IMM Japan: Vietnamese trainees safe

Vietnamese trainees work in Japan. (Source: Internet)

This was confirmed by the Association for International Manpower Development of Medium and Small Enterprises (IMM Japan).
After the powerful earthquake struck northern Japan, the Department for Management of Overseas Workers under MoLISA asked Vietnamese enterprises to contact their Japanese partners to update information on Vietnamese trainees in the country.
At present, there are about 18,000 Vietnamese trainees in the country, according to the Board for Management of Vietnamese workers in Japan. On March 13, the board checked on almost all Vietnamese trainees in Japan, said representatives from trade associations and Vietnamese enterprises in Japan.
On March 11, there were 71 Vietnamese trainees in Japanese localities which were hardest hit by the quake - Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Kushiro and Ibaraki, but no casualty has been reported so far.

Khmer Buddhists contribute VND4 bil to building school

Khmer Buddhist followers in Hung Hoi commune, Vinh Loi district in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu have contributed VND4 billion to construction of a Khmer language teaching school. 

The three-storey school which is situated in the precinct of Ghositaram pagoda, includes six classrooms alongside rooms for special purposes.
Every year, the school will teach the Khmer language to about 250 ethic students and organise illiteracy elimination classes for thousands of people in the region.
According to Most Venerable Huu Hinh, Ghositaram pagoda, which was built in 1860 and known as a cradle of Buddhism study campaign among monks and nuns, has trained more than 3,500 learners so far.
The building of a school in Ghositaram pagoda is considered a new model of education that will be duplicated in the future.

Operation Smile delegation to visit Vietnam

A 12-member delegation from the Operation Smile programme of Australia will visit Vietnam later this month to explore the country’s activities in the field. 

The programme has received great support from the community of Kiama in the Australian State of New South Wales, providing free surgery for thousands of Vietnamese children suffering from harelip and cleft palate.
During its stay in Vietnam, the delegation, headed by Operation Smile Vietnam Ambassador Andy Keating, will hand over donations raised by residents of Kiama city to fund surgery for the 88 disadvantaged children.
Since becoming the programme’s ambassador in 2004, Andy Keating has raised more than AUD240,000 (nearly VND5 billion), helping bring smiles to over 2,400 Vietnamese children.
In November, 2010 Andy Keating was awarded the “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” insignia by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations for his great contributions to charitable activities to bolster the two countries’ friendship.

Japan to help Vietnam improve traffic systems

Japan is ready to help Vietnam improve its traffic systems, said a Japanese official at a recent seminar in Hanoi.
At the seminar on the application of IT and telecoms in urban traffic management”, Japanese Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Tetsuo Yamakawa said that the Japanese government is interested in the application of an intelligent traffic system (ITS) in Vietnam and is ready to provide consultancy for the country in this field.
According to participants at the seminar, ITS can be applied to various road traffic activities as it helps complete road infrastructure structure, urgently settle traffic problems, modernise automatic fee collection and electronic weighing stations as well as regulate the travel of traffic means by e-signals.
In addition, the application of ITS will provide information for passers, popularise traffic culture and support the process of monitoring the public traffic system along side preventing traffic jams, they added.
The application of ITS is extremely necessary as it also contributes to production of smart traffic means, which limits environmental pollution and improve the efficiency of traffic safety equipment, they noted.
Recently, Hanoi and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have signed the minutes of discussions on a US$3 million technical cooperation project on improving public transport in Hanoi (Trahud II).

Vietnam’s open library system being built

The Hanoi National University (HNU) is joining efforts with the Corporation for Financing and Promoting Technology (FPT) to build a national open library system, Vietnam Open BOOK, to serve training, research and technological application.
Vietnam Open BOOK is expected to provide around 200,000 document/book titles in the next three years.
Once operational, Vietnam Open Book will digitalise existing school materials and documents, helping lecturers and students to gain easier access to treasures of knowledge.
In the first phase, the library system will be available for all users in and outside the HNU.
The HNU will classify information sources, coordinate with the FPT in developing solutions and technologies and provide consultancy on selected information products and services to users.
It will also build contents for the library system as well as provide free documents and IT infrastructure for users.

Ayatori Chair wins furniture design contest

Nguyen Ngoc Duy, a young designer of local firm AA Corporation, has won the first prize in a furniture design competition for a chair which the producer said was influenced by the Japanese rubber string game.

At the award ceremony held in HCMC last Friday, Duy said he was inspired by the rubber string game and the Retro Style of the 50s to 70s to design the Ayatori Chair for the Furniture Design Competition – Apricot Blossom Prize 2010.

The winning design will come into mass production this year.

Nguyen Quoc Khanh, vice chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCMC (HAWA) and chief of the organizing committee, said the organizers had picked 21 designs for the final round, instead of 30 designs seen in last year’s competition.

The general view of the judges is the contestants invested a lot of time and energy in their designs that show innovative and practical ideas, he said, adding the techniques had improved considerably.

Khanh said this year’s designs, together with the designs of the Apricot Blossom Prize 2009, would be used for mass production this year.

Nevertheless, he said, some works cannot be brought into commercial production, so the winners would need to further improve their products.

John Chan, regional director of Southeast Asia and Greater China of the American Hardwood Export Council, the organization that sponsored the competition, said he was impressed by the designs made by Vietnamese contestants.

“It seems to me that every year the designs get better and better. All of the awarded designs expose the beauty of the wood. I think the Apricot Blossom Prize itself has done successfully in helping discover and support the young talents,” he said.

The Furniture Design Competition – Apricot Blossom Prize 2010 was launched in October 2010 and ended in March 2011. The contest attracted 151 students from design schools and employees of furniture companies.

Government orders action to fight livestock diseases

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered ministries, sectors and local authorities to take prompt, drastic measures to curb the spread of poultry and cattle diseases.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Department showed that bird flu had spread to the five provinces of Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Ha Nam, Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai.

Blue-ear pig disease has also been found in the central province of Ha Tinh.

Twenty-four provinces and cities have been hit by foot-and-mouth disease.

Inspection teams from the ministry have been ordered to report back on the results of checks and preventative work to the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister has also asked the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment to ensure there is enough vaccine available to prevent the spread of disease.

The Ministry of Health has been instructed to closely monitor outbreaks of bird flu and be prepared to take appropriate courses of action.

Citizens in Ha Noi can report outbreaks via email or telephone at yteduphong @gmail.com or on 04.39717694 to receive professional advice.

The health ministry reported that there had been no fresh cases of the A/H5N1 flu virus in Viet Nam since earlier this year, but 217 people had tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu virus, resulting in seven deaths nationwide.

The number of people to have contracted the A/H1N1 virus was 2.5 times higher than the same period last year, the report said.

Embassy offers earthquake relief

Working groups organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan made a field trip to the cities of Sendai and Fukushima yesterday to rescue Vietnamese citizens in the areas that were hardest hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Due to heavily damaged roads in the area, the groups' vehicles encountered difficulties as they sought the scattered Vietnamese citizens.

The working groups were scheduled to visit Tohoku University Hospital in Sendai City and the airport in Fukushima, before departing today.

The embassy is conducting relief and protective work for Vietnamese citizens in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. Organisations and individuals can contact the embassy by phone at +81 80-3001-3193 for guest workers or +81 80-4006-0234 for students studying abroad, or via mail vnembassyjp@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines had announced an offer of free airline ticket refunds or changes for passengers booked on its flights to or from Japan between March 11 and May 10, airline spokesman Le Hoang Dung said yesterday.

The carrier would provide maximum assistance to Vietnamese families in buying tickets for their relatives studying, living or working in Japan who wanted to return home soon, Dung said.

The airline was operating 46 flights a week on eight direct routes between Ha Noi and HCM City and the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. The airline was maintaining normal operations between the countries.

No rise in local radiation levels

No abnormal radiation levels have been recorded in Viet Nam after nuclear power plant explosions in Japan, says Viet Nam Atomic Energy Commission chairman Vuong Huu Tan.

"The nuclear power incidents at Fukushima will probably only contaminate neighbouring areas," Tan said.

However, the commission would remain alert to any possible impact on Viet Nam, he said.

"The commission will track events and co-ordinate with Japan and other countries."

It would also investigate the incident so lessons could be learnt to safely develop a nuclear power programme in Viet Nam.

"A National Assembly resolution has affirmed that Viet Nam must use nuclear power reactors of modern generation technology with safety and high economic value," Tan said.

Reactors will automatically shut down when incidents occur.

The Fukushima nuclear power plant was built during the 70s and 80s when safety features were not so well developed, he said.

US consulate to close citizen services in City

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will permanently close its field office in HCM on March 31.

The closure will not affect services previously performed by the US Consulate General.

The US Consulate General, where authorised, will assume responsibility for cases formerly processed by the USCIS office in HCM City.

Imposters pose as police to collect fines

Two people, aged 22 and 23, who disguised themselves as mobile police to fraudulently collect fines from traffic law violators, were arrested on Monday by Vinh City Police.

The two were caught while trying to stop three people on a motorbike not wearing helmets.

The case is under investigation.

Ministry requires GPS equipment on vessels

Regulations on mounting satellite equipment for fishing vessels were issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Monday.

According to the regulations, fishing vessels with capacity of over 90 CV, which work in a fleet, will have to carry satellite equipment.

The first round of the project will be carried out at the end of this year with about 3,000 vessels using the equipment.

The US$20 million project has mainly been sourced via France's ODA loan programme.

Five Vietnamese fire victims identified

Five Vietnamese killed in a fire at a garment factory in Russia on March 10 were identified. The two who were injured are being treated in a hospital.

The deceased victims, aged between 23 to 31, include three women and two men.

The garment factory, located in Ivanteevka Town, Pushkino City, with about 400 – 500 Vietnamese workers, is owned by a Vietnamese couple. The fire occurred when about 20 people were working the night shift.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Campaign launched to remove illegal billboards

A campaign to remove illegal advertisements on the streets of Ha Noi was launched on Sunday by the Ha Noi Youth Association.

More than 1,500 students from universities and colleges in Ha Noi took part in the campaign.

It is aimed at raising environmental awareness, according to the association.

Vietnam, Mongolian trade unions boost cooperation

The resumption of traditional cooperative ties and solidarity with Mongolian trade unions is one of the top priorities in foreign affairs of Vietnamese trade unions.

VNS/VOV/SGT