Vietnam Recycles kicks off new programme to collect e-waste

Vietnam Recycles (VR) has launched a new cooperation programme with schools and universities to boost e-waste collection activities.

The programme commenced in March 2018 and lasts for one year.

At each of the selected schools, VR will train students to become programme ambassadors. Through these ambassadors, VR will be able to amplify their efforts to increase awareness of the importance of professional electronics recycling.

In addition, ambassadors may collect discarded electronics on behalf of the programme and will be awarded based on collection volumes.

VR successfully recycled almost 10,000 kilogrammes of e-waste in 2017, doubling the 4,800 collected in the year prior, helping to remove items from Vietnamese households.

Among the items that the organisation recycled last year were printers, fax machines, and scanners—with the three items comprising 48 per cent of the materials that VR was able to recycle at its state-of-the-art facility, rising from a 13 per cent share in 2016.

Electronic components made up 20 per cent of the items that VR recycled, with laptops and desktop computers accounting for a further 8 per cent.

Despite the impressive numbers, the nation falls well short of the total e-waste the nation produces, which the Ministry of Science and Technology estimates could be as high as 90,000 tonnes per year.

“Our growth last year is a sign that our message is catching on around Vietnam,” said Miriam Lassernig, VR’s spokesperson. “Of the groups that have been the most supportive and receptive to our message, university students stand out. Students are questioning their own habits and are sensitive to environmental and health issues.”

“They acknowledge their own role and power as consumers and are willing to live up to the responsibilities that come with this. This led us to explore ways to partner with students to help spread our message and help get e-waste out of people’s back-rooms, off the streets, and recycled to the highest of international standards. Ideally, these student partnerships will help instill recycling behaviors in them that become habits they retain through their adult lives,” she said.

In addition to the university-based collection programme, VR also offers a collection service at households and firms. At the same time, in order to create convenience for locals to dispose e-waste in a manner that ensures responsible, international-standard recycling, VR has established ten collection points in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnamese teenagers chosen for Football for Friendship program

Nguyen Trong Tuan and Pham Nguyen Quoc Trung, 12-year-old football enthusiasts from Vietnam, have been selected as the country’s representatives at the global Football for Friendship (F4F) social program in Russia.

The F4F program, supported by Gazprom and FIFA, aims at developing youth football and a healthy lifestyle as well as promoting tolerance, open-mindedness and respect of different cultures and nationalities among children from across the globe. Vietnam joins the program for the second time and will participate alongside 210 other countries and regions.

Nguyen Trong Tuan was the top scorer while Pham Nguyen Quoc Trung was named “Excellent Player” at Vietnam’s national football tournament for children Fami Kid 2017.

Tuan will join young footballers from around the world in Moscow in June 2018. The children will be a part of the 32 International Teams of Friendship and play against each other in the Gazprom Football for Friendship International Championship.

Trung will act as the young journalist and report on all the local and global activities of the F4F program as part of the International Children’s Press Center. He will also spread awareness on the Nine Values of the F4F program, including friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions and honor. 

They will also participate in the Sixth Football for Friendship International Children’s Forum in Russia, which will allow youngsters to meet their peers from other countries, share their experiences, and discuss with famous footballers and journalists on how to promote key values of the F4F Program around the world.

The sixth season of the F4F program will conclude with a visit by the participating children to the opening ceremony and the first match of the FIFA World Cup 2018.

Speaking on the selection of the young ambassadors, general secretary of the Vietnam Football Federation Le Hoai Anh said, “The selection of the young ambassadors from Vietnam is an extension of our support to this unique global initiative. The program is a wonderful opportunity for the ambassadors to build ties of friendship among children from around the world and foster peace and harmony through the beautiful game of football.”  

Gazprom has been organizing the International Children’s social program Football for Friendship since 2013. The participants are Young Players as well as Young Journalists covering the F4F events within the framework of the Football for Friendship International Children’s Press Center. Geographical scope of the program expands annually, from eight countries in 2013 to 211 countries in 2018.

Ministry stuck in handling social insurance debts owed by loss-making firms

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has found its hands tied when it comes to dealing with social insurance debts owed by those enterprises having declared insolvency or fled Vietnam, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper cited Minister Dao Ngoc Dung as saying.

The ministry has proposed using interest from the social insurance fund’s deposits at banks or revenues from fines imposed on enterprises failing to pay social insurance premiums on time to support workers whose employers have fled the country.

According to Vietnam Social Security (VSS), social and health insurance debts have amounted to VND12 trillion (US$527 million), with VND10 trillion of it social insurance. Vietnam currently has some 8,000 enterprises whose owners have left Vietnam, leaving behind social insurance debts of VND2 trillion.

As of last year, owners of more than 100 foreign direct investment (FDI) firms had got away.

At a meeting of the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs on the implementation of social insurance policies last year, deputies complained that there was no legal document which could help handle social insurance debts.

Overpass at My Thuy Intersection to be opened to traffic in June

Traffic congestion is one of big problems in HCMC. 

An overpass at My Thuy Intersection, a traffic congestion hotspot leading to Cat LaiPort in HCMC, will be opened to traffic in June, or two months behind schedule, according tothe HCMC Department of Transport.

The delay is intended to ease traffic congestion at the area, as the number of container truckstraveling to the port is huge. If local streets are closed to facilitate work on the overpass, trafficjams will frequently occur there, according to a report of Urban Transport Management UnitNo.2 under the department.

The agency says the situation will have adverse effects on business activities amongenterprises, and operations at the port. Therefore, the overpass is rescheduled to be up andrunning in June. Work on the facility is being implemented while truck drivers are stillallowed to travel to the port.

Earlier in January, an underpass at the intersection was put into use to reduce congestionthere. The municipal Transport Department then started construction on the overpass.

My Thuy is an intersection of two main roads including Nguyen Thi Dinh Street, an axis roadleading to Cat Lai Port which handles an average of 18,000 container trucks a day, a keyreason for traffic gridlock in the area.

The municipal government has proceeded withthe huge traffic infrastructure project in a bid to ease chronictraffic congestion there.

Work on the first phase comprises Ky Ha 3 Bridge, anoverpass on Ring Road No.2, a lefttunnel from the ring road to Cat Lai Port, and access roads on the left and right banks of MyThuy Canal.

The second phase in the 2018-2020 period includes a four-lane overpass with a total length of316 meters, which will lead to Ring Road No.2, a 725-meter- long tunnel of two lanesfrom Cat Lai Port to Phu My Bridge, the six-lane My Thuy 3 Bridge with a length of 124meters, and the four-lane Ky Ha 4 Bridge with 75 meters in length running from Phu MyBridge to the port.

The first and second phases cost VND837 billion (US$36.7 million) and VND1.1 trillion(US$48.3 million) respectively funded by the city budget.

Humanitarian Month kicked off in HCM City to encourage people giving

The Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross Society launched the Humanitarian Month, themed Humanity – From awareness to action, in the city on May 5 to inspire people’s kindness and sympathy and encourage them to give to charity.

The month-long campaign will run to May 31 as part of activities to mark the Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (May 8) – Everywhere for everyone.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice President of Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRCS) Tran Thi Hong An urged the HCM City Red Cross Society to promote humanitarian values and the movement of good deeds, and provide effective humanitarian support for disadvantaged and vulnerable people in the community.

With about 4 million volunteers all over the country, the VRCS has been harvesting significant achievements for their cause, said Gianni Volpin, Head of Mission in Vietnam at the International Committee of the Red Cross. He mentioned the movement to send Tet gifts to the poor and Agent Orange victims as a highlight of the VRCS’s activities.

The movement was initiated in 1999, aiming to bring a warmer Tet, the Vietnamese traditional New Year, to poor people. It has been maintained and further expanded today.

Volpin also said that the VRCS is a leader in the country’s blood donation campaigns who has supported the establishment of blood banks and blood donation clubs. This effort has helped enhance the sense of responsibility among individuals and the entire society for blood donation, he noted.

At the event, a total of 42 billion VND was raised while a charity texting campaign was also launched to raise funds to support livelihood, production development, free medical checkup and medicine for impoverished fishermen.

Each message of BD sent to 1407 will contribute 20,000 VND (0.85 USD) to the fund. The campaign will run until June 26, 2018. 

Last week, the Humanitarian Month was kicked off in Hanoi. During the opening ceremony, representatives of the U23 national football team donated 700 million VND (31,100 USD) through the Vietnam Red Cross to help AO victims and children with fatal diseases in Vietnam.

The Hanoi Red Cross Society also donated money to help two poor families building houses, handed over cows to three others and presented bicycles to 20 poor students with outstanding study results in the capital city.

VNRC has mobilised 557 billion VND (24.75 million USD) to support nearly 5.2 million poor families and Agent Orange victims over the past decade.

Photo exhibition in Mexico marks national reunification day

A tank of the liberation force moves to the Independence Palace, the office of the puppet regime's President, in Saigon on April 30, 1975. 

A photo and book exhibition is underway in Zacateas city, Mexico to celebrate the Liberation of the South of Vietnam and National Reunification Day (April 30).

The event, which was held by the Vietnamese people community in the country in collaboration with the Vietnam-Mexico acupuncture project and the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ), drew the participation of hundreds of students and Vietnamese people in the locality.

It features 50 photos on Vietnamese landscapes and people as well as books on Vietnamese revolution and President Ho Chi Minh together with the Vietnam News Agency’s Vietnam Pictorial magazine.

UAZ Rector Antonio Guzman Fernandez stressed that the exhibition will help his students and locals in Zacatecas gain better understanding of the culture and history of Vietnamese people.

He expressed his admiration for the heroic nation during its struggle for dependence and reunification as well as achievements in national construction and development nowadays.

On behalf of the Vietnamese people community and members of the cooperative acupuncture project between the Vietnam’s Central Acupuncture Hospital and the UAZ, PhD Ho Quang Minh underlined the significance of Vietnam’s victory on April 30, 1975. 

He said that it is also the victory of international friendship, progressive forces and friendship movements all over the world. 

Mexico has given support to Vietnamese people during their struggle, he added.

The exhibition will run until May 6.

Remains of voluntary soldiers, experts reburied in Thanh Hoa

At the ceremony 

A ceremony was held at Dong Tam martyrs’ cemetery in the central province of Thanh Hoa on May 4 to rebury the remains of 23 Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Laos during wartime.

Speaking at the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Dang Quyen said over the past two decades, the provincial Military Command’s search team has sought and found thousands of sets of remains of Vietnamese soldiers in Laos. 

The work was carried out under the direction of the Government’s Special Working Committee, the Party Central Committee’s Steering Committee 1237, and the High Command of the Military Zone IV. 

The provincial military units also held communications campaigns to encourage the public to provide information on fallen soldiers, thus improving the efficiency of the search and gathering of martyrs’ remains, and upheld the role of the War Veterans’ Association, the Association of Former Youth Volunteers, and liaison committees in the process. 

During the 2016-2017 dry season, the team found and repatriated 21 sets of remains of  Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts in Laos.

Modern Vietnamese films screened in Argentina to mark diplomatic ties

Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Dang Xuan Dung at the opening event of the Vietnam Film Week in Argentina from May 3-9. 

Five popular Vietnamese feature films are being screened in Buenos Aires during a film fest to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam – Argentina diplomatic ties.

The Vietnam Film Week was launched by the Vietnam Cinema Department on May 3, featuring “Co Ba Sai Gon” (The Tailor), “Quyen”, “Dao Cua Dan Ngu Cu” (The Island of Aliens), “Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh” (I See Yellow Flowers on the Green Grass), and “Cuoc Doi Cua Yen” (Yen’s Life). 

A scene of The Tailor by young directors Loc Tran and Kay Nguyen. (Photo: xonefm.com)

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Argentina Dang Xuan Dung said since Vietnam and Argentina set up the diplomatic ties 45 years ago, the comprehensive partnership between the two countries has been strengthened in all areas, from politics, economics to culture and people-to-people exchange.

He hoped that the films’ artistic and cultural values will bring people of the two nations closer to each other. He said he expects through these films, Argentine people will have a fresh look of Vietnam today, a country that is making great efforts to keep up with the world and at the same time, preserve its traditional culture.

Head of the Vietnam Cinema Department Ngo Phuong Lan said the films are outstanding works by young Vietnamese directors, which have won a number of awards at both local and international film festivals.

The film week will run through May 9.

During this time, the Vietnam Cinema Department delegation is scheduled to meet with leaders of the Argentine Ministry of Culture, the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INACAA), the Argentina – Vietnam Culture Institute (ICAV) and local film makers.