Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will attend the 9th Summit of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS 9), the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit and the 11th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Summit on Development Triangle Area (CLV-11), to be held virtually on December 9.

The Foreign Ministry said the PM will attend the event at the invitation of Cambodia Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, and Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith./.

Lao Prime Minister concludes visit to Vietnam

Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith left Hanoi on late December 6, concluding his three-day visit to Vietnam to co-chair the 43rd meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee on bilateral cooperation at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

While in Vietnam, the Lao PM paid a courtesy call to Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and met with National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

At the meetings, the two sides reached high consensus on the cooperation orientations for 2021 and in the next five and 10 years.

They agreed to focus on effectively implementing major agreements between the two countries, including the Vietnam-Laos cooperation plan for 2021 and the deals signed on this occasion.

The two sides sketched out many drastic and practical measures to continue deepening bilateral political and diplomatic relations, strengthening the defence-security partnership and giving special priority to education-training collaboration.

The two sides will promote economic cooperation, while fostering the connectivity between the two economies, especially linkages in transport, infrastructure and telecommunications. They will encourage ministries, sectors localities, businesses and people of both sides to expand cooperation and mutual support.

At the same time, the two countries will work together to mobilise resources from international partners for joint projects and programmes.

The two sides vowed to continue coordinating closely with and support each other at regional and international forums, especially within the ASEAN, the Mekong Sub-region cooperation mechanisms and the United Nations.

The two countries will strengthen mutual consultations and assistance to enhance their position and national self-reliance, especially in issues related to security and strategy in the region, including the East Sea and Mekong issues. They pledged to work with other ASEAN countries to effectively cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting intra-bloc solidarity and the central role of the ASEAN as well as the building of ASEAN Community.

The two PMs pledged to direct ministries, sectors, localities and relevant agencies of the two sides to work together to effectively implement bilateral agreements and commitments, including the creation of optimal conditions for businesses of both sides to cooperate in investment and production.

One imported case of COVID-19 reported on December 6

One imported case of COVID-19 was reported on December 6, raising the national count to 1,366, according to the National Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The new patient is a Libyan citizen who came from Qatar and was found infected while staying in quarantine in Hanoi.

A total of 1,220 COVID-19 patients have fully recovered, while the fatalities remain at 35.

Among those still under treatment, five have tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 once, four twice and two thrice.

There are 17,020 people who had close contact with COVID-19 patients or arrived from pandemic-hit areas being quarantined across the country./.

Quang Ninh eyes sustainable tourism development

The northern province of Quang Ninh is largely known as the land of coal, with mining being its main economic driver. It has now undergone a spectacular transformation by promoting sustainable tourism development, prioritising environmental protection and improving its landscapes.

Visitors to Quang Ninh will have the chance to experience many different emotions, from spiritual tourism (conquering the sacred Yen Tu peak) to relaxing on Ha Long Bay - one of the Top 50 Natural Wonders of the World. This “specialty” of the province attracts both domestic and foreign tourists.

Quang Ninh’s strategy of transforming its growth model from exploiting natural resources to tourism has proven effective. Pioneering green tourism development, it focuses on prioritising environmental protection, restoring and expanding areas with green trees and vegetation in coastal areas, and encouraging investment in eco-tourism and environmentally-friendly tourism products.

Quang Ninh welcomed about 14 million visitors last year, including nearly 6 million foreigners, and earned revenue of nearly 1.3 billion USD. The provincial tourism industry is now working hard to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Choosing to focus on the long term, Quang Ninh has sustainably exploited its resources and developed tourism in association with the marine economy.

Quang Ninh today is home to tourism projects worth trillions of Vietnam dong, stretching from Van Don through Ha Long to Uong Bi. The province is on the way to possessing the top tourism brand in the country, bringing in high and stable revenue. Green tourism is one way Quang Ninh promotes itself as a friendly destination not only for tourists but also for the environment./.

Spreading a love of greenery

With climate change having an increasingly apparent impact on people’s lives, planting trees is viewed as an effective solution for turning the future around. The good news is that there are more and more stories about people spreading a love of green space in the community.  

The head office of the People’s Committee of Thuy Lam commune, Dong Anh district, in Hanoi is quite busy today. Residents who wish to add the colour green to their homes have come to receive seedlings from volunteers with the Hanoi Green Club. Founded three years ago, the club brings together enthusiastic young people with the goal of greening Hanoi and cutting pollution in the capital. They have actively raised donations and sought sponsors and volunteers to establish a tree fund.

From Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, the next destination for the “One Million Urban Trees” programme is several suburban districts of Hanoi, where 4,000 trees are to be planted to create a green belt and improve air quality. Launched by the Green Vietnam Biodiversity Conservation Centre in 2019, the programme will carry out a 10-year mission to gradually raise awareness among urban residents about living in harmony with nature and motivating people to improve the urban environment.

As well as individuals, clubs, and volunteer organisations, the tree-planting movement is also establishing more and more links with businesses.

Each tree planted contributes to creating green lungs that purify and protect the environment. Creating a green Vietnam, though, requires ongoing cooperation from the entire community.

Brunei provides free HIV screening until year end

Bruneians and permanent residents aged 16 and above will receive free HIV testing from December 3-31.

Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar said person undergoing testing will obtain the results in just 15 to 20 minutes.

“If the test results are positive, the person will be referred to the Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health for further confirmation and treatment”, he said.

Statistics showed that Brunei had 289 people tested positive with HIV during 1987-2019. Last year, the health authority announced the country had the highest HIV cases with 42 people, 98 percent of whom were men aged 20-34.

According to latest report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the AIDS pandemic has affected 78 million people and killed 35 million others worldwide since the first case was detected 35 years ago. Some 38 million people are living with HIV, and around 5,500 women become infected with HIV every week./.

Foreign Ministry hosts 2020 International Food Festival

Delegates at the event

The 2020 International Food Festival, the eighth of its kind, was held in Hanoi on December 6, as one of cultural exchange, cuisine and fundraising activities hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vietnam’s 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship Year.

The event was attended by President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations Nguyen Phuong Nga, Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung, diplomats and their spouses, together with representatives of international organisations across the country.

Speaking at the festival, Nguyen Nguyet Nga, spouse of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, underlined that the event offered chances to promote culture and cuisine of countries as well as Vietnamese regions, and to support the disadvantaged via a fundraising activity.

On showcase at 143 pavilions were traditional dishes, local specialties, books, publications, souvenir and craft products of countries worldwide and Vietnamese regions. Traditional art programmes were also staged at the event.

Main sponsors of the food festival in the recent two years were honoured.

Nearly 3.1 billion VND (133,700 USD) was raised in previous editions of the event, which was distributed to people with disabilities, orphans, poor women and those with extremely difficult situations./.

Bac Lieu province focuses on poverty reduction

The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu has reduced its poverty rate significantly by taking a number of effective measures, according to its Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Bac Lieu has enabled more than 28,000 households to escape poverty since 2016, thus reducing the poverty rate from 15.5 percent to 1.24 percent now. It now has only 2,776 poor households.

The poverty rate is expected to reduce further to 0.5 percent by the end of this year.

In the last five years the province has invested more than 2.1 trillion VND (91.2 million USD) in poverty elimination efforts, and effectively implemented various policies, programmes and models to support poor households.

One of the models, which involves Party members and government workers helping poor households, has enabled many of them to escape poverty.

They provide them with inputs for production and teach them production techniques, and introduce jobs.

The province has built nearly 5,000 houses for poor families since 2016.

It has also focused on teaching poor people vocational skills and providing them with jobs, and carrying out advocacy activities to motivate them to escape poverty.

Speaking at a recent seminar, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Vuong Phuong Nam said to implement the task of reducing poverty more effectively in future, poverty reduction programmes should be implemented more actively and responsibly by province officials.

The Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in cooperation with other relevant agencies should identify detailed targets, measures and resources to implement the task of alleviating poverty, he added./.

Japanese locality leader lauds Vietnam’s success in COVID-19 control

Governor of Gunma Prefecture of Japan Ichita Yamamoto showed his admiration for Vietnam’s success in controlling COVID-19 pandemic and said he hopes to learn from the country in the field while meeting Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam during a concert at Takasaki opera house on December 5.

He said that he hopes foreigners, including Vietnamese, in the locality will join hands in fighting the pandemic.

The Governor expressed his delight at the expansion of economic, cultural and education cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, noting that Prime Minister Suga has recently chosen Vietnam as the destination for his first tour abroad after taking the office.

For his part, Ambassador Nam lauded Gunma’s initiative of organizing the Gunma-Vietnam Week online, including the music concert. He affirmed that the event demonstrated the development of the relations between Vietnam and the Japanese locality despite the pandemic’s impacts.

He noted that in early January this year, Vietnam welcomed the largest-ever delegation with 1,000 members from Japan for economic, cultural and tourism exchange. In October, PM Suga visited Vietnam, during which the two sides reached many important agreements.

The Vietnamese diplomat thanked the authorities of Gunma for supporting the Vietnamese community in the locality after the pandemic broke out.

The concert, themed “connecting the world with music” was held online as the final event of the virtual Gunna-Vietnam Week in 2020, which aimed to strengthen the mutual understanding between people of Vietnam and Gunma and Japan as a whole.

On the framework of the week, many events were held, including an online conference on the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SGD), and an online culinary exchange when Vietnamese dishes were made from materials made in Gunma./.

Cambodian PM orders health measures at business facilities

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 6 ordered local authorities to strictly examine business facilities, and require the facilities to carry out COVID-19 prevention measures after the nation documented one new community transmission case.

In a message sent to the press on December 6, Hun Sen pointed out that the negligence and violation of pandemic prevention measures of several local officials and business facilities partly contributed to the recent outbreak.

Anyone who fails to obey regulation will have their business temporarily closed, he said, adding there is no choice except for ensuring social distancing, wearing face masks, and implementing hygiene measures between buyers and sellers.

To date, the Cambodian government has distributed 4 million face masks in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in an effort to prevent SARS-CoV-2 virus spread.

Cambodia’s Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat COVID-19 on December 5 announced new regulations on the implementation of disease prevention measures and quarantine for all travellers entering the country, which will be effective from December 12.

The Cambodian Health Ministry statement said that all travellers entering the country will be quarantined for full 14 days and be tested upon arrival.

They are required to possess a health certificate issued by health authorities, recognised and certified by a competent laboratory of their resident countries indicating of COVID-19 negative, within 72 hours prior to departure.

Cambodia will temporarily suspend the implementation of Sponsorship Mechanism for foreign travellers who are investor-businesspersons, company staff, experts and technicians sponsored to enter the country for less than 14 days until the situation of the spread of COVID-19 is relieved and subject to new approval from Prime Minister Hun Sen.

It pledges to disclose the identity of COVID-19 patients immediately, after receiving the positive test result, on the official media of the Ministry of Health in order to facilitate in tracking of persons involved quickly./.

Nearly 280 Vietnamese citizens brought home from Saudi Arabia

Nearly 280 Vietnamese citizens in Saudi Arabia have been brought home safely on a flight operated by Bamboo Airways.

Passengers on the flight, arranged over December 5 and 6 by Vietnamese and Saudi Arabian agencies, included under-18 children and workers with expired visas or labour contracts along with those in special disadvantaged circumstances.

The Vietnamese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and the staff at the Vietnamese embassy were present at the airport to help the citizens with boarding procedures.  

To ensure the passengers’ health and prevent the spread of COVID-19, Bamboo Airways strictly followed security, safety and epidemiological hygiene measures throughout the flight.

Immediately after the flight landed at Van Don airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, the crew and passengers received health checks and were sent to quarantine in line with regulations.

The repatriation of Vietnamese citizens in disadvantaged circumstances will continue to be conducted according to citizens’ wish and based on the pandemic’s development and domestic quarantine capacity./. 

Deputy PM orders greater efforts to improve people's well-being, stature

Nutrition in school meals should receive special attention, experts said

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam ordered competent authorities to outline specific measures to mobilise resources to carry out the national nutrition strategy during 2021-2030 with a view to improve the Vietnamese people’s well-being and stature.

At a working session in early December, he asked the Ministry of Health to ramp up implementation of the national health programme, which sets three goals of promoting a healthy diet and lifestyle with appropriate nutrition and increased physical activity to improve Vietnamese people’s stature and health, raising public awareness of behavioural change to protect health and prevent health-related risks, and providing constant and long-term primary healthcare services to reduce the burden of illness on the community and enhance quality of life.

Dam requested international organisations in Vietnam such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), and World Bank to continue coordinating with the health ministry, sectors and localities to comprehensively promote nutrition for the Vietnamese people, contributing to realising the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the health ministry’s report, implementation of the national nutrition strategy during 2011-2020 attained remarkable marked outcomes. The rate of malnutrition among Vietnamese children decreased significantly over the last decade, from 46.9 percent in 1994 to 29.3 percent in 2010 and under 20 percent in 2020. Meanwhile, the average height of male adolescent is around 1.68 metres, higher than the target of 1.67 metres set in the national strategy.

Saying the achievements in nutrition improvement have contributed to ensure social security, Dam took the occasion to thank international organisations and foreign countries like Japan, Canada and Ireland for supporting Vietnam to better nutrition for its people.

However, he voiced his concern over the nutritional deficiency in mountainous and remote areas and those prone to natural disasters, food safety issue, the rising number of children with obesity in urban areas, and increasing health problems related to nutrition such as cardiovascular diseases.

At the event, experts said that the national nutrition strategy for the 2021-2030 period should integrate nutrition improvement with settlement of several issues, including safe water, environment, and air quality.

Nutrition in school meals should be paid special attention, they said, adding it is necessary to raise awareness of parents, teachers and students of the school milk programme, particularly in rural and mountainous localities./.

Christmas charity project targeted poor kids in Tây Ninh Province

Young people are encouraged to take park in a charity project for poor children to celebrate the Christmas and New Year, launched by a group of students from the Việt Nam- Australia International School (VAS) in HCM City.

The project, Thắp Sáng Tri Thức (Lighten up Your Knowledge), will donate notebooks, books, and stationery to 200 poor children living in Dầu Tiếng District in Tây Ninh. 

Greeting cards and clothes are also encouraged. 

The project has attracted many primary and secondary school students from VAS and other schools. 

 “City students will have more opportunities to help others through our project, Thắp Sáng Tri Thức,” said 10th-grade student Phan Hoàng Thu Anh, one of the project’s creators.  

“We hope our gifts will help poor children in Dầu Tiếng enjoy a happy Christmas and New Year.” 

Anh and her group conducted research about Dầu Tiếng children before launching their project. They learned that the children come from several hundred families of former overseas Vietnamese who resided in Cambodia before returning home.

“Local authorities have offered policies to help these families earn a living. However, many of them live in poor conditions and their children face difficulties to go to school,” said Anh.  

“We decided to donate notebooks, books and stationery, not food, cakes or candies, for Dầu Tiếng children because they’re useful for the kids’ study — the key that makes life become better.” 

“Our project is named Thắp Sáng Tri Thức because we believe that only your knowledge can change your destiny,” she added.    

 According to teacher Nguyễn Lý Thuỷ, who manages the project, Christmas is a time of gifts and celebration, but also a time of giving. 

“I hope students will learn that giving is receiving after taking park in the project Thắp Sáng Tri Thức,” he said.  

Last year, Thuỷ and his students produced more than 170 solar lamps for students in the remote Ea-Rớt village in the Tây Nguyên (central highlands) province of Đắk Lắk. The children do not have enough lights for study because their village is not connected with the national power grid. 

Members of Thắp Sáng Tri Thức are working to collect and pack donations into beautiful boxes to deliver them to needy chidlren. 

More details for the project can be found at http://community.vas.edu.vn/ 

Collectives, individuals honoured for volunteer work

A total of 20 collectives and individuals were honoured for their outstanding contributions to volunteer work in 2020 during an awards ceremony held in Hà Nội.

The event was held on Saturday by the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) Central Committee and the Việt Nam Youth Federation Central Committee.

It was part of activities to mark the 2020 International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development (December 5) in Việt Nam and to honour the contributions of local and foreign organisations and volunteers. Organised alongside the Youth Volunteer Day festival, the event also offered chances for participants to meet and share experience in volunteering.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative in Việt Nam Naomi Kitahara said the theme of this year’s International Volunteer Day is 'Together We Can', and affirmed that the UN will continue to support Việt Nam so that youths can bolster their capacity in volunteer work.

Various activities were arranged during the Youth Volunteer Day festival, such as programmes providing free hair cuts, knitting hats and blankets for students, and a blood donation drive.

First Secretary of the HCYU Central Committee Nguyễn Anh Tuấn spoke highly of volunteers' contributions to the community, stressing they have helped address various challenges in 2020, especially amid the COVID-19 and pandemic and natural disasters.

He voiced his hope that volunteer communities will work together for further and long-term targets in an effort to mobilise collective power, and called on organisations, individuals and donors to continue to support volunteer activities.

Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Tâm, 30, a woman with brittle bone disease, was among 10 individuals honoured at the event.

Over the past 16 years, Tâm has run a free-of-charge class for primary and junior secondary school students in her hometown in the northern province of Nam Định.

Trịnh Xuân Thủy, 27, deputy chairman of the Hà Nội Youth Union for Blood Donation, was also honoured at the event. He has trained more than 3,000 volunteers to join the blood donation campaign. 

Bạc Liêu Province close to eliminating poverty

Bạc Liêu Province has reduced its poverty rate significantly by taking a number of effective measures, according to its Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province has enabled more than 28,000 households to escape poverty since 2016, thus reducing the poverty rate from 15.5 per cent to 1.24 per cent now.

It now has only 2,776 poor households.

The poverty rate is expected to reduce further to 0.5 per cent by the end of this year.

In the last five years the province has invested more than VNĐ2.1 trillion (US$91.2 million) in poverty elimination efforts, and effectively implemented various policies, programmes and models to support poor households.

One of the models, which involves Party members and government workers helping poor households, has enabled many of them to escape poverty.

They provide them with inputs for production and teach them production techniques, and introduce jobs.

The province has built nearly 5,000 houses for poor families since 2016.

It has also focused on teaching poor people vocational skills and providing them with jobs, and carrying out advocacy activities to motivate them to escape poverty.

Nguyễn Thị Mộng Nghi of Phước Long District’s Phước Thọ Commune, who used to be poor, was given a soft loan worth VNĐ30 million ($1,300) to learn tailoring and open a tailor’s shop in her house.

She now earns around VNĐ6 million (US$260) a month, which is well above the poverty threshold.

“To escape poverty, poor people have to be determined to do so and work hard. It is important to create their own jobs and have stable incomes, and use loans effectively.”  

Trần Thanh Tuấn of Bạc Liêu City’s Hiệp Thành Commune was supported by Lương Văn Đấu, a Party member and tax official in the city, with money to buy seedlings to plant in his family’s 3,000sq.m field and instructed his family farming techniques for growing the crop.

Đấu also helped Tuấn find a job.

“Thanks to the support, my family has escaped poverty,” Tuấn said.

Speaking at a seminar held last Thursday, deputy chairman of the province People’s Committee, Vương Phương Nam, said to implement the task of reducing poverty more effectively in future, poverty reduction programmes should be implemented more actively and responsibly by province officials.

The Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in co-operation with other relevant agencies should identify detailed targets, measures and resources to implement the task of alleviating poverty, he added. 

Việt Nam acts to ensure safe migration: senior official

The implementation of Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) is a great stride by Việt Nam in international co-operation in migration, said Tô Anh Dũng, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"It demonstrates the country’s commitment to and sense of responsibility in maintaining a transparent and safe migration environment for sustainable development," he said.

The Deputy Minister was speaking at a conference in HCM City on Friday about implementing the GCM jointly organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Việt Nam adopted the GCM in December 2018. An implementation plan was approved by Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in March this year which focuses on promoting communications, collecting information and data on international migration, perfecting policies and laws, studying migration policies, and boosting international cooperation.

The plan has set inclusive and comprehensive solutions to current international migration issues, with gender and sustainable development matters taken into account, Dũng said.

Park Mi-hyung, Chief of Mission at IOM Vietnam, said Việt Nam has made remarkable progress in carrying out the GCM by introducing principles to protect migrants in accordance with the compact.

The issuance of the plan reflects the country’s strong commitment to promote common perceptions and sharing responsibility for migration, she said.

According to Park, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected global migration, and migrants are the ones who suffering the most.

In this context, migration management in the post-COVID-19 pandemic was a common challenge for every nation, requiring closer cooperation in bilateral, regional and international relations.

She said the GCM is an effective measure when it comes to providing a cooperative framework for legal, safe and orderly migration, helping countries manage post-pandemic migration activities and minimise the impact of COVID-19.

The conference aimed to evaluate the migration of Vietnamese citizens abroad, especially from the Central-Central Highlands and the South. It also reviewed the implementation of the GCM to remove bottlenecks, proposed solutions to emerging problems, contributing to overcoming the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on migration.

It offered an opportunity for delegates to exchange experience and help formulate policies to protect the rights and interests of migrants while enhancing coordination in managing migration at different levels, especially in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

Ngô Minh Châu, vice chairman of HCM City People’s Committee said Vietnamese workers in general, workers in HCM City in particular have contributed to the development of other countries and regions through different forms of migration for many years.

He hoped that, through the conference, agencies in the city would be updated with latest information to ensure benefit for both migrants and receiving localities.

Initiating a legal, safe and orderly migration process would maximise the capacity of Vietnamese people in many parts of the world while legal, foreign immigrants would consider HCM City and Việt Nam as their second home as well, Châu said. 

Nearly 360 Vietnamese citizens flown home from US

Close to 360 Vietnamese citizens were flown home safely from the US on a flight of national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on December 6-7.

Passengers on the flight, arranged by Vietnamese and US agencies, included children under 18, the elderly, the ill, students who finished their studies without accommodations and those in special disadvantaged circumstances.

Vietnamese representative offices in the US helped the passengers travel to airports in San Francisco and Los Angeles and sent staff to assist them with boarding procedures.

To ensure the passengers’ health and prevent the spread of COVID-19, Vietnam Airlines strictly followed security, safety and epidemiological hygiene measures throughout the flight.

Upon arrival at Da Nang International Airport in the central city of the same name, all passengers and crew members were given medical checkups and sent to quarantine in line with regulations.

The repatriation of Vietnamese citizens in disadvantaged circumstances will continue to be conducted according to citizens’ wish and based on the pandemic’s development and domestic quarantine capacity./.

Source: VNA/VNN/VNS/SGGP/VOV/NDO/Dtinews/SGT/VIR