Plan needed to boost tourism, says minister


New strategies for the tourism and culture sector need to be formulated, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said during a recent workshop in Ha Noi.

Anh said culture, sports and tourism contributed greatly to the socio-economic development of the country.

"The Government's policies have not been able to create favourable conditions to attract and mobilise the country's plentiful resources," he said.

Ineffective and outdated polices must be amended to meet the demands of country's rapid development, Anh said.

Meanwhile, Katherine Muller Marin, head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) office in Viet Nam, told the Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) that many of the country's cultural sites had received world-wide recognition, but said practical policies had to be formulated to meet the country's development needs.

She added that UNESCO was committed to helping the Government meet its cultural goals.

Ho Viet Ha, head of the ministry's Department of Planning and Finance, said capital allocation needed to be improved.

Tran Quoc Phuong, deputy director of the Ministry of Planning and Investment's Department of Labour, Culture and Society, said the Government typically allocated just 1.8 per cent of the State budget to promoting culture, sports and tourism.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance's Department of Finance and Administration said the disbursement of the State budget to culture, tourism and sports needed to be more tightly controlled to boost efficiency. More should also be done to attract private investment, Phuong said.

A report by the Department of Planning and Finance also suggested the Government create incentives to attract domestic and foreign private-sector investment.


Inner city homes promised sufficient water this summer


The Ha Noi Construction Department has confirmed that enough tap water will be provided for all residents in the inner city and for about 27 per cent of the people in neighbouring districts during this summer.

HTML clipboard Residents of Tan Mai Ward in Ha Noi's Hai Ba Trung District queue up for water from tankers. Water will be sufficient for all residents in the inner city during the summer, officials vow. (Photo: VNS)
"An increase of 73,500 cubic metres of water has been added to the city's water supply before summer in an effort to satisfy water demand for all residents in inner city areas," said the department's deputy director Le Van Duc.

Duc said the city would maintain water production and supply to all inner districts at an average of 130 litres of water per person per day in 2011. The water came mainly from 22 waterworks providing about 750,000 cubic metres of water per day.

After merging into Ha Noi together with Ha Tay Province in May 2008, Me Linh District of Vinh Phuc Province and four communes of Hoa Binh Province's Luong Son District have had tap water provided by four water companies: the Ha Noi Water Corporation (HAWACORP), the Ha Dong Water Company, the Son Tay Water Supply Joint Stock Company and the Viet Nam Water Company (VIWACO).

Among the companies, HAWACORP provides 677,000 cubic metres of water per day to all inner districts of the old Ha Noi, which accounts for 90 per cent of the city's total.

"HAWACORP will try to provide a stable, safe water supply to the city's inner and neighbouring areas despite this year's forecast of hot weather and droughts, which would impact water supply," said Director of HAWACORP Nguyen Nhu Hai.

Hai said in 2011, with an increase of 112,000 cubic metres from water sources (compared to 2010), the company would increase the supply to 672,000-677,000 cubic metres per day, a 19 per cent increase compared with last year.

To increase water sources, seven new wells have been drilled to replace degraded wells in Gia Lam, Nam Du, Bac Thang Long and Yen Phu water supply companies.

On-going projects will be completed throughout 2011. They are scheduled to provide tap water for 230,000 people or 51,000 households.

Some inner city areas at the end of pipelines and on higher terrain still face water shortage. They will be provided with water at fixed hours or by tankers from 8am to 9pm daily.


Vietnam successfully chaired CIRTEF 2009-2010


The 17th French-Speaking Radio and Television International Council (CIRTEF) meeting has been held in Paris on April 26-27.  

Delegates to the meeting hailed CIRTEF activities in the past two years especially the great contributions made by Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) in promoting cooperation among CRITEF members.

Apart from its training schedule for 2009-2010, CIRTEF promoted the exchange of many programmes between its members and gave a grand prize for multimedia at VOV’s initiative.


NGOs meet in HCM City


A gathering of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was held in HCM City on April 26 by the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations. It aimed to share experiences and review the activities of NGOs in the City’s socio-economic development process.

To date, 135 NGOs from the Asia Pacific region, Europe and Africa have been licensed to operate in HCM City.

Last year, the HCM City People’s Committee approved 13 projects and the receiving of 160 aid packages worth nearly US$39 million, of which more than US$15.8 million have been disbursed.

The aid packages were mostly spent on HIV/AIDS prevention and control (accounting for 48 percent of the total), healthcare (26 percent), and the remainder for rural development, poverty reduction, education, vocational training, social affairs and environmental protection.

In the first quarter of this year alone, the City adopted two projects and received 20 non-project aid packages valued at US$ 8.3 million.

On the occasion, the HCM City People’s Committee and the City’s Union of Friendship Organisations presented the badges of HCM City to 40 individuals and collectives from NGOs.


Fewer promotions to be offered for upcoming holiday


Spending a whole afternoon shopping, a young girl from Ha Noi was surprised to find that only a few shops had sales on in the run up to the National Reunification and Labour days.

In previous years, sales had started as much as two weeks ahead of the holidays, but trying to find a good deal on famous shopping streets such as Pham Ngoc Thach, Chua Boc, Cau Giay and Ton Duc Thang was proving difficult, she said.

A member of staff from Tracy's fashion shop on Ba Trieu Street said she had not been informed of any upcoming promotions ahead of the National Reunification and Labour days.

Shop owners explained that they ran promotions throughout the year anyway, and they felt it unlikely that holding one now would be beneficial to them.

The owner of An Linh Shoe Shop on Nguyen Trai Street said that she had held a promotion over the Hung King's holiday, but revenue had not increased so she was not going to bother this time.

Lots of people travel at this time of the year, so the number of customers would be down too, she added.

Duc Manh, owner of a shoe shop on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, said promotions he had held in the previous years during national holidays had failed to attract customers.

Customers only cared about the discount, not the occasion, he said.

Some customers, however, said they preferred sales during special occasions, rather than throughout the whole year.

Customers would be confused and unhappy if they could buy discounted products the whole year round without knowing if it was actually a promotion or not, said Thanh Thuy from Cau Giay District.


Vietnam launches no-tobacco week


 The Health Ministry’s National Programme on Tobacco Affect Prevention on April 25 launched the “National No Tobacco Week” in response to the World No Tobacco Day (May 31).

All ministries, sectors, organisations and people have been urged to join hands in creating a tobacco-free environment in public sites, workplaces and at homes, and media agencies have been called to disseminate widely information on the harm of tobacco to health.

The World Health Organsation (WHO) has selected the theme “Implementing WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” for 2011 and gave out five measures to encourage the effective prevention of impacts of tobacco at countries participating in the convention.

Those measures are creating a non-smoking environment, increasing tobacco tax, printing health warnings on cigarette boxes, banning tobacco advertisements totally and creating sustainable financial sources for the fight against tobacco effects. Vietnam has considered those measures as priorities in its tobacco control.

Smoking is one of leading reasons causing diseases and deaths in the world.

According to a survey in Vietnam in 2010, as many as 47 percent of men are smokers, putting the country in the group of 15 nations with the highest rate of male smokers.


VNN/VOV/VNS