Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia Red Cross Societies promote cooperation  
Cooperation between the Red Cross Societies of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia will help improve living conditions for people in the border regions.

Chairman of the Vietnam Red Cross Society, Tran Ngoc Tang, said this at a conference of the Vietnam-Lao-Cambodia Red Cross Societies in Hanoi on November 13.

He said leaders of the three societies agreed with the proposal for cooperation in the 2011-2015 period.

Under the proposal, border provinces in the three countries will work closely together to share information about natural disasters and epidemics and help each other improve healthcare service.

The Vietnam Red Cross Association will help Laos and Cambodia with Red Cross staff training and provide free medical examination and treatment for Lao and Cambodian people living on the border with Vietnam.

Since the cooperation agreement between the three societies was signed four years ago, Vietnam has assisted Laos and Cambodia with healthcare services and charitable activities valued at more than VND8 billion.

Fine art exhibition supports AO victims  
A photo and fine art exhibition opened in Ho Chi Minh City on November 12 to raise funds for Agent Orange/dioxin victims in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

The exhibition is showcasing 34 oil paintings, 35 black and white and colour photos taken by a group of artists and photographers after their fact-finding tours of Tan Binh and Chau Thanh districts in late July this year.

Through the event, the authors expressed their deep sentiments towards AO victims and called for donations from the public to them.

The exhibition will last until November 20.

Construction Quality Gold Cup 2010 awarded in Hanoi  
Sixty five outstanding construction projects selected from 300 candidates were awarded the 2010 Construction Quality Gold Cup in a ceremony in Hanoi, on November 13.

The winners are operating in the fields of civil construction, industry, transport, irrigation, hydroelectricity and technical infrastructure. Most of their projects have already been completed and put into operation between 2000 and July, 2010.

This event aims to promote high-quality construction and buildings in the construction sector.

The Construction Quality Gold Cup award honours the best high quality construction projects during the process of industrialization, modernization and international integration.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan acknowledged the great contributions the sector has made to the nation’s development. The high quality of the projects proves the success of Vietnam’s construction sector.

He expressed his hope this award will become an annual honor for construction businesses.

Lao Cai, Yunnan boost forest fire fighting coordination  
The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai and its neighboring Chinese Yunnan province will closely coordinate in educating residents in border areas to raise awareness of forest fire prevention and not to take slash and burn method for cultivation.

The two sides reached a consensus during the second talks between Lao Cai province and Yunnan province’s Hekou district on preventing forest fires as well as the illegal cross-border transport and smuggling of forest products and wild animals, which was recently held in Lao Cai.

They agreed that people who cause forest fires damaging the other side’s forests will be treated under each country’s law. Border communes will set up rescue teams and keep regular links with each side’s forest fire prevention agencies.

The two sides also agreed to hold their next meeting in Hekou district.

Lao Cai province shares over 200 km of borderline with China, including two thirds of mainland with forests.

Vietnamese pupils wins UPU gold medal  
Ho Thi Hieu Hien, a Vietnamese pupil from Da Nang City was awarded the gold medal by Edouard Dayan, Director General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in Switzerland on November 12.

The twelve-year-old girl, who won the first prize at the 39th UPU International Letter-Writing Competition, said she was honoured to receive the award.

This is the second time I have taken part in the contest, said Hien, adding that she will continue to participate in the next year’s competition on forest protection.

In Hien’s letter to Chinese stage director Truong Nghe Muu, she expressed her hope wishes for more educational films about HIV/AIDS, so people will understand the dangers of the disease and raise their awareness of how to prevent it.

Mr. Dayan said her letter showed her intelligence and creativity. It has become very popular with readers all over the world and he said he hopes more pupils will take part in the UPU Letter-Writing Competition to express their views on for the social progress freely and openly.

Vietnam joins Asia-Europe educational cooperation  
Vietnam has joined other nine Asian and seven European countries in an Asia-Europe university education cooperation programme called “Man Health Environment Biodiversity in Asia” (MAHEVA).

A delegation from Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) led by Prof. Nguyen Canh Luong and Prof. Ha Manh Thu, the MAHEVA coordinators, paid a working visit to France’s Monpellier city to kick off the project.

Through the exchange of students and managers, the programme aims to step up cooperation in science and technology, economics, culture and education between Europe and Asia, strengthen high-quality graduate and post-graduate education and conduct joint researches into environmental and social protection.

It encourages graduates and post-graduates to study at European laboratories and develop new teaching programmes and applied researches, thus strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation among European and Asian universities.

The programme also encourages the recognition of equivalent teaching programmes and degrees using the European Train Control System (ETCS) in order to increase occupational opportunities for Asia students and help Asian universities implement tertiary education reforms through the exchange of teaching and researching experiences taken from European universities.

Other partners include Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, the Phillipines, France, Finland, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Poland and Spain.

Under the programme, they partners will have an opportunity to cooperate in such areas as biology, environmental protection and health.

Press Awards Ceremony for the Cause of Great National Unity 2010  
A ceremony was held in Hanoi on November 12 by the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee to present press awards for the cause of great national unity. 

In her speech, Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, Ha Thi Khiet, said activities launched by the VFF over the past years have helped enhance the great national unity bloc, encourage the people to actively engage in patriotic emulation movements, and enhance Party building and rectification to fulfill socio-economic targets.

Mrs Khiet praised the press’s role as a leadership tool of the Party, State, administrations, the VFF, and the people as well, which has greatly contributed to reinforcing the great national unity.

In 2010, the Organisation Board has received 782 media entries from 131 press agencies throughout the country in which there were 592 print entries, 75 online entries, 62 TV entries and 50 radio entries.

On the occasion, the VFF Secretariat informed that the 80th anniversary of the Vietnam National United Front, now the Vietnam Fatherland Front (1930-2010) will be held at the State level from November 11-25.

More than 100,000 residential areas across the country will celebrate the Festive Day of the Great National Unity by launching volunteer activities such as building houses and providing medical care for the poor.

HCM City’s Youth Union offers gifts to flood victims in Binh Dinh  
Ho Chi Minh City’s Youth Union presented 1,000 gifts, each worth VND400,000, to flood victims in Tuy Phuoc district, Binh Dinh province on November 12.

The delegation also provided treatment and free medicine to people there.

On the occasion, HCM City’s Youth Union sent VND3 million to two-year-old Mai Thi Thuy Hang in Phuoc Hiep commune, Tuy Phuoc district, whose family was swept away by the flood.

They assisted six households, whose houses were collapsed in storm, each with VND7 million and ten poor teachers, each with VND1 million. 

Localities deal with floods’ aftermaths  
Currently, local authorities and people are actively coping with the consequences of floods.

The Khanh Hoa provincial Department of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs allocated much of its budget to support families who have dead, missing or injured family members as well as those whose houses have been destroyed.

The Khanh Hoa provincial People’s Committee has also spent VND16 billion to restore infrastructure, roads, and irrigation and on social welfare projects.

*** Phu Yen allocates aid to flood victims

By November 12, it is still raining heavily in Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. Many houses in An Hai village were submerged under sand. The local authorities have mobilised people and equipment to prevent sand entering houses and asked the Tuy An district People’s Committee to devise measures to deal with the problem.

According to the Phu Yen provincial Steering Board for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control, prolonged floods since late October have left 7 dead, one missing, and swept away nearly 100 houses. The Government has provided the province with 1,000 tonnes of rice and VND30 billion to deal with the consequences of floods. The provincial Fatherland Front Committee also received aid worth VND4.5 billion and rice, noodle soup, clean water, blankets, mosquitoes nets, and clothes to help flood victims.

*** Binh Dinh urged the Government to provide VND150 billion and 3,000 tonnes of rice

The Binh Dinh provincial People’s Committee has asked the Government to provide VND150 billion, 3,000 tonnes of rice, 400,000 doses of foot and mouth disease vaccine, 500,000 doses of cholera vaccine and 20 tonnes of quarantine chemicals to help the province overcome the consequences of floods.

The Binh Dinh provincial Steering Board for Flood and Storm Prevention and Control said that by November 12, the floods claimed 7 dead, one missing and 2 injured. Floods also damaged nearly 200 houses, submerged 4,015 and isolated more than 2,000 others.

Many transport and irrigation projects were seriously damaged and thousands hectares of crops were ruined. Initial estimated losses are more than VND513 billion.

PV