fortunate

A texting campaign will be launched on October 1 to support disadvantaged people, as part of efforts to respond to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and the Day for the Poor in Vietnam.

Organisers of the campaign, which are the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Vietnam Fatherland Front, held a meeting on September 25 to coordinate their plans. 

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong said that the campaign, themed “The whole country joins hands for the poor – not leaving anyone behind”, targets people from all walks of life, as well as various organisations and businesses.

Willing donors can send the code VNN to 1409 from October 1 until the end of December 31, 2018 to contribute 20,000 VND towards helping people living in poverty and difficult circumstances.

The campaign aims to raise 5 billion VND (215,000 USD) which will be used to ease difficulties for disadvantaged people, especially those from ethnic minority groups.

Under the multi-dimensional poverty criteria for the 2016-2020 period, Vietnam currently has over 1.64 million low-income households, accounting for 6.7 percent of the total population, and 1.3 million others living close to the poverty line, making up 5.43 percent of population.

Sustainable poverty reduction, in line with a multidimensional approach to poverty, not only means helping people afford food and clothing, but also improving their access to basic social services, meeting their minimum demands on healthcare, education, housing, clean water, sanitation, and information.

In 2016, a similar texting campaign received over 203,000 messages, collecting over 3.04 billion VND (130,720 USD). The money was used to support the development of livelihood for locals in six localities across the nation.

Last year, the campaign raised 4.4 billion VND (189,200 USD), which helped improve the livelihoods of people in six localities and funded the provision of radios and televisions for disadvantaged households from ethnic minority groups.

Vietnam, France bolster cooperation in cancer treatment

A delegation of K Hospital led by Prof., Dr Tran Van Thuan, Director of the hospital and head of the Vietnam National Institute for Cancer Control (NICC), has visited France’s Avicenne Hospital and Curie Institute.

The visit aimed to promote health cooperation between Vietnam and France.

During the trip, K Hospital and Avicenne Hospital inked a cooperation agreement for the two sides to work together for bilateral development.

Avicenne Hospital will receive young doctors and researchers of K Hospital in training programmes for resident doctors, oncologists and physician-scientists. 

Furthermore, the French hospital will share its advanced technologies in cancer diagnosis and treatment and experience in hospital management to international standards. 

The two sides will also join cancer research together. 

In addition, cooperation programmes in postgraduate, constant training and partner universities will be devised in the future.

A cooperation pact between the NICC and the Curie Institute is expected to be signed in Vietnam in November.

US experts train Quảng Trị nurses in neonatal care

A nurse in the southern province of Đồng Tháp is taking care of a newborn. 

More than 40 registered nurses in the central province of Quảng Trị are receiving training for advanced neonatal nursing techniques in an attempt to help reduce the rate of neonatal incidents in this poor locality.

The local nurses are being trained in techniques to help newborns breathe easier by two American experts in neonatal care, including Patricia Kelly, an experienced retired nurse, and Eva Stazzoni, a qualified nurse practitioner from Arizona. 

 The nurses were selected from medical centres and health stations in the remote and mountainous districts of Gio Linh, Đakrông and Hướng Hóa.

The four-day training course started on Monday and ends on Thurday. It is run by Quảng Trị Medical College and GEI, a Germany company with a representative office in HCM City.

The course includes field visits to medical centres in Gio Linh District.

According to Stazzoni, she was eager to share her expertise with Vietnamese colleagues and expects to improve neonatal care in the locality.

Quảng Trị is listed among the poorest localities in the country.  It was hit the hardest by American bombs during the war and has a high percentage of paralysed people from unexploded explosive devices. Healthcare facilities in the locality are underdeveloped. 

Cà Mau speeds up afforestation

U Minh Hạ cajeput forest in Cà Mau Province. 

The southernmost province of Cà Mau is speeding up the process of planting 500ha of new forests, and wants to complete the task this year.

It will take the province’s forest cover to 95,000ha, or 25.3 per cent, according to its Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The department will instruct households entrusted with caring for and exploiting forests to speed up planting of trees and properly tend them and monitor them.

Besides, the U Minh Hạ Forestry One Member Limited Company and the managements of the Đất Mũi and Nhưng Miên protective forests in Ngọc Hiển District and Sào Lước protective forests in Phú Tân District will also strengthen oversight and protection of their forests.

They will regularly patrol the forests to prevent illegal logging and poaching and advocate forest protection in local communities and solicit their participation in combating forest fires in the dry season.

They protect 1,685ha of forests and have already replaced 54 per cent more dead trees than targeted for the full year.   

Most of the 500ha of new forests are being planted with indigenous trees like cajeput, Australian cajeput and acacia.

The management boards of the Đất Mũi, Nhưng Miên and Sào Lước protective forests have advised the households to choose quality seedlings and favour cajeput when planting.

Cà Mau was the first locality in the country to pay forest environment service fee for households that participate in protecting forests since 2016.

The households get a stipend of VNĐ500,000 (US$21) per hectare per year.

Cà Mau has the largest submerged forest area in the country and bred shrimp in those forests for a long time, according to the province’s People’s Committee.

The model of breeding shrimp in these submerged forests along the coast is sustainable and environment-friendly since it does not use chemicals. Besides, the shrimp eat natural food from the forest. 

More than 4,200 households who farm shrimp in a total of 19,000ha of submerged forests have received international organic certification, according to the People’s Committee. 

PM approves compensation framework for major bridge construction

A computer-generated image of the Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge in HCM City. — Photo saigondautu.com.vn

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has given his approval for compensation to be paid to residents being relocated for the construction of the Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge in the Mekong Delta.

He assigned the Ministry of Transport and People’s Committees of the two southern provinces of Tiền Giang and Vĩnh Long to implement the framework.

The VNĐ5.13 billion (US$219,000) bridge will be constructed under the public-private investment mechanism.

It is part of the Government’s plan to build the eastern section of the North-South Expressway.

Mỹ Thuận Bridge 2 will be located 350m from Mỹ Thuận Bridge, with the total length of 6.6km.

The Ministry of Construction said its technical design will be completed within the third and fourth quarters of this year.

Construction officially starts in the third quarter of 2019 and take about 42 months. 

New regulations needed on combo treatments

Workers package herbal medicine at the Traditional Medicine Institute in HCM City. Photo vietnamnet.vn

Regulations that would allow health insurance coverage for integrated approaches using both Western and traditional medicine should be approved by the Ministry of Health, experts have recommended. 

The combination of Western medicine and traditional approaches is vital for diagnosis and treatment of diseases, according to Huỳnh Nguyễn Lộc, director of Traditional Medicine Institute in HCM City.

However, old medical equipment at traditional medicine hospitals has made it difficult for doctors to diagnose and treat disease in accordance with Western medicine, Lộc said at a conference held on September 25 in HCM City.

Last year, the most common disease at the institute was hemorrhoids, followed by back pain, degenerative joint disease and the after-effects of strokes, according to a report released by the institute. These ailments required long hospital stays and treatments as well as high costs.

Health insurance covers 40-100 per cent of the cost of treatment for these diseases. That often exceeds the price ceiling of health insurance due to the high cost of new herbal-medicine and new technologies used to make medicine.

Many herbal medicines have not been included on the list of medicines accepted for health insurance payments.

Traditional medicine hospitals manufacture herbal medicine, but on a small scale with a limited quantity.

Phan Công Tuấn from the Đà Nẵng Province Traditional Medicine Hospital said there were no policies in place to preserve and develop traditional herbal medicine in a sustainable manner.

Health insurance policies should cover out-patients with chronic diseases receiving treatment with traditional medicine, Tuấn said.

Health facilities are required to follow regulations on medicine bidding, but this prevents traditional medicine hospitals from working with farmers for in-demand cultivation of herbs, according to Trương Văn Hướng from Yên Bái Province’s Department of Health.

He said it was necessary to develop systems to test the quality of herbal medicine. 

Tho Xuan Airport’s capacity will be raised from 2.5 million passengers per year to five million in 2030. 

The Ministry of Transport has agreed to upgrade Tho Xuan Airport in the central province of Thanh Hoa to an international terminal.

The ministry has assigned the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAA) to draw up a plan for the project.

Accordingly, the airport’s capacity will be raised from 2.5 million passengers per year to five million in 2030.

The Airports Corporation of Viet Nam (ACV) has been tasked with outlining an investment plan for the airport.

According to the CAA, Tho Xuan is one of fastest growing airports in the country. With comprehensive infrastructure and equipment and an internationally standard air traffic control tower, which was put into service earlier this year, the airport can now handle 105,000 flights each year.

In 2017, the Tho Xuan Airport served more than 850,000 passengers.

Formerly known as Sao Vang Airport, Tho Xuan is located in Sao Vang Town, Tho Xuan District, 45km from Thanh Hoa City. It plays an important role in aviation transportation and national over-flight protection. 

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park staff release the animals into the wild. — Photo baotainguyenmoitruong.vn

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in the central province of Quảng Bình has released 11 rare animals back into the wild following attempts to rescue and rehabilitate them.

The park’s rescue centre earlier this week released eight mammals and three reptiles into a jungle section of the park.

The mammals included three pig-tailed macaques (Macaca leolina), two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), two pigmy lorises (Nycticebus pygmaeus), and one stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides). These are listed as vulnerable and least concern species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The reptiles were two keeled box turtles (Cuora mouhotii) and one impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa). The turtle is listed as an endangered species and the tortoise listed as vulnerable on IUCN’s red list.

According to the rescue centre, the animals had been handed over to the park by seven locals. Veterinary staff in the park have taken care and rehabilitated the animals before releasing them.

Experts said education attempts have resulted in more wild animals being handed over. Vietnamese laws prohibit the killing, hunting, trading or transportation of wild animals. However, many people continue to hunt the animals for their meat or cage them for ornamental purposes.

By September, the park had released a total of 51 wild animals back into the wild in 2018.

One of workshops to be held during the national online conference will stay focused on issues including sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas. 

A national online conference along with an exhibition will be held in November to review the 10-year implementation of the resolution on agriculture, farmers and rural areas from the 7th plenum of the 10th-tenure Party Central Committee.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has issued instructions on preparations for the events, slated for November 26 and 27 at the National Convention Hall in Hà Nội.

The PM and the head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission will chair the events.

The PM requested that related ministries, agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities to implement their assigned tasks and report the outcomes to the economic commission before October 25.

The conference on November 26 will include several workshops on the themes of sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas, the application of science-technology in the industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and rural areas, and investment potential and prospects of the agricultural commodity market.

The national exhibition will begin on November 27. 

HCM City’s voters keep good impression of President Tran Dai Quang

President Tran Dai Quang (first, left) meets with voters of Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 

As a National Assembly deputy of the Ho Chi Minh City delegation, President Tran Dai Quang left good impression on local voters as a leader who was close to the people.

Do Van Minh, head of the pensioners’ club of District 3, who met the President for several times during his meetings with voters, said that despite his busy schedule, President Tran Dai Quang spent much time to listen to the voice of voters in the district and the city in general.

“He always listened to us and took note of our ideas, then directed municipal authorities to properly deal with many problems, reinforcing out trust in the Party and State during the national reform and construction,” said Minh.

For Minh, the President was a straightforward person who always thought about the people and the nation, he said, sharing his sadness that the President no longer accompanied voters and HCM City people. 

“I think perhaps the President was still thinking about many unfinished works when he passed away,” Minh said. 

Pham Minh Tam, head of the Office of the city Department of Mass Mobilisation, recalled his many opportunities to work with President Tran Dai Quang in preparations for meetings with voters.

He said that the President always carefully listened to all questions of voters and kept track of all issues raised by voters until they were solved thoroughly. Therefore, he won the trust and love of all voters, said Tam.

He said that the President’s closeness to the people was what left the strongest impression on him.

“One time, an elderly person seated at the end of the hall wanted to speak, but he did not register previously. However, the President noticed him, asking him to move to the front and invited him to speak. The elderly voter was moved,” recalled Tam.

Due to limited time of meetings with voters, the President always took time to visit and talk more to voters to understand their aspirations, he said.

In Phan Van Tri Primary School in District 1, teachers and students remember the State leader who together with the delegation of NA deputies of the city donated 200 million VND to build the school’s library.

Mourning the leader, Nguyen Thi Hong Yen, Principal of the school said that she and teachers and students were shocked at the President’s passing. 

“The library was inaugurated only one year ago, but now we don’t have him anymore,” she said.

Yen said that the school is located in a poor area with the majority of students coming from struggling families. From a small library with poor facilities, it was expanded to a 110 square metre one with 9,000 books and modern visual equipment, becoming an attractive place for students, she noted.

President Tran Dai Quang, in any position as a NA deputy or the State leader, left strong and deep impression on residents of Ho Chi Minh City, even on those who had no chances to meet the leader. And they will always keep the good memories about him.

Thai Nguyen: RoK’s movement gives rural village facelift

From the poorest community in a rural commune in northern Thai Nguyen province, To Village has been given a facelift thanks to the project namely Saemaul Undong funded by the Republic of Korea since 2014.

The Saemaul Undong, also known as New Community Movement or New Village Movement, is a political initiative launched in the RoK in 1970 to modernize the country’s rural economy. 

The Saemaul Global Foundation (SGF) piloted the model in To Village, Phuong Tien commune, Dinh Hoa district, where 90 percent of the population are Tay ethnic minority people, 4 years ago. Since then, the project has helped build rural infrastructure, improve living conditions for the villagers and raise their income.

The project has supported the village to build a 700-sqm cultural house to host the locals’ social activities, a community library, a small radio station and a recreational area.

It has also provided building materials to concrete more than 2 km of rural roads so the villagers here would not be worried about travelling on muddy roads during rainy days.

Furthermore, millions of VND have been provided to the local people to develop new livelihoods like rabbit farming and clean rice vermicelli production using modern equipment. The village now has three rabbit farms of 400 sqm, breeding 700 – 800 rabbits each.

The model is very effective, said Nguyen Van Du, Director of the Saemaul rice vermicelli cooperative in the village. He expects the model will be scaled up across the commune to form a larger supply chain and his products will gain popularity on the market.

The SGF has also assisted local farmers to make use of the hilly lands to grow fruit trees, such as guava, lime, apple and pomelo. Sixteen local households have received training in how to raise goats.

The project has contributed to creating jobs for many villagers and improving their living standards, said Bui Van Cuong, head of To Village. Its biggest success is to get the people inspired by the Saemaul spirit, change their ways of thinking, and make them stay united to do business and build a new rural community.

In Vietnam, the Saemaul Undong was first piloted in Rung Van village of La Bang commune in Thai Nguyen’s Dai Tu district, by the RoK’s Gyeongsangbuk-do province in 2007. It has been implemented in three villages in Thai Nguyen and others across Bac Ninh, Ninh Thuan, Thua Thien-Hue, and Hau Giang.

Thai Nguyen has piloted the Saemaul model in nine communes with its own funding of 2 billion VND per commune per annum. The province aims to have 50 villages that meet the Saemaul-based new rural community by 2020. 

Southern province intensifies environmental management at IPs

The southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau has urged for closer coordination in environmental protection and management at local industrial parks (IPs).

The request was made by Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Tuan Quoc to the province’s IP management board, departments, and related authorities while he chaired a meeting on September 25 to discuss the rules of cooperation between them to manage environmental issues at the IPs.

Quoc asked for tighter control in licensing projects, preventing the approval of those posing serious risk to the environment, as well as intensifying the inspection and supervision of waste disposal factories at the IPs to promptly settle violations.

According the IP management board, the province has 15 IPs, 11 of which are operational with a combined total of 353 projects. All 11 of these IPs have a waste treatment plant with an average daily flow of 42,000 cu.m. Among them, 10 have developed automated wastewater monitoring systems – of which, six have transmitted data collected from the system to the province for review, while the five others are in the process of purchasing equipment for data transmission.

The board also reported on several challenges to environmental management in the province. For example, Phu My 1 IP is located near several residential areas, and the high density of steel mills in a single IP has negatively affected the living environment of local people. Meanwhile, there is a lack of guidelines for formulating and verifying reports of environmental assessment for high-risk projects.

It is necessary to have rules for cooperation between the management board and related authorities on environmental protection and general management. As such, the management board will serve as a contact point between various authorities, including the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the police, and local people’s committees.

The rules must also stipulate how to coordinate the evaluation and approval of reports of environmental impact assessment, plans for environmental protection, and others.