Petrol stations fined for trading violations

Seven petrol stations and two liquefied petroleum gas shops in northern Bac Giang Province have been fined or had their licences revoked for business violations.

An inspection blitz on the fuel stations uncovered faulty measures and no certificates in fire prevention and fighting and environmental protection.

Others were operating without posting a notice of prices and working hours while LPG shops violated regulations on price lists and the sale of LPG bottles outside contracts.

Meanwhile, the provincial People's Committee fined a petrol station VND100 million ($4,760) for selling low quality fuel. The station, Doi Nen, had its trading licence withdrawn for 12 months.

According to local press, customers had returned petrol they bought at the station because of its low quality and the municipal authority was notified.

A subsequent investigation showed 10,300 litres of petrol had been tampered with and was of poor quality.

The station was found to have sold low-quality or smuggled gasoline which it had acquired without invoices.

70 percent of workers to be trained by 2020

The Vietnamese Government has set a target to raise the rate of trained workers from 26 percent in 2010 to 55 percent in 2015 and 70 percent by 2020.

This information was released at a meeting in Hanoi on June 5 held by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Every year, a million new people need jobs, but growing industries cannot employ all of them because there is a shortage of trained and skilled workers, said Bui Van Ga, MoET Deputy Minister.

Therefore, the MoET will join the Youth Union and other ministries and sectors to help train highly-skilled human resources to meet social and business demands.

According to the plan, 40 percent of workers will have received vocational training by 2015 and 55 percent by 2020.

The Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, Nguyen Thi Ha, said her organization will act as a link to help students learn about future job orientations.

The Youth Union will support outstanding students graduating from vocational schools in finding jobs.

Education planning course begins

A one-year course on education planning and policy analysis is being offered this month to senior and middle level ministry staff in Viet Nam, Indonesia and Thailand.

The practice-oriented programme run by the International Institute for Educational Planning provides participants with knowledge, tools and techniques.

It will benefit staff working at the central and regional levels in the ministries of education and training and other ministries involved in education sector planning, policy or review.

It combines distance learning with weekly face-to-face meetings organised in partnership with training institutions in each nation.
Institute staff and international experts will teach the programme, which receives financial support from the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

The elderly need eye care services

The Vietnam Association of the Elderly (VAE) held a conference on June 5 promoting good eye health for the elderly in the 2012-2015 period.

The Vietnam Association of the Elderly (VAE) held a conference on June 5 promoting good eye health for the elderly in the 2012-2015 period.

The conference aimed to encourage people and organizations across the country to recognize the value of eyesight and make healthy vision for elderly people a priority, said VAE Vice Chairman Dam Huu Dac

Nearly 3 million elderly people, particularly the poor and disabled, were given free eye check-ups, as well as advice on eye care and medication.

Eye diseases are considered some of the most dangerous illnesses for elderly people.

According to a report from the Centre for Ageing Support and Community Development, only 51 percent of elderly people in Vietnam are in good health and 95 percent suffer from chronic diseases.

Brewery offers scholarships

Viet Nam Brewery Limited (VBL) will provide scholarships and grants worth VND4.7 billion (US$225,000) over the next five years to talented students and small scale scientific research projects in water science.

Each year, 20 students with excellent track records from central of southern Viet Nam will receive VND15 million ($750) each while five small-run scientific research projects will get VND120 million ($6,000) each.

HCM City offers similar support to 100 young scientists with VND80 million each every year, said Phan Minh Tan, director of the city's Science and Technology Department.

Cameras installed at capital intersections

Ha Noi Public Security Department will install a new system of traffic cameras to help with supervising and handling traffic violations.

According to the plan, 10 new cameras will be placed at ten crowded intersections during rush hours, including Ly Thuong Kiet – Hang Bai, Ly Thuong Kiet – Ba Trieu and Lieu Giai – Kim Ma.

FAO says Viet Nam facing water shortage

Viet Nam is currently listed among the countries with water shortages, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

FAO's criteria for calculating if a country has enough water for their population is 4,000cu.m per person per year. However, scientists believe that the average amount of water use in Viet Nam is only 3,850 c.m per person per year.

FAO's report states that ground water storage in 20 countries with 50 per cent of the world population is becoming exhausted. Therefore, the world is in dire need of water, especially for production of food for human consumption.

Film raises funds for heart surgery

Hanh Trinh (The Journey), a short film by Vietnamese-American director Cuong Ngo, has been premiered to raise funds for children in need of heart surgery.

The film, featuring the life and dreams of a rural girl with a congenital heart defect, aims to support Heartbeat Vietnam, a program run by the VinaCapital Foundation that assists poor children with heart surgery.

The idea for Hanh Trinh originated from the real life story of Cao Hung Vy, a boy from the Central Highland province of Gia Lai, who was born with a serious congenital heart defect, said the film's producer, actor and singer Ngo Thanh Van.

"Vy's family had no money to get him a surgery, which costs US$2,500, in order to survive and lead a normal life.

"Vy's mother and he set out on a journey from their hometown to HCM City, hoping to find help. They met our program's members by chance, and the boy received his second chance at life," said Van, ambassador for Heartbeat Vietnam.

Based on Vy's story, Hanh Trinh sends a message of love and compassion that bind people together.

"Our film is for 20,000 children in Vietnam who are waiting for heart surgeries," said Van after the film's premiere in HCM City on May 31. She also appears in the film.

All proceeds from ticket sales will be sent directly to Heartbeat.

Since 2006, Heartbeat has saved over 2,700 children. This year the program has on its waiting list over 1,000 children considered critically ill and in need of urgent surgery.

Vietnam attends fundraising event in Malaysia

Vietnam along with nearly 90 countries from across the world took part in a charity fair in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on June 6, to raise funds for disadvantaged children.

The fair was organised by the wives of senior diplomats based in Malaysia.

The proceeds from the fair will be used to build two schools, one in Somali and another in Malaysia for children suffering from cancer.

Vietnam’s stand was extremely popular with international friends, especially its handicrafts and traditional foods.

The event provided an excellent opportunity for the participating countries to showcase their products and promote their countries to others.

Vietnam’s Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thao said the fair will help the diplomatic corps to get to know each other better and make it easier for them to carry out their duties when cooperating with other nations.

Vietnam attends atomic forum in Russia

Representatives from the Vietnamese government and the country’s power generators are attending the 2012 AtomExpo International Forum and Exhibition in Moscow from June 4-6.

The Director General of the Rosatom Nuclear Corporation, Sergey Kirienko, praised Vietnam, Turkey, Nigeria and Bangladesh for their first time attendance at the Forum and expressed his thanks for their trust in Russia and its nuclear technology.

The 2012 AtomExpo Exhibition, which featured over 500 companies from 53 countries, focused on the design and construction of nuclear power stations, operational safety issues, new nuclear projects, re-cycling nuclear fuel and managing radioactive waste.

During the Forum, many agreements, protocols and contracts will be signed between Rosatom and a host of foreign partners.

Rosatom will be Vietnam’s partner in the country’s first nuclear power plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan. The project will include two reactors with a combined output of 4,000 MW. Construction on the first reactor is expected to begin in 2014 and it will start to generate electricity by 2020.

Tay Ninh to build border bridge with Cambodia

Southern Tay Ninh Province is to build a border bridge over the Vam Co Dong River, linking Viet Nam with the Cambodia border.
The Mon Chay bridge was to be located at Marker 131, connecting Tan Bien district with Cambodian Prey Veng Province, about 120km east of Phnom Penh City.

People's Committee chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy told an online meeting of border districts on Tuesday the bridge would boost trade between the countries.

Districts in the online link were Tan Bien, Tan Chau and Chau Thanh.

Tay Ninh Department of Transport calculated a concrete bridge would cost VND20 billion ($850,000) and a connecting road would cost the same amount.

Thuy said a border market was being built in Tan Phu commune, on road 791, about 10km from the bridge, to facilitate trading.
Chinese firm fined for forging product origin

A Chinese company in southern Dong Nai Province has been fined VND1.28 billion (US$62,000) for forging the Vietnamese origin of goods for export.

Workers of Viet Nam Tianhua SPC Industries Ltd were caught replacing the label "made in China" with "made in Viet Nam" on batches of compound for water treatment before exporting to the US.

The batch's name, trichcoroisocyanuric acid, was changed to Lasting Chlorinating Granular 89 per cent Min.

Customs officials said the company, which operated in the Nhon Trach 3 Industrial Zone, had exported the product to the US from 2006 to 2011 with a forged origin.

The company had imported the product from China through intermediary companies in Viet Nam, the officials said. It had replaced the label without any processing steps and then asked for certification of origin in Viet Nam before exporting to the US.
The provincial Customs Office has asked the taxation sector to investigate the company's use of illegal invoices.

An Giang promotes bio-energy

A seminar on a joint project between Vietnam and Sweden to develop bio-energies and ensure energy efficiency took place in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang on June 4.

The project began in An Giang province in April this year and will run until December 2013.

Half of the 860,000 EUR investment comes from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

The project will provide technical assistance and enhance capacity in developing initial projects, as well as ensure the efficient use of energy, especially renewable energies.

Participants at the seminar also discussed building smaller community sized power plants fuelled by waste materials such as straw and rice husk in An Giang province in the near future.

The Swedish specialists talked about their experiences in accessing information services, market and financial techniques, building up businesses and financial planning.

According to Huynh The Nang, Vice Chairman of An Giang’s provincial People’s Committee, the project is extremely significant as utilising bio-energy fuels could ensure the province’s energy security and sustainable development.

He emphasised on the need to deal with waste from the agriculture and seafood sectors, and how it could be used to produce bio-energy, address environmental issues and minimise the use of fossil fuels.

The province is calling on businesses to get involved in renewable energies, efficient energies and other environmentally friendly projects to complement the Vietnamese-Swedish project to develop bio-energies, he said.

VNN/VOV/VNS/Tuoi Tre