Rockers meet orphans in Can Tho

Rock bands Stevans from Switzerland, Buc Tuong from Hanoi and Hac San from HCMC together paid a visit to a shelter for orphans and disabled children located in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho over the weekend.

“We have a chance to meet disadvantaged children in Vietnam thanks to Rockstorm and our heart sinks when seeing these little kids. We will do something for them and will encourage our friends and fans to help Vietnamese disadvantaged children when we return to Switzerland,” said Yvan Franel, leader of Stevans.

Leader Tran Lap of Buc Tuong and members of Hac San also came to play and chat with the underprivileged kids.

The organizers of Rockstorm donated milk and cash to the shelter as the charitable part of their events. So far, they have raised VND1.4 billion from four concerts held in Haiphong, Danang, Bien Hoa and HCMC for Operation Smile Organization.

Goat-related items hot as 2015 Lunar New Year approaches

Goat-related items are being sought after in Vietnam as the Lunar Year of Goat is getting near.

One of the most sought-after item in Vietnam is the gold-plated goat statues. Statues depict three generations of goat standing together on mountain top -- a symbol that will bring wealth, prosperity and success to the owners -- are considered special item of the season.

The prices of the statues range from VND80 million to VND500 million, depending on the size.

To welcome the Lunar New Year, the US Treasury has issued one-dollar-note "Lucky Money" with a limited available amount of 88,888.

Meanwhile some two-dollar-notes that are enhanced with holographic gold images of goat are being sold at USD13.5 per note. Their price is doubled on Vietnamese websites at USD27 per note. The wholesale price is also as high as USD22.5 per note.

One of the most favourite items are the goat-shaped ornamental trees made on customers' orders. Other zodiac animal-shaped trees are also favoured and sold at VND30 million (USD1,400) each pair of animal.

Guests flee HCM City hotel fire

Dozens of guests fled from a HCM City hotel in terror on January 5 morning after a mobile phone exploded and caused fire.

At 6:45am, local residents discovered that black smoke was pouring out of a second-floor window of Van An 2 Hotel on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. The manager ran to each room to inform the guests. Many guests left their belongings behind in order to escape the hotel quickly.

Hotel staff tried to put out the fire to no avail. Six fire trucks and 32 fire fighters were sent to the site later and put the fire under control in 30 minutes. No one was hurt but the fire destroyed most of the guests' belongings.

Initial investigation showed that a mobile phone was charging in room 201 and exploded. The fire spread to the mattress before covering the whole room.

Government officials study Singapore’s administration experience

As many as 25 senior government officials of Vietnam are attending a training programme on public administration, policy and governance from January 5-16 at the Nanyang Centre for Public Administration under Singapore’s Nanyang Technology University.  

The training course focuses on sharing Singapore’s experience in public administration and governance, administrative reform, and public policy, which are necessary issues for the targeted officials, head of the Vietnamese delegation Ha Ngoc Anh told Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Singapore.

In addition to discussions with Singapore’s leading officials, Vietnamese officials will visit some government agencies and meet with senior officials of Singapore to learn the country’s success in public governance and administration as well as increasing cooperation between the two countries in the future.

The programme is carried out between Temasek Foundation of Singapore and the Vietnamese Government within the framework of the Project 165 which aims to train government official abroad using funds from the State budget.

Minister warns train project's contractor over safety violations

Transport minister Dinh La Thang issued a warning to the principal EPC contractor of the Cat Linh–Ha Dong train project, following a series of construction and traffic safety violations.

In a meeting on Sunday, the minister said that the recent accidents not only showed that the contractor of the urban train project did not comply with safety standards, but also caused public fear and discontent.

"We cannot allow another accident to happen. People's lives are at risk here. Every time something went wrong, they said that they accepted responsibility. But nothing changed after that," pointed out Thang.

The minister ordered the contractor to immediately replace the project's director general, and terminate the contract with its current consultant company as well as sub-contractors.

The most recent incident took place on December 28, when a scaffolding and frame collapsed in the Ha Dong District, crushing a taxi with four people inside, and endangering the lives of nine construction workers. Fortunately, no one died in the incident.  

Remote sensing technology helps monitor marine environment resources

A project on using remote sensing technology for monitoring sea and island environment resources is nearing the goal of compiling a basic database on the country’s marine resources and environment.

The project is being carried out by the National Remote Sensing Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands as part of a master plan on surveying and managing marine environment resources until 2010 and with a vision to 2020.

According to head of the National Remote Sensing Department Nguyen Xuan Lam, the department has established a system of topographical maps of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and building a database to serve the compilation of a map collection on a 1:50,000 scale of the land cover of coastal areas and emerging islets.

The department has also drawn a collection of specialized maps on the 1:1,000,000 scale accompanied by data on the physical, chemical and biological factors as well as sea and island environment for the entire territorial waters of Vietnam ; and setting up a multi-temporal monitoring system using remote sensing and geo-information technologies.

The initial results have opened up prospects for the country to enhance its capacity in the future application of remote sensing technology in the exploration and monitoring of its maritime and island resources and environment.

Educational project draws more ethnic minority pupils to school

The government’s educational project targeting nine minority ethnic groups with populations under 5,000 has produced positive results after four years of implementation.

According to Nguyen Hoa, Deputy Director of the provincial Education and Training Department of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, the projects has kindled a desire for learning in children of the targeted communities with class-attending rate maintained at a high level. As more children go to schools and obtain knowledge, outdated customs in the community have been gradually eliminated, he added.

Under the programme, classrooms and boarding facilities were built in remote areas, improving access to education for local children. The programme also offered lessons and teaching method specially designed for those learners as well as training courses for teachers.

Besides exemption of school fees, the pupils of the nine ethnic groups are given monthly allowance to help with their living expenses and can choose to study at boarding schools at elementary or secondary schools. This has encouraged ethnic children to pursue higher education.

In the coming time, more poverty-alleviation efforts and investment in school building and teacher training are needed to continue this meaningful project.

Vinh Long aims to mobilise 150 bln VND for the poor

The southern province of Vinh Long is striving to raise 150 billion VND (7.05 million USD) from donors from inside and outside the locality for charitable activities in 2015.

To achieve that goal, the locality will call on individuals and organisations to join efforts to help poor people improve their lives, thus contributing to sustainable poverty reduction, said Nguyen Van Sang, Vice President of the provincial Vietnam Fatherland Font Central Committee.

The money collected will be used to build houses for the poor, help them in production and medical treatment, and cover scholarships for poor students with outstanding academic performances.

In 2014, thanks to the “Day for the Poor” campaign, Vinh Long raised 33.1 billion VND, equivalent to 165.7 percent of the set target. Over 1,200 charitable houses were built.

The campaign has so far helped 3,762 households escape from poverty, reducing the province’s poverty rate to 3.54 percent.-

Dak Lak province enhances vocational training for rural youth

The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak is stepping up vocational training for rural youth with an aim of creating jobs for some 28,000 people a year from now to 2020, said Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee Mai Hoan Nie Kdam.

Dak Lak is striving to increase the proportion of trained labourers to 50 percent in 2015 and 57 percent in 2020, she said.

To that end, it will expand vocational training to serve the industrialisation, modernisation, and agricultural and rural development such as those relating to information technology, agricultural and forestry production and processing, tourism, and handicrafts.

Between 2016 and 2020, provincial authorities will encourage economic sectors to set up 60 vocational training establishments so as to equip 30,000 people in rural areas with job skills every year, the Vice Chairwoman noted.

She added at the same time, local colleges will also get help to improve their training quality to national and ASEAN levels and open courses in accordance with the market demand.

The province in the past years has also been paying heed to raising the teaching staff’s capacity, surveying labour demand and supply, and organising job fairs, the official said.

In 2014, about 26,500 people in Dak Lak became employed, adding up the number of those getting jobs since 2011 to 103,390, mostly the young in rural areas, with 43 percent of them under training.

Covering more than 13,000 sq.km of land in the heart of the Central Highlands, Dak Lak is home to approximately 1.8 million residents. Over 1.3 million people live in rural areas, and more than 30 percent of the population being ethnics.

Southern province succeeds in lifting ethnics out of poverty

About 1,900 low-income households of ethnic minority groups in the southern province of Dong Nai are expected to escape from poverty in 2015, said the provincial Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The ethnic minority households, accounting for 14.5 percent of local poor families, will soon escape from poverty since they have been benefiting from vocational training, low-interest bank loans, and other forms of assistance, Deputy Director of the department Lam Duy Tin said.

Since 2009, the provincial People’s Committee has supported some 73 billion VND (3.47 million USD) to more than 5,800 ethnic minority students for their vocational training fees. About 3,400 of them have graduated so far.

Ka Sem, a Co Ho ethnic from Phu Binh commune, Tan Phu district, secured a job in Ho Chi Minh City for the last five years and earned around 7.5 million VND (357.1 USD) a month at present.

She said the entire tuition fee for her two-year learning of fashion design at the Vocational Training Junior College No.8 in Bien Hoa city was covered. She was also introduced a job immediately after graduating.

Vocational training and creating jobs are key measures to raise people’s income, Tin noted, adding that Dong Nai has lifted more than 4,700 ethnic minority households out of poverty in the past five years.

Dong Nai has a population of more than 2.76 million with over 175,000 being ethnic minority people, according to statistics in 2013.

Can Tho aims to reduce household poverty rate to 1.84 percent

The Mekong Delta City of Can Tho will strive to bring the household poverty rate down to 1.84 percent in 2015, which means around 5,660 local households will escape poverty.

At a year-end conference reviewing poverty reduction efforts in 2014, Vice Director of Can Tho’s Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Vung said the city will provide preferential loans for over 19,000 poor households to expand production and generate income.

In addition, 1,000 poor households will be provided with breeding animals worth 1.3 billion VND (62,000 USD), while nearly 8,700 needy households will receive subsidy for electricity use.

The city will also try to raise donations to build 600 houses for needy households.

In 2014, Can Tho reduced its household poverty rate by 1.11 percent by providing 469 billion VND ( 22.3 million USD) in credit for 36,350 poor households and beneficiaries of social welfare.

Orbis funds eye care projects in central Vietnam

Orbis flying eye hospital is among projects on eye care funded the non-governmental organisation in the central province of Thua Thien Hue

The project, carried out from early 2015, has a total investment of 4.8 billion VND (225,600 USD), of which Orbis funded over 4.4 billion VND (210,000 USD).

The project will train 160 doctors and 70 orderlies through seminars and sharing of experiences. Around 15 engineers and technicians will also take part in training courses to learn how to maintain and operate modern ophthalmology equipment.

Around 140 patients will be provided with vision screening, diagnosis and treatment guidelines while some 60 patients will receive surgeries and treatment to regain their eyesight.

Earlier, Orbis decided to fund a project worth 22.6 billion VND (1.06 million USD) providing eye care services for children in the northern central provinces of Vietnam, which will be carried out from now till June 2018 at the Hue Eye and Hue Central Hospitals. It aims to reduce the rate of blindness and vision impairment among children in the localities by increasing children’s access to eye care services at the two hospitals in Hue.

Founded in 1982, Orbis International is an international non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to preserving eye sight worldwide. It implemented its first hospital-based programme in Vietnam in 1997.

Hanoi improves quality of public health services

Hanoi is focusing on medical human resources training and administrative reform to improve the quality of public health services in 2014-2015 and onward.

The capital aims to reach the rate of 12.5 doctors per 10,000 people and two pharmacists per 10,000 people in 2015. The figures will be raised to 13.5 and 2.5 respectively in 2020.

The capital’s health sector will enable more patients to access modern health check-ups and treatment, while developing infrastructure and increasing the number of sick-beds at hospitals.

It will also simplify administrative formalities via the implementation and expansion of the one-stop-shop mechanism and the application of information technology as well as reducing time and cost for medical treatment.

Over the past five years, Hanoi allocated 567 billion VND (26.6 million USD) to health care programmes, with a focus on maternal and child health and communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Additionally, more than 51,000 middle-aged women in the city were screened for cancer as part of a three-year project on cervical and breast cancer, which was led by the Hanoi Committee for the Advancement of Women and ended in 2014.

The city also distributed free medicine worth 500 million VND (24,000 USD) and equipped the Hanoi Oncology Hospital with machinery worth more than 1.5 billion VND (72,000 USD).

OV Community in Norway welcomes the New Year

The Vietnamese Association in Norway recently hosted a get-together to usher in the New Year 2015 in Oslo in the presence of Vietnam Ambassador Le Thi Tuyet Mai and numerous Vietnamese nationals.

In his speech, chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Norway Pham Thanh Pha highlighted last year’s achievements in community-based activities including organizing International Women's Day, Mid-Autumn Festival, supporting disadvantaged children and joining efforts with fellow citizens to defend the sovereignty of sea and islands.

Vietnam Ambassador Tuyet Mai spoke highly of the increasingly strong integration of Vietnamese expatriates in the resident country as a positive contribution to Norwegian society and wider cooperation between the two nations.

The Vietnamese diplomat thanked OVs in Norway for launching a host of practical activities to preserve and promote cultural identities towards the homeland.

Mai also updated them on the outstanding achievements in socio-economic development as well as the Vietnam-Norway relations while extending New Year best wishes to OVs.

Community-based activities such as holding annual New Year get-togethers have become a cultural beauty of Vietnamese people in Norway.

Tet gifts to Truong Sa soldiers, people

A ship carrying working delegations from ministries and localities as well as New Year gifts departed from Cam Ranh Port on January 5 for Truong Sa island district in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

As scheduled, the ship will drop in 20 islands and islets in the district, delivering gifts to people and soldiers there on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) – the most important festival of Vietnamese people in the year.

More than 80 reporters from media agencies across the country were also on board the ship.

Addressing the departure ceremony, Tran Son Hai, member of the Khanh Hoa Party Standing Committee and Vice Standing Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, wished soldiers and locals in Truong Sa island district enjoy a joyous and safe festival.

He said he hopes they will continue promoting heroic tradition and solidarity to overcome all difficulties and firmly safeguarding the national sovereignty over sea, islands and continental shelf.

Lam Dong to build, repair 42 suspension bridges in 2015

As many as 42 suspension bridges in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong will be replaced or repaired in 2015 at a total estimated cost of nearly 43 billion VND (2 million USD).

The provincial People’s Committee has approved a project on the construction of nine new bridges which will be carried out in early this year. The rest will be repaired latter to ensure safety for local residents.

The work is part of a 931 billion VND (44 million USD) project to build 186 suspension bridges in 28 cities and provinces in the northern, central and Central Highlands regions.

Outlined by the Ministry of Transport, the scheme aims to help improve living conditions for inhabitants in mountainous and remote areas of the country and mitigate the risks of traffic accidents, especially during the flood season.

The plan is also to deal with the fact that 40 percent of all the suspension bridges across the country are in need of urgent repairs or reconstruction, according to the ministry.

Figures from the ministry indicate that there are about 1,950 suspension bridges in Vietnam. About 810 operational bridges - roughly 40 percent - have shown signs of erosion and rust.

Up to 94 percent of them are located on roads connecting villages and communes.

Int’l workshop highlights Vietnam’s sea, island cultural values

As many as 120 international and domestic scholars and cultural managers are gathering in central Khanh Hoa province for an international workshop protecting and promoting cultural values of Vietnam’s sea and islands.

Addressing the opening ceremony on January 5, Dang Thi Bich Lien, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stressed that Vietnam has been investing in studying, preserving and promoting sea and island cultural values in a bid to utilise sea potential.

The two-day event, jointly held by the Vietnam National Institute of Arts and Culture Studies and the provincial People’s Committee, presented a number of reports featuring the sea and island culture of coastal localities in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, foreign participants shared experience on many issues with a view to applying and promoting cultural values of sea and islands in the country’s socio-economic development, especially in tourism.

Scholars from the Republic of Korea and Denmark shared their studies on the culture of Cat Ba island, Ha Long Bay and Ly Son island areas.

The workshop assessed that sea and island cultural values have contributed to safeguarding Vietnam’s sovereignty and sovereign right as well as to the country’s socio-economic development.

Binh Dinh province expands large-scale fields

The central province of Binh Dinh plans to build an additional 250 large-scale fields in 2015 covering more than 10,000 hectares, said Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phan Trong Ho.

The large-scale field is a centralised production model that utilises the coordination among farmers, businesses, scientists, and State agencies to facilitate the application of technology in cultivation, thus improving the value of agricultural products and farmers’ income.

For 2015, Binh Dinh will zone 10,000 hectares of 230 fields for growing rice while the rest 20 fields totaling 1,000 hectares will be covered by food crops such as maize, cassava, and peanut trees, he said.

Binh Dinh has called on companies that supply seedlings and production materials and buy farm produce to cooperate with agricultural cooperatives and farmers. It has also encouraged businesses to provide loans and asked scientists to advise farmers on cultivation techniques.

The province has run technique training courses for local farmers and converted ineffective rice fields into food crops areas, the official added.

In 2014, it built 233 large-scale fields with a total area of more than 9,700 hectares and 58,000 households participating in. Such a model generated over 7.3 tonnes of rice per hectare each crop and brought about 23.6 million VND (1,123 USD) per hectare in profit, some 0.5 tonnes and 3.7 million VND higher than normal models, respectively.

Binh Duong strives to complete new-style rural area building by 2020

The southern province of Binh Duong has set to have all 49 communes meeting 19 criteria on new-style rural area building during the 2016-2020 period, according to Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Tan Binh.

In 2015, the locality aims to mobilise about 1.994 trillion VND (93.7 million USD) to implement the new-style rural area building programme and have 19 more communes satisfied the all 19 criteria.

In 2014, more than 2 trillion VND (94 million USD), of which 927 billion VND came from local people and businesses, was invested in building new style rural areas, thus improving infrastructure facilities and lowering the poor household rate to 1.52 percent.

As many as 11 communes in the province became new-style rural areas, while the rest met at least nine criteria.-

Intensive seafood farming benefits southern farmers

Farmers from the southern province of Tien Giang expect to further develop intensive seafood cultivation in fresh, brackish and salty water in 2015.

The province aims to increase the area for seafood farming to over 15,000 hectares and harvest about 140,000 tonnes of shrimp and fish of all kinds.

Director General of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Thanh Can said local authorities will adopt technical measures to increase productivity and quality of the key products such as shrimp and tra fish.

The province will also focus on creating processing material sources for exports while diversifying and expanding effective models combining aquatic breeding and rice growing.

Tien Giang forms part of the Mekong Delta which provides 90 percent of the country’s exported rice, 70 percent of exported fruits and 70 percent of exported seafood.

Hanoi youth busy with voluntary activities last year

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s Hanoi chapter implemented numerous voluntary activities during 2014, bringing practical benefits to the community.

The chapter organised many delegations to visit and present gifts to families whose members rendered services to the nation, poor and ethnic minority people in Hanoi and northern mountainous provinces.

Notably, a voluntary programme in six northwestern provinces helped each build a 100 million VND boarding house and a 50 million VND playground for children. It also provided free medical check-ups and medicine as well as presented scholarships and learning equipment to local students.

The chapter also set up 10 voluntary teams assisting doctors and nurses at hospitals in receiving patients.

During the 2014 “Give Strength in Exam Season” programme, the capital youth gave assistance to over 200,000 examinees and their relatives.

They donated more than 120,000 units of blood, helping ease blood shortages in hospitals.

National power grid reaches outpost islands

The five island communes of Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ban Sen, Thang Loi, and Ngoc Vung in Van Don district of northern Quang Ninh province have officially connected with the national power grid.

With this, Quang Ninh has basically accomplished its target of bringing electricity to the country’s northeastern outpost islands, helping turn their Van Don district into a special economic region in the near future.

Started from April 2014, the power supply project has a total investment of 312 billion VND (14.9 million USD) funded by the province, the Electricity of Vietnam group (EVN) and the Northern Power Corporation (EVN NPC).

The five communes have 2,568 households in total.

Ministries receive equipment to speed up international economic integration

The European Trade Policy and Investment Support Project (EU-MUTRAP) held a ceremony in Hanoi on January 5 to hand over equipment to units under the Ministries of Industry and Trade, Finance, Planning and Investment, and Science and Technology.

The equipment includes computers to serve units participating in the negotiation of trade agreements and the implementation of commitments of international economic integration.

In order to improve the capacity of ministries and sectors, the project has also provided consultancy related to policy development and the research on the impact of the integration commitments to policy-making. It also helps disseminate information about international integration commitments.

The first phase of the project also supports the construction and transfer of application software for the website on Vietnam’s support industries as well as other websites of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The second phase of the project is being implemented from July, 2014 to December, 2015.

Representatives from the ministries and sectors spoke highly of EU-MUTRAP’s support while stressing the necessity of devices to serve negotiations, research, planning and implementation of trade policies in a practical and efficient manner.

Vingroup establishes scholarship fund for corporate managers

Vingroup has announced the establishment of a scholarship fund to develop skills of Vietnamese corporate managers.

In the initial stage the group will earmark US$10 million for the fund with the first project to train high-quality hotel management scheduled to start in January this year.

The scholarship fund aims to build a staff of young Vietnamese corporate managers who will possess international standard qualifications and skills with a particular focus on high-end services such as hotels, resorts, commercial centres and other business facilities.

In addition to financing, Vingroup will also directly participate in running training programmes together with renowned and experienced international training institutions.

The fund is expected to provide an excellent training environment for scholarship recipients, who will be able to acquire international expertise and work in their field of study after the training programmes finish.

In January, the fund will recruit 50 Vietnamese general managers between 25 and 35 so that they can take charge of luxury hotels and resorts, most of which are currently run by foreigners.

The managers will attend training courses from international institutions such as the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute and those demonstrating an excellent performance will win a two-week trip to Singapore, Dubai or Switzerland to practise their skills.

Vingroup plans to expand its scholarship programmes to other areas including commercial centres, home appliance centres and large supermarkets later in the year.

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