Beneficiaries will be 733,133 people, including more than 1,000 people aged over 100 and 148,148 poor households.

Heroic mothers, war invalids, heroes of armed forces and people who had rendered services to the nation will each receive a gift package worth VND500,000.

Meanwhile, children of war veterans, who have been affected by chemical substances and receive monthly State allowances, and representatives of war martyrs families will receive VND300,000 each.

People aged 100 and over will get VND1 million each and retired State employees will receive VND200,000 per person.

The city will give VND300,000 to each poor household. In addition, the People’s Committees of the city’s districts and departments, sectors and agencies will raise funds for presentations of Tet gifts to disabled people, street children and poor people in the city.

The city will also provide VND100,000 to each trainee at drug detoxification and social education centres and VND200,000 to each staff member at those centres.

At the meeting, the two sides reviewed cooperative activities over the years and set up cooperative agreements for the next five years with a focus on agriculture, industry, transportation, trade and tourism.

On agricultural cooperation, Binh Dinh provided Champasak with veterinary equipment, training and artificial insemination technology.

Regarding education and healthcare cooperation, Binh Dinh presented 56 scholarships for Champasak’s students studying at Quy Nhon University and sent officials to study in the province.

Addressing the meeting, Dung noted that bilateral cooperation has helped bolster the two provinces’ fraternal relations and develop two economies. However, he said both need to step up cooperation in the period 2011-2015 to meet their potential in industry, commerce, services and tourism.

On the same day, the delegation visited some local economic zones and enterprises.

Duong Quang Thanh, Vice Director General of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), told a press briefing on January 10 that the levels of water at reservoirs are now much lower than usual. This, he said, posed considerable difficulties for the dry season of 2011, possibly with thermal power plants suffering deficiencies or operating unstably.

Meanwhile, Mr Thanh added that the demand for electricity during the dry season will rise by 18.3 percent to 56.14 billion kWh.

Given this fact, EVN devised some countermeasures for the dry season and the whole year, he said.

These proposed measures include rational adjustment of water levels at reservoirs to serve electricity generation, people’s daily lives, and agricultural production; flexible and economical adjustment of the national electrical grid; and reduction of time for fixing incidents on the North–South 500kV electric line.

EVN will also accelerate the operation of new power plants and maximize the use of coal power plants.

In addition, the group will negotiate to import more electricity.

The Amazara Quest, carrying 450 tourists from Japan, China and Great Britain, and Seabourn Pride with 200 tourists from Great Britain, Germany and the US on board were the second and third cabin cruisers visiting the central region in the first few days of the year.

Tien Sa port is expected to receive three more cruise ships carrying almost 2,500 international tourists from Asia and Europe this month.

Travel agents expect a 20 percent year-on-year increase in international arrivals by sea in Da Nang in 2011, resulting from the rallying trend of the global economy. In the first quarter alone, 23 ships carrying over 10,000 tourists, mostly from traditional European markets, are scheduled to call at the central port.

Most noteworthy is the comeback of luxury cruise liners such as Costa Classica, each carrying almost 2,000 passengers. Japan and China are also expected to contribute to a considerable increase in the numbers of tourists aboard Azamara Quest cruise liners.

Da Nang is expected to attract some 450,000 international arrivals this year to go sightseeing in tourist attractions in the central region such as the ancient city of Hoi An, the former imperial city of Hue and the My Son temple complex.

Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan said at a ceremony in Hanoi on January 11 that the insignia was the highest noble award of the Vietnamese Health Ministry to individuals working well in the health sector. 

The Deputy Minister spoke highly of Dr. Nicole Smith’s contributions to protecting people’s health while she was working in Vietnam.
Dr. Nicole Smith began her four-year term of office in Vietnam in 2007 as a WHO advisor in infectious disease monitoring in Vietnam. 

While in Vietnam, she closely worked with international organisations in deploying activities against flu epidemic and with the Vietnamese Health Ministry in amending and supplementing the national action plan on influenza pandemic prevention and control.
She also worked with the Health Ministry in providing technical consultancy and devising professional documents on flu type A/H1N1, shared information on influenza pandemic in the world as well as provided technical assistance in building the plan on the use of flu vaccine type A/H1N1 in Vietnam.

The recognition is the main content of a bilateral agreement on plant protection signed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the French Plant Protection Agency in Hanoi on January 11.

The two countries also agreed to exchange seeds and plant varieties.

The agreement covers 80 plant strains such as rice, maize, potato and assorted flowers.

French experts said Vietnam has implemented a system of intellectual property protection regarding plant varieties which has encouraged gene research and protects the national gene heritage.

They expected that assistance for scientists and farmers will help the two countries gain speedy access to achievements in genes for sustainable agricultural production.

France ranks first in seed production and second in seed exports in the world, producing over 6,000 varieties annually, including 500 hybrids.