Hanoi ready for Huong Pagoda Festival 2018

The three-month-long Huong Pagoda Festival will be kicked off in Huong Son commune of My Duc district, Hanoi, on February 21 (the sixth day of the Lunar New Year).

The festival will include a series of cultural and sport activities prompting potentials of the national historical relic site as well as calling for investment in upgrading Huong Tich Pagoda.

The organizers have also laid strict regulations to deal with violators and vandalism of Buddha’s holy place of worship and the surrounding beauty, landscape and environment; and ensure food hygiene for tourists.

Last year more than 14,000 pilgrims visited the Huong Pagoda.

Lao Cai: Sa Pa forests covered by snow

Another intense cold spell hit the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on January 31 with the temperature going down to 1.2 degrees Celsius, according to the local weather forecast station.

Particularly, at 8:00 am the same day, snow started to fall on the Fansipan mountain, which is the highest in Indochina at 3,143m, then on the area of Bac (Silver) waterfall – about 12km from Sa Pa town to the west and others.

Many tourists came to the areas of Bac waterfall and O Quy Ho mountain pass to see the snowfall, the rare weather pattern in tropical Vietnam. 

Relevant agencies and local authorities have strengthened forces to prevent traffic jams and accidents in these areas.

Located 350km northwest of Hanoi capital city, Sa Pa is 1,600m high above sea level, with the average temperature of 15-18 Celsius degrees.

The whole town is dominated by the Hoang Lien Son mountain range which is famous with the Indochina’s highest mountain of Fansipan at a height of 3,142m above sea level.

Dak Nong to invest 5.5 million USD in water supply, rural sanitation

The People’s Committee of Dak Nong province has adopted a plan to expand clean water supply and environmental sanitation services in rural areas in 2018.

Accordingly, the Central Highlands province will spend over 125 billion VND (5.5 million USD) on repairing, renovating and constructing water supply projects in rural villages, schools and medical stations. 

Part of the sum will be used to build more than 500 hygienic toilets for local households.

Dak Nong will also focus on training and communications campaigns to raise public awareness of clean water and environmental sanitation in rural areas.

The provincial People’s Committee assigned the provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development, Health, and Education and Training to implement the project.

Dak Nong is one of the provinces benefiting from the “Result-based Scaling up Rural Sanitation and Water Supply Programme” funded by the World Bank from 2016-2020. 

The programme seeks to improve hygiene behavior, increase and sustain access to rural sanitation and water supply in rural areas in the participating provinces.

Contest calls for songs about children with heart defects

All Vietnamese citizens, both at home and overseas, and foreigners living in Vietnam are invited to join a song writing contest for children with heart defects, namely “Viet Tiep Uoc Mo” (Keep writing dreams).

The contest aims to deliver songs to children living with congenital heart problems and spread a message about love and humanity.

It is inviting entries reflecting children’s dreams and wishes, and showing a love for life. Entries must be submitted before March 10 and the results will be announced on March 31.

The contest forms part of events to mark the 10th anniversary of the project “Trai tim cho em” (Operation Healthy Heart) launched by Vietnam Television (VTV) in 2008.

For further information, please visit: www.traitimchoem.vtv.vn, www.vtv.vn (VTV News) and the Facebook page ‘Trai Tim Cho Em’.

Operation Healthy Heart provides free surgeries for disadvantaged children born with heart deformities under 16 and helps improve capacity of medical clinics that offer heart disease screening to children.

The project has raised more than 120 billion VND (5.28 million USD) in funding and provided life-saving surgeries for more than 4,000 children over the past decade through its cooperation with 18 hospitals and cardiovascular centres nationwide.

Rice relief delivered for Lunar New Year holiday

The PM has inked a Decision to provide 956.685 tons of rice from the national reserves for the central province of Ninh Thuan on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year festival.

Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue asked the Ministry of Finance to supply 1,419.735 tons of rice from the national reserves for four provinces of Thanh Hoa, Ha Giang, Bac Kan and Phu Yen for rice relief on the occasion.

The rice relief will be distributed for Thanh Hoa Province  (677.67 tons), Ha Giang Province (340.5 tons), Bac Kan (99.225 tons) and Phu Yen (302.34 tons).

Vietnam-Japan Festival lures 300,000

More than 300,000 people, including locals and Japanese, visited the three-day Vietnam-Japan Festival 2018 which ended on Sunday at the September 23 Park in District 1, HCMC.

Tsutomu Takebe, special advisor to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance and head of the organizing board, said the fifth festival was held at a special time when the two countries are celebrating the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1973-2018).

Since its debut in 2014, the festival has drawn the attention of Vietnamese people and the Japanese community, and contributed to fostering cultural exchange and tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, he added.

A range of entertainment and cultural activities will be held throughout the year to mark the remarkable milestone of bilateral ties, Takebe added.

The festival featured a drum show, Bon-Odori dance performance, a cosplay fashion show, food booths and sporting activities.

HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said the long-standing friendship and relationship between Vietnam and Japan can be seen in various fields like economy, politics, education, science and technology.

Japan is now the sixth largest foreign investor in HCMC with around 1,000 valid projects worth US$4 billion and also the fourth largest visitor-generating market for the city. 

Phong said he hopes the festival will further deepen ties between Vietnam and Japan in the years to come.

Tran Thi My Duyen, a second-year student of Japanese studies at the HCMC University Social Sciences and Humanities, told the Daily on Saturday that this is also the second time she has joined the cultural event awash with traditional Japanese rituals, which are essential for her major apart from improving her Japanese language proficiency by communicating with Japanese tourists.

Data from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) shows nearly 798,000 Japanese tourists came to Vietnam last year, a pickup of 7.8% against a year earlier. This year, the country looks to more than one million Japanese tourists.

Phu My Hung Spring Flower Fair set for next week

Phu My Hung Spring Flower Fair 2018 will take place from February 8 to 14 (the 23rd to 29th of the 12th lunar month) in Crescent Lake area in Phu My Hung Urban Area in District 7, HCMC, Phu My Hung Development Corp told a news conference last week.

The upcoming event is expected to bring tourists a cultural space reminiscent of the old days of Nha Be, currently an outlying district of HCMC.

Taking advantage of its unique geographical position, this year’s flower fair will comprise four main areas.

On the water surface of Crescent Lake, a floating market will be located at Ben Xuan (Spring Wharf) area of the week-long festival, featuring dozens of flower boats at anchor, raft houses and water coconut trees. And visitors will have the opportunity to gain an insight into daily lives of vendors in the land of an old Nha Be.

One of the highlights of the festival is Duong Xuan (Spring Street) area where visitors can see a beautiful and poetic rain garden.

Like in previous years, Vuon Xuan (Spring Garden) is expected to capture the attention of many tourists by the vivid colors of different species of flowers and countryside vegetables.

In addition, there will be a 5-meter-long dog at the Spring Garden to welcome visitors and ring in the Year of the Dog.

The opening ceremony of the festival will be held at 7 p.m. on February 9 (the 24th of the 12th lunar month) at the main stage of Crescent Lake with traditional art performances.

Upon arrival at the festival, visitors are recommended to drop by around 300 booths selling flower and bonsai plants for home decoration during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday, and Tet products.

1,000 bus tickets & entrance tickets of Spring Festival to be presented workers

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport will support 1,000 bus tickets and 1,000 the Spring Festival’s entrance tickets for workers who do not return hometown on Tet holidays.

The department said the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just assigned it to support the HEPZA with 1,000 entrance tickets of the Spring Festival. These tickets will present to workers who plan to enjoy Tet holidays in the city.

1,000 entrance tickets cost VND 135million from the city’s traffic safety budget.

The department will cooperate with the HCMC Green Trees Company to implement this program.

Hospitalizations rising in flu season

These days, flu cases have skyrocketed especially children with more cases suffering complications while medical experts warned that bad weather in the North is conducive for flu virus development.

The National Children Hospital in Hanoi was crowded with patients on January 29. No chair in front of doctor’s room was available. Hospital Deputy Head Professor Tran Minh Dien said that during three weeks, the hospital has admitted over 1,000 kids and 300 of them were hospitalized.

Because large numbers of kids have fallen ill, the hospital classified them into different levels for treatment and cross-infection prevention. Patients were divided into three groups; one group of children had to hospitalized immediately for treatment while some will be treated in clinics in districts and others will receive treatment at home.

Similarly, Saint Paul, Dong Da, Thanh Nhan, Ha Dong hospitals received lots of flu patients lately. Worse, the National Tropical Disease Hospital reported cases of flu A/H1N1 including some with severe complications.

According to the Preventive Medicine Department, flu usually occurs in spring-winter season and directly transmits from ill people to healthy people while talking and sneezing.

As per the World health Organization, around 5-10 percent of adults and 30 percent of kids are infected with flu including 3-5 million serious cases. The Southeast Asian country reports 1-1.8 million cases of flu annually mostly infected by virus A(H3N2), A(H1N1) and flu type B.

Doctors noted though it is normal ailment which occurs year –round, seasonal flu threatens people’s health condition. People who have the flu often experience these symptoms such as fever or feeling feverish/chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue (tiredness).

Kids, elderly people and people with chronic diseases of heart, lung, blood shortage will easily have complication and even death.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health warned people to apply good personal hygiene, cover their mouth when sneezing, wash their hand with soap, vaccination and go to nearby clinic if they experience above-mentioned symptoms to receive timely treatment.

To take initiative in supervise the virus strain in the country, the Ministry has implemented monitoring system across the country and boost testing in Flu Center located in the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in Hanoi and Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.          

Number of fire fatalities triples in Ho Chi Minh City

In 2017 Ho Chi Minh City reported 1,007 fires, which claimed 26 lives over the year, tripling 2016’s fatality rate, and causing damage of around VND92.5 billion.

Doan Van Chon, deputy director of HCM City Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department, at a conference on January 30 said that although the number of fire incidents fell by 953 cases compared to 2016, the fatality and injury rates increased. 44 people were injured by fires in 2017, five more casualties than the previous year.

Colonel Chon said fire prevention and fighting suffered from complications last year. Leaders of many businesses have not paid the necessary due attention to safety standards. Residents are still living in some high-rise buildings where fire prevention and control measures have not yet been inspected. Furthermore, many apartment buildings do not meet the requirements for fire prevention and control standards.

He urged the relevant agencies to strictly enforce legal regulations and coordinate with police to check and issue strict fines to businesses and apartment buildings which fail to meet the safety standards for fire prevention and control.

Hospitals with financial autonomy need more funds

Financial autonomy has improved the quality of many public hospitals in HCM City, but some of them still do not have sufficient funds to upgrade facilities.

Only three of 54 public hospitals in the city now receive money from the city, after the autonomy policy took effect last October, according to the city’s Department of Health.

Thủ Đức District Hospital, one of the first in the city to carry out financial autonomy, has bought advanced machines, hired experts and sent doctors abroad for training, and now has many departments with the same quality as city or central-level hospitals. 

More than 6,000 patients visit the hospital every day, according to Nguyễn Minh Quân, the head of the hospital.

Dr Nguyễn Đức Minh, head of the HCM City Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology, said the hospital has advanced machines for its high-tech departments thanks to financial autonomy.

Last year, the hospital attracted a total 92,795 patients, up from 87,574 patients in 2016. Its revenue was VNĐ227 billion (approximately US$10 million) last year, compared to VNĐ173 billion in 2016.

At a meeting between the city’s People’s Council and hospitals held this month, Dr Nhan Tô Tài, head of District 12 Hospital, said the hospital faced problems related to autonomy.

With 1,000 to 2,000 patients a day, the hospital does not have sufficient funds or facilities for its operation, according to Tài.

Dr Võ Đức Chiến, director of Nguyễn Tri Phương Hospital, said its finances were limited and the new equipment was needed.

"Specialised hospitals find it easier to implement financial autonomy," Chiến said.

Dr Phan Văn Báu, head of People’s Hospital 115, said the hospital spent money on advanced machines and techniques, but could not charge higher fees because the current fees were already high for severely ill patients.  

Representatives of the city’s outlying district-level hospitals also complain that they face problems in autonomy because of the low number of patients. They are concerned that staff including doctors may leave.

Cần Giờ District Hospital has received assistance from the Department of Health, which sent doctors from central and city level hospitals to train its doctors. But the hospital has only 18 doctors, the lowest number of district-level hospitals in the city.

A hospital representative said it was difficult to recruit doctors and suggested that the city People’s Committee devise preferential policies to help attract doctors at certain hospitals.

Activities to mark 50 years of 1968 Offensive in HCM City

The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City held a reburial ceremony for remains of six martyrs who laid down their lives during the 1968 General Offensive and Uprising at Cu Chi district’s martyr cemetery.

The remains were unearthed at the former base of Y4 front surgeon team in Binh My commune, Cu Chi district, Ho Chi Minh City.

The reburial service showed the municipal Party Organisation, administration and people’s gratitude to and helped educate young generations about the sacrifice of the martyrs for national liberation.

The general offensive and uprising began in the early morning of January 31 in 1968 when liberation forces simultaneously launched attacks on the enemy’s bases in cities such as Hue, Da Nang, Quy Nhon and Sai Gon, and hundreds of towns from Quang Tri to Ca Mau.

The offensive helped the liberation forces destroy huge amounts of facilities and logistics used by the US and the Southern regime’s armies.

People in rural areas also took this opportunity to rise up against the US-backed administration at commune and district levels.

Sai Gon-Gia Dinh (now HCM City), the headquarters of the US-backed Southern regime, was a focus of the offensive.

Binh My commune in Cu Chi district was the place where liberation forces stationed before launching attacks on important targets of the US forces and the US-backed Southern regime.

Nearly 300 soldiers, wounded soldiers, doctors and nurses were killed when the US forces and the Southern government bombed the front medical station based in the commune.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 General Offensive and Uprising, a book exhibition and exchange event themed “Memory of Mau Than Spring 1968” opened in Nguyen Van Binh book street in the city’s District 1.

People coming to the book street from January 30 to February 4 will be offered a chance to visit a book exhibition and a photo exhibition and participate in a talk on the offensive and uprising.

Farming project supports poor people in Tuyen Quang

The northern province of Tuyen Quang on January 30 reviewed the implementation of the Agriculture, Farmers and Rural Areas Support Project (TNSP) in the province in 2011-2017.

The project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), was implemented in 64 poor communes of six districts of Tuyen Quang. It aims to enhance institutional capacity building, promote chain value development for poor people and devise plan for sustainable socio-economic development at commune-level.

After six years, the project has completed disbursement of IFAD credit and obtained all main objectives in its logical framework. The province’s agricultural GDP stood at 4.6 percent per year, exceeding the target of 4 percent.

The project also helped raise local farmers’ income, as the rate of poor households in 64 communes dropped by 41.6 percent, from 61.7 percent in 2011 to 20.1 percent in 2016, and the rate of child malnutrition declined by 11.5 percent.

In addition, it launched more than 900 constructions of agricultural infrastructure, benefitting nearly 58,400 families, and provided support to build farming facilities and purchase agricultural machinery, among others.

Ideas sought for international telecom union’s conference

The second Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunication (APT) Preparatory Group for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 (APT PP18-2) kicked off in Hanoi on January 30.

Jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and the APT Union, the three-day event is attended by representatives from 18 members of the ITU, regional and international organisations, and telecom enterprises. 

Participants are discussing issues such as public policies on the internet, cyber security, objectives for sustainable social development to 2030.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tam thanked the APT for its support in training and human resources development, policy-making, exchange of experts, and telecommunications and IT projects in Vietnam.

He hoped the efficiency of the APT’s activities will be improved in the coming time, thus raising its important role as a leading telecom organisation in the region.  

The APT PP18-2 is scheduled to take place from October 29 to November 16, 2018 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), focusing on policy-making and future strategic plans of the ITU. It will also discuss orientations related to human resources and elect a new executive board of the ITU for the 2019-2022 term.

The outcomes of the conference will bring practical interests to its members and those in the region.

Vietnam is always an active member in the ITU and the APT, remarkably contributing to activities of the telecom organisations.

The APT was founded in 1979 in Bangkok on the joint initiatives of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the ITU.

Through its various programmes and activities, the APT has made significant contributions to the development and growth in the ICT sector in the region.

Hanoi art programme promotes international friendship

An international art exchange was held in Hanoi on January 30 to foster friendship between Vietnam and other countries as well as between Hanoi and other cities worldwide.

Nguyen Lan Huong, head of the Hanoi Party Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation and Chairwoman of the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations, thanked foreign countries for supporting Vietnam in its integration and development, helping increase the country’s global prestige.

She said 2017 was a successful year for external affairs, with several international events in Hanoi, most notably the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.

Hanoi took this occasion to establish and elevate its bilateral and multilateral relations with countries and territories as well as overseas localities and organisations.

A wide range of activities were held to open up numerous cooperation opportunities in economics and socio-culture, she noted.

Venezuelan Ambassador to Vietnam Jorge Rondon Uzcategui wished Vietnamese people peace, prosperity, happiness and success in the new year.

He thanked the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations for helping promote friendship between Vietnam and other countries.

Hanoi earns US$1.1 billion in exports in January

Hanoi’s export turnover hit US$1.1 billion in January, a year-on-year increase of 24%, heard a press conference in the city on January 30.

According to Chief of the municipal People’s Committee Office Pham Qui Tien, the city’s socio-economic development was stable, with most development indexes higher than in January of 2017.  

The city’s industrial production index increased by 14.7% in the period. 

Hanoi welcomed 373,000 foreign tourists, 34.8% more than in January last year.

The municipal authority approved two off-budget investment projects worth VND2.4 billion (US$105.3 million). At the same time, US$62.77 million in foreign direct investment was poured into the city in the month. 

As many as 1,911 enterprises were established with total investment of more than VND16 trillion in January.

Tiền Giang asks for enhanced protection for star apples brand exported to US

The southern province of Tiền Giang has proposed that the management overseeing the quality of star apples exported to the United States (US) be enhanced. This will help protect the fruit’s brand, as well as the prestige of Vietnamese agricultural products.

After getting a green light from the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for the export of star apples to the US in October, Tiền Giang shipped dozens of tonnes of this fruit to this country, and received good responses from the US consumers initially. The first shipment arrived at the US in late December.

Still, the management overseeing the plantation and quality of star apples must be improved to protect the fruit brand, according to the province.

Thus, Tiền Giang Province proposed to the ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to enhance the market study and quality control of star apples exported to the US to provide market updates and orientation to exporting firms.

The province said, as of mid-January, four companies registered a code for exporting star apples to the US.

Tiền Giang has the largest area of some 3,100ha to grow star apples in Việt Nam.

Việt Nam has some 5,000ha of star apples with an annual output of more than 60,000 tonnes.

This type of fruit was mainly sold in the domestic market and exported to China and the ASEAN markets.

Exporting to the US marked a breakthrough, as this is a strict market with high quality requirements.

Besides star apples, Việt Nam has exported dragon fruit, rambutan, lychee and longhan to the US.

Fight against petrol smuggling gains speed in 2018

The National Steering Committee for combating smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeits has said it will step up inspections and fight against petrol and oil smuggling and trade fraud in 2018.

The committee announced the outcomes of the combat against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeits at a press conference on January 31.

Dam Thanh The, Office Manager of the committee, said aside from petrol and oil, wood, minerals, wild animals and plants, waste, scrap, and used electronic, refrigeration, and household appliances are among the most smuggled goods. Most of them were trafficked to northern port Hai Phong city, central Da Nang city, southern Dong Nai province, and Ho Chi Minh City.

Smuggling was mainly bustling in border areas of the provinces of Lao Cai, Cao Bang, Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, An Giang, and Kien Giang. However, smuggling activities in Lang Son, Quang Ninh and Lao Cai which border China have shown signs of decline as many items of commodities which used to be smuggled have been allowed to import via the border gates.

Meanwhile, cigarette smuggling along the south-western borderline with Cambodia remains complicated, The said, adding it is popular that big volume of cigarettes, from 10,000 to 40,000 packs, are trafficked by coaches, trucks and boats.

He attributed the problem to obstacles to criminal proceedings against cigarette smugglers.

He said smugglers also take advantage of sea routes and sea and river ports via which major amount of goods is transported.

In 2017, relevant agencies discovered more than 225,800 violation cases and collected over 23 trillion VND (1 billion USD) from administrative fines, sale of seized goods, and tax arrears for the State budget.

The said there remain many latent risks in the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, and counterfeits due to authorities and agencies’ inconsistent efforts and lax settlement of poor-performing officials responsible for the work.