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Viet Nam bids to attract SMEs investing in support industries
Priority will be given to support industry development sectors such as manufacturing, electronics and informatics, car making and assembly, garments and high-tech industries, said Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) Dang Huy Dong.
Dong made the announcement this morning at a seminar entitled "Attracting Japanese SMEs to Industrial Parks for the Development of Supporting Industries in Viet Nam", organised by the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), the MPI's Foreign Investment Agency and the Viet Nam Development Forum.
"The Government of Viet Nam has called for investment in high-tech industries with a focus on development of SMEs in Viet Nam and the improvement of competitive ability for enterprises as well as added value for local products, while promoting support industry development," Dong said.
The deputy minister said support industry projects would be given preference in land use and costs, labour-force recruitment and financial support from the National Fund for Science and Technology Development.
Dong said the seminar was a good chance for Vietnamese officials, industrial zone infrastructure investors to gain industry experience from Japan in attracting SMEs to invest in support industries in Viet Nam.
According to MPI statistics, Japan is one of the biggest investors in Viet Nam, with a total registered capital of US$21.2 billion, making it fourth out of 92 countries and territories. Japanese firms have invested in 962 projects in processing and manufacturing industries, worth $18.3 billion – 86 per cent of Japan's total registered investment in Viet Nam.
The seminar will focus on ways to attract Japanese SMEs. Industrial park developers, Japanese SMEs, consultants and Government officials will review efforts to attract SMEs, while identifying obstacles and highlighting good practices.
The seminar will also aim to come up with policy recommendations to accelerate investment by Japanese and other countries' SMEs in support industries in Viet Nam.
The Government plans to pay greater attention to support industries in a bid to add value to products made in Viet Nam, thereby reducing the trade deficit. Attraction of SMEs from foreign countries is believed to be an effective way of promoting support industries in Viet Nam. Numerous industrial parks established with foreign and domestic capital have allocated small lots for SMEs to encourage investment.
EC praises Vietnam's efforts in coping with disasters
Vietnam’s efforts in coping with natural disasters have been considered a model of cooperative ties with the European Commission (EC).
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At a press conference in Hanoi on June 21, Stenberg said that in the face of severe losses caused by Ketsana and Myrinae typhoons in 2009, ECHO gave 5 million euro in emergency assistance to provide disaster-hit areas with food, clean water, and schools and small clinics rehabilitation.
ECHO is disbursing 1.4 million euro in humanitarian aid to help those in the central region affected by strong rains last November stabilise their lives.
Stenberg said that he was very impressed with local authorities and community’s outcomes of coping with and minimizing the impact of natural disasters in the central region, from Quang Tri to Thua Thien Hue.
The commitment of local authorities and the participation of the community are extremely important factors in bringing success to ECHO-funded projects, Stenberg said.
He affirmed that the EC will expand humanitarian aid to vulnerable victims in disaster-hit regions and increase assistance to Vietnam from 2012 to 2013 in the field of natural disaster mitigation.
Additionally, the EC would give its priority to follow the National Programme on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction, through which Vietnam can rely on people and resources to deal with consequences of disasters, he added.
Since 1994, the EC, through ECHO, has provided 30.4 million euro in humanitarian aid to help Vietnam manage and deal with natural disasters.
Woman gets 9 years for trafficking women abroad
The Supreme People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday sentenced a woman to nine years in prison for trafficking seven women to Singapore and Malaysia in 2009 and 2010.
Dinh Thi Thu Hong, 45, of Dong Thap Province’s Chau Thanh District, had received a five-year term from a provincial court, but the Procuracy, arguing that it was too light considering the crime, had filed an appeal.
The families of Hong’s victims had also demanded a heavier sentence.
Hong was acquainted with two Vietnamese women living in Malaysia and Singapore who belonged to a gang selling Vietnamese girls to brothels and nightclubs in the two countries.
They got Hong to procure young, good-looking women from Vietnam by lying that they would get good jobs in those countries with salaries of VND15-20 million (US$730-970).
Between March 2009 and February 2010 she lured seven girls in her native district and arranged for to leave Vietnam and got paid nearly $500.
When the women landed in Singapore and Malaysia, they were received and controlled by the pimps who later forced them to work as prostitutes in brothels, karaoke houses, and bars.
Two of them managed to escape and return to Vietnam in April 2010 and reported to the police who arrested Hong and rescued the five other girls.
Daklak man gets back land grabbed by officials
A decade ago, Nguyen Trong Van’s land was acquired for public works while officials grabbed some; he is finally getting justice.
Robbed of the land by local cadres, a man with his family finally see their efforts paid for after years of sending away letters of complaints.
In 1989 Nguyen Trong Van, 74, his wife, and children left Nghe An Province in the north to settle down in Daklak Province in the Central Highlands.
The family lived in M’Drak District on more than 1,500 square meters of land close to National Highway 26.
Four years later the district People’s Committee approved a zoning map for a central Krong Jing Commune residential quarter and took over a portion of Van’s land.
In April 1994 district authorities informed Van that 510 square meters of his land would be appropriated for building a war martyrs’ monument.
In 2004 they asked him to dismantle two wooden houses on the piece of land.
But Van refused saying he had not received the land acquisition decision, valuation report, compensation, or resettlement support.
Twenty days later, authorities forcibly took it over.
He had to concede another 300 square meters for the power grid corridor but received compensation for it.
An additional 660 square meters were illegally occupied and in 2006 gifted to the daughter of the district party secretary Dao Hong Thinh, sister of the district chairman Phan Van Chan, and daughter-in-law of the commune chairman Le Van Trung.
Thinh is now retired, Chan is secretary of the M’Drak District party committee, and Trung is secretary of the Ea Lai Commune party committee.
Van and his family fell into poverty and debt and had no place to live. He had to sell lottery tickets, his wife became a ragpicker, and their children had to work.
Compensations: not personal money
Six years later, after Van sent dozens of complaint letters, the Daklak Province people’s committee issued a decision last January ordering the M’Drak authorities to revoke their decisions and compensate his family.
Van demanded VND100 million (US$4,760) for the two houses pulled down in 2004 and VND150 million for the 510 square meters of land (currently worth over VND1 billion) taked over for the monument construction.
Nguyen Tien Loc, chairman of Krong Jing Commune, offered Van a house under a government housing program for the poor in rural areas, a sum of VND20 million, 200 kilos of rice, and 12 cubic meters of rocks for construction, but he rejected the offer.
Van said he wanted compensation, not alms, from the government, adding that the house offered to him was for the poor and not related to compensation by commune and district authorities.
Le Dinh Dien, chairman of M’Drak District, said his administration had issued a decision to take over 510 square meters of Van’s land and assigned Krong Jing authorities to oversee it.
The district people’s committee has now returned to Van the 660 square meters taken over illegally from him, he said.
It has also asked the provincial government for compensation money but has yet to receive a reply, he said.
On June 16 Dien told Tuoi Tre that the provincial government has agreed to provide VND100 million to the district to pay compensation to Van.
The district administration has provided Van a house and VND10 million but did not compensate him for his 510 square meters, he added.
Asked if he intended to force district officials to compensate him from their pocket, Dien replied in the negative.
Nation falls under ongoing cyber attack
In the first weeks of this month, hundreds of websites with the domain name of "vn" have been the subject of cyber attacks throughout Viet Nam.
The attacks include many on politically related websites with the domain name of "gov.vn," including www.ntc.mofa.gov.vn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and www.caugiay.hanoi.gov.vn, the portal of the capital city's Cau Giay District.
This has led the Ministry of Information and Communications, on behalf of the Government, to order all State authorities to take steps to improve the security of their electronic portals.
Two of the most common types of attack include "defacement", a type of computerised vandalism that changes the visual appearance of a site.
Another approach by the destructive hackers is to prevent users from accessing their computer sources. This is called denial-of-service-attack (DDoS).
On June 6 alone, more than 200 websites reported denial of service.
Preventative measures include regular virus scans, changing network administration user-names and passwords – and using firewalls.
In addition, if web hosting services are available at all times, they can support customers whenever breakdowns occur.
The ministry has ordered the supervision and enhancement of all technical operations for State systems to detect signs of attack.
It has also called on relevant authorities to submit reports on network security for the whole year to date so that it can get on top of the situation.
Ho Chi Minh City baby kidnapper gets 18 years
The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court yesterday handed an 18-year jail term to Nguyen Chi Trung, 35, for kidnapping an eighteen-month-old girl last year and demanding a ransom of US$300,000.
Last July the police arrested Trung when he was receiving the ransom money from Nguyen Phuc Hoang, a pharmacy owner in District 11, at the Pham Hung-Nguyen Van Linh crossroads in District 7 for releasing Tuyen, the abducted child.
They have since been hunting for Huynh Nhut Thong, the instigator of the kidnapping, and another man named Khai who was involved in the crime.
Trung told the police that Thong -- a friend of his -- had dated H., Hoang’s niece, and visited Hoang’s house a few times.
Finding Hoang to be rich, Thong hatched along with Trung a plan to kidnap his daughter and extract a large ransom.
Thong promised to give Trung 20 percent of the money.
After carefully learning about the daily routines of Hoang and his family, Khai took Trung on a motorbike to Hoang’s house on April 20, 2010, where the latter pretended to be looking for a house for lease.
The family’s help let him in and placed the baby on the floor before going into a room to call Hoang.
As soon as she left, Trung took the baby and fled with his accomplice.
Hoang reported to the police immediately.
Trung called Hoang and demanded 300 taels of gold – worth US$556,000 then -- for his child’s release. But following negotiations the sum was reduced first to $450,000 and finally to $300,000.
Hanoi firm pulls out 12 juices with DEHP
Hanoi-based YNG Shin Food Co Ltd has withdrawn 37,249 liters of 12 fruit juices after they were found to contain cancer-causing plasticizer DEHP, the Department of Food Safety and Hygiene reported yesterday.
Yesterday the department ordered health authorities in all provinces and cities to monitor the withdrawal of the 12 contaminated juices -- lemon, guava, peach, orange, fiber orange, carrot, mango, passion fruit, mixed fruits, kumquat, custard-apple, and apricot -- from the market.
YNG Shin Food, located in the Bich Hoa Industrial Quarter, uses Taiwanese food additives that contain DEHP in its juices, the department said.
Earlier, on June 17, the Hanoi Department of Health had ordered the company to recall the juices.
Consumers who have bought any of the 12 juices can return them to the company, it said.
DEHP, or diethylhexylphthalate, is a general-purpose plasticizer used mainly to make PVC soft and pliable.
It also finds its way into jelly, yogurt mix powder, juices, and other drinks to keep emulsions dispersed.
DEHP causes cancer, weakens male sexual ability, and gives rise to female puberty disorder, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said.
Business executive indicted for swindling $1 mln
The Supreme People’s Procuracy has filed charges against a Ho Chi Minh City property company executive for falsely claiming ownership of a plot of land and “selling” it to another firm to pocket US$1 million.
Le Hoang Minh, 38, former director of Tan Gia Hao Joint Stock Company, had been arrested in May 2009.
According to the indictment, in 2007 Tan Gia Hao, a trade, services, and import-export consultancy, applied to the HCMC people’s committee to develop a mixed-use complex at 289 Tran Hung Dao, District 1.
The committee provisionally accepted the bid and ordered the company to work with District 1 authorities.
However, Tan Gia Hao, without even contacting the district administration, went around claiming itself to be the investor and began to offer the project for sale.
The committee then granted the project to Duc Khai Joint Stock Company.
But Minh duped Hong Quang Real Estate Investment and Works Construction Company into buying the project in March 2008.
Truong Nhat Quang, the general director of the company, signed an agreement with Minh and paid him VND16 billion as a deposit, which equaled US$1 million at the then exchange rate.
When Quang came to know about the project’s true status, he demanded the money back, but Minh failed to do so, claiming he had spent all the money on his personal needs.
Quang filed a complaint to the police.
The prosecutor’s office has also suspended investigation against Nguyen Huynh Long, 64, former deputy director of the Tien Giang Province police department, due to lack of evidence for his alleged involvement in Minh’s swindle.
Deputy PM directs storm, flood preparation effort
Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai yesterday asked authorities, particularly those in the northern provinces, to remain vigilant in their preparations for Storm Haima which recently formed in the northern part of the East Sea.
According to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, wind speeds ranged from 62-74km per hour at 7pm yesterday and its centre was located about 380km northeast of Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago.
Forecasts said the storm would move west until 7pm today to centre 140km east of China's Hainan Island where it would begin to weaken into a tropical low.
The storm has caused heavy rain, strong thunderstorms and rough seas around Hoang Sa Archipelago. Heavy rains are expected to hit northern provinces by tomorrow afternoon.
Strong winds ranging from 61-102km per hour are expected to rage in the East Sea and along coastal areas from Binh Thuan to Ca Mau provinces.
Yesterday Hai asked localities to send urgent messages to any vessels operating in the East Sea to find safe shelter.
He urged people in the industrial and trade and agricultural sectors to check irrigation ponds and reservoirs regularly, and told the transport sector to send rescue vehicles to mountainous provinces.
Localities were also instructed to harvest all their crops.
The system is the second major storm to form in the East Sea this year.
Woman dies after falling off hotel terrace
At 5:30 am this morning, a woman was found dead, lying in a puddle of blood in front of a house in Tay Ho district, Hanoi.
Tran Thi Nu who lives at the house No 28 To Ngoc Van then informed the district police.
They later identified the victim as Vu Thi Quyen, 32, from Kien An District, Hai Phong City. She hired a room on the 4-storey Ngoc Quynh mini hotel that is adjacent to Nu’s house.
After examining the scene, the police said Quyen had died a few hours before.
It was likely that Quyen had fallen off the hotel terrace to the ground, the police said.
The police have carried the corpse to a local hospital for a post-mortem and are investigating the cause of the death.
Train crashes into woman head-on, kills her
A 38-year-old woman was killed by an approaching train when she took the trash out Tuesday morning in Hanoi.
When she was walking across the rail at Ngoc Hoi Street in Thanh Tri district to dispose of the trash, the SE7 Thong Nhat train crashed into her head-on, killing her on the spot.
Her body was dragged for more than 20 meters.
The victim’s first name is Hang, hailing from Nam Dinh province. She was working for a nearby company.
Residents said she was in charge of cleaning at the company which is near the railway.
The accident caused congestion. Police are investigating.
Remains repatriated from Cambodia
A solemn ceremony was held in Cambodia's Kampong Chnang Province yesterday to repatriate 11 sets of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who laid down their lives during an international mission in Cambodia.
The remains were the final batch found by joint search teams from Kampong Chnang Province, Cambodia, and Viet Nam's Military Zone 9 and southern An Giang Province from 2003-11.
Implementing an agreement between the two governments, joint search teams found 240 sets of remains of voluntary Vietnamese soldiers in the province.
In his address at the ceremony, Dr Tut Marim, Advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen and Governor of Kampong Chnang Province, said the Cambodian people would never forget the great misery they experienced during the genocidal Pol Pot regime.
He said the whole nation of Cambodia always remembered the huge sacrifice made by the Vietnamese Government, army and people that helped liberate them from the cruel regime.
Ministry enforces grading standards
The marking process of high school graduation examinations by teachers at the provincial level should follow the standards set by the Ministry of Education and Training, and any examiner who fails to comply will be punished in compliance with regulations.
The ministry will not allow examiners to award students inflated grades, and if necessary will remark papers where instances of this are occurring.
These remarks were made by Deputy Minister Nguyen Vinh Hien in response to concerns that marking varied across provinces.
Initial projections had shown that the percentage of students who passed the exams this year was very high. In the majority of provinces, the pass rate was up by 1 to 3 per cent over last year, and in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, that figure soared by 19 per cent.
This raised concerns over the difficulty of the tests. Hien, who is also head of the committee that oversaw the examination, said the questions were constructed based on a standard set of knowledge and skills, regardless of a student's capacity.
Teaching and training activities had improved and students were enjoying the benefits, he said.
Students from Ha Noi had the highest pass rate at 98 per cent, with 49 out of 245 schools achieving a perfect 100 per cent.
President helps open new Hau Giang boarding school
President Nguyen Minh Triet inaugurated the Him Lam boarding school in Chau Thanh A District of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hau Giang yesterday, June 21.
During the inauguration ceremony, Triet praised the Hau Giang Party Committee, local authorities and people for their outstanding efforts in boosting education over the past year.
The President commended the Him Lam JSC on its contribution to Hau Giang's educational development, calling on businesses and investors to help support welfare projects for local socio-economic development.
He urged the local authority to ensure educational quality for ethnic minority students.
The VND75 billion (US$3.6 million), Him Lam JSC-sponsored boarding school, the largest in the province and second largest of its kind at 22,000sq.m, comprises 70 classrooms, capable of accommodating around 1,500 students during the 2011-12 school year.
The same day, during his working visit to Bac Lieu Province, Triet stressed that the province and other localities in the Mekong Delta must keep enough land for agricultural production, especially for rice cultivation, to ensure the national food security.
Agricultural production had to be intensive, creating more income for farmers, he said, adding this was the best way to ensure sustainability for agricultural production and for farmers to become rich.
VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre
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