Vietnam introduced signature sophisticated handicrafts and traditional cuisine to the Asia-Pacific Women’s Association’s spring festival in Brussels on May 6, which attracted women from 17 foreign embassies in Belgium. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony, President of the Asia-Pacific Women’s Association (APWA) Sandra Thamrin, who is also spouse of the Indonesian Ambassador, said the event affords spouses of ambassadors a chance to contribute to a stronger APWA and popularise their countries and people to the member states and Belgian public in particular. 

The festival also aims to raise fund for the member states’ charity organisations and offer support to women and children hard hit by natural disasters. 

Participants at the event were treated to folk music and traditional cuisines and given an insight into rich cultures of participating countries. 

APWA was initiated by spouses of the ambassadors of Asian-Pacific countries in Belgium and the European Union. 

Vietnamese students in Italy hold festival

The Vietnamese Students’ Association in Italy held a student festival and Vietnamese culture day in Italy at Calabria University on May 6.

Present at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador Cao Chinh Thien reminded the students of unifying and supporting each other and acquiring Italy’s educational quintessence in order to contribute more to Vietnam’s development when returning home.

This year’s event attracted the participation of nearly 200 Vietnamese students and several foreign students across Italy in friendly football matches, art performances, a traditional costume show, and folk games.

Earlier on the same day, Ambassador Thien had a working session with Prof. Gino Microle Crisci, Rector of Calabria University, to discuss measures to promote cooperation between the Italian university and Vietnamese universities.

Thien affirmed that Vietnam paid attention to its cooperation with Italy, especially in training, and considers human resources improvement a motivation to boost development.

The rector asked the Vietnamese embassy to introduce Vietnamese businesses and organisations to projects of Calabria University’s research facilities in biology, renewable energy, environmental protection and mechanics.

More than 100 Vietnamese students are taking courses in Calabria University.

President Ho highlighted in live broadcast on Egyptian channel

A 150-minute programme about the life and career of late President Ho Chi Minh was live broadcast on the Egyptian Nile TV cultural channel on May 6, on the occasion of his 127th birth anniversary (May 19) and the 63rd anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory (May 7). 

It was the third time the Nile TV has aired a special programme about Vietnam. 

In an interview granted to Nile TV, permanent deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Tran Dac Loi and Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Do Hoang Long introduced the life, career and role of the late President in Vietnam’s national liberation cause and the national liberation movements in Africa, as well as his contributions to Vietnam-Egypt traditional ties. 

Long said President Ho laid a foundation for friendly ties between the two nations, adding that he set foot on Egypt for the first time on his way to seek national salvation in 1911, and travelled to Port Said and Sakara pyramid in 1946 when he held a working session with the Egyptian government and talked with the host residents. 

During the war against French and American invaders, the Egyptian people expressed their support to Vietnam’s justice fight for independence. The President also initiated and founded the Vietnam-Egypt Chamber of Commerce, thereby facilitating bilateral economic links. 

During the interview, Assistant to Egyptian Foreign Minister in charge of international cultural affairs Medhat El-Meligy and Commercial Counsellor Pham The Cuong highlighted measures to further enhance bilateral cultural and trade ties, especially in fields of strength. 

The programme also featured many short clips popularising Vietnam, its culture and people.

Poet Việt Phương dead at 89

Việt Phương, a poet of the first generation of Việt Nam’s modern poets, died on Saturday. He was 89.

Born in 1928, Phương, whose real name was Trần Quang Huy, joined revolutionary activities against the French when he was 17.

In 1947, two years after the establishment of the Central Government Office, Phương moved to work as secretary of then Deputy Prime Minister, Phạm Văn Đồng.

Phương held official posts for 53 years, working for Deputy PM Đồng until he became PM, and then advisor to the Party Central Committee.

Phương’s most outstanding work is the poem collection Cửa Mở (Opened Door) published in 1970, reflecting his then fresh thoughts on ideal values.

Poet Anh Ngọc said of Phương’s work: “It’s my honour to be one of the first readers of the Opened Door. In this poem collection, Phương has dared to think and write his opinions, which went against common majority perceptions at that time. As time goes by, it has been proved that he is a modern-minded person, ahead of his time.”

Phương’s other significant poem collections include Khóc Bác (Crying for President Hồ), Âm Vang (Echo), Cỏ Dọc Đường Trần (Grass on the Earth), Cửa Đã Mở (Door Opened Already).

Contemporary terracotta works on view in Hanoi

Simple-looking terracotta pieces of curious shapes are being showcased in a contemporary exhibit in Hanoi.

The exhibition is running at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc St. in Ba Dinh District, from Friday to Thursday next week (May 11).

Artist Nguyen Nguyen Ha showcases ten pottery objects of curious shapes such as worms, snails, cocoons and stylized jars.

Meanwhile, artist Thai Nhat Minh introduces his oeuvre themed ‘Tim Trong Ky Uc’ (Nostalgia), which are inspired by pottery wares dexterously created by craftspeople at Huong Canh Pottery Village.

The 300-year-old village, nestled in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, has been long known for its no-glaze terracotta items.    

Minh’s pieces and installations are reminiscent of the pastoral life hundreds of years ago, during which people held dear their terracotta items for daily use.

Both the artists’ works arouse curiosity, imagination and prompt profound contemplation among beholders.

Power engineer arrested as suspect in US$100k robbery at Vietcombank branch

A thermal power engineer has been arrested and identified as the suspect who robbed US$100,000 worth of USD and VND from a Vietcombank branch in the southern province of Tra Vinh last week, police said on May 6.

$100k robbery at vietcombank branch hinh 0 The masked man who entered the bank in Duyen Hai District, threatening its tellers with an alleged gun before fleeing with the cash on April 27 is Le Lam Hung, 29, according to the Ministry of Public Security’s criminal investigative unit (C45).

“Hung is an engineer who is working at the Duyen Hai Thermal Power Plant in Tra Vinh,” C45 chief Ho Sy Tien confirmed on Saturday.

The suspect confessed to working alone in the robbery, where he left the bank with VND1.6 billion (US$70,000) in Vietnamese dong and over $30,000 in U.S. dollars.

Hung, who works at a project management unit at the thermal power plant, was arrested at workplace at around 2:00 pm on Saturday.

The 29-year-old graduate hails from the northern province of Hung Yen and has recently relocated to Tra Vinh to work on the project.

He confessed to hiding the stolen money right at his workplace.

Police said they found only US$35,900 in cash at his workplace, with Hung confessing to using VND1.5 billion (US$66,225) of the stolen money to repay betting debts.

The engineer said he had decided to rob a bank to have money to pay for a huge debt from losing on football betting.

He had carefully studied the Vietcombank branch in Duyen Hai for a while before carrying out the plot, using a fake gun bought from Ho Chi Minh City’s Kim Bien market and a black Yamaha Sirius motorbike borrowed from one of his close friends.

According to CCTV footage, Hung was wearing a hoodie and facemask when he entered the bank and used the firearm to threaten one of the tellers to open the safe to give him the cash.

Hung said he had decided to continue going to work as normal to dodge suspicion. Even so, it took Tra Vinh police only ten days to identify the suspect.

Hanoi BRT line hit by poor occupancy, four months after launch

The first bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Hanoi is not running at its full capacity despite having been in operation for four months.

The buses are overcrowded during rush hours while running scarce of passengers for the rest of the day.
Hanoi launched its maiden BRT line on December 31, 2016, hoping to encourage its citizens to make a switch from personal vehicles to public transport as a measure to curb worsening traffic in the city.

The route runs 14.7 kilometers between Yen Nghia bus station in Ha Dong District and Kim Ma station in Dong Da District.

However, as Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper noted on Saturday morning, bus stops along both directions of the BRT line were almost empty, with only 40 passengers in total boarding the bus in one trip.

These passengers said they enjoyed the bus’ modernity, though its ill-designed running schedule must be improved.

“The buses are overcrowded with passengers between 7:00-8:30 am or 5:00-6:30 pm, to the point that there are hardly any seats left,” a Ministry of Health official, who commutes from home to the ministry’s headquarters by the BRT every day, said.

“However, passengers are scarce between 12:00 and 4:00 pm.”

According to a BRT driver, the first rapid bus route is running at a five-minute interval during rush hours, and a 15-minute interval for the rest of the day.

Most passengers who take the bus during off-peak hours are retirees, he said, while there are few bus-takers who are students, because there are no BRT stops near local schools and universities.

There are currently 24 buses on the Kim Ma – Yen Nghia service, which operates between 5:00 am and 10:00 pm every day, taking around 42 minutes to cover the distance at the speed of 20-22 kilometers per hour.

The BRT allowed passengers to travel for free during its first month of operations, before charging VND7,000 per round in February. The service has since served only 42.4 passengers per trip on average, less than half of their design capacity of 90 passengers.

Many experts are complaining that the BRT line, which cost more than VND1 trillion (US$44.64 million) to develop, is a waste of money that could have been put to better use by investing in conventional buses.

Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former director of the Transport Publishing House, asserted that the competence of BRTs in easing traffic is not superior to regular buses, if not less.

“BRT enjoys a separate lane for itself but so far it has failed to live up to the expected capacity, while shortening only 20% of running time,” Thuy said.

“That’s a complete waste of money when we put its development cost and actual effectiveness side by side.

“The money would have been better spent on regular buses.”

A transport professor also pointed out that too much money had been spent on building unnecessarily modern BRT stops, which not only takes up too much space but is also a danger to traffic safety.

The professor also criticized the decision to re-pave the entire BRT lane with concrete while the previous asphalt road was still in good condition.

“They said it was to ensure the lane’s durability, but how come trucks weighing a lot more have been rolling on the asphalt without troubles and BRT buses cannot? That’s absurd,” the professor said.

In response to these comments, Vu Van Vien, director of Hanoi’s Department of Transport, told Tuoi Tre that the BRT means of transport was still in its early stage in Vietnam, and that more experience was to be drawn from the initial implementation.

Vien added that there was “no need for worries” about the capacity of BRT buses, as the number of passengers would continue to rise in the coming time as more residential areas start to spring up along the route.

Regarding the ‘lane monopoly’ of BRT buses, Vien said Hanoi chairman Nguyen Duc Chung had approved the department’s proposal to allow regular buses onto BRT lanes in the future.

However, Vien rejected the suggestion that the concrete lane was a waste of money, since it was included in the planning “approved by relevant authorities” and was “a must”.

Hanoi is eyeing the development of eight similar BRT lines in the city, with the next expected to connect Kim Ma bus station with Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park in Thach That District.

Public funds vital for clean water

Difficulties in calling for foreign help make it difficult for residents in rural and isolated areas to enjoy filtered and clean water, experts have said.

Residents in rural and isolated areas are those most in need of filtered water, but it is difficult to call for foreign investment in developing water supplies for those areas, said Lương Văn Anh, director of the National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NCERWASS).

It is essential to attract investment from enterprises to increase the number of clean water supply constructions for these areas, he said at a conference on developing plans for clean water supply for rural areas last Friday.

At the conference, Đỗ Tiến Thành, director of the water resource management department under the Water Resource Directorate said it is a national target to provide filtered water for 95 per cent of the population and clean water for 55 per cent by 2020.

He stressed the importance of support from the government’s budget and capital from society, as well as funds from international organisations to reaching the target. He requested commercial banks to offer preferential loan interest rates to private enterprises.

In addition, it is important to improve the water supply system with environmentally-friendly technologies such as combining renewable energies with electricity, as well as to increase usage of automatic water quality operation and control applications, he added.

Water quality should be examined regularly, and smaller water supply stations should be developed for new urban areas, he said.

Climate change is threatening water resources from upstream and preventing residents in rural areas from accessing the resources during natural disasters, requiring a new approach to clean water supply for these areas, said Deputy Agricultural Minister Hoàng Văn Thắng.

Water pollution is getting worse in mountainous areas and Central Highlands due to poor water resource management, which requires detailed analysis and solutions, he said.

Filtered water has been provided to some 87.5 per cent of the population last year, of which 49 per cent has enjoyed water that qualified for the national technical standards for domestic water, regulated by the Ministry of Health.

100 per cent of citizens in the Đà Nẵng City, HCM City, Đồng Nai and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu provinces have enjoyed filtered water.

VN marks Red Cross, Red Crescent Day

Nearly 600 leaders, officials and volunteers from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Việt Nam Red Cross Society took part in the 2017 World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day celebration in HCM City on Saturday.

The celebration are annually held around the world on May 8, the day the NGO’s founder, Henry Dunant, was born.

It is an opportunity to recognise the work of its volunteers and staff, including blood donations, disaster response, first aid training and health and social programmes.

Today the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the largest humanitarian network in the world, with 17 million volunteers in 190 countries, Cherine Pollini, head of office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Việt Nam, said.

“It is a neutral and impartial body whose mission is to alleviate, on a daily basis, human suffering, protect life and health, and uphold human dignity, especially during armed conflicts and other catastrophes.

“Việt Nam is unfortunately a good example of a country which has suffered wars but also natural catastrophes.”

The Việt Nam Red Cross, along with its Red Cross and Red Crescent partners, would continue to help women, men, children and elderly, poor and rich, and all those who have been struck by fate regain dignity and hold their head up again, she added.

To mark the occasion, the Việt Nam Red Cross-HCM City Chapter and hospitals in the city pledged to accomplish more than 369 humanitarian works costing a total of VNĐ 29 billion (US$1.28 million), including building houses and providing free health insurance cards, health check-ups and treatment for the poor.

Trà Vinh robbery suspect arrested

Trà Vinh Province police arrested a suspected bank robber on Saturday after ten days of investigation.

The arrested man is Lê Lâm Hưng, 29, from Khoái Châu District of northern Hưng Yên Province. He lives in Duyên Hải town of Trà Vinh Province and works as an electrical engineer at the Duyên Hải 3 thermal power plant management board.

He confessed that he robbed the bank alone on the afternoon of April 26. The case is being further investigated.

The man parked a motorbike without number plates at the Vietcombank branch in Trà Vinh Province, pointed a gun at bank employees and demanded cash. He was given about VNĐ1.6 billion (US$69,500) and nearly $36,000.

The Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Đồng Văn Lâm decided to present merit certificates and VNĐ50 million ($2,230) to the robbery task force.

Farmers reap benefits of planting local trees

A former plunderer of valuable trees in the nation’s forests is now making a decent living from planting and nurturing them.

He is part of a growing trend in the central province of Quảng Bình where residents are planting trees that used to grow in local forests instead of easily harvestable ones like cajeput.

The longer-term strategy is helping them earn billions of đồng while better protecting the local environment and helping preserve different kinds of valuable local trees.

A four-hectare forest in Hà Village, Thanh Hóa Commune, Tuyên Hóa District, has valuable trees said to be facing a high risk of extinction, like ironwood, canary-wood and aloe wood.

The forest is the lifelong achievement of farmer Đinh Xuân Diễn, 78.

Diễn said that in 1997, after a long time of working as illegal logger, he quit the job, unable to witness anymore the destruction he and his peers were wreaking on the nation’s forest and the environment. At that time, the State was encouraging citizens to join a campaign of planting forests.

Diễn decided to take wild piece of land, which happened to be a national historic site, to plant trees and set up a farm.

Unlike like other people, Diễn did not plant trees like eucalyptus and cajeput, focusing instead on what used to grow traditionally in the area, like ironwood, canary-wood and aloe wood.

At that time, no person in the area could germinate these trees, so Diễn took saplings from the forest. He did this over many years, taking saplings from the forest and planting them on his land. His patience and care has seen his forest grow to more than 2,000 ironwood trees, 500 canary wood trees and thousands of other trees.

Diễn is the only man in the province with such a large collection of ironwood trees. Each of them has a diameter of about 50cm and are several dozen metres tall.

Diễn and his family have lived well for several years now on income from forestry products. He sells ironwood mushrooms for VNĐ2 million (US$90) per kilogramme, as well as fruits like grapefruits, oranges, jackfruits and bananas.

In 2014, Diễn earned VNĐ600 million ($26,600) from selling aloe wood.

“I could have harvested early if I had planted eucalyptus and other kinds of trees. But this would not be good for the environment. I planted local trees with the hope of giving back to the forest its natural beauty and maintaining different kinds of valuble wood trees that I used to destroy.”

Diễn is not the only person in the province that has shifted to planting and nurturing local trees.

Nguyễn Xuân Thiết lives in Hương Hóa Commune, Tuyên Hóa District. He converted 15ha of cajeput forest into one that was home to local trees including ironwood. The forest earns his family an income of several million đồng (VNĐ100 million equals $4,300) per year.

Nguyễn Tri Phương, head of the Tuyên Hóa District Agriculture and Rural Development Division, said that the time taken to plant and harvest local trees was double that of others, but the income it brought in many times more than industrial trees like cajeput and eucalyptus.

Planting local trees not only earned them good profits, but also protected the environment and preserved valuable trees that were in danger of being lost forever, he said. 

Vietnamese man imprisoned for ivory smuggling

The Hà Nội People’s Court yesterday sentenced Phạm Văn Luật, a resident in Hải Phòng City, to 12 years in prison for illegally transporting ivory, a banned good under Clause 1, Article 155 of the Penal Code. 
On August 12, 2015, anti-smuggling police and the customs force at the Nội Bài international airport in Hà Nội carried a check of Luật’s luggage after he arrived on a flight from Luanda (Angola). They found in his suitcase 24 chunks of ivory and a number of ivory bangles, weighing 50.6 kg in total. 
When the ivory was detected, Luật fled the airport. More than a year later, on December 22, 2016, he handed himself in to police and admitted his violation of law. 
Luật told the police that he was paid US$200 to carry the ivory from Luanda to Việt Nam by a man named Quang, who he made acquaintance of while working in Angola. 
The seized ivory was found to be tusks of the Loxodonta Africana elephant, a species listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). 
A separate investigation will be launched into the man named Quang, as the police has not obtained accurate information on his identity and address.

Korean tourist saved from myocardial infarction

Family Hospital in the central city of Da Nang saved a Korean man from myocardial infarction, the hospital said yesterday.

Korean man Choi H.S was rushed to the hospital on May 5 when he suddenly suffered heart attack including serious pain in his left breast along with breathing difficulties. He turned blue and sweated.

At the hospital, doctors were quickly to provide emergency treatment to him diagnosing that he suffered myocardial infarction. CT scan results showed that right coronary artery was blocked totally; accordingly, surgeons  performed operation to place stent in the artery.

The operation was carried out in 30 minutes by Dr. Dang Cong Hoang.

The patient’s son thanked the surgeon team and the chief doctor for saving his father from the heart attack.

Hospital Deputy Head Dr. Le Van Thanh said surgeon teams have saved many foreigners who suffered heart attack when the foreigners have been traveling in Da Nang City.

People who want to work abroad receive advice

The assistance is part of a preferential credit programme the bank has designed for labour export activities.

Nguyen Van Ly, Deputy General Director of the bank said that the programme has significantly contributed to poverty reduction efforts in various localities as well as the National Target Programme on Poverty Reduction, while helping the country collect a considerable sum of hard currencies.

Workers returning home after overseas working terms are likely to produce higher productivity and work performance, thus raising their living standards.

Music gala celebrates Dien Bien Phu victory

A music gala was held in Dien Bien Phu city, the northern province of Dien Bien on May 6 night, marking the 63rd anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, which closed French colonial rule in Vietnam.   

The 90-minute performance restaged monumental milestones of the Dien Bien Phu campaign, reminding spectators of great sacrifices made by many war heroes who did their best for the national independence. 

The Dien Bien Phu 56-day campaign resounded around the world and its victory saw the role of late President Ho Chi Minh and late General Vo Nguyen Giap, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People's Army.

The Dien Bien Phu Victory on May 7, 1954 is considered a glorious “golden milestone” in history of the Vietnamese people’s struggle against foreign aggressors. It marked the complete collapse of old colonialism all over the world, paving the way for the movement to struggle for national liberation in colonial countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Meeting marks International Red Cross Day

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) held a meeting in Hanoi on May 7 to mark International Red Cross and Red Crescent Day and launch a blood donation programme.

Speaking at the event, VRC Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Xuan Thu said that the day affirms the importance of humanitarian activities in support for the most vulnerable groups in the community.

With the theme “Red Cross – Everywhere for Everyone”, this year’s event highlighted the diversification and creativeness of each red cross society in tackling current humanitarian challenges.

The over-70-year-old Vietnam Red Cross Society has become a prestigious member which has actively contributed to works of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

It has implemented a series of humanitarian programmes in various fields, including health care, social relief and disaster response.

Last year, the organisation distributed 35 foreign non-governmental aid packages worth nearly 117 billion VND (5.16 million USD), of which more than 77 billion VND came from partners of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

A “cow bank” is VRC’s prominent project since it has been providing breeding cows as means of support to families ridden by economic difficulties across 63 cities and provinces. 

After the meeting, VRC members and volunteers joined the blood donation programme. 

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