Conference reviews Lao students’ academic year

The Lao Embassy in Vietnam held a conference on January 25 reviewing the progress of Lao students during the 2011–2012 period and setting plans for the next academic year.

Participants included Lao Minister-Councilor  to Vietnam Phengphang Leuangmany, National University of Laos Business Management and Economics, Dean of Faculty Prof. Dr Khamlusa Nouansavanh, representatives from Vietnamese agencies, and Lao students.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Khamlusa Nouansavanh highlighted the conference’s contributions towards implementing the economic, cultural, educational, scientific, and technological cooperation agreements between Laos and Vietnam.

He praised the achievements attained by Lao students during 2011–2012, thanking Vietnam for creating an environment facilitating their scholastic success as well as supporting them in their day to day lives.

With more than 6,400 Lao students studying in Vietnam over the 2012–2013 period, the Lao Embassy and the Ministry of Education and Training are well on their way to realising their goals of improving the quality and effectiveness of education and human resource development cooperation between Laos and Vietnam

The Lao students also intend to deepen their understandings of Vietnam’s socio-economy, and the ties of friendship, special solidarity and all-round cooperation between the two nations.

More than 5,000 Lao students studied in Vietnam during 2012.

Sea smuggling rises during Tet

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of goods traded illegally via the sea have been seized in the first two weeks of January 2013 as the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday is drawing near.

The contraband goods include firecrackers, oil, gas, minerals, construction materials, and food of unclear origin.

Dang Hong Quan, a marine police officer, said that sea routes in the northern port city of Hai Phong are very busy during the lead-up to Tet, making monitoring efforts much more difficult. Coal and minerals are of a particular concern.

Many smugglers are exploiting temporary import and re-export policies to illegally ship goods to the local market, he added.

Prolonged drought increases forest fire risks

The Forest Protection Department (FPD) is warning below average rainfall and a prolonged dry season may threaten more forest fires in many provinces and cities nationwide.

The FPD, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is especially concerned about the risks of serious forest fires in 14 provinces—An Giang, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Lam Dong, Tay Ninh, Nghe An, Binh Thuan, Dien Bien, Dak Lak, Kien Giang, and Son La.

To protect 685,000 ha of forest identified as particularly vulnerable to fire, relevant agencies in Nghe An province are taking preventive measures to minimise potential damage and losses.

Vo Sy Lam, head of the forest protection agency in Nghe An’s Tuong Duong district, said that forest protection and rescue forces have been mobilised at hot spots since the beginning of the dry season, and local farmers have already been provided with know-how to cope with forest fire incidents.
“We painstakingly monitor forest fire forecasts updated by central agencies and closely cooperate with local authorities and people in dealing with emergency cases” Lam said.

Quarantine official suspended from work

The Son La Animal Health Station has suspended its deputy head Ha Van Tiem for issuing an illegal quarantine certificate for a car carrying more than 2,000 smuggled chickens.

The Ministry of Public Security's environmental police agency on December 29 uncovered the case of chicken smuggling in the province when they checked the car transporting chickens from Son La to Lai Chau Province.

The car's driver showed an animal quarantine certificate permitting the poultry to be transported to other provinces which had been granted by Tiem. However, the police discovered that the certificate presented to them actually referred to a different cargo of chickens.

The case prompted Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan to order chairman of the provincial People's Committee Cam Ngoc Minh to report the investigation results and propose punishments for relevant stations and individuals involved.

Minh's report showed that Tiem's permit for the transporting of the chickens went against the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)'s quarantine regulations.

The MARD's Department of Animal Health sent an inspection team to the province and detected faults caused by the irresponsibility of local animal health workers.

The Son La Police have carried out further investigations on the case, and chairman Cam Ngoc Minh said the people's committee will issue strict punishments for each violator based on the police's conclusion.

According to the Publicy Security Ministry environmental police, the seized chickens were suspected to be discarded ones illegally smuggled from another country, but provincial police later confirmed that there was no proof of their origin.

The case is undergoing further investigation, while in the meantime, Viet Nam has stepped up control of discarded smuggled chickens in a bid to protect public health and the production of local farmers.

Ha Noi pharmacists fined for violations

Over 150 pharmaceutical trading companies and drug stores across Ha Noi were found to be in violation of medicine-related regulations last year and ordered to pay fines totalling VND1.1 billion (US$53,000).

According to Pham Viet Cuong, chief inspector of the city's Healthcare Department, common violations included incorrect pricings, unqualified panels and the absence of on-duty pharmacists.

Inspectors also cracked down on 79 food processing and trading units for violating food safety regulations and collected fines of VND600 million ($28,800). Accordingly, most violators were found failing to ensure hygiene during food processing, as well as lacking regular staff health reports and invoices.

Sound land policies to improve lives
 
Thousands of ethnic minority households badly need residential and production land, which could be supplied by amending the 2003 Land Law as well as hydro-power and mining development policies.

The remark was made by experts of the Ethnic Minority Council of the National Assembly, Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and international organisations yesterday.

Danh Ut, vice president of the NA Ethnic Minority Council, said although policies to help ethnic minorities get land have been in place for 10 years, more than 300,000 poor ethnic minority households still lack space to live and farm.

"My family has yet to be allocated fertile agricultural land to grow subsidiary crops," said Ly Thua Phuc, a Dao resident of northern Tuyen Quang Province's mountainous Chiem Hoa District.

His family was moved to the district 10 years ago due to the construction of the Tuyen Quang Hydro-power Plant. "Most of our production land is on hills, where there are often landslides."

Although he also requested forest land for protection and development, saying many products could be procured from the forest, relevant authorities have not yet responded to his requests.

Meanwhile, local people are struggling to reach an agreement with the local company that owns the nearby forest because this company sets high rents for hiring forest land, he said.

Pratibha Mehta, UN Resident Co-ordinator in Viet Nam, said ethnic minority households in the poorest communities in the country hold only 5 per cent of fertile land on average.

"Viet Nam has implemented programmes to provide cultivation land to poor landless households. However, research shows this practice needs to be continued and sustained," she said.

At yesterday's forum, experts put forward ideas for improving ethnic minorities' access to fertile land.

Ut said that article 15 of the 2003 Land Law should be revised to ban trade and speculation in ethnic minority areas and provide specific conditions for land recovery.

A group of development partners including the United Nations system in Viet Nam, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Oxfam and AUSAID proposed a set of joint revisions.

These include limiting the power to recover land to cases of necessity on the grounds of national defence, security and the public interest - bringing the law in line with both international practice and the 1992 Constitution.

Land for economic investment projects should be acquired through negotiation and voluntary consent of land users.

The process of land recovery should be completely transparent.

This would mean notifying land owners publicly about intent to recover, providing them with an opportunity to submit objections and offering affected parties a hearing before representative bodies in which they would have free legal assistance and the right to appeal both the decision to recover land and the amount of compensation.

"Results from the National Assembly Standing Committee's oversight missions last year on residential and production land suggest many policy issues that need to be tackled, including land use rights that are suitable for traditional and customary practices in ethnic minority communities," Ut said.

Pratibha Mehta agreed, saying, "customary practices, traditions and indigenous knowledge often offer the most appropriate and sustainable solutions for effective and equitable land management and land-related conflict resolution."

Meanwhile, Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, director of the Centre for Agricultural Policy under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, suggested hydro-power and mining development policies could be improved by halting licensing for small-scale hydro-power and mining projects in ethnic minority areas and revoking the licenses of inefficient projects and those that polluted.

As for large hydro-power and mining projects requiring land acquisition, project revenue should go towards supporting people's livelihoods and socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas as well as dealing with the environmental consequences of the projects, he said.

Land support policies for ethnic minorities should also include mapping and the issuance of land use-right certificates, he added.

Dak Lak suspends wood processers

The Central Highlands province of Dak Lak has suspended 67 wood processing plants from operations for violating industry regulations.

The processors, mostly located in districts of Ea H'Leo, Ea Sup, Buon Don, Cu M'Gar, were found to be undertaking construction activities in and around forest land, buying and selling timber without legal permission and polluting the environment.

Local authorities have also mobilised military forces to reduce the encroachment on forest land.

The province has over 500 wood processors.

Smuggled chicken from China seized

Two tonnes of discarded chickens were seized in the northern border province of Lao Cai yesterday morning, said Nguyen Van Cuong, head of the local customs control team.

The Chinese chickens, found on a motor-boat, were illegally transported into the country through the Lao Cai International Border Gate, he added

The smuggled products were confiscated but the owner evaded capture.

In a related move, the Son La Province's Animal Health Station has suspended its deputy head Ha Van Tiem for issuing an illegal quarantine certificate for a car carrying more than 2,000 smuggled chickens.

Market watch leader dismissed for violation

Central Highlands Dak Nong Province's People's Committee has dismissed the head of the provincial Market Watch Department from his duties for a number of violations, according to the provincial Trade and Industry Department.

Tran Khanh was removed from office for a range of improprieties, including financial violations relating to asset purchase, choosing contractors for his office construction project and inviting bids for construction projects using State budget.

He was appointed as head of the department in August last year.

VNS/VOV/VNA