Vietnam focuses int’l youth festival on AO victims


Vietnamese delegates have campaigned for Agent Orange/dioxin victims at a two-day World Festival of Youth and Students opened in Pretoria, South Africa, on December 15.

The Vietnamese delegation raised the topic at all events in the framework of the festival, including workshops on Africa, Asia-Pacific region, Europe and world youth unity and solidarity.
They also handed out leaflets calling on youth organisations and the international community to support the struggle for justice for AO/dioxin victims in Vietnam.
In addition, the Vietnamese delegates held meetings and joined sports and games matches with other delegations in an effort to boost solidarity and friendship with youths from other countries worldwide.
A mobile exhibition on Vietnam was held to promote the national image, including achievements in renewal.
Also on display was the 80-year-long history of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU) which highlights the vanguard and voluntary role played by the force in national construction and defence.
The HCMCYU’s First Secretary, Vo Van Thuong, said it was a good chance for Vietnamese youths to promote the national image to the international community and contribute to the world youth and students’ movement in the interest of peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.
Also on the day, Thuong was received by World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) President Tiago Vieira where the duo discussed measures to boost WFDY’S relations with the HCMCYU and the Vietnam Youth Federation.

The two sides pledged to do their best to fulfil the festival’s goal “For a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation”.


VN adopted Hague Adoption Convention


Viet Nam has officially adopted the Hague convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention). This is the first convention of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HccH) to be adopted by Viet Nam.

Viet Nam's Ambassador to the Netherlands Huynh Minh Chinh signed the convention on behalf of the Vietnamese Government earlier this month.

The Hague Adoption Convention, one of 38 HccH's conventions, aims to protect children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad. To date, 81 countries have adopted the convention.

Minh said joining the convention was a milestone in the efforts of Viet Nam in integrating into the multi-dimension collaboration on international law. "The Vietnamese government would accelerate the process to complete the legal framework and have this convention put into effect," he said at the signing ceremony.

On January 1, 2011, the Adoption Law of Viet Nam will also start to take effect. Together with the Hague convention, the country hopes these measures will help protect the rights of children.


Law awareness in HCM City’s businesses


Photo: VOV
A seminar on raising labour law awareness in businesses to limit labour disputes and strikes was held on December 15 in HCM City. 

The seminar aimed to summarise one year’s implementation of the Prime Minister’s Decision 31 on popularizing law for worker and employer.

The HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, as well as other districts, organised over 300 training workshops in 2010 for 30,000 businesses with more than 100,000 participants to educate worker in labour law and policies for salary and bonus.

The City’s job centre also popularized the unemployment insurance in 1,500 businesses in export processing and industrial zones. In 2010, about 55,000 people enjoyed unemployment insurance with a total benefit of VND197 billion.

“The campaign will be promoted in 2011 to make it more effective”, said Le Thanh Tam, Head of the HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.


HCM City lacks toxic waste disposal facilities


It remains difficult for companies in HCM City to find units to process their toxic wastes since demand continues to outstrip supply by many times despite a 30-fold increase in price.

The price of treating toxic waste has gone up from VND1.3 million a tonne in 2007 to VND40 million (US$2,100) now.

Despite that, treatment units refuse to treat toxic wastes that require incineration at high temperatures, preferring to treat recyclable toxic wastes.

Nguyen Trung Viet, head of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment's Solid Waste Management Division, attributed their reluctance to operating in a sellers' market.

They preferred to treat recyclable wastes to earn more profits, he said without elaborating.

The city generates around 600 tonnes of toxic wastes a day, 75 per cent of it non-recyclable.

The Department has been urging both private and public investors to build toxic-waste-treatment plants in recent years despite the fact that city agencies do not have land to provide to such investors.

Meanwhile, since the beginning of this year environmental agencies have been cracking down on waste-treatment units, forcing those that do not meet standards to shut down.

As a result, the city now has only three plants that collect, transport and treat toxic wastes compared to 20 in 2008.

With the environmental agencies also turning their attention to manufacturers, many of them enter into fraudulent contracts with waste-treatment units.

For a certain sum of money, the units merely sign the contract but do not treat the waste or only treat a small quantity.


Agribank manager arrested for theft


HCM City police arrested on Tuesday the head of Agribank's Hung Vuong Branch for alleged involvement in a "cheating and arrogation of property" case.

The HCM City Public Security Department issued the decision to commence criminal proceedings against Pham Khac Dai Dien.

The department has also conducted a research of his house and office.

According to initial investigations, Dien allegedly allowed Bui Thi Kien Ha, director of Dai Viet Bao Company Ltd and deputy general director of Nhan Thuan JSC, to withdraw VND30 billion (US$1.5 million) that she had deposited before March this year.

Between December 16, 2009 and March 5 this year, Ha borrowed VND30 billion from four people for the alleged purpose of maintaining a balance in her company's account.

Dien, however, did not block the account in his bank. This allowed her to withdraw the money, but Ha has not been able to settle her debt with the four lenders.

In March, the lenders discovered that Ha had withdrawn the money from the bank.

While the case was under investigation, Dien and Ha jointly wrote the lenders' fake signatures on documents which allowed her to withdraw the money.

On November 18, Ha was arrested on charges of "cheating and arrogating property". Police said she had admitted to the alleged crime.


Doctors save life of poisoned Chinese man


A Chinese male patient left northern Lao Cai Province's general hospital in stable condition on Tuesday after three-months' treatment.

The patient, Chen Fei Ke, 39, was rushed to hospital after drinking pesticide in what is believed to have been a suicide attempt.

He was not asked to pay hospital and medical fees of VND77 million (US$3,900).


Schools drinking water fails hygiene standards


Inspectors from northern Vinh Phuc Province's Education and Training Department discovered eight of nine drinking water samples from nine schools did not meet hygiene standards.

More than 80 of the 277 schools in the province have no water-treatment systems.


Poppy field destroyed in Nghe An Province


A Nghe An border guard has discovered a 700sq.m field of poppy cultivated with cabbages in Ai Khe village, Muong Tip Commune, Ky Son District in the central province.

The guard co-operated with local authorities who traced the owner of the crop and destroyed all poppies.

Since the start of the year, border guards have discovered nearly 3,000sq.m of poppies under cultivation near the Viet Nam-Laos border.


Ship leaves 10-km oil slick off Quang Ngai


Central Quang Ngai Province People's Committee asked the National Steering Committee for Search and Rescue for support on Tuesday after a ship crashed into rocks, creating a 10-km oil slick.

About 23 sailors on board the ship were rescued.

The ship, carrying 12,780 tonnes of maize and 220 tonnes of oil, had been travelling from Thailand to Viet Nam's northern Hai Phong City when it got into difficulties last Sunday.


Vietnam, Lao provinces boost training cooperation


The northwestern province of Dien Bien has adopted an annual training project for 90 college and vocational training students from three provinces of Laos.

Under the project on training cooperation with the three Lao northern provinces of Luang Prabang, Oudomxay and Phongsaly for the 2010-2015 period, Dien Bien province will support training and accommodation funding and daily expenses as well as schooling aid for each student.
The total funding is estimated to up to VND18 million (about US$900) per student per academic year.
The training cooperation programme obtained fruitful results in recent years, contributing to the countries’ common goal of human resource development.
Over the past five years, Dien Bien province has provided training for 330 students from the three Lao northern provinces.
Besides, Luang Prabang province helped and gave financial support for 20 students from Dien Bien province to study at Suphanuvong University.


Vietnam, Laos inaugurate new border gate


Vietnam’s northern province of Dien Bien and Laos’ Phongsaly province on December 15 held an inauguration ceremony for Si Pa Phin - Huoi La border gate in Muong Cha district.

Addressing the ceremony, Hoang Van Nhan, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the border gate would provide new opportunities for cooperative ties in socio-economic development, ensuring security along the borderline as well as promoting the strength of the two provinces.
In the near future, Dien Bien province will build a new road system and work out proper policies to promote investment, import and export through this border gate, helping tighten the special friendship ties between Vietnam and Laos, Nhan said.


Contest to create eco-label launched


The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VAT) launched a contest on December 15 to create an ecological label “Green Lotus” for travel agencies in Vietnam.

This is the first ecological symbol for sustainable development in Vietnam. According to the Vietnam Hotel Association, there will be 84 criteria to make the eco-label and these criteria will be based on those from Europe and Asia as well as globally.

The contest, which will take place from December 15-23, aims to promote green tourism and sustainable development in Vietnam. The VAT will announce the results and grant awards on December 28.

More detailed information about the contest is available at the following websites www.tourism.gov.vn and http://vtr.org.vn and http://baodulich.net.vn.


Lam Dong receives gifts from Truong Sa archipelago


The Central Highlands province of Lam Dong on December 12 held a ceremony to receive stones and trees as gifts from the High Command of Naval force and the people living on the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

The gifts included 10 tropical almond trees and 21 pieces of coral stones selected from 21 islands in the archipelago, which symbolise the nation’s sovereignty over its seas and islands.

The stones and trees will be laid and planted at Da Lat city’s botanical garden to raise the public’s awareness of the sea and islands’ sovereignty.

The gifts also underlined the close ties between the military personnel stationed on the Truong Sa archipelago, the Lam Dong authorities and people.

ASEAN, Japan share gov’t information security issues


Governmental officials and experts on network security from ASEAN member countries and Japan have gathered in Hanoi to share experience and promote cooperation between the two sides.

Addressing the ASEAN-Japan governmental network security workshop, held on December 16-17, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong stressed the importance of ensuring governmental network security, for common socio-economic development and for defence and security of each country, as well as the region.

The Vietnamese government and the ministry always pay special attention to information security, he said, adding that through the workshop, Vietnam expects to benefit from the experience of Japan and other regional and international countries in ensuring security for national information networks.

The workshop is part of a series of cooperation programmes to share experience and information between ASEAN member countries and the Japanese partner in implementing governmental information security as well as promoting mechanism of international cooperation and coordination among their governmental security centres, with the aim of building a safe network environment in the region.

During the two-day workshop, jointly held by the Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications, the Japan information security centre and the Singapore information development and communications agency, participants presented updated reports on their countries’ governmental network security, focusing on new risks for the networks in each country and the region.

Japan and Singapore, in their capacity as coordinators of the ASEAN-Japan information security cooperation, proposed new information security model initiatives for regional cooperation on network security, building capacity and raising awareness of governmental network security.


Vietnam, Laos cooperate in satellite service


Vietnam and Laos signed an agreement to cooperate on satellite service in the capital city of Laos, Vientiane on December 16.

Attending the signing ceremony were Deputy Head of the Vietnam Maritime Administration Do Duc Tien and Director of the Lao Civil Aviation Department Yakua Lorpangkao.
The agreement aimed to bring Vietnam’s Cospas-Sarsat satellite system’s channels into operation at Laos ’ Search and Rescue (SAR) points of contact (SPOC).

Addressing the signing ceremony, Tien said the agreement would enable Laos to improve search and rescue services and help strengthen the country’s transport security and safety.

In 2009, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperartion in receiving, processing and distributing data from the Cospas-Sarsat satellite.


North hit by bitter cold spell


Another cold spell hit the northern region, causing rains in north-eastern provinces and daytime temperatures to drop to between 11 and 17 degrees Celsius, the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting announced.

Ha Noi is predicted to experience low temperatures of 9-15 degrees Celsius.

Some mountainous areas have already experienced bitter cold weather and frost with temperatures dipping to 5-7 degrees Celsius.


Two girls rescued from traffickers


The Border Guard Command in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang rescued two girls from traffickers on December 8.

Border guards also seized trafficker Thao Mi Gia, 20, on the same day.

Gia confessed that on the way through Xin Cai Commune, Meo Vac District to the border market, Gia tricked Vang Thi Xuan and Phan Thi Su, both 14, in accompanying him across the Viet Nam – China border and sold them for VND20 millions (US$1,000).

He was later caught by border guards, who returned the two girls to their home.


Delay in collection of slaughter fees


Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed a delay on the collection of slaughter, processing and animal transportation fees until the end of the first quarter of next year.

Hai also ordered local authorities to co-operate with ministries of Industry and Trade, and Finance and enterprises to launch price stabilisation programmes.

Denmark supports flood repairs


The Danish Embassy donated US$150,000 on Wednesday to the central province of Ha Tinh's People's Committee to repair and upgrade roads in Can Loc District's Vuong Loc Commune.

The roads had been destroyed in the severe floods in October.

Hundreds of local houses were swept away, and hundreds of kilometres of local roads damaged in the flood.


VNN/VOV/VNS/ND