Labour exports off to rip-roaring start

The Department of Overseas Labour (DOLAB) has revealed that Vietnam sent 8,669 guest workers to foreign markets in January, accounting for 9.13% of the target set for the entire year.

Taiwan was the nation’s largest export market, receiving 5,136 workers, followed by Japan (1,926), Malaysia (679), Saudi Arabia (437), the Republic of Korea (114), Macao (101) and other markets.

In 2015, the DOLAB has set an annual plan to send 100,000 Vietnamese labourers abroad.

Supporting disadvantaged children in Tet festival

The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, the Association for the Support of Vietnamese Handicapped and Orphans and some other agencies launched a programme in Hanoi on February 4 to help disadvantaged children enjoy a happy spring.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Nguyen Dinh Lieu, President of the association said the programme aims to assist orphans and people with disabilities to welcome the Lunar New Year (Tet).

Responding to the programme TH True Milk Joint Stock Company donated 18,000 cups of milk. Olympia high school presented 500 shares of gift and other agencies offered gifts in cash and kind.

As scheduled, on February 10, the programme’s organizing board will present gifts to children in northern region, including those in the Thien Phuc Charity Center, the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Thanh Nhan Hospital and the Vietnam Blind Association.

Conference calls on partners to support forestry industry

This year, the forestry industry will accelerate renovation of the forest management system particularly that of specialized and preventive forests, stop forest exploitation and combine forest protection and development with improvement of living conditions of planters and poverty reduction for people of ethnic minority groups.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan emphasised at the annual meeting of the Forest Sector Support Partnership (FSSP) in Hanoi on February 4.

Tuan said climate change and international economic integration opens up a number of opportunities and challenges for the forestry industry. Vietnam’s fully engagement in and implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs) will help raise its credibility in the region and the world. However, it also causes risks for forest planters and small-and medium-sized timber export enterprises.

In coming times, the sector will focus on development of forests with economic efficiency and improve the productivity, quality and value of each kind of forest, gradually supplying wood and other forest products for domestic consumption and exports.

This year, the sector aims to earn VND25 trillion in forestry production value, a growth of 7-7.2%, an export revenue of US$6.7 billion and forest coverage of 42%.

Addressing the event, Kirsten Hegener, co-chair of the FSSP, said the FSSP hopes to share more information about the sector’s restructuring activities, especially their impact on FSSP post-2015 activities.

Since its operation in Vietnam in 2000, the FSSP has assisted the forest sector in developing more than 40 legal documents, projects, programmes and local forestry networks as well as helped Vietnam access international initiatives.

OVs in Cambodia provide Tet gifts for disadvantaged people

The Association of Khmer Vietnamese in Koh Kong province has provided Tet gifts for disadvantaged overseas Vietnamese and Cambodians living in the province.

About 300 km southwest of Phnom Penh and bordering Thailand, Koh Kong is a remote and poor province in Cambodia.

Most of about 1,500 Khmer Vietnamese people here live by fishing and handicraft making and are leading a very difficult life.

Established in 2011, the association has provided legal assistance for the OVs to help them integrate into their residing country and develop household economy.

The Association has also arranged a number of free medical check-ups and presented Tet gifts for the impoverished people in the locality, contributing to socio-economy development and promoting the position of the Vietnamese community in the country.

Widened City canal improves environment

A 600 metre-odd stretch of the Hang Bang canal in HCM City's District 6 will be widened to 11m, its original size.

The 1,400m canal that joins Lo Gom Canal in District 6 with Van Tuong Canal in District 5, has narrowed to 2-3m at both ends besides the 600m stretch.

"The [600m] section of the canal was buried when the underground sewer was built in 1999–2000," Vo Van Van, head of the district's Site Clearance and Compensation Committee was quote as saying by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

"The widened canal will increase the flow of water and improve environmental quality."

The work will start next year and take four years.

"After the canal work is finished, 58 households in front of Binh Tay Market will be moved out to create a park," Van said.

Ngo Viet Nam Son, an architect, said, "A canal system that links up with the river system will help control flooding and improve the climate and environment."

Prof Dr Le Huy Ba, former head of the Industry University's Environment Management and Science Technology Institute, said, "Other polluted canals should be cleaned and widened."

The task might be very expensive but it would stop flooding in the city.

"If we don't have the money to renovate canals, at least keep them. The next generation will do it. We are not allowed to bury canals like Hang Bang."

Ho Phi Long, director of the National University HCM City's Water and Climate Change Centre, agreed: "This is the way to restore nature."

Reclaiming space for water is very important because with these spaces, water flow can be naturally adjusted and flooding avoided, he pointed out.

Many other canals like Hiep Tan in Tan Phu District and Phan Van Han in Binh Thanh District will be reclaimed and have roads built on top.

"The Hiep Tan canal project has been approved by the HCM City People's Committee and is awaiting funding," Nguyen Tan Luc, chairman of the Tan Phu District People's Committee, said.

Luc explained that building a road on a reclaimed canal would be cheaper than acquiring and clearing land.

According to an estimation by the Industry University's Environment Management and Science Technology Institute, around 30 per cent of the canals of the city are already gone.

Another estimate from the Southern Irrigation Science Institute says that between 1996 and 2008 HCM City lost 100 canals measuring a total of 4,000ha.

Doctors recommend chicken pox vaccine

Health officials have recommended that children aged one and over should receive chicken pox vaccinations as 10 cases have occurred every week since January 1.

Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of HCM City Peadiatric Hospital No.1's neurology and infectious diseases ward, said four children with chicken pox were treated at the ward yesterday.

Khanh expects an increase in cases this year over 2014, based on the number of cases so far.

Parents should take the initiative and bring their children to hospitals for the vaccine, Khanh said.

Last year, the city experienced a shortage of vaccines when parents flooded the hospitals when the number of cases reached a peak.

Two shots are effective, Khanh said.

At a conference on disease-prevention activities held in HCM City on Tuesday, Phan Trong Lan, head of the HCM City Pasteur Institute, said 8,492 chicken-pox cases occurred in southern provinces last year, an increase of 2.1 times compared to 2013.

Last year, the incidence of other contagious diseases, including measles, Rubella, whooping cough, and hand, foot and mouth, also increased compared to 2013.

The number of measles cases increased 10.2 times; Rubella, 3.4 times; whooping cough, by 20 per cent; and hand, foot and mouth, by 16.1 per cent.

The incidence of hand, foot and mouth cases in the southern provinces accounted for 73 per cent of the total number of cases in the country.

Of the most common infectious diseases, hand, foot and mouth had the highest number of fatalities (eight) in the southern region.

Co-ordination key to implementing UN One Health strategy

Viet Nam has made progress with the One Health (OH) initiative, but still needs to develop a strategic co-ordination mechanism along with an action plan and road map, UN Resident Co-ordinator in Viet Nam Pratibha Mehta said at the opening of the third One Heath Conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

During the conference, options were discussed for stronger co-operation between human, animal and ecosystem health under the OH umbrella.

"International experience suggests that for sustainable results ‘One Health' requires a multi-sectoral approach that goes beyond human and animal health sectors to include partners from natural resource management, ecosystem health and development planning sectors," she said.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam said Viet Nam had made accomplishments in co-ordinating with other countries to prevent avian flu H5N1 epidemics. However, Viet Nam was located in a relatively high-risk region for new, re-emerging and recurring infectious diseases in human, livestock and animals, so the current challenge was to maintain long-term efforts to address infectious diseases among human and animals.

In recent months, worldwide attention has focused on the impact of new and emerging infectious diseases, including Ebola and avian influenza, which can have massive, rapid and far-reaching consequences on human health, livelihoods, food safety and economic development.

One Health is an initiative involves applying a coordinated, collaborative, multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral approach to address potential or existing risks that originate at the animal-human-ecosystems interface.

The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment. In less than four years, One Health has been formally endorsed by the European Commission, the US Department of State, World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and United Nations System Influenza Coordination (UNSIC) as well as various universities and NGOs.

Conference tackles judicial corruption

Corruption in the judiciary is becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it hard to even define what bribery is and curb it, a seminar on judicial graft in the south heard in HCM City on Monday.

"Corrupt officials make up a big proportion of the judicial office, and it is hard for the public to trust the judicial system," Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Duc Chinh, a former deputy justice minister, as telling the seminar.

If the Government wants to curb bribery in the judiciary, it should pay attention to the quality of human resources and monitor officials' assets, he said.

Many judicial officials take bribes, but the judiciary is independent and not under the control of other agencies, he pointed out, calling for creating an entity to oversee it.

"People go to the courts as the final resort. If corruption is widespread here too, who can they depend on?"

Concurring with Chinh, Le Thi Thu Ba, deputy head of the Central Judicial Renovation Steering Committee, said judicial officials have the huge power of arresting and releasing people and deciding on cases involving thousands of billions of dong.

"If we don't have professional, skillful, moral, and responsible personnel who are brave enough to safeguard justice, who can people depend on?

"The most important thing is that we must define what bribery is in all spheres of the judiciary. Public and media oversight of judicial activities is also very important."

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, deputy chairman of the HCM City Lawyers Association, admitted that a lot of lawyers pay bribes because judicial officials demand them.

"The existing justice model has created conditions for lawyers to become bribers to get favourable verdicts because of the lack of oversight over the justice system.

"The inequality between lawyers and judicial officers needs to be reviewed."

In recent times the Supreme People's Procuracy has actively fought corruption as dozens of personnel have been fined and even criminally prosecuted.

"Corruption in the justice sector is severely punished because justice directly impacts human rights," Hoang Thi Quynh Chi, deputy head of the People's Supreme Procuracy's Criminal Science Institute, said.

Truong Hoa Binh, chief justice of the Supreme People's Court, said a judicial official is not the same as other State personnel.

"A complete and transparent legal system is a must to streamline judicial activities. At the same time we must eliminate the situation where people can get different verdicts from different courts in a case."

Draft decree boosts financial support for forest growers

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a draft decree yesterday, which will boost forest protection and development by doubling financial support for poor ethnic minorities in forest areas.

The decree will provide mechanisms and policies to encourage forest regeneration and protection and promote and develop non-wood forest products in line with poverty reduction through 2020. Ethnic minority households in the mountainous and rural areas will be the beneficiaries of the decree.

According to the decree, households involved in forest protection will be paid VND400,000 (US$18.8) per hectare per year, doubling the payment from the current level.

Those committed to forest regeneration will be given VND1 million ($47.1) per hectare per year within six years for low-intensity efforts, and VND2 million ($94.3) per hectare per year within the first three years and VND1 million for the next three years for more intensive projects.

For planting a forest, an individual can earn VND10 million ($471) per hectare if the forest has trees that are more than 10 years old, and VND6 million ($282) per hectare for trees that were planted less than a decade ago.

These households will also be granted additional support, such as a supply of rice and favourable interest rates for bank's loans.

At a meeting to discuss the draft decree yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, said the protection and development of forests is one of the measures being adopted for achieving sustainable poverty reduction.

However, the draft regulations should benefit all the people living in the mountain areas.

He added that the draft resolution should encourage residents to make full use of forest land for developing production and livestock by offsetting interest costs through bank loans.

Deputy PM Ninh added that the rate of poor households in remote areas has fallen by over 5 per cent annually. However, that percentage of ethnic minorities remains as high as 50 per cent.

At the conference, participants approved the issuance of the decree and also suggested raising the number of beneficiaries to include the Kinh people, who also live in disadvantaged areas.

Poor services drive commuters away from buses

The dwindling quality of bus services caused the number of people using public buses in HCMC to fall 4.7% to 593 million last year against the previous year, according to the city Department of Transport.

Last year, around 1.62 million people commuted by bus a day. The department said at a review conference on Monday that city buses had met only 9.9% of the travel demand of local commuters.

Pham Dinh Duc, head of the department’s Road Transport Management Division, said results of the survey on the satisfaction index of bus passengers conducted by the HCMC Institute for Development Studies found five reasons for passengers’ dissatisfaction with bus services.

Among those reasons, the bad attitude of staff accounted for 24.6% of respondents, low-quality buses for 14.5% and a lack of safety for 10.1% while reckless bus drivers and late services making up 14.4% and 6.8% respectively.

According to the department, city people stay away from public buses as it is inconvenient for them to commute by bus. On top of that, bus drivers usually drive too fast and carelessly and do not stop at right stations.

Last year, the HCMC Public Passenger Transport Management and Operation Center fined bus drivers a combined VND2.5 billion (US$117,250) for the two reasons.

Other problems with city buses include low quality and limited training for bus drivers and ticket controllers.

This year, the city targets to attract 600 million public bus commuters, 10% of demand in the city. To realize the goal, the department will continue adjusting bus routes to make them meet actual demand.

Among the solutions proposed by the department is to invite domestic and foreign transport firms to join the bidding to operate bus routes.

This year, the department will work towards replacing print tickets with electronic tickets for the public buses to manage the number of passengers using the service and revenue, as well as operating new buses.

At present, HCMC has 137 bus routes, down by eight compared to 2013, and 107 of them are price-subsidized.

Work on expy in delta to start this month

Construction will officially start on Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway this Saturday after its groundbreaking ceremony has been rescheduled several times due to financial constraints.

Huynh Van Nguyen, deputy director of the transport department of Tien Giang Province, revealed the groundbreaking date but made no mention of when the expressway could be opened to traffic.

A source told the Daily that Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM) will implement the first stage of the project under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format with the State support for toll collections at the HCMC-Trung Luong expressway section.

In 2009, the investor completed site clearance for the section, which will be connected to the HCMC-Trung Luong expressway section and end in Cai Be District in Tien Giang Province.

The 54-kilometer expressway section costs VND17 trillion (US$796.8 million), and comprises four lanes, 48 bridges and interchanges. The lanes will be expanded to six lanes in the second phase.

The Trung Luong-My Thuan section is part of the HCMC-Can Tho Expressway, which is expected to shorten travel time between HCMC and the Mekong Delta. This expressway has three sections, namely HCMC-Trung Luong, Trung Luong-My Thuan and My Thuan-Can Tho.

Earlier, the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) was assigned to invest in the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project but had to return it after two years due to difficulties in capital mobilization. Cuu Long CIPM later took over the project.

The Trung Luong-My Thuan section is expected to be completed in 2018.

Rain forecast to fall in south during Tet

The southern weather center has forecast that winds from the east could cause unexpected rain in the southern region in the second half of February when people celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet.

According to the forecaster, sparse rain would pour from the middle of February to the end the month in certain areas in the region. There would be six to seven cold spells in the south this month as well.

However, experts warned the unexpected rain and cold spells would do more harm than good for farmers as they are favorable weather conditions for harmful insects to grow and spoil crops.

The center predicted high tides might submerge several parts of HCMC in the coming days. For example, flood tides are forecast to rise from 1.12 meters at Phu An Station on the Saigon River on February 1 to 1.36 meters on February 5, and swell from 1.1 meters to 1.34 meters at Nha Be Station.

Data of the HCMC Department of Transport showed that as of the end of 2014, the city still had 290 streets prone to flooding triggered by rainwater and high tides, including 32 roads in the downtown area, 18 in the outlying districts and 240 at the low-lying alleys of districts across the city.

Flood prevention workshop held in Can Tho

Experts discussed potential methods to enhance climate change resilience in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho during a workshop held in the city on February 4.

According to the Southern Irrigation Planning Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, flooding is becoming a serious concern in the city, with many districts inundated during the rainy season from June to November and flood tide from September to December each year.

The current flood management system cannot prevent river overflow, and downtown wards of Ninh Kieu and Binh Thuy are often submerged below as many as 40-80 centimetres while flooding of as high as 1-1.2m inundates rice fields in O Mon and Phong Dien districts for up to two months during the rainy season.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has recently approved a master plan for flood control in Can Tho’s urban areas, which calls for a total investment of more than 7.4 trillion VND (347 million USD). The amount is to be sourced from local and central budgets, Government bonds, and official development assistance capital.

Under the plan, by the end of this year Can Tho will complete a flood prevention system – located across 17,700 hectares in the heart of the city and including 24 sewer pipes and six water pumping stations. More than 280km of canals will be dredged for better flood drainage while 133.5km of dykes will also be upgraded.

After 2015, the city will continue investing in the construction of 152 sewer pipes and 29 water pumping stations.

HCMC gives 3, 295 tickets to workers for Tet’s holiday

The Labor Union of Ho Chi Minh City presented gifts and car tickets to workers in industrial parks in city yesterday, aiming to help the employees return their homeland on Tet’s holiday.

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party committee attended in the program.

On this occasion, the Labor Union of Ho Chi Minh City handed over 3, 295 tickets to workers in Cat Lai, Tan Tao, Le Minh Xuan, Tan Binh, Vinh Loc, Linh Trung 1, Tan Thuan, Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park and high-tech industries. Expectedly, 30,000 workers should be given tickets.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said that Party Committee, People’s Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and local authorities always paid attention to workers and laborers' marterial and spiritual lives, as well as, to policy families, poor persons during past months.

Especially, the “Sentimental Tickets” program was launched by Ho Chi Minh City’s Labor Union over past seven years that brings a deep civilization value, and expresses care of local authorities, enterprises to worker’s life on the upcoming Lunar New Year 2015.

On the same day, Labor Union of district 1 presented 187 gifts to disadvantaged workers.

Hanoi has most winners in national science Olympiads

Hanoi has most winners in national science Olympiads to select excellent students for the academic year 2014-2015, announced The Department of Quality Management and Educational Testing in a report of national science Olympiads results yesterday.

Of 4,350 participants for the national Olympiads 2,165 students won the competitions. 66 winners from high schools of universities belonging to Vietnam National University-Hanoi won five first prizes, 24 second prizes and 25 third prizes.

Nguyen Tuan Hai Dang from the Natural Science University’s High School for gifted students captured the only first prize of Math with 33 points. Students from Hanoi Pedagogy University attained four second prizes, one third prize and four encouraging prizes.

140 of 169 participants from high schools in Hanoi won a prize in the Olympiads, leading the country in the number of winners with 10 first prizes, 47 second prizes and 42 third prizes.

Next are the northern city of Hai Phong with 85 winners, the central province of Nghe An with 82 winners, the northern province of Hai Duong with 81 winners and the northern province of Nam Dinh with 78 winners.

Ho Chi Minh City has 52 winners including the only first prize in Chinese language of Lam Phuoc Nguyen from Le Hong Phong High School for gifted students, 11 second prizes and 18 third prizes.

HCM City spends over VND26 billion to support neighboring provinces on Tet

A delegation led by Le Thanh Hai, Secretary of the Party Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, paid a visit and gave financial aid to public works in Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces on February 5.

The delegation handed over VND10 billion to build three rural roads; and support capital for repairing 10 gratitude houses in Tra Vinh.

The delegation also offered VND 9.2 billion to build three rural roads, expand water supply system for 1,300 households and build 3,897 toilets in Ben Tre on the same day.

HCM City officials visited and offered gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mother Le Thi Ba and social policy families.

On the occasion, the delegation offered flowers and incense at the Uncle Ho Temple in Tra Vinh and Commemorative Area of female Major General  Nguyen Thi Dinh in Ben Tre.

Permanent Deputy Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Vo Van Thuong handed over 21 computer sets and a projector system to Nguyen Chanh secondary school in Quang Ngai Porvince’s Son Tinh District on February 5.

The delegation gave VND7 billion for building a primary school in Binh Son District; and gifted to former leaders and poor war veterans in the province.

Chairman of the People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan paid a visit and offered Tet gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and families of war martyrs and those who rendered services to the revolution in Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces on February 5.

The delegation presented VND10 billion for the construction of rural roads and gratitude houses in provinces.

HCM City officials paid a visit to the Binh Duong commander post’s memorial house in the Ho Chi Minh campaign; and the memorial monument of martyrs in Bien Hoa Party Committee base, a historical site in the province.

On the same day, Huynh Thanh Lap, Head of the City National Assembly Delegation greeted Tet and presented gifts to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and poor households in Binh Chanh District in HCM City.

The delegation led by Mr. Le Thanh Hai offered flowers at the Uncle Ho Temple in Tra Vinh. (Photo: sggp)

Volunteers of the 12th “Spring comes to Border Areas” charity program provided free medical check-ups and treatment to 450 people; and distributed Tet gifts to 235 social policy families and poor people in Kon Tum Province on February 5.

The annual charity program is organized by the Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper, Ho Chi Minh City Television, HCMC Police Newspaper, HCMC Heart Institute, Law University of HCMC and Muc Tim teen magazine.

 Food-safety violators will be fined, publicly outed

Supermarket and residential market food safety inspection results will be open to the public in 2015, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said on Wednesday.

The names of food providers that violated food safety regulations and those that adhered to them would be made public to ensure customers' right to access to safe food, Long said.

In another effort to make food safer in 2015, the Ministry of Health planned a pilot programme, under which ward and commune inspection teams would be placed in Ha Noi and HCM City to examine food suppliers and deal with regulation violators.

"Those sub-district inspection teams will be granted the ability to impose direct fines on the violators," Long said. "This is a radical idea we are rushing to implement as soon as possible."

Sub-district inspectors would supplement inspection teams already in place at the national level, in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Last year, more than 600 teams from the Ha Noi Department of Health collected VND3 billion (US$142,800) in fines during inspections of markets, shops and supermarket chains, said Department Deputy Director Hoang Duc Hanh.

The Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade said it detected and handled 246 violations last year. It destroyed goods worth about VND1 billion ($47,600) and imposed fines of VND1.5 billion ($71,400).

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said 2015 had been named the Year of Food Safety to raise awareness about the need to control food product quality.

Related ministries would focus on reducing antibiotic and pesticide use in meat and vegetables sold in Ha Noi and HCM City, according to Nguyen Nhu Tiep, head of the agro-aqua-forestry Quality Assurance Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Vietnamese traditional Tet celebration draws interest of Lao people

The Vietnamese traditional celebration of Tet (traditional lunar New Year) festival was introduced to the people of Laos at an event held in Vientiane on February 5 by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in Laos (VCCL).

The event drew much interest from Lao guests as they had the chance to enjoy short films featuring Vietnam’s cultural practices on Tet holiday and directly observe Vietnamese artisans making ‘banh chung’ (square glutinous rice cake), an essential dish of the Vietnamese people on Tet.

They were also invited to make 'banh chung' by themselves and learn how to unwrap the cake in the right way.

“Banh chung was my favourite dish during the time I studied in Vietnam. At that time I knew it was a dish had by Vietnamese people on their lunar New Year. But I did not know until today that there is a legend behind the cake and the making of the cake is a unique art”, said Lao journalist Tulayphet Phimmeuang, a guest at the event.

According to VCCL Director Nguyen Gia Lam, the event was organised to promote the land and people of Vietnam to Lao friends while strengthening co-operation between Vietnamese agencies in Laos and relevant agencies in the host country.

Czech int’l school honours Vietnam culture

As part of the festivities celebrating the 2015 Vietnam Cultural Year in the Czech Republic, a week-long schedule of events kicked off on February 4 at the Gymnazium Ostrov School in Teplice.

At present, nearly 50 Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) students are studying at the school and based on an idea of one of the students, Tran Thi Hoai Anh, it decided to sponsor the cultural week entitled – Colourful Vietnam Culture.

Prominent figures attending the opening included Vietnam Ambassador to the Czech Republic Truong Manh Son, Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese (OVs) Association in the Czech Republic Hoang Dinh Thang and the Mayor of Teplice Senator Jaroslav Kubera.

At the event, two traditional Vietnamese dances and a photo exhibition were introduced honouring the Southeast country’s land and people.

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