Strengthening cooperation in drug fighting between Vietnam and UNODC


A conference on drug control and crime prevention was held in Hanoi on January 17 by the Ministry of Public Security in coordination with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

As a key agency in drug control and crime prevention, UNODC national programmes in Vietnam are in line with the UNODC’s medium-term strategy for 2008-2011, a regional programme framework for East Asia and the Pacific for 2009-2012 and a UN Common Action Plan for 2008-2010. Vietnam was chosen as one of the eight countries to implement UNODC’s pilot projects.

These projects were built and developed based on Vietnam’s socio-economic development plan for 2006-2011 and Vietnamese national programmes on drug control, HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, corruption, money laundering and domestic violence.

The conference reviewed the implementation results of these projects and programmes and in turn developed plans for drug control and crime prevention in the new period in line with Vietnam’s socio-economic development plan in 2011-2015 and the UN One Plan for 2012-2016.

Over the past 10 years, Vietnam has considered drug and other crimes as a danger to security, order and social stability along with most of the international community. Vietnam has actively participated in the UN activities for prevention and achieved significant results, such as improving citizens’ awareness of drug abuse and other crimes, as well as building and gradually completing the legal system and issuing many action plans and programmes on drug and crime prevention. The country has eliminated poppy cultivation areas, strengthened drug and crime fighting operations and seized more than 10,000 cases of illegal heroin and dealt with more than 20,000 isolated drug crimes.

Participants at the conference agreed that the results are attributed to the international community, especially UNODC which has helped Vietnam to make plans, improve capacity for Vietnamese drug and crime prevention agencies, and build a national strategy on drug control by 2020, with a vision for 2030 and an international aid programme.


Vietnamese youths hold congress in Japan


The Vietnam Youths and Students Association (VYSA) in Japan convened its congress for the 2011-2012 tenure in Tokyo on January 16.

The gathering saw the participation of the Vietnamese Embassy’s Cultural Counsellor Do Van Trung and hundreds of Vietnamese young people who are working and studying in Japan.
Addressing the event, VYSA Kanto’s Chairman Do Ba Duc said VYSA Kanto, as the VYSA’s key branch in Japan, frequently carried out a wide range of activities last year, including a job fair and a football competition, as well as a charity music festival in October to raise over US$4,000 for poor students.
Counsellor Trung stressed on the significance of humanitarian activities launched by VYSA, to not only overseas Vietnamese in Japan but also the poor and children in their homeland.
He also called on Vietnamese students in Japan to study hard and learn from Japan’s experiences to develop their country.
On the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy presented certificates of merit to outstanding young people who have actively contributed to the association’s operations.
The congress announced the members of its new executive board for the 2011-2012 term, with Nguyen Ngoc Tu as the chairperson.
The VYSA will expand its activities to support Vietnamese young people in Japan and to bolster solidarity amongst the community as well as mutual understanding between the people’s of both countries.
Since its inception in 2001, VYSA, with 14 branches across Japan, has conducted a broad spectrum of projects to support young Vietnamese people and students living in Japan.


VN Ambassador in RoK visits guest workers


Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (RoK) Tran Trong Toan has visited and presented gifts to Vietnamese labourers at a support centre for overseas workers in the RoK’s Gyeongy province on the occasion of the Lunar New Year 2011.

The ambassador encouraged the workers to work hard, study more and practise an industrialised working style so that they will be able to get stable jobs after returning home.

Since August, 2010 the RoK government has implemented a vocational training programme to support overseas workers whose contracts are going to terminate to enable them to obtain suitable jobs when they return to their home countries.

The training courses, focusing on car driving, hairdressing and Korean language, attracted a large number of Vietnamese workers.

With 50,000 guest workers currently in the RoK, Vietnam tops the list of 15 countries sending labourers to the RoK. In 2010, Vietnam sent 8,200 workers to the RoK.


Prudential pledges US$10 million


The UK Prudential Insurance Group has pledged US$10 million for Vietnam’s community activities in the 2011-2015 period through the Prudence Vietnam Fund, announced CEO of Prudential Vietnam Jack Howell in Hanoi on January 17.

Thirty-five percent of the sum will be doled out for building and repairing schools in poor localities, buying teaching aids and learning kits for teachers and students, granting scholarships to outstanding poor pupils and teaching English, as well as training students in insurance knowledge and poor women in family finance management.

The money will also be used to sponsor sporting activities, medical check-ups and treatment, eye surgery, and keeping the environment clean and green.

The fund will use 30 percent of the money to present gifts to disabled and orphan children, Agent Orange victims, poor people and beneficiary families, build gift houses for families in difficulty and help poor women and students.

The Prudence Vietnam Fund was founded in 2003 with an initial capital of US$2.7 million. Over the past eight years, the fund has sponsored English language teaching programmes, sports training for adolescents and information technology scholarships.


Company-sponsored school to be built

Construction on the Thuong Trach Elementary School in Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province began last Sunday as part of the Dutch Lady brand Den Dom Dom's Study Promotion Programme.

The programme is collaborating with Viet Nam Television and Khan Quang Do newspaper to help build the school, which costs more than VND2 billion (US$100,000).

It will be the seventh school built since the programme began in 2002. Other schools are in Hue and the provinces of Ca Mau, Binh Phuoc, Ha Nam, Quang Ngai and Kon Tum. The programme has donated more than 20,000 scholarships to poor students.


Policeman crushed to death by drunk driver


A Vietnamese guard at the Thai Embassy in Ha Noi died after being crushed by a car on Sunday.

The car mounted the pavement and smashed into the guard booth at high speed.

The victim Nguyen Kim Anh, 25, was reportedly on duty in the booth.

According to Ba Dinh District Police, the driver's blood alcohol level was 0.3mg per litre over the permitted level.


500 poor people receive medical care


Southern Bac Lieu Province agencies and the HCM City's Post Office General Hospital provided free examinations and medicine to 500 people in Bac Lieu City in the province on Sunday.

The people included poor, elderly and underprivileged people in the city.

As many as 60 union members from the city's police joined the blood donation programme to increase the blood bank for treating patients in Bac Lieu General Hospital.


Ha Noi tightens control on car parks


The Ha Noi People's Committee has called for tightened control over parking lots in the city prior to Tet festival.

The committee requires relevant agencies to set up inter-disciplinary inspection teams, including inspectors from the departments of finance and transport and tax, to check parking lots, said the committee's Vice Chairman Hoang Manh Hien.

Focus would be made on locations that drew large numbers of people during Tet, particularly parking lots that had previously been revealed in the press as consistently overcharging, he said.

The tax department was instructed to continue checking tax payments made by parking lot owners and strictly punish those issuing illegal parking tickets.


Four men remanded for stealing $11,000


Can Tho City Police have remanded in custody four men for stealing VND220 million (US$11,000) from Tran Thanh Phuong, 28.

The suspects include Du Quoc Trong, 32; Nguyen Trong Quoc Bao, 29, of the Mekong Delta Province of An Giang; Nguyen Phuc Vinh, 23, from the southern province of Dong Thap; and Nguyen Van Thu, 23, from the southern province of Tien Giang.

The suspects admitted to using two tasers on Phuong before robbing him last December when Phuong was on the way to Can Tho City to buy pigs.

Police are continuing to investigate the case.


Text message thieves who stole $2,500 found


Central Da Nang City's Son Tra District Police have identified a group of three suspects who appropriated over VND50 million (US$2,500) by using mobile phone messages to cheat people.

The suspects sent mobile phone users bogus announcements claiming they had won a mobile phone. Those who replied to the message wasted VND15,000 ($0.7), with the fee charging up the suspects' on-line game accounts.

The suspects then would sell their "virtual property" for money. The case is under further investigation.

Upgrading 6 urban areas in the Mekong Delta region

The Ministry of Construction and the World Bank held a meeting in Can Tho on January 17 to review the implementation results of a project to upgrade six urban areas in the Mekong Delta region.

These areas included Can Tho, My Tho, Ca Mau, Tra Vinh, Cao Lanh, and Rach Gia.

This plan was part of a strategy to upgrade national cities by 2020 to improve the living conditions of people in the Mekong Delta region.

The project costed US$600 million, 65 percent of which came from the World Bank and 35 percent from Vietnam.

The project will benefit 142,000 people directly and nearly 1.4 million indirectly. More than 12,055 families will be provided with loans to repair their houses. It will also help to upgrade essential projects to serve the people’s daily lives, such as roads, irrigation, and solid waste treatment.

In Can Tho City, the project will invest US$112.7 million in building drain-pipes, installing equipment to support the management of drain-pipes and environmental sanitation, upgrading Bung Xang Lake, Ngong and Sao trenches, as well as some paths in Ninh Kieu district, expanding roads in Cai Ranh district, and building three resettlement areas in O Mon, Cai Rang and Binh Thuy districts.

After the meeting, relevant agencies will assert the project in June, negotiate with partners and sign an agreement to borrow loans in September, and will approve the project in December and carry out it in January 2012.


Vietnam, Laos cooperate in building border youth friendship village


A delegation of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, led by Secretary Nguyen Hoang Hiep, made an agreement with the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union on January 17 to construct a border youth friendship village.

The village will be cooperatively built in Khamkeut District, Bolikhamxay Province, Laos. This joint project was approved at a working session in Laos by both delegations.

Both sides signed an agreement to suggest the Lao Government grant permission for 3,500 hectares for construction of a rubber tree factory in this project.

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union has a duty to report to local authorities about the project and build criteria for youth households to begin their careers in this village.

The Vietnamese side will begin construction when the project is approved by the Lao Government and will submit a project to plant rubber trees in 650 hectares of land to Bolikhamxay Province’s authorities in January 2011.    

Also, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union’s delegation was received by the Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, Khamphanh Sithidampha. He applauded the visit and expressed his belief that the project would be completed as planned, helping young people from both countries to cooperate more effectively, contributing to strengthening the Lao-Vietnamese friendship relationship.


VNN/VOV/VNS