Over 300 million USD for urban development in Can Tho

Up to 322 million USD will be poured into developing the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and strengthening its urban adaptability under a project launched on June 3.

Of the total investment, 250 million USD is sourced from the World Bank’s official development assistance (ODA) loan and 10 billion USD is non-refundable aid of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

According to Huynh Thanh Su, head of Can Tho’s ODA project management board, this is the third urban development project carried out in the city, aiming to enhance the locality’s resilience to flood risks and impacts of urbanisation.

It will also help improve urban management capacity and climate change adaptability for the city as a socio-economic centre of the Mekong Delta region, he said.

The project includes three packages, focusing on controlling floods and environmental hygiene, developing urban corridors and increasing urban management.-

War Veterans’ Association – trustworthy mainstay of Party

The Vietnam War Veterans’ Association (VWVA) is the trustworthy mainstay of the Party, State and people, said Truong Thi Mai, head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation.

At a working session with the VWVA Central Committee in Hanoi on June 3, Mai highlighted the association’s important role in building the Party and protecting the administration and people, as well as its contributions to national socio-economic development.

The association has also played an active role in monitoring social affairs and giving feedback back to the authorities, and educating young generations about patriotism and revolutionary heroism, she said.

Mai urged the association to realise contents relating to war veterans in the 12 th Party Congress’s Resolution while joining efforts to fight corruption, crimes and other bad deeds.

Established on December 6, 1989, the VWVA has soundly disseminated the Party’s resolutions and directives, as well as taking civil duty work in the new situation.

The association has encouraged its members to develop farm models and cooperatives, and establish businesses across sectors.

Besides, it has partnered with relevant agencies to actualise policies towards war veterans, families of war invalids and martyrs, and those who rendered services to the nation.

Of note, thanks to 107,000 pieces of information provided by the association’s chapters, more than 2.700 sets of remains of martyrs have been found.

Farmers must engage in connectivity to handle challenges: official

If farmers do not connect with each other in the forming of cooperatives and with businesses, they will fail to deal with big opportunities and challenges, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFFCC) Nguyen Thien Nhan has said.

Opportunities and competition pressure in the economy have never been so observable like they are at present. They are strongly affecting over 60 percent of Vietnam’s population who work in agriculture and related activities, the Politburo member said at a meeting on June 3.

Vietnam has also been influenced by natural disasters such as drought in central, south central coast, Central Highlands and Mekong Delta provinces. Long-term challenges from international integration and repeatable short-term challenges of climate change have made domestic agriculture vulnerable.

From now to 2020, the best measure for agricultural restructuring is to connect separate farmers through cooperatives and with businesses, Nhan emphasised.

The meeting in Hanoi reviewed the one-year implementation of the Prime Minister’s Directive 19/CT-TTg on stepping up the enforcement of the Law on Cooperatives.

The VFFCC reported that the law implementation has gradually improved managerial agencies and organisations’ awareness of the collective economic sector.

There are now some 20,000 cooperatives, 150,000 cooperative groups, 50 unions of cooperatives, 1,148 people’s credit funds, and 43 cooperative development support funds.

Cooperatives’ activities have substantially helped alleviate poverty and ensure political security and social order, it added.

The VFFCC also acknowledged shortcomings in carrying out the directive. The shortage of support policies has not helped the expansion of collective economic activities, and most members of cooperatives are not young and so are not generally good at accessing the market.

VN promotes inclusive growth for the sake of women

Vietnam should build an inclusive growth model that ensures social and economic equal rights of women, according to a report.

The report was announced at a workshop in Hanoi on June 3. The event was jointly held by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS).

Vice President of the VASS Dang Nguyen Anh suggested gender equality policies should be directed towards women and vulnerable groups.

The report is a lively illustration for the close coordination between domestic and international orgnisations in the struggle for gender equality in Vietnam , he said.

Chief Representative of UN Women Shoko Ishikawa said the report indicates that though women are making significant contributions to economic development, the achievement of an inclusive growth model is still a challenge for the country.

Layton Pike, a representative from Australia ’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Vietnam ’s involvement in new free trade agreements will open up a number of growth opportunities across sectors, especially in manufacturing, garment-textile and electronics.

He suggested enabling all people, particularly women, to enjoy the benefits from socio-economic development attainments.

The report demonstrates Vietnam’s efforts to shift from an agriculture-dominated economy to one that is economically diverse and internationally integrated.

The lives of millions of Vietnamese people have been improved, the report said, however, it warns that if the benefits from economic growth are unequally distributed and ineffectively managed, the gender and salary gap in the labour market could increase.

The report recommends measures to improve the living standards of women.

Vietnam attends AtomExpoort-2016 in Russia

A Vietnamese delegation including representatives from the Department of Atomic Energy under the Ministry of Science and Technology and the media attended the AtomExport-2016, which recently took place in Moscow, Russia.

The tour aims to learn experience from Russia to serve the construction of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant in Vietnam.

Director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Agency Hoang Anh Tuan said the construction of the Ninh Thuan 1 nuclear power plant has not yet been dated.

The delay is expected to ensure safety and efficiency of the project, particularly after Japan’s Fukishima disaster, Tuan said, adding that human resource training and other preparatory work are underway.

The AtomExport-2016, the eighth of its kind, organised by Russia's State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom), from May 31 to June 1 drew more than 500 delegates from 55 nations and territories, as well as hundreds of press agencies from around the world.

Rosatom Director General Sergey Kiriyenko highlighted the advantages of nuclear power, saying that it helps ensure stable power supply while reducing CO2 emissions.

According to the International Energy Agency, all nuclear power plants in the world together have helped cut down 56 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions.

In Russia, they are expected to reduce 711 million tonnes by 2030.-

Vietnam, RoK hold copyright forum

The Copyright Office of Vietnam under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Copyright Commission held a forum in Hanoi on June 2.

The panels discussed copyright policies and legislation of the two nations according to their Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement, specifically in television and music products.

They also shared information and experience in copyright management.

The Copyright Office of Vietnam and the RoK’s Copyright Commission signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in copyright and relevant rights in 2012.

Under the document, the two sides agreed to increase the exchange of information and documents relating to law and technology copyright, while building a system to protect online copyright, digital communications, and taking measures to counter copyright violations on the internet.

The Vietnamese and Korean ministries of culture, sports and tourism inked a MoU on copyright protection cooperation in May 2014, which aims to promote the legal use of artistic works.

The RoK Copyright Centre opened a representative office in Vietnam in January 2014.

Ship towed to Thanh Hóa after accident

The Thanh Hóa Border Guards yesterday successfully retrieved a fishing ship following an accident on Hòn Mê Island in Tĩnh Gia District of this central province.

Several divers had joined a search party for the ship’s two missing seamen, Nguyễn Quốc Vịnh, 32, and Trần Quốc Việt, 27, but were unsuccessful.

The ship, owned by Nguyễn Sương, 35, from Đà Nẵng central city, capsized some five nautical miles off the coast of Hòn Mê Island at 8.30pm on Monday.

The 1,150CV capacity ship was the largest in the central area.

Thirteen seamen were on board, and 11 of them were saved.

The ship had capsized because of a fault in a cable.

HIV tests reveal new cases in community

Only 30-35 per cent of people facing a high risk of contracting HIV received HIV tests in the past year, according to statistics from the Việt Nam Administration of HIV Control.

Speaking at a conference today that summed up the initial results of HIV testing in the community and created a plan for the future, Võ Hải Sơn, an expert from the administration, said discrimination was the main factor keeping people from approaching centres to get tested for HIV.

Many of the people suffering from HIV lived in remote areas with a difficult terrain, so travelling to centres for tests was difficult, he said.

To address the problem, the administration ran a pilot programme for HIV testing in six provinces and cities, Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa, Điện Biên and Thái Nguyên, as well as Hà Nội and HCM City, in the 2015-17 period. It plans to expand the programme to districts with a high population of HIV sufferers in the 2017-20 period.

Under the pilot programme, a number of activities were conducted. Medical workers provided mobile HIV tests in the community. Village-based medical workers and community organisations offered consultancy services on HIV tests. Training was given to the communes’ medical workers.

The people receiving the tests included heroin addicts, their spouses and children, sex workers and homosexuals.

Nguyễn Thúy Vân, an expert from the World Health Organisation, said that in the central province of Thanh Hóa, training for HIV test administration consultancy via village-based workers was conducted in August last year across 12 communes.

A total of 868 people received consulting services and 826 of them received tests. Forty-two tested positive for HIV and 37 of them received treatment with anti-retroviral therapy.

In the northern province of Thái Nguyên, 234 people were tested, and nine of them tested positive and had anti-retroviral therapy.

Sơn said HIV tests in the community had helped medical workers give services to the right people and supply treatment immediately after getting positive test results.

Reports at the conference confirmed that HIV testing in the community was an effective strategy to increase the number of people receiving HIV tests and to discover new cases. The programme’s results will supply information to develop the national guidance on HIV testing in the community.

Hà Nội cracks down on contaminated food

The municipal People’s Committee chairman, Nguyễn Đức Chung, has ordered the establishment of five inter-sector inspection teams on food safety and hygiene.

The teams will conduct unscheduled inspections on workshops which process, manufacture, import and sell food, food for special health use, ingredients, and additives, as well as food packages. Each team is in charge of six districts.

The inspections will continue until the end of this year.

The city’s Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Health Department have been assigned to manage the inspections.

The hotline numbers of these departments are 043.7757.277 (Health Department), 190.0585.826 (Department of Industry and Trade) and 043.3800.115 (Department of Agriculture and Rural Development).

The municipal People’s Committee chairman asked inspectors to immediately suspend violators and report them to relevant authorised agencies to determine penalties.

In case of criminal offences, reports must be sent to the police for further investigation.

According to new criminal code, which will come into effect shortly on July 1, the use of banned substances in animal husbandry will face harsher punishment of up to VNĐ200 million (US$8,900) or a jail term from one to 20 years.

Leading officials of the concerned departments and the municipal People’s Committee will be regularly apprised of the inspection results.

Ensuring food safety and hygiene is one of the primary targets of the Hà Nội authority following the outflow of contaminated food discovered in the city and across the country recently.

As of May 31 this year, the city’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development presented food safety certificates to 264 business bases of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture products.

Last month, as part of city’s efforts to provide safe food to residents, the safe farm produce market at 489 Hoàng Quốc Việt, Hà Nội, was launched. The market is open from Friday to Sunday in the second and the last weeks of each month.

Vietnamese-French writer meets fans

Vietnamese-French writer Bùi Thị Hồng Vân (pen name Nuage Rose) met fans and students from the Alexandre Yersin High School at the Hà Nội French Culture Centre L’Espace yesterday.

The author used the opportunity to answer many questions regarding her book, titled Trois Nuage au Pays des Nenuphars (Three Clouds in the Country of Lotus), and to encourage young readers to learn more about Việt Nam’s history.

Her book traces the story of a small girl, who had to evacuate from Hà Nội during the American war of destruction against North Việt Nam (1964-75).

Trois Nuage au Pays des Nenuphars was awarded the French Writers Association’s "Most Favourite" title and has been introduced at a number of book fairs in Belgium, France and Switzerland. It was also recently made part of the syllabus for students at the Alexandre Yersin High School.

Six more traditional craft villages recognised in Huế

Huế authorities have added six more villages to the list of recognised traditional crafts in an attempt to preserve and develop these crafts.

These are the villages of Phong Sơn (conical hat making), Hiền Lương (blacksmith), Vân Trình (net making), and A Đưa and A Hớt zèng (fabric weaving), in addition to Sình paper (making paintings). These originated centuries ago since the formation of the villages and today the villagers maintain the crafts for their livelihood.

Local women today continue their use of conical hats, which are made of dry palm leaf, for protection from sunlight and rain, and so far the craft maintains their strong links to Huế. Tailor scissors made by blacksmith artisans in Hiền Lương remain the first choice for the career by old, skilful tailors around the country, including Hà Nội and HCM City.

In Sình village, the craft of making paper paintings ran into rough weather in 1980s when the campaigns to eliminate superstition conducted around the country before local artisans revived it recently with wooden blocks that they buried a long time ago.

The villagers are busy today with the increasing needs of votive paper paintings used for burning and hanging in local rituals. Those are made by inking the wooden blocks on a white paper sheet for a black and white copy then the artisans use paintbrush to colour it.

Kỳ Hữu Phước, a prominent artisan in the village, has managed to bring the ritual craft closer to life by creating new wooden blocks with the old patterns to ink wall calendar tapes and ornamental paper paintings.

 “These help to diversify the craft products and I think the switching from ritual to ornamental purposes will give the craft a new life,” Phước said.

Huế is home to a lot of traditional craft villages as artisans from other localities once gathered here to serve the royal needs during the time Huế was the feudal capital under the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802-1945)’s rule.

Many of the village remain their production and manage to adapt to modern life. Local authorities have made the list of 16 traditional craft villages and other 10 craft communities to monitor and support their development.

Workshop discusses legal framework for sustainable wastewater development

A workshop on the Implementation of the amended Orientation for Drainage and Sewerage Development in Urban Centres and Industrial Parks up to 2025 and Vision to 2050 opened on June 3 in central Danang City.

It was carried out by the Administration of Technical Infrastructure (ATI) in the  Ministry of Construction (MoC) and the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The workshop is conducted within the framework of the Vietnamese-German Wastewater Management Programme (WMP), implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The amended Orientation Plan was approved by the Prime Minister of Vietnam with Decision No. 589/QD-TTg dated 6 April, 2016, which replaced Decision No. 1930/QD-TTg dated 20 November, 2009.

The amended Orientation Plan aims to improve the legal framework for drainage development for the long-term, develop sustainable and comprehensive drainage and wastewater systems, increasing household connections and improve regular operation and maintenance of the system.

It sets the target of expanding the urban drainage and sewerage system service coverage to 70% by 2020 and 80% by 2025. By 2050, urban flooding will be eliminated and all wastewater will be treated to meet the government’s technical standards.

The workshop brought together 130 participants including vice chairmen of provincial and city people’s committees, leaders and officials from the provincial department of construction, wastewater companies, professional organizations, academies, and representatives from relevant departments from the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance.

In addition, representatives from the Flood Proofing Programme and Wastewater Programme of Vietnamese-German development cooperation, representatives from the Finnish-Vietnamese water and sanitation programme, as well as the Japanese - Vietnamese development cooperation took part in the workshop.

According to Dr Nguyen Hong Tien, Director General of ATI said that the amended Orientation Plan presents a number of key innovations, among others: elaborating  sustainable drainage development, river basin-based drainage management, promoting the combination of centralized and decentralized wastewater treatment solutions, storm water as a resource for reuse, utilization of lakes and ponds for flood control, application of advanced and environment friendly technologies for the drainage and wastewater sector and the payment for wastewater service user charges according to local regulations.

As part of the Wastewater Management Programme (WMP), GIZ has been supporting the Ministry of Construction in improving the legal framework for sustainable drainage and wastewater development.

The GIZ policy team provided concrete advice to ATI during the process of amending the Orientation Plan.

At this workshop, GIZ presented three assessment reports including the development of provincial drainage regulations, performance management contract and wastewater tariff roadmap.

These reports not only reflected GIZ experience and lessons learnt in 13 provinces of but also provided a practical process to  establish the local regulatory framework as well as provide clear recommendations to the Ministry of Construction.

The workshop provided an opportunity to review the implementation of Decree No. 80/2014/ND-CP on Drainage, Sewerage and Wastewater Treatment in the provinces and served as a forum for participants to discuss and share their experiences in the process of establishing, approving and implementing wastewater tariff roadmap, management contracts, provincial regulations on drainage and sewerage management, household connection expansion and other issues.

The participants also discussed the way forward to implement the amended Orientation Plan.

Nghe An exhibition affirms Vietnam's sea, island sovereignty

More than 150 maps and materials asserting Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Truong Sa and Hoang Sa archipelagoes are on display in Cua Lo town, Nghe An province.

Exhibits include documents in Nom (old Vietnamese writing using Chinese characters), French and modern Vietnamese issued by Vietnamese feudal states, and the French authorities in Indochina.

The documents affirm Vietnam’s sovereignty over the islands and reflects the country’s administrative management, as well as its exercise and protection of sovereignty over the archipelagoes.

On the same day, Nghe An province held a meeting to respond to World Environment Day on June 5 and World Oceans Day on June 8 and opened Vietnam’s Sea and Islands Week.

The events aims to honor the important role of the sea and islands and respond to the global effort to deal with climate change and protect the sea.

Ninh Thuan farmers benefit from modernised irrigation technology

Farmers in the south central coastal province of Ninh Thuan have benefited from a project that provided modernised-irrigation technology (MIT) from 2014 to 2015.

The project was sponsored by the International Development Enterprises (IDE) Vietnam.

Vice President of Ninh Thuan province’s Farmers Association Do Hong Ky said the MIT model was implemented in two phases at a total cost of 23.7 billion VND, of which locals’ capital was 21.5 billion VND, with 2,355 households farming an area of 578 hectares participating.

In the first phase, 1,397 households installed MIT models over 323 hectares at a total cost of 12.9 billion VND. After phase 1 finished, 258 households, who were not beneficiaries of the project, spent 2.5 billion VND to install MIT models, by themselves, on 63 hectares.

In the second phase, 700 households installed MIT models on 192 hectares at a cost of 8.2 billion VND.

The MIT models helped cut 70-75 percent of labour needed for watering, 40-45 percent of water use, 30 percent of energy use and 30 percent of fertiliser use. It also helped boost productivity and income, and expand production area, land value and land use efficiency.

Tran Quoc Nam, Vice Chairman of the Ninh Thuan province People’s Committee said the project helped raise farmers’ awareness of modern technology for agricultural production.-

Poor communes get facelift with national programme

Infrastructure, production methods and the living conditions of local residents in extremely disadvantaged communes in the northern province of Phu Tho have significantly improved thanks to investments from the National Programme 135.

An example illustrating that improvement is Tan Son district, one of the 63 poorest districts in Vietnam, has improved in many areas after it got an investment of 91 billion VND (4 million USD) from the programme.

With the investment, the district has built 113 infrastructure facilities and carried out maintenance on 21 others. As of now, all communes in the district under the programme have paved roads leading to their administrative area.

The rate of poverty in the district has dropped to 24.43 percent in 2015.

According to Dinh Ngoc Thanh, Head of the province’s Ethnic Affairs Committee, from 2011-2015, the province has invested 485 billion VND (21.3 million USD) in implementing two electricity projects, 1,019 road projects, 214 irrigation works, 258 schools, rooms and housing for teachers, 16 health centres, 367 culture houses and two markets.

The remaining capital was used to repair and upgrade 129 facilities and provide aid to production projects.

The implementation of projects also helped improve the management and execution capabilities of the politic system at all levels, especially commune-level governments.

Ethnic minority groups also changed their production practices and techniques toward sellable goods production.

The Government’s Programme 135, which was launched in 1999 under the Prime Minister’s Decision 135/1998/QD-TTg on July 31, 1998, aims to improve living conditions for rural residents with a particular focus on ethnic minority communities.

Northern localities sign deal to boost tourism connections

Sixteen northern provinces have signed a memorandum of understanding to foster a tourism partnership towards forming links in their promotional activities.

The signatories comprise Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Lai Chau, Vinh Phuc, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Ninh Binh, Bac Kan, Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang and Hoa Binh.

The deal, inked on May 31 during a conference on promoting connectivity among northern tourism promotion agencies in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh, allows the localities to increase information sharing and enhance the effectiveness of their tourism promotion activities.

At the same time, they will form online connections through the setting up of a website to publish information and images of tourism resources, services and events.

Besides this, the localities agreed to support each other in human resources training and developing new products typical for each area and region.

During the conference, tourism promotion agencies also voiced the advantages and difficulties they are facing.

Nguyen Thi Bao, head of the Quang Ninh Tourism Association, said that currently, provincial tourism firms’ connections remain loose, leading to low effectiveness in promotional activities. She lauded the deal, which is expected to help foster the link.

Meanwhile, Hoang Quoc Hoa, Deputy Director of the Promotion Centre under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, held that bringing together tourism promotion agencies will help to better tap the strength of each locality and create joint tourism products.

Vietnam culture centre to be established in Laos

The Prime Minister has approved the establishment of a culture centre in Laos to promote Vietnamese culture in the neighbouring country.

The non-profit centre is responsible for holding cultural events related to foreign affairs and supporting Vietnam’s tourism and sport activities in Laos.

It is part of government efforts to bring Vietnamese people and landscapes closer to Lao people and strengthen the long-standing relations between the two nations.

The centre will be located in Vientiane and run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Vietnamese Embassy to Laos.

L’Espace showcases children’s book authors

A fair introducing a new generation of 12 aspiring authors and illustrators of children’s literature with the aim of helping them on their road to publication will take place in Hanoi from June 2-30, inclusive, at the French Cultural Centre L’Espace.

Each year, the Centre invites 12 children’s authors and illustrators from the Bologna Book Fair, the leading professional fair for children’s books in the world, to the capital city to introduce them to the Vietnamese public.

Since 2012, many well-known authors such as Gilles Bachelet, Joelle JOLIVET, Olivier Charpentier, Amelie Jackowski and many other authors, have participated and benefited from the event.

The fair also includes an exhibition of 25 exceptional illustrations by young authors published in the years 2013, 2014 or 2015 that utilize a variety of techniques and different graphics rendering (seals, ink on paper, in colour digital, digital collage ...)

Potholes increase risks for road users

A proliferation of potholes and the continuing degradation of roads are endangering road users and vehicles in Hà Nội, heightening risks of congestion, accidents and general traffic safety.

Many people living on streets such as Khâm Thiên, Nguyễn Lương Bằng, Tây Sơn, Vọng, Nguyễn An Ninh and Lĩnh Nam or Giải Phóng complain of feeling unsafe on these roads because road users try to avoid potholes and end up causing accidents.

The already high number of traffic accidents is exacerbated by heavy rain, filling up and hiding the numerous potholes.

Travelling on Khâm Thiên or Nguyễn Lương Bằng street, the potholes next to uneven manhole covers in the centre of the roads pose a significant risk to drivers who are constantly trying to avoid them.

Nguyễn Đức Thìn, a resident living on Nguyễn Lương Bằng Street said that most potholes here appeared as a result of construction work and the carelessness of units maintaining the roads.

The road on Định Công Street stretching to the new urban area of Đại Kim Street in Hoàng Mai District is also in the same situation.

Traffic users have expressed their dissatisfaction with the quality of the road and the failure to repair it. Some residents have taken matters into their own hands, filling deep holes with rubble to limit the occurrence of accidents.

Nguyễn Chi Mai, the owner of a grocery store on Định Công Street complained that the road was always muddy after rainfall, becoming dusty in warmer weather. The poor conditions lead road users to use masks to avoid the dust.

Tam Trinh and Lĩnh Nam roads have also threatened the traffic travelers.

The high density of daily road use, especially heavy trucks, had contributed to the rapid deterioration of the road, Nguyễn Hoàng, a resident living on Tam Trinh Road, said.

“Residents here have repeatedly reported the situation to the authorities but the maintenance is very slow," Hoàng said.

Tam Trinh and Lĩnh Nam roads have been on the city’s list of projects to upgrade and enlarge to 40-50 metres for many years, but the improvements remain on paper.

Vũ Ngọc Thắng, deputy head of the Urban Transport Office under the Hà Nội Transport Department, said there were six units responsible for the regular maintenance of roads in the districts.

Every month, the units inspect and create plans to repair any roads which are reported as being degraded.

He said the office would instruct units to repair degraded road immediately after the residents’ report.

Experts warn people to supply micronutrients

The shortage of micronutrients in Việt Nam has decreased, but the rate of decrease is slow, experts from the Institute of Nutrition under the Ministry of Health said.

The shortage has affected the health of children, pregnant women and women of childbearing ages.

A study by the institute in 2014-15 revealed that the country had some 7.5 million children under five, of which one third had anaemia and two third had a deficiency of iron.

Trần Khánh Vân, an expert from the institute, said their meals did not supply enough micronutrients. Meat contained the required micronutrients, but poor people in the remote mountainous and rural areas could not afford it.

Trần Thúy Nga, another expert from the institute, said the deficiency of important micronutrients, such as iodine, vitamin A, iron and zinc, could lead to serious consequences. The shortage could cause blindness, brain seizures, nervous system malformations and decrease people’s working capacity.

Associate professor Lê Bạch Mai, deputy director of the institute, said, “Increasing micronutrients is a long-term goal to raise working capacity, develop people’s intelligence, height and health, and thereby improve the quality of life.”

The most important task was to supplement micronutrients to people facing the highest risks due to the shortage by improving the quality of their lives and diversifying their food, she said.

The food that contained these essential micronutrients are salt, wheat flour and vegetable oil.

Children under five need to drink a vitamin A tonic twice a year.

The institute has supplied more than six million vitamin A tablets to children aged between six months and three years across the country.

A nationwide drive to supply vitamin A tonic has been organised today and tomorrow.

Tien Giang: social integration project benefits disabled children

The Norwegian Mission Alliance in Vietnam (NMA-V) has provided over 1.2 billion VND (54,000 USD) for the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang to implement a project on social integration for disabled children in 2016.

The project is being carried out at the provincial centre for integration education development support and in Cho Gao, Cai Lay and Tan Phu Dong districts, and My Tho city.

It aims to provide teachers and educational managers who are in charge of caring for children and parents with the skills and knowledge related to early intervention, social integration and rehabilitation for disabled children.

The project also focuses on vocational training programmes for youths living with disabilities, raising public awareness of early intervention and rehabilitation, as well as rolling out measures to promote social integration for disabled children.

It project looks to give early intervention to at least 145 local disable children between the ages of 0-5 in the centre, and 10 others in Tan Phu Dong district in 2016. It also hopes to call on local enterprises to offer vocational training and build livelihood models for youths with disabilities.

Hansae holds talk shows with Everest climber

Hansae Vietnam Company has organized talk shows with Phan Thanh Nhien, the youngest Vietnamese to conquer Mount Everest, at its three factories in Cu Chi District of HCMC, Tien Giang Province and Tay Ninh Province this month.

The company’s leaders and over 1,000 staff joined the talk shows to meet and exchange with Nhien, 31, who left behind hardship to conquer the world’s highest mountain and plant the Vietnamese flag there. Nhien at the events fielded questions from the audience, told stories and shared difficulties in mountain climbing.

Kim Sang Ryur, deputy general director of the company, said workers gave positive feedback about the talks. In the coming time, Hansae will organize seminars and teambuilding activities on health and living skills to help employees improve their working skills and promote unity among staff.

Established in 2001 by South Korea’s Hansae Group, Hansae Vietnam specializes in manufacturing apparel for export. The company now has over 20,000 workers.

Local photographer to attend int’l festival in Singapore

Multiple photos of the “Volatile States” collection taken by Vietnamese photographer Le Nguyen Duy Phuong have been selected for the Open Call Showcase of the 5th edition of Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF), local media reports.

Phuong is the only Vietnamese artist whose works have been picked for the major photography event of SIPF set to officially take place from October 1 to November 13. Around 40 photographers from 18 countries will have their photos on display there.

The festival is scheduled to kick off in September 2016 in different venues in the island state. The week’s opening week of professional workshops, portfolio reviews and public talks will take place between October 6 and 10.

Born in 1984, Phuong got a Bachelor of Arts degree in photography from the HCMC University of Theater & Cinema in 2009. He had photos displayed at Photoquai exhibition held at museum Quai Branly in France in 2009.

In 2014, Phuong’s “Gone with the water” photos featuring the people and scenes of Tri An Lake in the southern province of Dong Nai were exhibited at L’Espace in Hanoi.

New glass designs for milk tea lovers in town

Drinking milk tea served in light bulb-shaped glasses has become popular among youths in HCMC. These glasses are just different in design but made of materials including glass and plastic like other glasses used for enjoying the beverage.

In HCMC, Bep Cua Bau is one of the first coffee shops that sell milk tea to guests who are in favor of drinking milk tea in the new way instead of in normal glasses.

Bep Cua Bau has two shops to sell milk tea, with one located in Lot E of An Quan Apartment Building in District 10 and the other at 42 Binh Tay Street in District 6. They are open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. every day.

Other shops that offer light bulb-shaped glasses of milk tea in the city are Open Coffee at 75 Nguyen Kim Street in District 10 and Boo Coffee on the 9th floor of a building at 42 Nguyen Hue Street in District 1.

Binh Phuoc steps up search for martyrs’ remains

Steering board 1237 of southern Binh Phuoc province will step up the search for and repatriation of martyrs’ remains by collecting information.

Along with building a martyr database and search area maps, the steering board will work with Cambodian localities and authorities to find soldiers graves.

In 2015, the provincial Military Command’s team K72, which is responsible for repatriating the remains of the Vietnamese soldiers in Cambodia, collected 36 sets of remains in 11 districts and towns, heard a conference held in Dong Xoai commune on June 1.

The provincial group and its Cambodian counterparts Kampongthom and Kratie provinces signed an agreement to search for and repatriate soldiers who died in Cambodia.

During the 2014-2015 dry season, 141 sets of Vietnamese martyrs’ remains were found in Vietnam while 132 other sets were found in Cambodian military zone 3.

About 4,000 Vietnamese soldiers who died during wartime are still in Cambodia. The two countries have targeted completing the majority of the search and repatriation of remains by 2020.

HCM City water utility to build pumping stations

The HCM City People’s Committee has instructed the Sài Gòn Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco) to upgrade and build water pumping stations and install water pipes to supply to households in the outlying districts of Bình Tân, Bình Chánh and Hóc Môn.

Sawaco will completely upgrade 23 existing pumping stations and build six new ones in the three districts by the end of next year, bringing water to many households that have yet to get water.

The total cost, which also includes installation of meters in such households, will be VNĐ290 billion (US$13.1 million).

The city People’s Committee has announced plans to supply water to all households in the city by the end of this year, and the city will supply water to an additional 228,665 households in outlying districts this year, increasing the number of the households getting water to 1.9 million.

Officials from the People’s Committee and other relevant departments in April surveyed the situation in Củ Chi, Bình Chánh, Hóc Môn and District 12.

In Củ Chi only 31 per cent of households get tap water, the lowest rate in the city.

The district People’s Committee attributed the low rate to many people still preferring to use bore wells though their areas have access to tap water.

In Hóc Môn, slightly more than half of the 86,432 households get tap water, according to the local People’s Committee.

At a meeting with Hóc Môn authorities and the general director of Sawaco on May 19, Secretary of the city Party Committee, Đinh La Thăng, told the Sawaco chief that everyone in the city should be provided water by the end of this year.

"Everyone living in the city can buy water at the same price," he said.

Now people who do not have a permanent or temporary residence registration have to pay a higher price.

Labour exports hit more than 43,000 in five months

Vietnam sent 43,858 guest workers, including 16,048 female workers abroad during the first five months of this year, meeting 43.86% of this year’s target.

According to the Overseas Labour Management Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), 10,164 workers were dispatched to work overseas in May alone with 5,146 to Taiwan, 2,424 to Japan, 1,483 to the Republic of Korea, 187 to Malaysia and 558 to Saudi Arabia.

The positive result is attributable to the MoLISA’s efforts to efficiently manage labour export activities and resume labour exports to traditional markets like Japan and the RoK.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri