Flood victims get more foreign, domestic aid

The Chinese Red Cross has decided to grant US$50,000 in relief aid to Vietnamese flood victims in central Vietnam.

Photo: VNA

Earlier, the Chinese Embassy on October 8 had also donated US$10,000 to the victims.

By October 11, the rain-triggered floods had left 66 people dead, 17 missing and 75 others injured, according to the National Steering Committee for Storm and Flood Control.

The floods caused an estimated damage worth over VND2.5 trillion (roughly US$127.5 million), of which nearly VND1.4 trillion is from Quang Binh province, and polluted over 6,300 ha of residential areas, leaving 100,000 people facing shortages of fresh water.

Up to October 7, a large number of agencies, organisations and individuals across the country had registered and donated more than VND20.8 billion to the flood victims.

VN looks to boost legislature

The Vietnamese National Assembly wants to strengthen exchanges and learn from the experiences of the European Parliament (EP), especially in legislative skills and improving the capacity of deputies.

NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong made the statement while receiving the President of Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Institute, Prof Hans-Gert Poettering, who was former EP President for the 2007-09 period, in Ha Noi yesterday, Oct 11.

She said the two sides needed to strengthen dialogues in order to improve understanding about each other’s situation as well as issues of common concern.

As the ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam fully supported and actively contributed to regional and global efforts to minimise the negative impacts of climate change, she said.

For his part, Poettering said the EP was ready to share experiences with Viet Nam and expressed his wish to strengthen co-operation with Viet Nam.

Deputy PM pleads for workforce plan

The Government and enterprises should implement a national scheme to map out human resource development so a capable workforce can be ensured for the next 10 years, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has said.

Nhan said most ministries, sectors and localities have not paid adequate attention to the quality of human resources, even though they are the backbone of the country’s development.

Training provided by the education sector has failed to meet social needs and has focused on quantity, not quality, he added.

An attitude that values the quality of education, especially at universities, should be developed, he said.

Nhan said localities lacked policies to attract graduates to return to work in their hometowns. Instead, many of them go to big cities to look for jobs.

The Deputy PM asked the provinces of Bac Ninh, Lao Cai, Thanh Hoa, Dak Lak, Dong Nai and Hau Giang as well as the city of Da Nang to pilot workforce planning under the instruction of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Nhan assigned the Ministry of Education and Training and Ministry of Planning and Investment to hold a conference this month on the scale and criteria for investing funds from the national budget into public universities. The conference aims to define universities’ practical demands, and will report to the Prime Minister in November.

A website on mapping out human resource development plans will be set up next year by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Nhan stressed the importance of "untying the knot in human resources" in coming years. Nhan urged ministries, sectors and localities to quantify their human resource needs by the end of the year so that development plans for the period 2011–2020 can be outlined.

Fukuoka assists Hanoi in environmental protection

Hanoi and the Japanese prefecture, Fukuoka, will give priority to establishing a policy and mechanism for protecting the environment and managing the quality of water and river basins.

This is part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Phi Thai Binh, Deputy Chairman of the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee, and Wataru Aso, governor of Fukuoka Prefecture on September 11.

According to the MoU, they will also focus on treating waste water and air pollution, classifying dangerous and industrial waste, using clean and alternative energies and dealing with global environmental issues including bio-diversity and climate change.

They will conduct a number of training courses for administrative staff to learn how to improve levels of environment pollution which Fukuoka has done successfully while raising public awareness of environment protection issues and promoting exchanges between companies and researchers to help improve Hanoi’s environment.

VNN/VOV/VNS