Authorities rush to rescue sailors from stranded ship

The Binh Thuan Port authorities are hurrying to salvage the Truong Hai ship that has run aground off the southern Binh Thuan Province.

The ship, carrying 3,000 tonnes of rice and 13 sailors, ran aground about nautical 15 miles southwest of Ke Ga Lighthouse in the province's Ham Thuan District on Sunday.

Authorities said that the water tank, meant to balance the ship, had been punctured. The sailors were continuously pumping out water to maintain the vessel's balance and save the ship from sinking. They also asked fishermen nearby to help unload a part of the rice cargo.

The port authority said some fishing boats tried to get access to the ship to steal its cargo and property. The Truong Hai Maritime Transport Company sent a document asking the Binh Thuan port authorities to speed up rescue efforts and to ensure security of the ship.

The port authorities are working with the provincial police and border guard forces to take emergency measures to save the ship and ensure the safety of its property and sailors.

Health minister asks hospitals to tighten waste management

Authority found medical waste illegally dumping by Luong Ngoc Tung Hospital in southern Tay Ninh Province. — Photo baonhandan.com.vn

The Ministry of Health has requested that directors of health departments of provinces and cities strictly handle violations of medical waste management procedures at hospitals, in a directive released yesterday.

The directive was issued after authorities found some hospitals causing environment pollution due to their discarding medical waste. Environmental police recently found untreated medical waste illegally buried near Le Ngoc Tung Hospital - a private general hospital in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

Directors of provincial health departments are requested to act as advisors for provincial People's Committees to prioritise and allocate sufficient financial resources to build medical waste treatment systems for hospitals and to compile a list of medical facilities causing serious environment pollution.

Further, hospital directors are to be required to keep close supervision of medical waste disposal and perform regular inspections to assure waste is properly disposed of. Also, the health ministry was requested to strictly punish those violating regulations relating to medical waste classification, collection, transport and treatment.

Based upon the directive, the ministry's Medical Examination and Treatment Management Department is being asked to research and add medical waste management to the criteria for hospital quality evaluation.

HCM City names, shames 21 firms

The HCM City Taxation Department has announced the names of 21 companies that have for long not paid taxes and owe a total of VND300 billion (US$14 million) in back taxes.

The district 3-based Lam Vien Construction and Investment Joint Stock Company owes the largest amount — VND102 billion ($5.6 million) — followed by another Industrial and Civilian Construction Company (VND32 billion or $1.5 million) and Tan Phong Investment, Trade and Service Company (VND30 billion or $1.4 million).

The department said the companies have continued to evade taxes for a long time despite coercive measures.

It had the right to freeze a company's bank accounts, seize assets, collect receivables from third parties, and rescind the invoice, licence and tax code.

"These enterprises are listed as examples for other companies that have not paid taxes," a department spokesperson said.

"We will continue to publicly more name if they do not pay."

Imported waste faces checks

All imported waste material will be examined at customs checkpoints, according to a new regulation issued by the General Department of Customs that aims to ensure all waste meets national environmental requirements.

Customs officials have seen a lot of waste materials imported that fail to meet the requirements, posing risks to the environment. The department asked local customs offices to examine waste shipments more closely.

Customs offices will check all batches of imported waste material at customs check points before transporting them to factory and manufacturing units.

The department also urged customs offices to look for loopholes in existing mechanisms and legal policies, report them to the department.

According to the Law on Environmental Protection, waste materials imported into the country must be included on the list of waste materials allowed for import by the Prime Minister. Examinations of imported waste materials must be conducted according to national technical regulations.

Khanh Hoa designates six island communes

The People’s Council of central coastal Khanh Hoa province recognised six of its administrative units as island communes in a resolution adopted on July 7.

The communes are Truong Sa, Song Tu Tay and Sinh Ton of Truong Sa island district, Cam Binh of Cam Ranh city, Van Thanh of Van Ninh district and Vinh Nguyen ward of Nha Trang city.

The three communes of Truong Sa district are located 230 miles offshore while Cam Binh commune, closer to the coast, consists of two islands, Binh Ba and Binh Hung with a total population of more than 5,000 people.

Van Thanh and Vinh Nguyen have both island and mainland areas.

The designation will have to be considered by the Minister of Home Affairs and then submitted to the Prime Minister for approval as regulated.

Upgrades to Phu Yen-Gia Lai road commence

Upgrades to a road linking the central province of Phu Yen and the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai began in Dong Xuan district, Phu Yen province on July 6.

As a life-line route between the Central Highlands and central coastal localities, the road will facilitate socio-economic development as well as ensure their national defence and security.

The upgrades will encompass 56.7 kilometres of 5.5-metre-wide roads and include 15 bridges, costing more than 4.66 trillion VND (217.85 million USD) from Government bonds.

The project is expected to be completed in July 2018.-

Outward Bound project receives investment license in Binh Dinh

The central coastal province of Binh Dinh on July 7 granted an investment certificate to the Singaporean KinderWorld Education Group to build Outward Bound skill education facilities.

The 60.3-hectare project in the Tan Thanh tourism site at the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone will be developed in three phases at a total cost of 10 million USD. It will include an Outward Bound life skill ward and auxiliaries, accommodation for students, teachers and experts; and other facilities.

The project aims to provide programmes to develop life skills in line with international standards for students, officials, experts and domestic and foreign travellers while offering housing, healthcare, restaurant, entertainment and sports services.

This is the 16th project invested by Singaporean KinderWorld Education Group in Vietnam, following Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang city, Binh Duong province, Nha Trang city and Vung Tau city. It has a crucial role in developing skills for the youth to overcome challenges in life.

The KinderWorld Education Group was established in Singapore in 1986 to provide quality educational programmes in a creative and challenging learning environment. The Group is currently furthering its operationd in Australia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam.

Outward Bound, founded in 1941 in Wales, is a non-profit educational organisation and expedition school that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through challenging learning expeditions that inspire self-discovery, both in and out of the classroom.

Vietnam tourism sector marks 55th anniversary

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) held a ceremony to mark the 55 th founding anniversary of the sector in Ho Chi Minh City on July 7 as part of activities to raise public awareness of the role of tourism in the country’s socio-economic development.

The event also helped encourage responsibility and creativity among tourism officials to contribute to developing the sector sustainably.

The VNAT also launched a promotional campaign themed “Vietnamese people travel around Vietnam”. In addition, a raft of programmes were held on the occasion, including the 2014 Vietnam tourism award, a competition on sustainable development and a dialogue on integration measures to develop Vietnam.

After the ceremony, over 200 students from the Saigon College of Art, Culture and Tourism participated in a bicycle parade, calling for tourism environment protection.

Workshop promotes tourism competitiveness

A workshop opened on July 7 in Hanoi to examine ways to further boost Vietnam’s tourism development in the new period.

Participants discussed specific actions following the government’s issuance of a resolution to unilaterally waive visa requirements for tourists from Belarus and 5 Western European countries as well as amendments to the Tourism Law for the National Assembly (NA)'s consideration in October next year.

They also discussed the organization and operations of the Fund for Tourism Development Support, which will be established by the government this year, as well as measures to improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s tourism and tourism management.

The country now has approximately 1,500 international travel agencies, more than 13,000 domestic travel operators, and over 15,500 tourist guides.

Ca Mau strives to move locals from protection forest areas

Authorities in southernmost Ca Mau province are taking drastic measures to relocate residents living in a protected forest along the coast as many of them refuse to leave.

Covering 4,000 hectares of land that belong to Phu Tan, Tran Van Thoi, and U Minh districts, the mangrove forest is currently home to 1,500 local households.

Since 2010, Ca Mau has injected more than 200 billion VND (9.2 million USD) into building a number of relocation sites, two of which have been completed.

However, most locals have declined transition offers. Although living near the sea can be hazardous, particularly in rainy season, the families have long relied on the forest to earn a living.

As the province targets to complete the resettlement programme by 2020, authorities are intensifying communication campaigns and establishing collective groups to process seafood, plant vegetables and raise domestic animals, among others.

Coercion will be used only as a last resort for local safety.

Dong Nai builds rural medium-voltage grid

The southern province of Dong Nai will provide Dong Nai power company with a 68 billion VND (3.15 million USD) loan to build a rural medium-voltage grid, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

The sum will be spent on building 126 kilometres of electric lines and 97 transformer stations.

The project is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015.

As many as 416,000 local rural households have so far accessed electricity, or 99.7 percent of Dong Nai population.

In the first half of this year, Dong Nai saved about 135 million kilowatt hours, 61,200 of which were spared during the Earth Hour Campaign.

Vietnam, RoK hospitals conduct joint medical activities

Thai Nguyen International Hospital and the Gumi Gangdong Hospital of the Republic of Korea (RoK) launched a joint medical programme in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on July 7 to mark the decade-old twinning relations between Thai Nguyen and the RoK’s Gyeongsangbuk province.

Through July 9, medical workers of Gumi Gangdong, a leading hospital in cosmetic and spine surgery in the RoK, will offer free check-ups and treatment to local spine, joint and neurosurgery patients.

Later, the two hospitals will inaugurate a hi-tech clinic specialising in cosmetic, spine and joint surgery at the Thai Nguyen International Hospital

The Thai Nguyen International Hospital is the largest private hospital in Vietnam’s northeastern mountainous region.

Bridge to connect new HCM City districts

HCM City plans to build a new bridge to connect the two new urban areas of Thu Thiem and Nam Sai Gon.

The city's Department of Traffic and Transportation recently asked the city's People's Committee for permission to allow the investor to study the construction of the Thu Thiem 4 Bridge to connect Districts 2 and 7 of the city.

The location and scale of the new bridge and investment funds are being discussed.

The key project of constructing the bridge across the River Sai Gon is part of efforts to develop the city by 2020.

Five bridges and a tunnel will connect the Thu Thiem urban area in the District 2 with other regions of the city. The Thu Thiem 1 Bridge and the tunnel across the River Sai Gon have been operational since 2010 and 2011 respectively. Early this year, work also started on the 1.5km-long Thu Thiem 2 Bridge with a total investment of VND3 billion (US$150,000). This bridge is expected to become operational in 2018.

Oil spill response drill practiced in Ca Mau

An oil spill response drill was held on July 7 in the Cai Tau River in the Mekong Delta by the Ca Mau Fertiliser Plant and Ca Mau Power Plant 1 and 2 in Khanh An commune, U Minh district in Ca Mau province.

The scenario enacted the collision of two ferries in the Ca Mau Fertiliser Plant’s port, causing 500 litres of oil to spill from the tank which then spread to the surrounding area, flowing from the Ong Doc River to the Trem and Cau Tau rivers and covering the surface of the Cai Tau River in the northwest and northeast direction.

Along with sounding the alarm in various forms, a steering committee for responding to the disaster mobilised manpower and equipment to deal with the incident in eight planned steps.

As many as 30 people and a number of specialised equipment, including a fire truck, an ambulance, canoes, buoys and a skimmer system were involved in the drill. The buoys were deployed to the river to control the oil flow before the skimmer system absorbed the oil.

The drill aimed to ensure staff and workers at the plants understand how to cope with such an incident as well as the need to coordinate with other forces to stand ready for potential disasters and minimise environmental impacts.

Vietnam, Cambodia search for soldier remains

Cambodia will continue to join Vietnam for search and repatriate of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and specialists who lost their lives to the war in Cambodia, according to Nhan Dan newspaper.

It was part of the contents under a cooperation agreement signed by the special task force committees of the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments during their 14 th talks in Ho Chi Minh City on July 6.

The two committees expressed satisfaction with the progress of their cooperation which has resulted in the repatriation of the remains of more than 701 Vietnamese soldiers, including 15 identified during the 2014-2015 dry season.

During the 2013-2014 dry season, remains of 590 Vietnamese soldiers were found.

The two governments have set a goal to complete the search and retrieval of Vietnamese soldier remains by 2020.

Kon Tum lacks funds to repair unsafe bridges

The transport department of Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands has said there are 108 unsafe suspension bridges in the province.

Many of these suspension bridges are reportedly rudimentary, made of locally available materials such as bamboo and wood, and have been built by the local people themselves.

Ninh Van De, director of the department's transport infrastructure management division, said the department has requested the district authorities in the province to suspend the use of 27 bridges, fearing they could pose a risk to people's lives.

The department has also asked the districts to spend their own money on fixing and upgrading these dilapidated bridges as the rainy season has set in.

Dak Glei is one of the districts in the province with several dilapidated bridges. District officials said 46 of the district's 75 suspension bridges were no longer safe for use.

However, they claimed the district did not have the money to fix or upgrade the ramshackle bridges.

They said all they could do was to set up signs at the bridges' entrance points to warn vehicles that weigh more than what the bridge could bear.

The lack of money to repair Dak Glei bridges is a plight shared by districts with several suspension bridges in a state of disrepair in Kon Tum Province, including Kon Plong, Tu Mo Rong, Ngoc Hoi and Dak To, besides Sa Thay.

The transport ministry had recently set the start of this year's rainy season as the deadline for completing the national goal of building 186 suspension bridges in mountainous provinces in the country.

At a conference held in March to review the suspension bridge construction plans, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong had said the 186 bridges must be operational by the end of this June.

He had said more than 295 suspension bridges, with an investment capital of VND1.3 trillion (US$60.5 million), would be constructed and opened to public by the end of June 2016.

However, head of the Directorate for Roads of Viet Nam Nguyen Trung Sy said some construction companies were moving too slowly, such as Thanh Long JSC and Construction No3 JSC.

Pham Quang Vinh, deputy head of the directorate, on the other hand, blamed the slow work on local authorities, especially in clearing of sites for bridge construction, with some sites showing no progress at all.

Deputy Minister Truong has asked the local authorities to quicken the pace of site clearance. He also asked the directorate to make a list of bridges that still need to attract more investors, and to build a software programme to monitor the bridge projects.

Figures from the transport ministry indicate that of the 1,950 suspension bridges in Viet Nam, only 810 are operational, and roughly 40 per cent show signs of erosion and rust.

Almost 94 per cent of these bridges are located on roads connecting small villages and communes.

Vietnam mulls lowest minimum-wage bump in 3 years

Vietnam looks to raise its minimum monthly salary by just above 10% next year, the lowest level since 2013, a move that apparently bows to the growing pressure of the corporate sector.

Under a government decree that took effect early this year, Vietnam raised the wage floor to VND2.15-3.1 million (US$101.4-US$146.2), or 15%, depending on the location. The government also approved a minimum-wage hike of around 15% in 2014.

But at a recent dialogue on wage polices, Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), told the press that his organization proposed an increase of “above 10%” to offset the recent currency depreciation and make sure that the salary raise is in line with the current labor productivity.

If the wage hike outpaces productivity, it would affect the operations of businesses and eventually have a bearing on economic growth, he said.

Pham Minh Huan, deputy labor minister who chairs the National Wage Council, echoed Loc. “The ministry has to hash out a solution that works for both stakeholders,” he was quoted by news website VnExpress as saying.

The National Wage Council, which advises the government on wage policies, is set to finalize the proposed wage hike this month.

The plan will be submitted to the government for approval in October and will take effect in 2016.

Both foreign and local companies often lament that minimum-wage increases will hit their operations. They warn any further wage hikes will cause grave consequences on Vietnam’s competitiveness in the near term, adding it needs to be considered “very carefully.”

Analysts say corporations are using the large wage increase at one time, usually of around 15%, as an example of uncertainty in economic policy by the government.

That is a legitimate concern and it would be better to set a policy to increase the minimum wage in accordance with the inflation rate or maybe a little more, they say.

But at the end of the day, “the minimum wage is still quite low, and even if labor productivity is not as high in Vietnam, this low level of productivity does not justify the low wages,” Dennis McCornac, a professor of economics at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland, told Thanh Nien News.

“Foreign companies appear to be lobbying the Vietnamese government to make policies favorable to them even if not favorable to workers.”

Vietnam's per capita GDP remains less than US$2,000, according to the World Bank. Experts say the minimum-wage hike is a step in the right direction, but even the annual adjustments are not sufficient enough for workers to make ends meet.

They cover only about 60% of basic necessities for workers, according to the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

A total of 235 wildcat strikes have taken place across Vietnam this year with disgruntled workers demanding better pays and working conditions and protesting against overtime working hours.

In late March, tens of thousands of workers in Ho Chi Minh City protested new rules to the mandatory pension fund that aimed to keep all employees in the state pension system until their retirement date.

The strike compelled the National Assembly, Vietnam's legislature, to vote in June in favor of amending the controversial rule, enabling the workers to receive lump-sum social insurance payments whenever they choose to leave their companies and exit the state pension program.

In the face of growing corporate influence, the victory coming out of the March strike shows that “worker solidarity can pressure the unions and the government to listen to their legitimate concerns, even when foreign investors, chambers of commerce, and economists try to sway the rule of law to fit their profit interests,” said Angie Ngoc Tran, a professor of political economy at the California State University, Monterey Bay.

The race to lure foreign investors by a cheap labor force would only set off a race to the bottom “unless workers get united — because strength is in the numbers — and engage in peaceful dialogue with management and state officials as they did in the strike [in March],” Tran said.

Hanoi tourism official forgets rip-off hotline number

Tourists who are ripped off in Hanoi should not blame themselves if they fail to recall the city’s hotline for complaint, as even a top tourism official does not remember the number.

Truong Minh Tien, deputy director of the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, admitted at a meeting on Friday he forgets the hotline number for tourists to report rip-offs.

The meeting was held to recap the six-month activities of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and was chaired by Minister Hoang Tuan Anh.

The event was overshadowed by news that more and more tourists have stopped visiting Vietnam, and the number of vacationers falling victims to rip-off in the country is on the rise.

“Rip-off is like you steal from the tourists, which will certainly affect Vietnam’s tourism,” the minister said.

Anh urged that relevant agencies must take action to stop the phenomenon, and punish service facilities that refuse to quote prices.

The minister also told the meeting a story to illustrate what awful rip-off tourists may face in the Vietnamese capital city.

“A Vietnamese-American couple went to eat pho in Hanoi the other day and were charged VND800,000 [US$36.75] for two bowls of the noodle,” he said.

The tourists refused to pay and complained, then the eatery owner responded by slashing his knife onto the table and shouted “shut up,” the minister said.

“The couple eventually had to pay VND800,000 and quietly left.”

A bowl of pho normally costs VND30,000-VND50,000 ($1.3-$2.5).

In response to the story of Anh, Tien said he will “review to identify the eatery that ripped the couple off.”

The deputy director also said Hanoi has a hotline to receive complaints from such situation, and that the hotline “is running effectively and helps exposing many cases.”

However, when asked what the hotline number is, Tien admitted he does not remember it, shocking all other attendees at the meeting.

Many cases in which tourists, both foreign and local, are overcharged by service providers at tourism spots across the country have recently been reported by the media.

A tourist has complaint he was charged VND600,000 ($27.5) for a chicken at Sam Son beach in the northern province of Thanh Hoa.

But the province’s tourism department is still investigating the case to determine if it is really a rip-off, deputy director Nguyen Xuan Thanh said at the meeting.

“The customer and the restaurant have conflicting statements so we are unable to conclude the case,” he said.

A Ho Chi Minh City tourist complained to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper earlier this week she was charged VND420,000 ($19.3) for a 1.2kg crab, which turned out to weigh only 420g after cooked, as the heavy string used to tie its claws was removed.

A vacationer from the north-central province of Ha Tinh also complained he had almost paid VND4.43 million ($203) for a VND1.95 million ($90) dinner had he not rechecked the bill when eating at a seafood restaurant in the central city of Da Nang.

A woman from the southern province of Dong Nai, meanwhile, has been severely injured after complaining to a seafood vendor in the south-central province of Binh Thuan that her goods was not properly weighed.

Vietnam posted an 11.3 percent drop in foreign tourist arrivals in the first half of this year, with only 3.8 million international tourists.

The country has waived visas for tourists from five European countries since the beginning of this month in a bid to lure back international visitors.

But the move was apparently off to a rough start as some tourists complained they still had to pay for visas in Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on Wednesday.

First steps to combat natural disasters

At the third Disaster Preparedness Forum (DPF) held in Hanoi last week, Prudential Asia’s chairman Donald Kanak said: “We hope the new contents of the DPF initiative in Vietnam will foster active and substantial public-private dialogue and actions that will improve the resilience of communities and make disasters less devastating.”

Themed “Creating Value through Strategic Partnerships”, the 2015 forum gathered key leaders in the business, humanitarian, and government sectors from across the Asia-Pacific region to explore how effective cross-sector partnerships can build community preparedness and benefit participants.

"Protecting lives is central to everything we do across countries in which we have presence, including Vietnam, and disaster preparedness is a key pillar of all our community investment initiatives. We believe the long-term sustainability of disaster preparedness hinges on collaboration between businesses, governments, NGOs and communities,” said executive director of Prudence Foundation Marc Fancy.

Earlier in March 2015, Prudence Foundation and Prudential Vietnam, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and the Save the Children Fund, launched a Disaster Risk Reduction project in the country.  This three-year programme from 2015 to 2017 aims to increase the disaster preparedness and resilience of 6,000 vulnerable children and 30,000 community members in the disaster-affected areas of Haiphong city, Dien Bien and Tien Giang provinces.

According to the United Nations’ 2015 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, Vietnam has suffered a total economic loss of $5.2 billion and 2.715 deaths a year in the period 2004-2015, mainly resulting from flood and storms.

“Vietnam is one of the five countries predicted to be the most affected by climate change. Currently, people throughout the country are victims to natural disasters, ranging from landslides and floods in the Northern areas, drought in the central and southern provinces, and even extreme heat waves in Hanoi – where we are standing,” said Doan Van Thai, secretary general of the Vietnam Red Cross Society.

Contaminated cashew not licensed in Vietnam

Health authority of Vietnam confirmed that Vietnam has not licensed the US contaminated cashews.

The Food Administration of Vietnam under the Ministry of Health yesterday said that right after receiving the information of the withdrawal of contaminated dried cashew, the administration checked the registration procedures.

Since January 1, 2012 to date, the administration has not issued food safety permission to the cashew made by the US Grand BK Company in Maspeth in New York which was announced to remove 450 packages of dried cashew contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.

However, to ensure consumers’ health condition, the administration will keep a close watch on the product and continue updating related matter to consumers.

Before, from the US health authority,  Grand BK was asked to remove 450 packages of dried cashew contaminated with Salmonella bacteria from supermarket shelves. These products have been labeled  GOODIES BY NATURE RAW CASHEWS 9oz and has expiry April 29, 2016 to May 2, 2016 with bar code UPC 846034010055.

Salmonella is a bacterium that infects the intestines and causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. in some people the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In those patients, the salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. Infants and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

Hanoi to add more doctors for improving health services

Hanoi’s health sector said that it will add more than one thousands doctors to the municipal health worker contingent to achieve the number of doctors the city needs to provide properly qualified health services for its citizens.

According to the city Department of Health, Hanoi currently has 5,313 doctors but still lack 1,177 more to achieve the set goal, the department said.

According to the department, the city also plans to add another 386 hospital beds to minimize the number of bed-sharing patients.

Nguyen Van Dung, Deputy Director of the city’s Department of Health, said that besides encouraging all economic sectors to invest in health services, the health sector will make the most of the information and automatic technologies to create convenience for patients.

Dung said the sector launched a campaign to change medical staff’s attitude to bring satisfaction to patients while maintaining hotlines and making those hotlines’ phone numbers known to all citizens to timely address any problems.

The sector will cut red tape, provide 10 online services and publicise 144 administrative procedures on the department’s portal to bring convenience to all citizens, he added.

The central province of Quang Nam wants to work closely with the US state of Oregon and international community on community-based early warning and disaster mitigation, a senior official was speaking to the Vietnam–Oregon Initiative conference in the locality on July 6.

Disaster control and mitigation is identified as a key task, given that the province has frequently suffered droughts, floods and seawater salinisation in recent years, which caused significant human and material losses, reported Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Le Van Thanh.

He also voiced desire for Oregon’s support in personnel training, construction of disaster-proof facilities and storm alert stations.

Quang Nam is launching awareness campaigns about disaster prevention, raising the capacity of storm forecast, devising scenarios for evacuation from flood-prone areas and building water reservoirs.

Representatives from Oregon’s Portland University shared their relevant experience, including how to engage the public into concrete action plans to counter the effects of climate change.

The Vietnam-Oregon Initiative started off in May 2014 with the objective of building a comprehensive and effective partnership network among their individuals and organisations across the fields of search and rescue, trade, education-training and public administration.

The conference was co-hosted by Quang Nam authorities and Portland University.

Kien Giang actively implementing ethnic policies

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has spent around 600 billion VND (27.6 million USD) building and upgrading infrastructure facilities to support disadvantaged households in ethnic minority areas since 2011.

In recent years, local authorities have become aware of the importance of ethnic affairs, the Party Central Committee approved Resolution No.24-NQ.TW on ethnic policy, this has contributed vastly to the improvement of living conditions for local people.

Thanks to efforts made by local authorities, as many as 1,422 households were granted land to build houses, while 100 others received land for cultivation.

During the period, 14 concentrated water supply facilities, serving over 1,200 local families were constructed.

Meanwhile, nearly 4,900 youths from ethnic groups were offered vocational training under the localities support programmes.

The percentage rate of poor households saw the annual average reduce 2-3 percent, resulting in the rate of 7.41 percent. Nearly 96 percent of the local population have been connected to the national electricity network and 76 percent of them have gained access to clean water.

Education and training for Khmer people, along with efforts to preserve local cultural identity of the ethnic groups have also been given due attention.

Additionally, the locality gained positive results from implementing national health care and environmental sanitation programmes.

According to the Head of the provincial Committee for Ethnic Affairs Danh Ngoc Hung, local authorities will continue to implement support programmes and projects for Khmer people in the future, hence promoting socio-economic development in the locality, especially for ethnic minorities.-