US launches cooperation strategy for Vietnam

The US Consulate General in HCM City has announced the US Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) for Vietnam in 2014-2018.

The strategy aims to help strengthen the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the US.

At a March 25 launch for the strategy, USAID Mission Director in Vietnam Joakim Parker gave a presentation on the contents of the strategy to partners, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and representatives from the private sector and provinces and cities in Vietnam.

Over the next five years, USAID will provide Vietnam withUS$344 million to help implement support programs pertaining to  trade, enhancement of competitive edge, the development of the private sector and the widespread participation of all sectors in economic activities.

The strategy will also help upgrade the healthcare system, provide services to prevent bird flu, treat HIV/AIDS cases and cope with climate change towards green growth.

In addition, USAID is also intent on finalizing the treatment of dioxin at Da Nang airport and plans to assess dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa airport.

US Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Rena Bitter said that the most important thing is that the strategy will help put us on the right track to pursuing sustainable development for the environment, economy and the population.

She expressed her hope that both governments will fulfill important targets in coping with these challenges.

The US is keen to cooperate with the Vietnamese government, organisations and individuals to make major advancements toward a strong and prosperous Vietnam, she added.

Hanoi police issue new 12-digit ID cards on April 1

Police in Hanoi announced that they will issue new 12-digit ID cards, as opposed to the current nine-digit cards, starting April 1.

Central police ordered authorities in districts and communes to promptly issue the new ID cards. Local police will be issuing the new cards at schools, houses, and hospitals.

The old ones will be exchanged. Each new card will have a barcode storing personal information for lifetime use.

The aim of this is to cut administrative expenses and create ease for filling out paperwork.

Bank chiefs arrested for lending violations

Police yesterday prosecuted and arrested six cadres and leaders of the Viet Nam Development Bank (VDB)'s at the Minh Hai branch for violation of lending laws, with serious consequences.

The group included three detainees - Trinh Minh Tuan, former director of the branch, Huynh Quang Xuan, Head of Credit Department, and Tran Thi Oanh, cadre of the Credit Department.

Three others were released on bail, including Vu Van Quang, former deputy director of the branch, Phan Thanh Toan and Phan Thanh Hai, both Deputy Heads of Credit Department.

The police also raided the houses of the group, collecting evidence related to the case.

Since 1999, VDB has lent trillions of dong to businesses that process and exporting seafood, with low-interest rates. But the banks have not been able to recover their debts because they were taken out by businesses who gave false reasons for requiring the loans, or that were on the verge of bankruptcy, according to the investigation.

Businesses who have failed to repay debts included Ngoc Sinh Seafood (who owe more than VND290 billion (US$13.76 million)); Nhat Duc Seafood, who owe a total of VND176 billion ($8.35 million); and Viet Nam Fish One, who owe VND118 billion ($5.6 million).

Two die after truck plunges into gorge

Two people were killed and two others injured when the truck they were travelling in lost control and plunged into a ravine yesterday in north-eastern Quang Ninh Province's Cam Pha City.

The injured were taken to hospital. The accident was the tenth since the stretch of road came into operation last October. The case is under investigation.

Da Nang airport soil project set for April

The first stage of efforts to treat dioxin contaminated soil with In-Pile Thermal Desorption (IPTD or thermal remediation) at the Da Nang Airport Project will kick off next month.

Head of the Military Science Office of Air Force-Air Defence Command, Colonel Do Duy Kien made the announcement yesterday at a community outreach session on environmental remediation efforts at the site.

"Contractors have filled up 45,000 cubic metres of dioxin-contaminated soil in the containment and all equipment is ready for the treatment of contaminated soil and sediment with thermal remediation," Kien said.

The session, which was attended by more than 80 community representatives and the city's authorities, aims to share information with community representatives about progress on the Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at the Airport.

"The Air Force-Air Defence also completed clearing unexploded ordnances (UXOs) on an area of 31.8ha as well as setting up a power sub-station with 12,800KVA," Kien added.

"As proposed by USAID, the command will clear 5.7ha of the entire area of Sen Lake again in April and May. The second phase of excavation of dioxin contaminated soil at the airport will continue from 2014 and 2015," Kien said.

The contaminated soil and sediment will be heated by 1,254 heating wells to a temperature of 335 degrees Celsius over four months, with approximately 95 per cent of the dioxin estimated to be destroyed within the structure.

Vice chairman of the city's People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Tuan said the project would be the first of six other dioxin "hot pots" in Viet Nam.

USAID Viet Nam Mission Director, Joakim Parker said:"The project remains on schedule and on target to complete the clean up in 2016. This owes a great deal to the excellent co-operation among USAID and our Vietnamese government partners, especially Viet Nam's Ministry of National Defence, its Air Defence-Air Force command and Da Nang People's Committee," he said.

According to a representative from the Viet Nam-Russia tropical centre, environmental monitoring systems have been put in place to prevent the offsite migration of contaminants including storm water run-off; water generated during remediation as well as measurements of baseline dioxin.

The five-year project draws on a total fund of US$84 million, of which VND35 billion ($1.6 million) is from the Vietnamese Government, aims to clean an estimated 73,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil at the airport.

The treated soil will be later removed from the containment structure and tested for traces of contaminants before being used as a filling material at the site.

The Da Nang Airport is referred to as a dioxin "hot spot", together with several sites in other provinces such as Bien Hoa in Dong Nai, due to the high levels of dioxin in the soil.

VN duo compete in int'l energy challenge

A Vietnamese duo will compete against nine East Asian teams in a challenge for intelligent urban energy management solutions in HCM City next month.

The duo, who call themselves the Team Energy Bank, was chosen after beating 51 teams in a nation-wide "Go Green in the City 2014" contest organised by Schneider Electric.

Winning teams from the East Asia Zone Finals will go on to compete in the global round held in Paris from June 17 to 21, 2014.

Chan May port welcomes US cruise ship

Cruise liner Nautica from the US docked at the Chan May port in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on March 26, carrying over 1,000 voyagers and crew.

After docking, visitors joined tours to discover Thua Thien Hue province, Hoi An ancient city and My Son Sanctuary in Quang Nam province.

This is the first arrival of Nautica to Chan May port, and it is the seventh liner to the port this year. The ship, 180 metres in length, is equipped with modern facilities and is considered as a five-star hotel on the sea.

Chan May port is chosen as a stop for many international cruise liners on their trans-Viet journey to discover Vietnam’s charming cities such as Hue, Ha Long and Da Nang.

Foreign tourists down 15.7 percent in March

The number of foreign arrivals to Vietnam in March is estimated at 709,700, down 15.7 percent compared to last month but up 20.8 percent against the same month of 2013.

The figure raised the total number of international visitors to the country in the first quarter of this year to over 2.3 million, a year-on-year rise of 29.3 percent, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO).

Germany , Russia , China , Cambodia and Spain topped the list of markets that saw increases in the number of tourists to Vietnam .

Vietnam ’s tourism sector plans to receive 8 million international tourists, serve 37.5 million domestic tourists and earn 230 billion VND (10.8 million USD) this year.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has devised a plan for 2014, based on the strategy and the master plan on developing tourism to 2020, with a vision to 2030 and the national action plan on tourism for the 2013-2020 period.

It will focus on improving tourism products and service quality, addressing the sector’s shortcomings and organising successfully the National Tourism Year 2014 in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong and other regional provinces, as well as preparing for the National Tourism Year 2015 in central Thanh Hoa province.

In 2013, Vietnam received 7,572,352 international tourists, a 10.6 percent rise over 2012, bringing 200 trillion VND (9.4 billion USD) for the state coffer.

Most of international markets saw increases: Russia (71.1 percent), China (33.5 percent), Thailand (19.3 percent), New Zealand (16.3 percent), Indonesia (15.7 percent), Belgium (14.1 percent), and Malaysia (13.5 percent).

New Rural Development Plan implemented in three regions

Authorities in the southeast, south-central and highlands regions are hard at work implementing the New Rural Development Plan.

Management hosted a meeting on March 24 in Da Lat Town to create a three-year plan. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, agency representatives and governments of 19 cities and provinces in the three regions participated in the meeting.

The New Rural Development Plan aims to upgrade agricultural techniques, improve farmers’ living standards, and develop rural infrastructure. Authorities in these regions have invested heavily on basic infrastructure including irrigation, traffic, clean water supply, school, market and cultural house construction.

The southeast region has 27 communes growing rubber, cashew and pepper. The south-central region has two communes building large boats and aquatic breeding farms. The highlands have 13 communes with forestry, industrial crops, and cattle farms as the main subsistence.

The federal government and local administration will support residents financially to purchase seeds and advanced agriculture techniques. They will work closely with companies and farmers to ensure peek consumption.

Deputy Prime Minister Ninh emphasized that the plan is an important mission. Local governments should be trained when appealing for social contribution.

Blaze destroys dried flower shop

A three-hour-long blaze destroyed an 800-square-metre dried flower shop in the Central Highland Lam Dong Province's Da Lat City yesterday afternoon.

The authorities sent 100 firemen and 10 fire engines to put out the blaze. Initial reports said that the damage was estimated to be about VND2 billion, or US$94,800. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.

The cause of the blaze is yet to be ascertained. The local police are investigating the case.

Smugglers arrested in Bac Giang

Police in the northern province of Bac Giang caught two men smuggling 19 heroin cakes (each weighing about 350 grams), 2,950 synthetic heroin pills and five grams of methamphetamine on Monday night.

The drugs were found in a traveling-bag in the back seat of the car. The driver, who later admitted that he had been infected with HIV for three years, could not show any papers.

The police detained the two suspects and seized the heroin for further investigation.

Vietnam to have national encyclopaedia

Vietnam will publish its own national encyclopaedia in 8-10 years.

Lai Van Hung, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Lexicography and Encyclopaedia under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), said on March 25 that the set will comprise 35 volumes with 30,000 entries. Each volume will have 1,000 pages.

The compilation of an encyclopaedia is new to Vietnam and the VASS, Hung said, adding that the academy will begin building encyclopaedias on literature, lexicography and economics.

Vietnamese scientists will study both domestic and international experience in order to compile the set of books.

Rescue ends bear bile farming in Binh Thuan

The Animals Asia Foundation (AAF) and authorised agencies of the central province of Binh Thuan rescued the last farmed bear in the locality, putting an end to bear bile farming here.

The owner voluntarily handed over the bear, which had been caged for 14 years, to the provincial Forest Protection Department.

With this rescue, Binh Thuan has become the second province, after Thua Thien-Hue, to terminate the practice.

AAF Vietnam Director Dr. Tuan Bendixsen said the owner’s action shows the diminishing market for bear bile.

The 150kg animal will be sent to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Centre, which is home to 110 animals at present, in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

Elephants in Central Highland at risk of extinction

Elephants in the Central Highland province of Dak Lak are reportedly at risk of extinction, due to poor living conditions and increased tourism exploration.

According to Dak Lak’s elephant conservation centre, the province currently has 53 elephants, but one-fifth of them are now becoming old and weak.

They are desperately in need of a healthy wildlife environment and better preservation and care from the community.

Local authorities and relevant agencies are intensifying urgent measures to protect elephants and improve their natural surroundings.

The image of the elephant is intrinsic to daily life of local residents in the Central Highlands. Elephants and ethnic minority people on Serepok river live in harmony together, creating a a unique and special feature of the region.

Visitors to the area are interesting in riding elephants during their tour of Buon Don tourist site in Dak Lak province.

Police eye overloaded trucks

The Viet Nam Road Administration under the Ministry of Transport has instructed authorities to clamp down on overloaded trucks using mobile weighbridges from next Tuesday.

Transport departments will be in charge of weighing heavy vehicles along national highways. Violators will be fined and have their driving licences revoked and their cargos confiscated.

Last January, the administration started to install 53 mobile weighbridges along highway routes to stop overloaded trucks, which have been blamed for traffic accidents and damage to roads. Each weighbridge costs around VND2.2 billion (US$103,400).

A trial involving 10 weighbridges held previously proved successful over a three month period.

More than 3,300 overloaded trucks were pulled over and 7,270 tonnes of excessive cargo was removed, while over 750 drivers had their driving licences revoked and the fines collected amounted to VND1.4 billion ($65,800).

Nguyen Thanh Binh, a driver for a private transport company in Ha Noi, said he agreed to have his truck weighed providing all heavy trucks were subject to inspection.

"It will take time, but it will be fair," he said. "Overloaded trucks usually carry building materials and wood and they operate at night, so the police should focus more on those vehicles."

Quang Ninh promotes new rural area building model

In response to the national target programme on building new-style rural areas launched three years ago, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh has built specialised agricultural production zones, invested in processing factories, and coordinated with businesses to find stable outlets for local agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products.

The efforts have raised local incomes and promote the trademarks of local agricultural products, reported Radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

Farmers of Cong Hoa ward in Quang Yen town are busily harvesting vegetables, which will be bought at higher prices and processed by the local processing companies. Since the beginning of the harvest season, they have been able to collect three tonnes of vegetables a day thanks to commitments from both sides in a new production-processing model.

Farmers pledge to follow strict rules to ensure product quality, and local companies pledge to buy their vegetables at prices five percent higher than the market. They no longer suffer from their small-scale production with its low productivity and now plan to expand their vegetable fields.

"Our family economy has improved significantly thanks to this new model. We just have to harvest vegetables and wait for the companies to come and buy them at good prices," Pham Thi Phuong Thao, local farmer, told VOV.

Since 2012, the local authorities in Cong Hoa ward have applied appropriate management mechanisms to attract participation of businesses in the local production as part of new rural development.

In addition to buying farmers’ agricultural products at higher prices, local businesses have also invested nearly 900,000 USD in building irrigation systems, upgrading processing companies and storage areas, and promoting trademarks for local products.

Thanks to this new model, every hectare of land used for growing vegetables now can earn as much as 7,500 USD in revenue, double the previous rate.

Pham Van Son, chairman of the Cong Hoa ward People’s Committee, said that they are planning to build net houses for hot-house plants of higher retail value. He said a prerequisite condition to make this model a success is that farmers have to strictly honor their commitments in terms of quality and sanitation.

Quang Ninh province is prepared to promote the trademarks of 23 local agricultural products. The local authorities have finished setting up zones for centralised production activities and established 15 associations and collectives tasked with managing production activities, applying the latest production technologies, controlling product quality, and finding reliable outlets for the products.

Dinh Sy Nguyen, head of the Intellectual Property Division of the Quang Ninh provincial Department of Science and Technology, said "Among the 19 criteria set for the national programme on new rural development, the three economic criteria are the most important, yet most difficult to achieve."

Building strong trademarks for local products will address this problem. To achieve this goal, it’s necessary to set up specific zones for centralised production while ensuring every required step to improve product quality. More importantly, associations and companies play a crucial role in providing stable outlets for the farmers, he added.

A number of agricultural products of Quang Ninh province, including Dong Trieu custard-apples, Yen Tu yellow apricot flowers, and Quang Yen clams, are gaining a foothold in the market and lifting the competitiveness of the province’s agricultural products.-

Japan’s charity organisation of IMAYA has presented 23 wheelchairs to people with disabilities in central Quang Binh province.

The wheelchairs, worth VND120 million (US$5,640) in total, were handed over to beneficiaries in the poor districts of Quang Ninh, Quang Trach and Bo Trach on March 25.

The same day, representatives from the organisation and the provincial sponsoring association for the disabled and orphans visited handicapped people in Bo Trach district.

Since 2011, the Japanese organisation has provided nearly 80 wheelchairs for the disabled in Quang Binh province, which is home to 45,000 people with disabilities.

Between 2006 and 2013, the province provided job consultancy to 817 people with disabilities and vocational training for 550 others.

It is striving to ensure access to healthcare services for 90% of the targeted group, and health check-ups for 85 percent of under-6-year-old children to early detect congenital conditions and growth disorders.

Vietnam has over 1.2 million disabled children, including those affected by the aftermaths of war, especially toxic chemicals, bombs, mines and explosive remnants.

In June 2010, Vietnam passed its own Law on Persons with Disabilities, which reflects the country’s legal progress in protecting the rights of disabled children in line with the UN Convention in the field. 

Engineering education conference opens in HCM City

The second Vietnam Engineering Education Conference (VEEC) opened in Ho Chi Minh City on March 25 under the theme “Transformative Change: Educating Engineers to Innovate the Future of Vietnam”.

The two-day conference, organised by the Higher Engineering Education Alliance Programme (HEEAP) of the US, has attracted 300 Vietnamese and foreign experts.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga said the annual event will offer an opportunity for participants to share experiences and utilise partnerships to bring a sustainable change to Vietnam’s education.

Within the programme, participants are set to present advanced education methods such as blended and flipped classrooms and massive open online courses.

Partner groups in industry and education will also discuss ways to inspire engineers and build a partnership in education and scientific research between the State and the private sector.

HEEAP was founded in 2010 by the US Agency for International Development, the Intel group, and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering under the Arizona State University.

In Vietnam, it has helped organisations such as the Ministry of Education and Training and the Saigon High-Tech Park train high-quality workforces. As many as 178 lecturers have been trained in the US under the programme so far.   

Project fosters public involvement in socio-economic development

The “Pro-poor Participatory Development Project” funded by Plan International has helped strengthen the participation of the poor, ethnic people and women in socio-economic development and poverty reduction.

The affirmation was made on the first day of a two-day conference (March 25-26) to sum up the project after three years of implementation in Xin Man district in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang and central Quang Tri province’s Huong Hoa district.

The project helped improve local people’s awareness of socio-economic development planning and has made them more proactive in raising their opinions. It also improved the community’s attitude towards the role of women in this process.

At the conference in Ha Giang, participants are sharing their experience in implementing the project and discussing measures to maintain its effectiveness.

The project, implemented in 19 communes in the two districts from January 2011 to March 2014, was funded by the European Union with a total budget of EUR728,000 (US$1 million), EUR500,000 of which was from the EU and the remaining from Plan International.

Viettel helps Laos develop national font for devices

The Military Telecom Corporation (Viettel) will help Laos research and develop the system to standardise the font of the Lao language for mobile devices and computers.

A signing ceremony to establish the cooperation between the two sides was held in Vientiane on March 25.

Accordingly, Viettel will fund all expenses for implementing the project, which aims at building the font system for mobile phones as well as establishing rules for entering characters on devices using Android and iOS operating systems and computers using Windows.

The company will also provide consulting services and training courses, and transfer technology to Laos’ Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.

According to Tran The Cuong, a representative from Viettel, the project aims to facilitate Lao people to use their native language on electronic devices. He said through the project, Viettel hopes to contribute to preserving and developing Laos’ language and traditions.

Deputy Minister of Post and Telecommunications Thansamay Commasith thanked the group for its practical support in the project, which marks the breakthrough of his country’s telecom sector.

Once completed, the project’s products will be used officially in Laos, bringing about an opportunity to provide access to telecom services to 7 million Lao people across the country.

Workshop discusses land use, climate change

A workshop was held in the central province of Quang Nam on March 25 to review the implementation of the project Land Use and Climate Change Interactions (LUCCI) in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon basin.

Participants elaborated on their survey, data collection and studies in the basin in recent times. They also stressed the reason for using climate models to reduce the impact of climate change on socio-economic development and environmental protection.

Researchers proposed strategies for sustainable land use and water resources management in the basin. They also introduced several scenarios and trends in climate change from now to 2020, and even 2050. Dr Lars Ribbe, director of the project, said it aims to build strategies to manage land and water resources in the area.

Launched in July 2010, the LUCCI project is funded by Germany’s Ministry of Education and Research. Several universities and research institutes in and outside the country are involved in the five-year project.

More suburban Hanoians to access clean water

More than 50,000 residents in Hanoi’s outskirt districts of Ba Vi and Me Linh will have access to clean water as some supply facilities are to be built there.

Approved by Hanoi’s authorities, a facility with a capacity of 2,800 cubic metres a day will benefit 14,120 locals in Co Do and Phong Van communes of Ba Vi district.

It will be built in 2014-2015 with a total investment of over 82 billion VND (3.85 million USD) sourced from the 2013-2015 National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation National Target Programme.

The other facility will be also built under this programme in Me Linh district’s Thanh Lam, Dai Thanh and Tam Dong communes with 36,367 residents.

Its funding will have 60 percent covered by the World Bank and 10 percent mobilised through the community.-

Poor people to receive support for TV digitalisation

More than 1.7 trillion VND (81 million USD), will be spent from the Vietnam Public utility Telecommunication Service Fund to help poor households replace analogue televisions with digital ones.

This is part of the country's plan for television digitalisation in which analogue TVs would be eased out in the five biggest cities by 2015, said Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunication and head of the plan steering committee Le Nam Thang.

Thang said that under the plan, they were conducting a survey on television usage by households and making a list of beneficiaries who would get support.

The beneficiaries include poor and near-poor households and families which get preferential treatment for their contribution to the country's revolution, he said. The disbursement would be in line with the steps being taken to spread digital TV technology, he added.

The ministry also recommended that people should buy Vietnamese set-top boxes with digital TVs to save money and to receive television signals conveniently.

From May onwards, all TV sets sold in Vietnam have to compatible with receiving digital signals.

In the first phase, the national plan on television digitalisation will be implemented in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho. The switch to digital TV will be made before December 31, 2015.

In the second phase, with the deadline of December 31, 2016, the plan will be carried out in 26 provinces.

The third phase will be implemented in 18 provinces by December 31, 2018. And in the fourth one, digitalisation will be implemented in the remote provinces in the north and the central region.

Digital communication systems offer much more efficiency, better performance and much greater flexibility than analogue technology.-

Agricultural sector responds to Earth Hour

Hanoi’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development on March 25 launched a campaign in response to 2014 Earth Hour.

The campaign aims to raise offices and individuals’ awareness of effectively using energy and reducing environmental pollution.

The department’s director Chu Phu My asked its staff and farmers to save energy and turn off all unnecessary equipment for one hour from 20:30 to 21:30 on March 29.

Initiated by the Worldwide Fund for Nature, Earth Hour was first held in Sydney in 2007.

Vietnam joined the event in 2009.-

Quang Ninh promotes new rural area building model

In response to the national target programme on building new-style rural areas launched three years ago, the northeastern province of Quang Ninh has built specialised agricultural production zones, invested in processing factories, and coordinated with businesses to find stable outlets for local agricultural, forestry, and aquatic products.

The efforts have raised local incomes and promote the trademarks of local agricultural products, reported Radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

Farmers of Cong Hoa ward in Quang Yen town are busily harvesting vegetables, which will be bought at higher prices and processed by the local processing companies. Since the beginning of the harvest season, they have been able to collect three tonnes of vegetables a day thanks to commitments from both sides in a new production-processing model.

Farmers pledge to follow strict rules to ensure product quality, and local companies pledge to buy their vegetables at prices five percent higher than the market. They no longer suffer from their small-scale production with its low productivity and now plan to expand their vegetable fields.

"Our family economy has improved significantly thanks to this new model. We just have to harvest vegetables and wait for the companies to come and buy them at good prices," Pham Thi Phuong Thao, local farmer, told VOV.

Since 2012, the local authorities in Cong Hoa ward have applied appropriate management mechanisms to attract participation of businesses in the local production as part of new rural development.

In addition to buying farmers’ agricultural products at higher prices, local businesses have also invested nearly 900,000 USD in building irrigation systems, upgrading processing companies and storage areas, and promoting trademarks for local products.

Thanks to this new model, every hectare of land used for growing vegetables now can earn as much as 7,500 USD in revenue, double the previous rate.

Pham Van Son, chairman of the Cong Hoa ward People’s Committee, said that they are planning to build net houses for hot-house plants of higher retail value. He said a prerequisite condition to make this model a success is that farmers have to strictly honor their commitments in terms of quality and sanitation.

Quang Ninh province is prepared to promote the trademarks of 23 local agricultural products. The local authorities have finished setting up zones for centralised production activities and established 15 associations and collectives tasked with managing production activities, applying the latest production technologies, controlling product quality, and finding reliable outlets for the products.

Dinh Sy Nguyen, head of the Intellectual Property Division of the Quang Ninh provincial Department of Science and Technology, said "Among the 19 criteria set for the national programme on new rural development, the three economic criteria are the most important, yet most difficult to achieve."

Building strong trademarks for local products will address this problem. To achieve this goal, it’s necessary to set up specific zones for centralised production while ensuring every required step to improve product quality. More importantly, associations and companies play a crucial role in providing stable outlets for the farmers, he added.

A number of agricultural products of Quang Ninh province, including Dong Trieu custard-apples, Yen Tu yellow apricot flowers, and Quang Yen clams, are gaining a foothold in the market and lifting the competitiveness of the province’s agricultural products.-

Climate change capacity enhancement project approved

PM Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a project to enhance the implementation capacity of the national strategy on climate change funded by the United Nations Development Program.

The project aims at enhancing the awareness, legal capacity and scientific and technological applications of ministries, sectors and localities in implementing the national strategy on climate change.

The project will be implemented in four years with a total fund of over $4.7 million, of which, $4.6 million is from the non-refundable ODA.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will manage the project, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project will be piloted in Quang Ngai and Lai Chau provinces, which will be technically supported in building and implementing plans and action plans related to climate change as well as incorporating climate change in their social economic development plans.

VFF seeks greater national unity

The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), which oversees the nation’s socio-political organisations, has implemented a strategy to reinforce national unity and improve the supervision of social policies.

The initiatives were launched in Hanoi on March 24.

Resultantly, the VFF will spread patriotic campaigns across the nation and engage more with public opinions and the aspirations of citizens.

The standing board of the VFF Central Committee will be responsible for holding regular conferences that ask for public feedback on State policies and guidelines.

The VFF and its member bodies will closely supervise how State organisations operate and how authorities at all levels deal with public complaints, so as to ensure their legitimate rights and interests.

They will also work as a think-tank for the Party, National Assembly and Government during the course of lawmaking and enforcement, and policy enactment.

On top of this, the VFF will outline its own social supervision scheme while collaborating with the Government to oversee the enforcement of laws and policies regarding socio-economic affairs, national defence, security and external relations.

Officials have also discussed a plan to raise public awareness of VFF’s activities.-

Vietnam-Singapore Red Cross ties hailed

The relationship between the Vietnam Red Cross (VRC) and its Singaporean counterpart has become closer in recent years.

This affirmation was made by Doan Van Thai, Vice President and Secretary General of VRC Central Committee, on the sidelines of the 11th South East Asia Red Cross Red Crescent Leadership Meeting held in Singapore on March 24-26.

In an interview granted to the Singapore-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent, Thai said that the Singapore Red Cross was always among those first coming forward with financial and human resource assistance when Vietnam was hit by natural disasters.

He hailed the Singaporean side for enthusiastically participating in Vietnam’s cow bank project, presenting 220 cows to poor households in the country.

The three-day 11th leadership meeting sought to increase the capacity of national Red Cross organisations in humanitarian diplomacy.

Participants discussed contents to be submitted to the Asia-Pacific Red Cross Red Crescent Leadership Meeting slated for October in Beijing.-

Deputy PM inspects bird flu prevention in border province

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai on March 25 made an inspection tour of the prevention of bird flu and cross-border poultry smuggling in the northern border province of Lang Son.

While inspecting quarantine units at border gates, Deputy PM Hai asked the locality to intensify measures to wipe out the illegal cross-border poultry trade and transport in order to effectively contain the spread of the disease in the coming time.

During a working session with local leaders, the official spoke highly of the locality’s efforts in the field in the last year. He also stressed that they need to fully tap economic strengths to further promote socio-economic development.

Lang Son province has introduced a wide range of measures to thwart poultry smuggling in recent times, while the poultry market management in the locality has also been effective, Hai noted.

The provincial health sector also enhanced supervision to quickly detect the cases, and prepared facilities and equipment. Meanwhile the popularisation of information on avian influenza risks to local people has been strengthened.

Hanoi calls for public to join fight against TB

A meeting was held in Hanoi on March 24 by the city’s Department of Health to promote public involvement in the fight against tuberculosis (TB).

During the meeting - which was organised in a hospital as part of the country’s response to World TB Day - Director of the department Nguyen Khac Hien raised the significance of TB prevention work, especially multidrug-resistant TB treatment.

The ministry has called for people from all strata to actively engage in the field and help tuberculosis sufferers integrate into the community.

Latest statistics from the municipal anti-TB programme show that Hanoi diagnoses over 5,000 TB patients on an annual basis, half of whom suffer from pulmonary tuberculosis.

However, more than 90 percent of the TB patients have been treated successfully under the programme as a result of the DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course) strategy.

Notably since 2011, the municipal health sector has provided treatment for nearly 200 multidrug-resistant TB patients with encouraging outcomes.

Since 2008, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has helped the capital carry out the Public-Private Mix (PPM) project calling for the involvement of all health care providers in the provision of TB care.

The city is currently housing 38 hospitals and 335 surgeries as a result of the six-year-old PPM project, examining 5,063 people with suspected tuberculosis and detecting 535 cases of the disease.

According to the World Health Organisation, Vietnam ranks 12th among the 22 countries most burdened with TB, with some 130,000 new patients, 3,500 sufferers of multidrug-resistant TB, and 18,000 deaths annually.

Under the national TB prevention strategy until 2020 (with a vision to 2030) recently approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam is looking to control TB levels at below 20 patients for every 100,000 people by 2030 on the road to eventually eliminating the disease.

Robots help doctors conduct successful paediatric surgery

Robots successfully assisted the doctors at the National Hospital of Paediatrics's Centre of Paediatrics Endoscopic Surgery to conduct surgeries on ten patients since the centre became operational four weeks ago.

Of the ten operated patients, 17-month-old Hai Bang from the northern Thai Binh Province is recovering well after doctors conducted robot-assisted surgery on her kidney on Monday, said her mother, Nguyen Thi Thu Hien.

"After hearing about the robotic surgery, I was very worried at first. However, I now quite trust the new technology because my daughter is in a stable condition", she noted.

In another case, a child from the Ha Noi's Hoang Mai District, who suffered from large intestine infection, had undergone a two-hour robotic operation and is now on the way to recovery.

The patient's mother, Huynh Thi Kim Dung remarked that the child was able to eat and drink normally just a day after the operation, adding that her family now completely trusted the new technology.

Pham Duy Hien, the vice head of the hospital's Department of Surgery, claimed that robotic surgery had helped to overcome the shortcomings of normal endoscopic surgery, thanks to the robots' flexible joints.

"Patients undergoing robotic operation recover faster than those having open surgery", Hien stressed.

According to Hospital Director Le Thanh Hai, one advantage of using the method is that the surgeon does not have to be physically present, but can be anywhere in the world, leading to the possibility of remote surgery.

Hai also added that robotically assisted surgery was developed to overcome the limitations of minimally invasive surgery and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery.

"The centre's foundation will help offer international standard medical services to Vietnamese children", he emphasised, adding that the cost of robotic surgery in foreign countries is estimated to be US$30,000, but in Viet Nam, it costs only from VND50-70 million (US$2,000-3,500).

Robotic surgery, computer-assisted surgery, and robotically-assisted surgery are all terms deployed for technological developments that use robotic systems to assist surgical procedures.

Viet Nam is the first country in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia to apply this advanced technology in surgery.

HCM City spends big on traffic congestion control

The government of HCMC has since 2011 spent as much as VND44 trillion (US$2.08 billion) on a major program to address chronic traffic congestion, with 94% of the sum for the city’s breakthrough programs.

The big spending was shared by HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan at a conference held on March 24 to review three years of implementing the breakthrough programs related to human resource development, economic restructuring, streamlined administrative procedures, and controls on flooding, environmental pollution and traffic congestion.

In the next two years, Quan said, HCMC would reserve more land for roads to facilitate traffic in this southern economic hub of the country. He said that in the 2014-2015 period, about 62 more kilometers of road would be built.

Quan said public transportation only met 10.8% of commuter demand last year though the city previously targeted 15% for next year. That was why the city had to scale down the target to 11.1% for 2015, he explained.

HCM City bus service quality remains poor

HCMC has yet to find suitable solutions to improve commuter bus service quality while the public is increasingly concerned about the rising number of bus accidents.

A news conference called by the HCMC Department of Transport heated up last Friday with many complaining about the quality of commuter bus service. They raised tough questions about the recent deadly bus accidents and about how to cope with this problem.

Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Transport, said the city saw 10 bus accidents between January 1 and March 10, killing two persons and injuring nine others.

Explaining the problem, Thanh said the number of private vehicles, especially motorcycles, has increased rapidly while the expansion of the city’s roads has been insignificant. There are no separate lanes for buses, leading to traffic chaos.

In addition, some drivers do not follow traffic rules seriously. There have been a lot of complaints about bad behaviors of bus drivers and fare collectors.

Thanh said there are over one million bus commuters a day. According to some surveys, around 70% of local residents expect buses to run on time.

In long term, it is necessary to develop infrastructure for bus traffic. Initially, buses should have separate lanes on some big roads, he said.

Currently, the management board for construction and investment of urban traffic works in HCMC is developing a green traffic project, building the first bus rapid transit (BRT) line along Vo Van Kiet Avenue from the new Mien Tay Coach Station in Binh Chanh District to Cat Lai intersection in District 2. The project is funded by the World Bank.

This year, the city government will give bus subsidies totaling over VND1.3 trillion. The department also announced to maintain bus fares unchanged this year.