Solar panels on the roof of a school in Quảng Nam Province.

The Central Power Corporation, under Việt Nam Electricity (EVN), has debuted a solar power system for three junior secondary schools in Quảng Nam Province’s districts of Duy Xuyên, Đại Lộc and Quế Sơn.

The corporation said the solar power system, which was built at a total cost of VNĐ1 billion (US$44,000), will supply 46 kilowatt per hour each day for schools’ daily power use.

It said the ‘green’ energy was developed from the Initiative for Community Programme of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to aid needy communities.

The high-tech renewable energy, which connects with the national power grid, will help reduce power consumption from daily electricity at these schools.

It’s also the second ‘clean’ energy system that has been developed at schools for students in central Việt Nam, after the first solar power was built for a centre for children with disabilities in Quảng Ngãi Province last year.

The solar power system will also allow students to better understand ‘clean and green’ energy and environmental protection.

The corporation also donated bicycles and scholarships to underprivileged students in the districts.

Making a habit of using environmentally friendly products

The production and consumption of eco-friendly plastic bags should be encouraged. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn) 

Currently, the use of plastic bags is quite common in daily life. However, the abuse of ordinary plastic bags is causing considerable concern for the environment. Many countries around the world have started to apply measures to minimize the use of plastic bags, plastic bottles and cans. Shops and supermarkets in developed countries are switching from using plastic bags to environmentally friendly bags such as cloth and paper bags.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Vietnam annually uses and disposes of more than 30 billion plastic bags. However, only about 17% of them are regularly reused, the rest are discarded after one use. Plastic bags last for a long period of time even hundreds of years before they can decompose, causing widespread soil degradation.

The serious environmental pollution due to plastic bags, as well as long-term environmental warnings have led many people to start paying close attention to restricting the use of plastic bags. In addition, some legal documents on the management of plastic waste have been issued, such as Decision No. 582/QÐ-TTg of the Prime Minister on approving the project to enhance the control of the environmental pollution caused by the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in daily activities up to 2020.

Recently, the Prime Minister issued Decision No.491/QÐ-TTg dated May 7, 2018 on approving for the revision of the National Strategy on Integrated Management of Solid Waste to 2025, with a vision to 2050, including the goal of using 100% eco-friendly plastic bags at trade centres and supermarkets instead of non-biodegradable plastic bags.

It is a fact that the awareness of many people in collecting, sorting, transporting and treating household waste, especially plastic waste and plastic bags is limited. Meanwhile, environmentally friendly plastic bags have not been able to compete with ordinary plastic bags, leading to ineffective support policies from the State. Therefore, in order to incrementally reduce environmental pollution from the use of plastic bags, Vietnam needs to apply synchronous and long-term management solutions, from legal to economic solutions. Plastic bags should be banned from use in supermarkets and trade centres, and the production, purchase and distribution of plastic bags should be restricted.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant ministries, sectors and localities should continue to coordinate in the implementation of solutions to encourage the production and consumption of eco-friendly plastic bags; and restrict production and the use of biodegradable plastic bags in daily life. Environmental protection taxes should be increased for biodegradable plastic bags, at the same time a consumer market for environmentally friendly bags should be facilitated. In addition, scientific research, application and transfer of technologies should be stepped up to recycle waste of non-biodegradable plastic bags into environmentally friendly products in order to gradually create a habit of using environmentally friendly products in people's daily lives.

This year’s World Environment Day (June 5) under the theme “Resolving pollution caused by plastic and nylon” is also an opportunity for Vietnam and the international community to increase awareness of the impacts of plastic waste and non-biodegradable plastic bags, while encouraging the use and reuse of environmentally friendly bags.

Former land planning official sentenced to death because of embezzlement

Ho Chi Minh City People's Court last week sentenced a former land planning official death penalty for seizing VND 54.1 billion (US$ 2.3 million) from the state budget.

Thi Danh, born in 1957, former Head of Board of Compensation for Ground Clearance of Tan Phu district, HCMC took the advantage of his assigned functions and powers to combine with Nguyen Duy Linh, former chief accountant of the board, to fabricate and sign up the wrong accounting documents, seizing the sume of money from the state budget.

The former accountant was sentenced 15 years imprison on charges of "embezzlement of property".

Beside, four other officials who played the role of helping Thi Danh to commit the criminal offense were punished of imprison terms ranging from two to five years.

The Board of Compensation for Ground clearance is under the authority of the People's Committee of Tan Phu District. It is responsible for formulating the projects or plans for compensation, support and resettlement, determining the level of compensation and support for each beneficiary household. 

The defendants were charged with abusing the functions and powers assigned to them to defalcate money from the budget during the process of carrying out 6 projects in Tan Phu district's administrative area. 

This money was to be paid for 16 beneficiaries, companies who were not included in the list of compensation, support households in the project; through which Thi Danh appropriated money for his personal usage.

In the court session, the jury also recommended the Police Investigation under the Police Department of HCMC to investigate the persons who received the money from Thi Danh.

If there are any signs of accomplice, those people would be handled according to the legal regulations, the jury declared.

Schools to raise students’ awareness of sovereignty over seas and islands

In response to the Week of Seas and Islands as well as the International Environment Day on June 6, the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Education and Training suggested all schools in the city to organize suitable propaganda activities for their students.

These activities should introduce the purpose and meaning of the International Environment Day.

They should also popularize the policies, viewpoints, and laws of the Party as well as the State regarding seas and islands.

The presentation of historical and legal proofs to confirm the sovereignty of Vietnam over seas and islands should be given to all students and teachers to raise their awareness.

Schools are also requested to cooperate with bodies and organizations to launch campaigns to collect waste in neighborhoods and plant new trees on school campus in order to create a healthier environment.

"We are together 2018" features VNese culture to Korean people

The 2nd cultural event themed “We are together” 2018 will be held in Korea’s Seoul on June 16.

The event aims to promote Vietnamese culture to Korean people and boost cultural exchange between the two countries.

Many activities will also be taken place during the event including Vietnamese Ao dai fashion show, art, musical performance...

Many Vietnamese renowned singers such as Minh Hang, Hoa Minzy, Trong Hieu, Trung Quan… will take part in the music event with Korean musical groups during the festival.

The organizers said the event is expected to attract around 3,000 visitors.

Vietnam bans sale promotion in wine, lottery, tobacco

As per a Vietnamese government’s rule on sale promotion, companies of wine, lottery, tobacco, formula milk, medicine and private educational facilities are not allowed to launch incentive programs from July 15, 2018.

The edict No. 81/2018/ND-CP rules that companies and educational institutions are not allowed to launch sale promotion under the form of free-of-charge samples, providing free services as well as provide discount to consumers or sell commodities with vouchers.

Scientific conference becomes playground for VN students in S. Korea

The Fifth Annual Conference of Vietnamese Young Scientists (ACVYS 2018) was successfully held in Sejong University in Seoul on May 20. With the motto ‘Connecting knowledge, igniting passion’, the conference attracted a great number of young Vietnamese who love science.

ACVYS 2018 signals noticeable results of the community of the Vietnamese under- and post-graduate students as well as scientists living in the Republic of Korea (RoK).

For five years, ACVYS has played the role of a bridge linking Vietnamese students learning and doing research in RoK and domestic experts, scientists, as well as managers via many cooperative technological researches and applications in various fields of life science, biological medicine, chemistry and chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil and environment engineering, information technology – electronics – telecommunications, and materials science.

Highly appreciating VSAK in hosting this event, Vietnamese Ambassador to RoK Nguyen Vu Tu stated that all expertise and skills gained thru learning and doing research in RoK will no doubt help the Vietnamese young to better contribute to the economic growth and modernization of their country.

VSAK Chairman Vu Duc Luong said that more than 100 high-quality pieces of research sent to the conference were able to pass the selection round and critical assessment round of the evaluation board to be presented in the event.

Besides the main event, many workshops to talk about hot issues like energy transformation, nanomaterial, nano-composite, biochemical material also attracted the attention of a great number of international scientists.

This is the first time ACVYS has presented the Vietnamese Young Scientists in Korea Awards (VYSK) for four excellent scientists, namely Nguyen Van Ha from Inje University in the field of information technology, Ha Thi Kim Quy from Seoul National University in the field of medical and pharmaceutical technology, Le Bao from Chonnam National University in the field of biotech and environment, and Le Van Quyet from Chung-Ang University in the field of new materials.

Nguyen Van Ha shared his happiness at receiving the award, saying that this has been the second time he participating in ACVYS, and that the award is a real incentive for him as well as other Vietnamese scientists living and learning in RoK.

Besides giving the main awards, the organization board also praised seven most excellent presenters in the fields of material science, life science, biological medicine, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, information technology and computer science, and civil and environment engineering.

The conference was organized by the Vietnamese Students’ Association in the Republic of Korea (VSAK) with the support of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnam’s Office of Science and Technology in Korea (under the Ministry of Science and Technology).

‘Smart City 360o’ conference to focus on real-time interaction solutions

The second ‘Smart City 360°’ conference will be held in July 2018 by the Institute for Computational Science & Technology (ICST) under HCMC Department of Science and Technology, introducing and exchanging solutions on smart information systems, mostly focusing on real-time interaction and its application in building a smart city. The event is expected to reach positive results after the success of the 

HCMC officially launched the project to make HCMC a smart city in the period from 2017-2020, with a vision to 2025’.

The four pillars of the project include a center used for simulation to forecast socio-economic strategy, a center of information security, a shared database center as well as an open database eco-system, and a joint-operating center. Therefore, the solution on real-time interaction is highly practical.

“Scientists, experts, and businesses will introduce feasible solutions in the fields of information technology, telecommunications, information system, information security, urban management, government management, traffic and transport, environment, and health. Noticeably, the conference has received attention of leaders in related state offices in HCMC and other provinces nationwide”, stated Doctor Doan Xuan Huy from ICST, representative of the organization board of the ‘Smart City 360°’ conference.

All content of this conference will include the information technology research program to serve a smart city and Industry 4.0, with a strong focus on the four scientific and technological research programs in the period from 2018-2020, and a vision to 2025.

These include also research on building an open testbed platform; the model of an open database system with strong analyzing tools to support and use management applications; developing applications on the platform of Internet of Things (IoT); solutions to implement artificial intelligence with to help cyber security as well as the development of typical applications for a smart city and Industry 4.0.

The significant of the second ‘Smart City 360°’ conference is the link between research and real-time implementation in many organizations, businesses, and state bodies.

The presentations and exchanges in the conference will focus on a range of issues such as researching and applying Internet of Things systems – devices, automatic monitoring systems, intermediary interactive systems; sharing experience and results of real-time experiments or simulations of systems in aspects related to smart city.

Experts will also discuss research and application of different models, synchronous response analysis technique, and optimal real-time interaction in order to solve particular problems in traffic, environment, and health.

The topics of hardware and software architecture related to real-time interaction such as communications infrastructure, structure of specialized memory, integrated circuit equipment for real-time applications, simulation software for new architecture and applications.

The conference is also an opportunity for experts, scientists, and businesses in the field of information technology – telecommunications discuss solutions for the connection and interaction between computers and human beings, as well as applications into particular aspects.

Technology transfer to be localized

Professor Doctor Nguyen Ky Phung, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Department of Science and Technology said in a meeting with the Korean delegation from Daegu City that the transfer of technology from Korea to Vietnam will be localized to suit domestic needs.

According to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ky Phung, the technology transfer of Daegu City will greatly help the comprehensive development of businesses in Vietnam in general and particularly in HCMC.

However, only with deeper understanding about the structure as well as the usage mechanism of these technologies can related domestic businesses manufacture suitable equipment to contribute to the decrease of end-products while increasing workers’ awareness of new technology.

This will be a positive signal for innovative startup companies in Vietnam.

The HCMC Department of Science and Technology guarantees that it will closely cooperate with leaders of Daegu City.

Daegu City is one developed area in Korea with the successful model of Daegu Technopark – where more than 260 high-tech companies are sited and operating in a large scale. They want to introduce their technologies to any Vietnamese businesses in demand. 

Hard to attract investment in health sector: Deputy Health Minister

Deputy Health Minister Pham Le Tuan said that the health sector has encountered difficulties in calling for investment. 

The Deputy Health Minister made the statement at a yesterday meeting themed public-private partnership in healthcare for a prosperous Vietnam.

Mr. Tuan through calling for social contribution in form of public-private partnership (PPP) in healthcare, many hospitals’ facilities nationwide have improved much and medical institutions have enabled to implement new techniques to satisfy patients’ demands.

Meeting participants said that though the healthcare sector receives the government’s attention, limited public fund can’t meet all demands; hence, PPP is the best way to boost the sector.

Before, many patients had gone abroad to undergo liver transplant, in vitro fertilization with high cost but now, they can do it in Vietnam at suitable price.

However, the health sector is facing difficulties in calling for investment because of shortage of experts in PPP and limited sources of personnel.

PPP has seen in building hospital and purchase of equipment while there has been no investment in providing initial healthcare services.

Phu Yen socio-economic development master plan adjusted

The PM has approved the adjustments to Phu Yen Province’s socio-economic development master plan till 2020, with a vision to 2030. 

Accordingly, the central province of Phu Yen is striving to reach the average GRDP growth of 9.5% per year in the 2016-2020 period and 8% per year in the 2021-2030 phase. 

The province’s GRDP per capita is expected to attain US$3,700 by 2020 and US$12,500 by 2030. 

The growth rates of added value in agriculture-forestry-aquaculture, industry-construction and services will obtain 3.3%, 12% and 10% per year, respectively in the 2016-2020 period and 2.6%, 7.5% and 10.1% per year, respectively in the 2021-2030 phase. 

More investment in province’s key industrial sectors 

The province needs to mobilize resources to invest in infrastructure systems and coordinate with investors in launch and operate large-scaled tourist projects as well as attract investment in agriculture and rural development. 

The province focuses on developing some key industrial areas such as pharmaceutical industry, fertilizer, micro-organic organic fertilizer; auxiliary industry, energy industry, clean energy, mechanical engineering; electronics, telecommunications equipment and information technology, agro-forestry-fishery processing industry. 

It also attracts investors in fields of urban infrastructures, housing and real estates and social housing projects and soon launches Hoa Tam Industrial Park. 

The central province continues constructing and completing technical infrastructures at industrial parks in Nam Phu Yen Economic zone and An Phu Industrial Park.  

The Hoa Hoi Solar Plant will be built in Hoa Hoi Commune, Phu Hoa District, Phu Yen Province, with an installed capacity of 214.16MWp. When operating, the Plant will have the capacity of 133.85 MW in the second quarter of 2019. 

Vocational contest based upon Japanese criteria held in Hanoi

Contestants join in a national contest for the assessment of vocational skills, based upon Japanese criteria, at the Hanoi Industrial Vocational College on June 4 

A national contest to evaluate the vocational skills of workers, based upon Japanese criteria, was held for the first time at the Hanoi Industrial Vocational College on June 4.

The contest is designed to evaluate the skills of laborers based upon vocational standards and assessment methods used by Japan’s skills evaluation system. Successful contestants will be awarded national vocational skills certificates.

The Government has approved a plan for the nation’s socio-economic development in the 2016-2020 period, in a bid to transform Vietnam into an industrial country. As such, the Government should develop industrial products and supporting equipment at home, and ensure a sufficient source of hi-tech manpower.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) sponsored a technical cooperation project at the Hanoi University of Industry between 2010 and 2013.

In addition, from September 2010 to July 2018, Japanese experts have assisted at the General Department of Vocational Training.

These activities have contributed to the development of the industrial sector by training and offering skilled manpower, and building the skills evaluation system.

In particular, the Hanoi Industrial Vocational College and Hanoi University of Industry are two of eight vocational training facilities which are receiving support in assessing skills of those seeking employment in mechanical engineering, electricity and electronics.

As a result, 171 candidates have passed vocational assessment exams on a trial basis. Also, many laborers have been equipped with skills similar to the levels tested for in these exams.

Notably, students and teachers from these vocational facilities have taken part in pilot exams – and many successful candidates have even become key employees of Japanese companies in Vietnam.