State Treasury asked to continue following strategy till 2020

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan asked the Vietnam State Treasury (VST) to continue following orientations in its development strategy until 2020 with a vision to 2040 during a working session in Hanoi on March 3. 

Addressing the session, Ngan hailed the VST for fulfilling its tasks of collecting State budget revenue each year, closely controlling budget expenses and revenues and raising capital for development by issuing treasury and government bonds. 

She directed the financial sector and VST in particular to keep further tapping their role as advisors to the government and legislature in terms of financial-budget and fiscal policy management, pool all possible financial resources for national development, and propose measures to utilise such resources. 

She requested them to build on the past achievements to modernise their operations by adopting information technology and accelerating administrative reform. 

Highlighting personnel work as crucial to every assigned task, the top legislator said the VST must always uphold the tradition of internal solidarity it has fostered over the past 27 years in the principle of democracy, openness and transparency, regular criticism and self-criticism. 

The financial sector and VST need to further popularise the national patriotic emulation campaign, she said, adding that “Good People, Good Deeds” examples must be honoured and spread, thereby encouraging officials and cadres to overcome difficulties and fulfill assigned tasks. 

About VST’s proposals, the leader said the legislature gave nod to the launch of e-treasury by 2020. 

While functioning as the State budget manager and chief accountant, the VST was advised to propose amendments and supplements to relevant laws to the Finance Ministry, which will be submitted to the government and NA for consideration, thus creating a full and synchronous legal framework for VST to perform its function. 

On amendments and supplements to laws and ordinances related to the opening of the VST’s bank account, the NA will mull over revisions to the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange Control in line with the Constitution 2013 and the Law on State Budget 2015. 

The Finance Ministry and VST were required to work closely with the State Audit Office and the NA’s Finance-Budget Committee to devise the State budget balance sheet report to submit to the NA for approval. 

They were also assigned to cooperate with concerned agencies to review the outcomes of realising development strategy until 2020, thereby laying a foundation to develop another strategy for the next period, which she said, should target refining regulations, promoting technological application, strengthening training of high-quality human resources to further improve the VST’s operations. 

At the same time, she proposed them work with relevant agencies to build the Law on the VST or make changes to the laws on State budget, accounting and banking. 

Reporting the outcomes of the VST’s development strategy in 2011-2016, VST Director General Nguyen Hong Ha said the budget revenue surged from 800 trillion VND (34.7 billion USD) in 2011 to 1,095 trillion VND (47.6 billion USD) in 2016 and spending stood at 5,500 trillion VND (239.1 billion USD) during the five-year period. 

The issued government bonds are worth nearly 190 trillion VND (8.26 billion USD) per year.

Women’s economic empowerment spotlighted at UN discussion

Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work was the focus of a round-table discussion held in Hanoi on March 3 by the UN in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).

The event, timed to mark the International Women’s Day March 8, brought together nearly 100 delegates from ministries and government agencies, social-political organisations, civil social organisations and UN agencies in Vietnam.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, who is also the chairman of the National Committee for Women’s Advancement, said Vietnam currently has 53.27 million labourers employed, of which women account for 48 percent.

However, according to Minister Dung, the quality of jobs for women remains low and unstable; the rate of women working in the informal economy remains relatively high and 62.4 percent of women do unpaid domestic work. 

According to Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam, empowering women economically and ensuring the rights of women at the workplace is crucial to successfully implement the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), to which Vietnam is a member.

In order to promote gender equality in the changing world of work, Dao Quang Vinh, Director of the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs under the MoLISA, recommended that Vietnam needs to revise laws and remove regulations unfavourable for women human resources development.

He urged measures to help groups of disadvantaged women labourers access and benefit from human resources development policies.

Deputy Minister of MOLISA Nguyen Trong Dam said it is necessary to revise and complete laws and policies relating to gender equality and women’s advancement. He also urged efforts to eliminate gender prejudices  and stereotypes, noting that women themselves should become more proactive in building their own capability and actively participate in the building, enforcement and supervision of policies.

Lang Son rolls out urgent measures against avian flu

The northern border province of Lang Son has implemented a plan on urgent response to dangerous avian flu strains that are able to transmit to human as the A/H7N virus is ravaging Chinese localities bordering the province.

Along with spraying chemicals in local markets and tightening supervision over poultry slaughterhouses, Lang Son has also increased communications to help local people grasp information on the development of the epidemic as well as preventive measures.

A ban on poultry and poultry products trade and transportation across the border has been issued, while bordergateways have been disinfected.

Nguyen Nam Hung, head of the provincial Department for Animal Health, said that the agency has kept a close watch on high risk areas, especially markets for living poultry.

So far, Lang Son has not detected any avian influenza A (H7N9) virus, he said.

Lang Son has also prepared four epidemic scenarios in which adequate responding measures will be applied, said Hung, adding that in the worst situation when human infection is found, the province will ask for support from the National Steering Committee for Avian Flu Prevention and Control.

Meanwhile, Ly Minh Hai, head of the Animal Health Office of Lang Son city said that the agency has conducted random and regular inspections at poultry breeding and slaughtering facilities, while spraying chemicals in major markets daily through March.

The office has also taken poultry samples for testing three times per week to detect the A (H7N9)and other virus strains in the markets, he said.

So far, Vietnam has recorded no human A/H7N9 infections.

At least 270 H7N9 human infections had been reported in China, with 87 fatalities. Most cases were around the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas.

Da Nang to up use of organic fertiliser

The central city of Da Nang plans to increase the use of liquid fertiliser made from organic waste in its farms and public gardens, a local official said.

Speaking at a review of a three-year (2015-2017) project on recycling organic waste last week, Nguyen Phu Thai, Director of the Da Nang Institute of Socio-Economic Development, said this would help improve urban sanitation and support farmers in the city’s suburban areas.

The pilot project, carried out in Hoa Vang district, was funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

It brought in Japanese experts from Kyushu University, Saga University, Environmental Business Solution Inc and Chikujo town to help identify solutions that can be applied on a big scale to help achieve the target of Da Nang becoming a green city by 2025, he said.

The project involved 40 farmers, students and teachers at junior secondary schools, with the latter playing an important role in raising public awareness of organic waste recycle.

Hoang Thi Ngoc Hieu, an official with the city’s urban environment company, said the pilot project could recycle 70 tonnes of human waste from septic tanks in the city to produce 3.5 tonnes of liquid fertiliser each day.

“It’s very positive solution for dealing with human waste and dung from urban areas and farms. It costs around 300,000 VND (13.3 USD) to convert each cubic metres of human waste into environment friendly fertiliser. 

However, the city will work with Japanese experts on adjusting the technology to ensure its smooth application on a mass scale,” she said.

She said public gardens and vegetable farms could use the organic fertiliser instead of chemical fertilisers.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hanh, a staff of Hoa Vang district’s agricultural office, said the district has been developing as an organic farm zone, providing safe vegetables and other produce for the city.

“Local farmers wish to fertilise their farm with recycled organic fertiliser as it can help improve soil quality,” Hanh said.

She said the district will build big tanks to contain liquid fertiliser near farms to facilitate organic cultivation.

The mayor of Chikujo town, Hisami Arakawa, said the town has 24 years of experience in recycling human waste into organic fertiliser.

He said the plant built by the project in Hoa Vang district is similar to the one in Chikujo, and the Japanese partners will cooperate with the city in improving fertiliser quality as well as its mass use by the local community.

The mayor also said that Chikujo had cut fertiliser costs in the town by 90 percent.

Da Nang discharges nearly 700 tonnes of waste each day, of which 74 percent is food, garden and park waste, and recycling this can produce energy and save lots of money.

The city reserves an annual fund of 7 billion VND (333,000 USD) for waste collection and treatment.

The pilot project enabled Hoa Vang district to be the first locality in Vietnam to produce the fertilizer under a cooperation deal between Da Nang and Chikujo.

Thai Van Quang, an official from the city’s agriculture and rural development department, said the project will help farmers in rural areas reduce cultivation costs.

The project, which got Japanese funding of 10 billion VND (442,477 USD), included construction of a liquid fertiliser testing facility, technical training, education on the biomass circulation system and practical training in Japan.

White-leg shrimp farming’s profits lower than tiger prawn

The cost of raising whiteleg shrimp under the extensive farming pilot model is up to VNÐ 13.5 million (US$590) per hectare in C?u Long (Mekong) Delta provinces, with a low profit of only VNÐ 17.2 million ($750) per hectare.

In the meantime, the cost of raising tiger prawn per hectare is about VNÐ8 million ($350) and the profit reaches up to VNÐ22 million ($960) per hectare.

The data was revealed at a workshop held in Hà N?i yesterday by the Directorate of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Phan Thanh Lâm, deputy head of Research Institute for Agriculture No 2, said the data comes from a recent survey taken by the institute, with participation from 169 shrimp farms in three Mekong Delta provinces of B?c Liêu, Cà Mau and Kiên Giang.

Lâm said the survey was aimed to initially evaluate the economic efficiency and social impacts that the model of raising white-leg shrimp could bring to the agriculture sector and local breeders so that authorities could make a long-term plan to develop white-leg shrimp’s cultivation in the delta.

The survey’s results also pointed out local breeders were found lacking of techniques to prevent their shrimps from diseases as well as farming techniques. Some households were found to let white-leg shrimp escaping from farms to the environment, causing worries about its impacts on biodiversity, he said.

Lê Thanh L?u, head of International Collaborating Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability said the period to raise white-leg shrimp was shorter than to raise tiger prawn. The white-leg shrimp were thought to be easy to sell in the market, suitable with the majority of consumers than tiger prawn.

However, breeders faced some challenges when raising white-leg shrimps. For example, its production cost was higher than the production cost of tiger prawn.

Additionally, breeders would get the highest pressure of competing with foreign countries because all shrimp-export countries, excluding Bangladesh, selected white-leg shrimp as their main export product, he said.

Lâm said authorised agencies should consider several issues before making the long-term plan. First, the demand on baby white-leg shrimp was large, while breeders mainly depended on imported baby shrimp. Second, effects of climate change are forecast to get more severe day by day, causing temperatures and salinity levels of water in shrimp ponds to rise. This might cause the ratio of dead shrimp to be higher than normal.

Lâm also said more in-depth research on comprehensive impacts that raising white-leg shrimp brings to economic, social and biodiversity aspects should be conducted.

Meanwhile, L?u said it is better to raise tiger prawns under the model of extensive farming than white-leg shrimps in the delta’s shrimp ponds.

The next step is reducing production costs and raising profits, he said.

The survey said many breeders started to raise white-leg shrimps in the delta since 2010 because the raising time was shorter than raising tiger prawn and the demand on white-leg shrimps was also higher than tiger prawn.

Statistics from the institute showed that the delta now has 638,000 hectare of shrimp ponds, including over 71,000 hectares for raising white-leg shrimps.

Price fluctuations trouble for farmers in Ð?ng Nai

Fluctuations in the price of farm produce, due to a lack of long-term production planning and sustainable markets, are causing problems for many farmers in Ð?ng Nai.

Growers of Già Huong and C?y Mô bananas, mostly in the districts of Tr?ng Bom, Th?ng Nh?t, Ð?nh Xuân and Long Khánh, have been ready to harvest their produce since February, but traders, mostly in China, have stopped importing the fruit.

As a result, their prices have fallen to between VNÐ1,000 and VNÐ1,200 (US$0.04 to 0.05) per kilo, said Hoàng Th? Bích H?ng, chairwoman of the Farmer’s Union in the province at a recent forum on sustainable consumption of bananas.

Huong said two other kinds of bananas, Bom and S? bananas, had not faced problems in sales because enterprises in the province buy them to dry for export.

But Già Huong and C?y Mô bananas have not been selling.

In the same period last year, prices were more than VNÐ10,000 per kilo because demand from China was high. At the end of 2015, bananas in China were failing because of cold weather.

At that time, many Vietnamese farmers saw higher prices for Già Huong and C?y Mô bananas compared to Bom and S? bananas so they did not want to plant the latter. Instead, they cut trees and planted Già Huong and C?y Mô.

According to economists, the demand from China since February has dropped because banana cultivation has recovered.

Local pig breeders are facing the same problem.

Prices have dropped sharply in recent months, affecting breeders raising over 2 million pigs.

Nguy?n Th? Loan, owner of a pig farm in Tr?ng Bom District’s Cây Gáo Commune, said she sold 100 pigs, weighing over 10 tonnes, at VNÐ26,000 (US$1.1) per kilo of live pig before T?t (Lunar New Year), the Ti?n Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reported. “I suffered a loss of VNÐ100 million ($4,400) at this price,” she said.

Loan plans to sell another 100 pigs this month and if the price remains the same, at VNÐ26,000 ($1.1) per kilo, losses are unavoidable, given that the production costs for a kilo of live pig are VNÐ34,000-35,000 ($1.5).

But she has no choice because if she delays, the pigs will gain weight and it will be harder to sell them.

Nguy?n H?u Kha, another pig breeder, said he borrowed about VNÐ1 billion ($43,800) to raise pigs. Now he is facing bankruptcy if the price remains at the low level.

Tr?n Van Quang, head of Ð?ng Nai Province’s Livestock Production Department, said that last December, China had suddenly stopped importing pigs from Vi?t Nam.

Additionally, Quang said the price of pigs had been stable over the past three year, so local pig breeders decided to raise more, creating a glut.

Quang said farmers had ignored repeated warnings by the department about the surplus.

Tang Kim Ðoán, vice chairman of the Ð?ng Nai Province Livestock Association, said about 60 per cent of the pigs raised in the locality are sufficient to meet domestic demand and the rest depends on China’s market.

In the short term, Ðoán from the livestock association said the association had urged local animal feed companies not to raise their prices until the pig price stabilises.

According to experts, the domestic swine industry should be reformed to ensure stability and help breeders avoid losses.

Experts also advised breeders to co-operate with companies to invest in building farms, applying modern farming techniques and maintaining a sustainable consumption for their pigs.

Meanwhile, a series of measures are being taken to ‘rescue’ bananas.

The provincial agencies had worked with many organisations and associations in the province and HCM City to help farmers.

Big C on Wednesday launched its “No Profit Ð?ng Nai Banana” campaign.

The leading supermarket chain will purchase 100 tonnes of bananas, absorb transportation, logistics and marketing costs, and sell the fruit at retail prices of VNÐ5,900 per kilo at 15 stores around the country with all proceeds going directly to the farmers themselves.

Nguy?n Bách Vi?t of Sejong Vi?t Nam Company, which exports bananas to South Korea, said that in the upcoming days, he would visit farmers to check the quality of bananas and then look for traders in Korea to buy bananas.

The Startups and Administration Club has worked with the Vi?t Nam Social Welfare Centre for Adolescents and universities to organise a campaign called Charity Banana since February 22.

After eight days, around 300 tonnes of bananas were sold to help farmers, but the number only accounted for 10 per cent of the total real figure in the province.

In the Tr?ng Bom District alone, more than 4,000 tonnes are waiting to be sold.

Ð? Long, chairman of the Startups and Administration Club, said: “It is urgent to carry out the campaign now. However, the activities of volunteers are not a sustainable way to produce higher consumption.”

Relevant agencies in districts with large areas of bananas will co-operate with authorities at industrial parks and export processing zones to buy bananas to be used as dessert served with lunches for their workers, he said.

Ph?m Thái Son, head of the centre for enterprise relations at the HCM City University of Food Industry, said the school would work with other universities in the food industry and technology to research ways to process bananas into other products, Son said.

A student at the University of Food Industry is conducting research to use bananas in the processing of flour.

CIENCO 8’s labour export licence withdrawn

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has ordered the Department of Overseas Labour to withdraw the licence of Civil Engineering Construction Joint Stock Corporation 8 (CIENCO 8) that allows the export of labour to foreign countries.

The order was issued on Thursday after the ministry’s inspectors confirmed that CIENCO 8 violated regulations on running labour export services.

Inspectors said that despite a warning from the ministry last month, the corporation was found to have not yet fulfilled its commitment to dealing with wrongdoings and was not ready to co-operate with labour authorities in ensuring both administrative and financial procedures to be adhered to in labour export services.

The services had been halted for two months due to violations in organising, managing and training labourers overseas. The corporation also had to pay administrative fines of about VNÐ120 million for their violations.

Inspectors from the ministry said the corporation’s activities in training and managing labourers before and after travelling overseas to work, had not been improved. Particularly, during an urgent inspection in mid-February, the corporation was found not to have any centre or representative office to maintain relations between employers and employees.

Workers who had received contracts to work overseas, were not provided with adequate information about their employers, their work or life in foreign countries.

Some of the workers even had to pay a brokerage fees much higher than those regulated.

Vi?t Nam has advocated "labour export" as the means to alleviate unemployment and boost domestic labour skills.

Last year, more than 126,000 workers were sent overseas against the target of 100,000. This year, about 105,000 workers are projected to be sent overseas, with the most popular destinations continuing to be Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, according a report from the Department of Overseas Labour.

However, labour export services are operating under poor management by companies and authorities, and lack knowledge on labour laws.

In the latest case, local media reported that people often had to pay brokerage fees much higher than those regulated. Under the ministry’s regulations, a person has to pay a maximum fee of US$4,000 to a labour export company to work in Taiwan. The fee includes expenses for the agency, recruitment, passport and other legal procedures.

However, many labour export businesses continue to collect higher fees from workers. Some labour export enterprises in Hà N?i were found to be collecting fees of between $5,000-6,000 from workers who wanted to work in Taiwan.

HCM City’s new online centre monitors bus activity

The HCM City Centre for Management and Executive Public Passenger Transport launched an online executive bus centre in District 1 on Thursday.

The bus centre manages and monitors all of the city’s 141 bus routes.

The centre monitors the activities of each bus, including routes and the closing and opening of doors. Bus staff are also watched to ensure that they follow city regulations. 

Tr?n Chí Trung, director of the HCM City Centre for Management and Executive Public Passenger Transport, said the bus centre operates from 4:30am to 9:30pm every day.

It also has a unit to receive passengers’ suggestions and complaints via the Private Automatic Branch Exchange (PABX) number 1022.

More tourists visit temple, pagoda sites in An Giang

More than one million tourists visited pagodas, temples and historic sites in the southwestern province of An Giang last month, an increase of 200,000 compared to January, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The figure represented 26 per cent of the province’s yearly target.

The most popular spiritual tourism destinations were Bà Chúa X? (local tutelary goddess) Temple in Châu Ð?c City’s Núi Sam Mountain, C?m Mountain in T?nh Biên District, and Th?t Son (Seven Mountain) Mountain Range in Tr? Tôn and T?nh Biên districts.

Due to its complex river and mountain systems, An Giang has stepped up its tourism promotion on media sites. It is also offering quality accommodations and imposing strict penalties on service providers who solicit and overcharge tourists.

Châu Ð?c City, one of the province’s main tourism sites, provides free wifi service at Basa Fish Park, B? Ð? Ð?o Tràng (Buddha-Gaya) Pagoda Park and Bà Chúa S? Temple.

In addition, a Viettel branch has co-ordinated with the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to introduce “Tourist.one”, a mobile application that guides tourists and helps them book online tickets to certain sites, among other services.

This year, the province aims to attract 6.8 million tourist arrivals, with total earnings of over VNÐ3.5 trillion (US$153.8 million).

It also plans to launch “An Giang Tourism Month 2017” on May 18, along with other activities including educational seminars, exhibitions, a dragon-boat race on Châu Ð?c River, a lantern festival, and the B?y Núi ox race festival.