Developing e-government in Vietnam


Representatives from ministries, agencies and businesses, as well as local and international information technology experts gathered in Hanoi on December 1 for the FutureGov Vietnam 2010 Forum.  

At the forum, experts discussed the e-government model and the application of new technologies in managing the government.

The event offered an opportunity for delegates to share experiences and provide them with useful information to promote the application of information technology and develop e-government effectively in Vietnam.

Addressing the forum, Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Minh Hong affirmed the Party and the State have taken strong measures to implement administrative reform and modernization of government agencies in order to build an e-government more effectively. Recently, the government has issued policies to apply the information technology in state agencies, which has gained the initial results in developing an e-government in the new period.

Most of ministries, the provincial people’s committees and cities have made efforts to fulfil the assigned tasks in applying IT to improve the efficiency of state agencies’ operations, implementing administrative reform and setting up a useful information portal for people and businesses.


Food additives first exhibit and discussion in HCM City


Photo: Vietnam+
Vietnamese and international leading scientists and engineers gathered for a seminar and exhibition on food additives in HCM City on December 1-2. 

The participants discussed the main topics related to the field, such as technology improvement, food safety, functional food and product access to new markets. 

The priority matter raised at the event was the control of additives used in food production. Many businesses have used illegal additives regardless of consumer health. 

 Participants stressed administrative agencies should strictly control the additives in food and the businesses should obey food additive use regulations.


Lower fertility rates targeted in ethnic regions


Ethnic minority regions would need 10 years to reduce fertility rates to 2.1 children per woman, the General Office for Population and Family Planning reported in a seminar on ethnic populations and sexual health in Lao Cai Province on Monday.

According to the office's statistics, 20 provinces in Viet Nam are home to ethnic minority people that account for 20 per cent of the country's total population, and most of those provinces have high birth-rates compared to the rest of the country.

Most of them have a fertilitiy rate of 2.35 births per woman and eight have a rate of over 2.5, including Ha Giang and Kon Tum with rates of up to 3, against the national average of 2.23.

Tran Thi Thanh Mai, director of the office's Department of Communication and Education, said low education levels were behind the problem.

"Their knowledge on family planning and contraceptive measures is limited," she said.

These provinces don't have enough health workers to educate the public about family planning, she added.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Ba Thuy said the office would further promote population and reproductive healthcare work to help ethnic minority people reach the country's targeted reduced fertility rate.

In the next few years, family planning services in ethnic minority regions would be further focused, said Thuy.

Measures to control birth-rates and reduce the imbalance of sexes would also be applied.

Thuy said that investment in human resources and finance for the ethnic regions must be increased to achieve the desired results over the next 10 years.


Remains of US soldiers repatriated


A repatriation ceremony for the remains of US servicemen who died during the war in Viet Nam was held at Noi Bai International Airport yesterday, Nov 30.

Attending the ceremony were representatives from the Viet Nam Office for Seeking Missing Personnel, the US Ambassador to Viet Nam Michael Michalak and representatives from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.

At the ceremony, a representative of the Vietnamese Government handed over to the US Government three boxes of remains which were recovered during the 101st Joint Field Activities from September to November 2010.

The remains were jointly reviewed and verified by Vietnamese and US forensic specialists that they could be the remains of US servicemen who went missing during the war in Viet Nam and recommended they be brought to Hawaii for further review.

The US side expressed high appreciation for the steadfast humanitarian policy and goodwill, and the increasingly efficient co-operation of the Vietnamese Government and people.

It was the 117th hand over of missing American servicemen's remains since 1973.


Man on probation for assaulting journalist


The Ky Anh District People's Court in the central province of Ha Tinh sentenced Duong Dinh Trang to a year's probation on Monday for assaulting Vo Minh Chau, a journalist from Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper.

Trang was accused of hitting Chau in the face then used a helmet to hit Chau while he and his colleagues were in the district's commune of Ky Tho investigating a story about land clearances. The court also ordered Trang to pay VND10 million (US$512) in compensation to Chau.


Coach crash leaves 16 injured in Delta region

Punctures to two tyres on a 16-seat coach left 16 passengers injured on a stretch of the HCM City – Trung Luong Highway in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta's Long An Province on Monday.

Seven out of 16 injured who were taken to Ben Luc District's Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital have been discharged.


Doctors save man crushed by water tank


Doctors from the Central Highlands Kon Tum Province's General Hospital saved a man with multiple injuries who had been crushed by a 1,000-litre water tank, said Tran Ai, director of the hospital.

The patient, Tran Van Tuan, 41, from Kon Tum City was hospitalised after his small intestine was torn and two bones of his spinal column were broken.

Tuan is recovering and is expected to leave hospital within the next week.

Vinamilk awards scholarships


Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company – Vinamilk yesterday provided VND1.5 billion ($78,000) in scholarships to talented youngsters over the 2010 – 2011 school year.

The company will grant 1,000 scholarships, worth VND1 million ($50) each, to outstanding primary school students and also fund the construction of school libraries.

Vinamilk has granted VND16 billion ($800,000) in its annual programme over the past eight years.

Veterinarian tries to steal from bird flu fund


The Mekong Delta Tien Giang Province's Animal Health Department has decided to sack Vo Thanh Truc, a veterinarian in Cho Gao District for attempting to appropriate VND70 million ($3,500) from a local fund earmarked for bird flu and blue-ear pig disease prevention.

Truc, 36, colluded with his father to falsify documents to embezzle the money.

His father, also a veterinarian, had also been dismissed for similar offence in October.


Comedian Xuan Bac becomes goodwill ambassador


Comedian Nguyen Xuan Bac was officially announced yesterday as the 2010-11 goodwill ambassador for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, said Dao Xuan Hoc, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Bac was invited to play the role of an ambassador by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Lien Aid and UNICEF.

As a goodwill ambassador, Bac, 34 is expected to participate in on-site activities and to be a guest of honour at public and mass media events in order to deliver messages designed to raise public awareness about using clean water and hygienic latrines, and to help change human behaviours around water safety in rural areas.

Bac promised to send messages from the Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation Sector widely and effectively to people in rural areas, with a particular focus on children.

More than 20,000 people, most of them children, die each year due to unclean water and poor sanitation in Viet Nam. Almost half of those deaths can be attributed to diarrhoea, the World Health Organisation reported.

Viet Nam has plans to provide clean water to about 83-85 per cent of rural households and build hygienic latrines in 60 per cent of rural households by the end of the year.


Blue-ear pig disease spreads to 12 provinces


Blue-ear pig disease has spread to 12 provinces across the nation as of November 30, according to the Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The 12 afflicted provinces include Dak Lak, Son La, Quang Ngai, Khanh Hoa, Gia Lai, Phu Yen, Bac Ninh, Yen Bai, Nghe An, Quang Ninh, Lang Son and Bac Kan.  

Nguyen Nhan Lung, Head of the Bac Ninh Branch of Animal Health, said the blue-ear pig disease was essentially under control. “The province has also disinfected the environment and vaccinated cattle to prevent the disease spreading” he said.  

In Quang Ninh, checkpoints were set up to prevent the illegal transportation of pigs, and cattle were vaccinated around the infection zone. However, 2010’s blue-ear pig disease vaccination rate was lower than in the previous year due to the large number of pigs transported through the province.


Vietnam, APEC agree to cooperate in bird flu prevention


A seminar on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) cooperation in bird flu prevention and control was held in Hanoi on December 1 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

More than 60 domestic and international delegates from members of APEC, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) attended the event. 

The participants exchanged their experience in the model and policy of bird flu prevention and control, particularly in the effective use of vaccine. They also analyzed previous campaigns of bird flu prevention and control, as well as the world economies’ response to the problem. 

International experts made theories for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) vaccination in APEC and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as further cooperation among APEC and ASEAN in prevention and control of the disease. 

They shared experience in HPAI vaccination in Indonesia, the advantages and disadvantages of vaccination to poultry and human health in Thailand, and effective use of vaccine for bird flu infection in China. They aim to conclude the HPAI vaccination campaign in the region. 

The seminar is scheduled to finish on December 2, and the event’s result will be submitted to the health section of APEC on February 2011.


Hanoi hosts int’l trade union conference


The third meeting on information sharing and cooperation between the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) and international trade unions opened in Hanoi on November 30.

VGCL Vice President Nguyen Hoa Binh spoke highly of the result of cooperation projects and programmes in recent years, which have contributed to improving the capacity of the organisation and operation of VGCL.

After the second meeting in Hanoi on May, 2008, the VGCL and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), regional and international trade unions and non-governmental organisations conducted a series of projects and programmes on trade union cooperation, yielding sustainable benefits, he said.

At the meeting, delegates discussed and shared information and experiences on trade union issues, such as collective negotiation, membership expansion, establishment of grassroots trade unions, labour hygiene and safety and training for grassroots trade union officials.

The two-day event drew representatives from ILO, North European Trade unions, the UNI-Global Union and international trade unions and non-governmental organisations.


VNN/VOV/VNS