More trees for urban areas

A VND146 billion (US$6.9 million) project to plant trees on the East-West Boulevard in HCM City will be carried out to encourage development in residential urban areas in the city's east and south directions.

The project has been approved by the city's Department of Planning and Architecture, the Construction Department and the city Urban Planning and Architecture Council.

Work is scheduled to begin in July and finish by the end of this year.

Under the management of the East-West Boulevard project, a number of associated companies have recently planted perennial trees along the boulevard. But the city authorities feel there is a need for more green trees along the 22-km long boulevard, particularly on roads connecting with districts 1, 2, 4, 5. 6, 8, Binh Tan and Binh Chanh, said HCM City Urban Traffic Management Zone no 1 director Le Quyet Thang.

The project will cost about VND146 billion (US$6.9 million). Of that sum, about VND80 billion ($3.8 million) will be spent on installing an automatic irrigation system and a maintenance fund. The rest will be used to plant trees.

"Although the automatic irrigation system will require a huge investment in the beginning, it will save a lot of money in the long run compared with the use of tankers to daily irrigate the trees," said Thang.

The best contractors will be selected to implement the project, he said.

For the project, the East-West Boulevard will be divided into four sections. The lanes will be divided by grass banks, ornamental gardens and rock gardens.

On Section 2, from Lo Gom Bridge to Huynh Man Dat interchange, coloured leaf trees will be planted. A small wood will be planted on Nguyen Tri Phuong intersection.

The East-West Boulevard is the most important gateway to Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City.

Conference debates promoting Buddhism

Buddhist clergy from all over the country gathered in southern Binh Duong Province on March 10, for a four-day conference to discuss ways to propagate Buddhist teachings.

The four-day "Buddhism with the People", organised by the Buddhist Sangha, aims to find solutions to pressing issues facing the faith so that it can develop during an era of global integration and live up to its history of having a close association with the development of the Vietnamese people over the last 2,000 years.

According to the Venerable Thich Hue Thong, deputy head in charge of Sangha's faith promotion activities, delegates will discuss ways to promote Buddhist teachings based on the concept of "Dharma, People and Socialism" and consider the task related to people, youths, integration, overseas Vietnamese communities, environment and climate change, tourism, and rituals.

The conference will also feature charity activities involving a total of VND13 billion (US$620,000).

Before the start of the conference, organisers gifted 100 houses to needy people and 1,000 bicycles to poor school children on Wednesday. They also funded a number of heart and eye surgeries for poor children.

A requiem and happiness prayer, a Buddhist familiarisation course for youths, exhibitions of Buddhist pictures and sculptures by famous artists, and a street procession to promote Buddhist solutions to environmental threats are also planned as part of the conference.

VN to build first tsunami warning stations

Da Nang is the first city to install tsunami warning stations and construction work is scheduled to finish in March 2011, said Tran Van Thuan, Viettel Director in Da Nang.

This is part of a project to create a tsunami warning system nationwide.

The Da Nang Municipal People’s Committee has agreed to build 10 stations.

Chinese man arrested for drug trafficking

Border guards of northern Quang Ninh Province on March 10, handed over a Chinese man who was arrested for trafficking drugs across Viet Nam's border to relevant agencies for handling.

Jou Ying Jie was discovered carrying drugs across the border on Tuesday while illegally crossing Vang Lay border in Mong Cai City.

On the same day, the force searched his hotel room and found small nylon bags containing drugs.

In total, they seized more than 4,800g of Ketamine from Jie, who admitted to bringing the drugs from China via Viet Nam to sell in Cambodia.

Vietnamese honoured as Global Young Leaders

Maths professor Ngo Bao Chau and Jimmy Pham, director of the KOTO Organisation, have been selected by the World Economic Forum to be among 190 "Global Young Leaders" this year.

Chau, who won the 2010 Fields award, was honoured for his contribution to mathematics and Jimmy Pham for his efforts to help street children.

This award is given annually to about 200 young leaders under the age of 40 from throughout the world to recognise their leadership and contribution to social development.

The list of the winners was officially published on Wednesday.

Thai Nguyen urged to focus on human resource development

Thai Nguyen province should invest more in developing human resources and establishing boarding schools for ethnic minorities, said former Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

While working with provincial authorities on March 10, Mr Manh spoke highly of effective measures taken by Thai Nguyen to control inflation, stabilise macroeconomy and ensure social welfare.

Voters voiced their concerns over policies on production promotion, financial market operation, credit loans, land management, people’s heath care, allowances for social policy beneficiaries, and incentives for developments in remote and mountainous areas.

Regarding preparations for the 13^th National Assembly Election, Mr Manh emphasized the need to build a law-regulated socialist nation of the people, by the people and for people. This plays an important role in ensuring the nation’s political stability and realizing its goals of socio-economic development, he added.

Francophone world targets youth

International Francophone Day (March 20) will be marked in Vietnam on March 18 with numerous events to convince young people to study the French language. 

The Director of the International Organisation of the French-Speaking World (IOF) Asian-Pacific office, Patrice Burel, said at a press briefing in Hanoi on March 10 that these events will include a Francophone film festival, African world music with Ba Cissoko band and a cultural festival, aimed at promoting the colourful cultures of the French-speaking world.

The Francophone film festival will take place in Hanoi in the north, Hue city in the central region and Ho Chi Minh City in the south, and present audiences with films on modern times from France, Greece, Switzerland, Belgium, Tunisia and Vietnam. 

Three Vietnamese documentaries will be screened, including “Left with the time”, directed by Le Hong Chuong, “Roads to justice” directed by Lai Van Sinh, and “Countryside”, by Sy Chung.
The Francophone Cultural Festival will culminate in the final of the French song festival at Hanoi University on the night of March 19. Vietnamese school pupils and university students are expected to flock there for a cultural exchange.

UNICEF helps Vietnam prevent injuries

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Health Environment Management Agency under the Vietnamese Ministry of Health co-organised a conference in Hanoi on March 10, to work out a plan for inspection of accidents leading to injury in the 2011-2015 period. 

The inspection system will be carried out in three phases, with the first phase from 2011-2012 to focus on three kinds of accidents - road, labour and child injury accidents -  at 20 pilot hospitals at central, municipal and provincial levels, according to a ministry representative.
The second phase, spanning the 2012-2013 period, will expand the system to 40 hospitals in cities and provinces, and the third phase from 2014-2015 will select three of the project’s localities to apply outcomes and implement intervention programmes.
Earlier, an action plan to prevent accidental injury conducted by the Ministry of Health during the 2008-2010 period had reaped good results, with over 80 percent of the centrally-run cities and provinces organising information work and raising knowledge about how to prevent accidental injuries. At the same time, 30 percent of the centrally-run cities and provinces had set up emergency aid networks and emergency assistance and 30 percent of the staff received training courses on ways to implement the programme.
Ten communes were recognised as safe communities at international level and 42 others in 13 provinces at national level.

Malaysia donates US$50,000 to flood victims

The Malaysian government has provided US$50,000 in support for central province residents affected by storms and floods in late 2010. 

Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam Dato Lim Kim Eng presented the donation to Vice President cum General Secretary of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Vu Trong Kim on March 10 in Hanoi.
Addressing the presentation ceremony, Vice President Kim thanked and spoke highly of good deeds performed by the government and people of Malaysia, which, he said, contribute to highlighting traditional solidarity and friendship between the two countries’ people as well as further affirming the solidarity among ASEAN member countries.
He pledged to promptly hand over the donation to the victims.
For his part, the Malaysian diplomat said this was the second time the Malaysian government has offered its support for Vietnam’s central province residents who were hit by storms and floods in 2010. He said he hoped that the assistance would help the victims develop production.

Vietnam to mark World Water Day 2011

A national meeting to mark World Water Day 2011 will be held in Phan Rang city in the central province of Ninh Thuan on March 22. 

This was announced at a press conference in Hanoi on March 10.
There will also be a seminar, talks on World Water Day and a documentary film on water resources to be aired on central and local TV channels.
World Water Day 2011 will focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and uncertainties caused by climate change, conflicts and natural disasters on urban water systems.
Through the event, the UN wants to encourage governments, organisations, communities and individuals to actively engage in addressing the difficulties of urban water management.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the degradation in water resources in Vietnam’s urban areas is attributable to population increase, rapid urbanisation and poor community awareness of water resources and water saving.

VNN/VOV/VNS