Co To island district in the northern province of Quang Ninh will officially ban visitors from bringing plastic bottles and bags to the island from September 1 in a bid to spur sustainable tourism. This is part of a trial plan of the Co To District People's Committee.

Specifically, under the plan, visitors are not allowed to bring plastic bottles, plastic bags, and materials carrying a risk of environmental pollution to the island.

Local authorities will then move toward the official implementation of this regulation since the island district's basic services are now completely prepared to accommodate the needs of tourists.

The island district's services and facilities are now fully accessible, but many tourists still bring single-use plastic products there, putting a great deal of environmental strain on Co To," said Chairman of the Co To District People's Committee Nguyen Viet Dung.

Co To District requires that travel companies and transportation businesses provide tourists with guidance at the time of ticket sales.

When visitors arrive at Van Don Wharf to travel to Co To Island, they will be asked to leave behind single-use plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other items that could potentially cause environmental pollution.

Vietnam, UK step up cooperation in fight against human trafficking

Vietnam appreciated the UK’s assistance in human trafficking prevention and control and expected that the two sides would continue cooperation and experience sharing in the field, said Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien.
 
At a reception in Hanoi on August 16 for visiting Permanent Secretary at the UK’s Home Office Matthew Rycroft, Chien stressed that cooperative relations between the two countries have been actively fostered by their leaders over the past time, particularly via visits.

The officer informed his guest that on the basis of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the fight against human trafficking signed in November 2018, the Border Guard High Command under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence has maintained an effective cooperation mechanism with the UK Border Agency.

The two sides have conducted many exchange and training sessions to share experience, and are actively coordinating in compiling manuals on human trafficking prevention and control for the Vietnamese side.

Chien proposed the UK continue cooperating with the Vietnamese side to effectively implement the MoU by increasing meetings, training courses, and information-experience exchange.

He suggested the UK side consider joining Vietnam’s Border Guard Academy in developing training materials and textbooks on fighting human trafficking.

For his part, Rycroft, who just co-chaired the Vietnam – UK Migration Dialogue in Hanoi a day earlier, said Vietnam is an important strategic partner of the UK.

In addition to cooperation in other spheres, the bilateral coordination in preventing and combating illegal migration and human trafficking are also important, bringing benefits to both nations, he said.

Party officials visit UK for improved strategic partnership

A Party delegation, headed by Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Tran Tuan Anh, paid a visit to the UK from August 10 – 15, aiming to fortify the countries’ strategic partnership, particularly in economy, trade, and investment.

During the trip, the delegation met many UK officials, namely Graham Stuart, Minister of State (Minister for Europe) at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons Nigel Evans; Minister of State in the Cabinet Office Nigel Adams; Economic Secretary to the Treasury Richard Fuller; and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Britain Robert Griffiths.

Vietnamese officials also had working sessions with a series of UK agencies and organisations in the fields of energy, investment, finance, services, and digital transformation. They included the British International Investment (BII), Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), the industry-led body representing UK-based financial and related professional services TheCityUK, the UK Export Finance, BP Group, and Enterprise Energy.

While in the UK, Vietnamese officials also visited the monument of late President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese Embassy in London, with Anh chairing a seminar on strengthening the Vietnam-UK economic and trade cooperation in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution, digital transformation and green transition.

Quang Tri: 144 unexploded ordnances safely handled

PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTVN)’s bomb and mine clearance team announced on August 15 that it had successfully handled a vault containing 144 unexploded ordnances (UXOs) in the central province of Quang Tri.

The UXOs, including one 57-mm-cannon shell, 38 37-mm- cannon shells and 105 detonators of all kinds, were discovered at a depth of 30-50cm in a garden in Huong Tan commune, Huong Hoa district.

Quang Tri is the most polluted locality in Vietnam in terms of UXOs, which are scattered over 81% of its land area and have killed over 3,430 people and injured 5,100 during peacetime.

In recent years, the province has cleaned 25,000ha of UXO-contaminated land; discovered and safely handled over 765,000 bombs, landmines, and explosive materials; assisted thousands of UXO victims; and improved most of the local population’s awareness of UXO threats. It is striving to become the first province in Vietnam to be free of wartime UXOs after 2025.

'Sparkling Night' concert to return to Hanoi on August 24

The “Sparkling Night” concert will return to the Hanoi Opera House on August 24 after two successful nights in May, according to the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB).

It comprises of two parts, with the first including excerpts from "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and the second featuring world famous romances and arias performed by Opera vocalists from the VNOB. International choir Hanoi Voices will also participate in the event.

The "Sparkling Night" will see the performance of leading opera artists in Vietnam such as Huy Duc, To Loan, Tung Lam, Huong Diep, Thu Quynh, along with award-winning artists.

Japanese group helps Ninh Thuan train medical students

A medical vocational school in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan on August 15 signed an agreement with Japan’s Genki Group to enhance cooperation in training Vietnamese workforce in health care, social welfare and education.

Under the deal, the Ninh Thuan medical vocational school and Genki Group are committed to coordinating in events, programmes and projects on training, scientific research and technology transfer for the development of higher education.

Together the two sides will explore and carry out programmes and research projects on health care and social welfare; and provide training and apprenticeship opportunities for Vietnamese students.

This October, the Japanese corporation plans to launch a vocational establishment in Ho Chi Minh City, where some 60 female students aged 18 – 25 will receive medical training.

Exhibition held to mark 30th anniversary of Vietnam-Ukraine diplomatic ties

An art exhibition is being held at Uzhgorod City Museum in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ukraine-Vietnam diplomatic ties.

Speaking at the event’s opening ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine Nguyen Hong Thach emphasised that the organisation of the exhibition shows that the Vietnam-Ukraine friendship continues to develop despite all difficulties. It also reflects the support of Ukrainian friends for the embassy's activities to promote understanding and cooperation between the two countries, he said.

For his part, head of the association of Ukrainian painters Kostiantyn V. Cherniavskyy highly appreciated the Vietnamese Embassy’s initiative of inviting Ukrainian artists to draw about Vietnam, stressing that it’s the enthusiastic participation from Ukraine painters that made it a success.

Hanoi hosts Int’l Army Games’ “Emergency Area” contest

The “Emergency Area” competition in the framework of the ongoing 2022 International Army Games kicked off on August 15 at the National Military Training Centre No.4 in Hanoi.

Hosted by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence, the competition sees the participation of over 100 athletes from Belarus, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Russia, and the host Vietnam.

India attends the four-day event as an observer.

This is the second time the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence has hosted the "Emergency Area" contest, showing the fruitful cooperation between the Vietnam People's Army and those of other countries.

The 2022 Army Games, held from August 13-27, gathers 270 teams from 37 countries worldwide. Its competitions are being held in Russia and several countries, including Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Belarus.

Kien Giang, Ca Mau coordinate in combating IUU fishing

The two southern provinces of Kien Giang and Ca Mau are joining hands in fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their waters.

This move is expected to help develop responsible fisheries, and effectively and sustainably exploit aquatic resources on fishing grounds, towards having the European Commission's warnings against IUU fishing removed in the two localities.

According to the steering committee on IUU fishing prevention of Kien Giang province, after 2 years of coordination, the two provinces’ forces organised patrols and inspected more than 100 fishing vessels in their waters, made records of 41 administrative violations, and discovered 47 vessel monitoring devices that were removed and sent to other vehicles or left onshore or on islands. Through inspections, the forces have sanctioned administrative violations of more than 7.8 billion VND (333,400 USD).

Hanoi's students to begin new academic year on September 5

The Hanoi Department of Education and Training has decided that the academic year of 2022-23 will start on September 5 as usual, according to a decision issued by Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Chu Xuan Dung.

The decision will be applied to educational facilities from kindergarten to high schools, as well as centers for continuing education.

Ceremonies to kick off the school year city-wide are scheduled for September 5, with the first and second semesters planned to be completed before January 16 and May 25, respectively.

The 2022-23 year is expected to finish before May 31 next year.  

Ha Long Bay named among most beautiful global destinations

Situated in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh, Ha Long Bay has been listed as one of the 10 most beautiful destinations for 2022, as selected by the Canadian newswire The Travel.

The Travel stated that Ha Long Bay, which has twice been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is the Vietnamese representative to make the list, coming in fifth place.

Along with Ha Long Bay, the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat is the second representative in Southeast Asia to make the list, coming in fourth.

Elsewhere, China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest topped the list, which was the inspiration of the movie Avatar offering equally stunning scenes.

Rounding off the list are all famous global tourist locations, including Venice (Italy), Yellowstone National Park (USA), Santorini island (Greece), the world’s largest salt flat of Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia), Patagonia region (Chile), Bora Bora island (French Polynesia), and Banff National Park( Canada).

Large batch of cheap mooncakes found in Hanoi

Up to 10,800 moon cakes lacking point of origin identification have been confiscated in Hanoi.

According to the Hanoi Board of Market Surveillance, the batch was discovered at the Dung Hai Shop in the outlying district of Hoai Duc’s La Phu Commune on August 15.

The shop owner Nguyen Cong Dung failed to show the papers showing the origin of the cakes. Each cake is sold for VND2,500 (8.2 cents).

Dung admitted that he bought the cakes to meet the rising demand as the Mid-Autumn Festival nears despite them lacking clear origin.

Can Tho exhibition highlights President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary career

A photo exhibition spotlighting the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh kicked off in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on August 16.

Hosted by the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the event exhibits 50 photos, which tell the story about the late President’s revolutionary career, his great contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation, and to the struggle of countries worldwide for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.

On the same day, a thematic exhibition introducing over 200 images, documents, and artifacts featuring the art of shaping and decorating lotus motifs on artifacts of various materials such as ceramic, wood, metal, and fabric, opened in the framework of the event.

The exhibitions will last until September 30, and December 5, 2022, respectively.

HCM City schools face overcrowding in new academic year

The number of students from kindergarten to high school in HCM City will increase by 22,000 in the upcoming 2022-23 academic year, according to the city’s Department of Education and Training.

Hồ Tấn Minh, Chief of the Office of the department, said among the additional students, there are 15,282 students in public schools and 6,543 students in non-public schools.

The increase is mostly at pre-schools, secondary schools, and high schools in Thủ Đức City and the districts of Bình Tân, Bình Chánh, Hóc Môn and 12 which are in the process of rapid urbanisation and population growth.

In the 2021-22 academic year, nearly 344,000 students were not in the city's household registration book. This pressure has caused an increase in the number of students in classes exceeding the standard number of students per classroom.

Many primary schools have more than 45 students per classroom, affecting the quality of management and teaching.

By September, the city plans to put into use 575 new classrooms, including 210 rooms for kindergartens, 218 rooms for primary schools and 147 rooms for secondary school.

Health Ministry informs lack of hemostatic, anticoagulant drugs in heart surgery

The Ministry of Health has informed the risk of a shortage of drugs containing the active ingredient Protamine sulfate (hemostatic and anticoagulant in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery) in some hospitals.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health stated that Protamine sulfate is a drug on the list of rare drugs that should be given priority in consideration for the issuance of a circulation registration certificate; however, no facility has so far submitted an application for the circulation registration of medicines with the active ingredient Protamine sulfate in Vietnam.

Recently, the Drug Administration of Vietnam has licensed many establishments to import injectable drugs containing the active ingredient Protamine sulfate (which has not yet been granted a circulation registration certificate) to meet the special treatment needs of medical examination and treatment establishments. according to the provisions of Article 68 of the Government’s Decree No. 54/2017/ND-CP detailing several articles and measures to implement the Law on Pharmacy.

With the current situation, the Drug Administration of Vietnam requires importing establishments of Protamine sulfate drugs to urgently synthesize all estimates of medical examination and treatment establishments to plan and sign contracts early with establishments. Foreign drug manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that these establishments can be proactive in producing and supplying drugs in a timely manner to the Vietnamese market, avoiding drug shortages due to late signing of contracts.

Developing digital citizen ecosystem becomes inevitable in Vietnam

The Government’s project ‘Developing an Application for Population Database, Digital Identification and Authentication for the National Digital Transformation from 2022-2025, with a Vision to 2030’ (Project 06) has been launched for 6 months in Vietnam, as a confirmation that digital transformation is an inevitable trend of the era to help Vietnamese citizens become more fluent in using digital services.

Vietnam Electricyt Group (EVN) reported that it has a great quantity of customers, nearly 90 percent of whom are individuals in households. Its electricity services are linked to the National Population Database via the National Public Service e-Portal, and have so far served clients better when eliminating a lot of documents in administrative procedures thanks to the digital transformation. EVN also employs cashless payment via Mobile Money of the intermediary of VNPT, Viettel, MobiFone. The rate of cashless payment for EVN now accounts for 95 percent.

Similarly, Vietnam Social Security has completed its database for over 98 million Vietnamese citizens in 27 million households nationwide. It has introduced the app VssID – digital social security app – for participants to monitor their participation in social insurance and health insurance. The app has been downloaded and installed by more than 23 million users.

The Ministry of Public Security reported that until now, Project 06 has been implemented in all ministries and agencies, 63 provinces and municipalities. There have been over 5 million registrations for an electronic citizen identification account, and 65 million new chip-based citizen ID cards have been distributed. This is a strong foundation for the digital transformation process all over the nation. The Vietnamese can now easily manage their personal information included in their ID card online.

Deputy Director of the Center for National Population Database (C06) Nguyen Thanh Vinh said that to register for level 1 of an electronic citizen identification account, the public can download the app VNeID by the Public Security Ministry and follow the instruction there. Level 2 must be completed in person at a police station. This account is expected to be used in public transactions in the future.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung shared that digital transformation must be consistent from the central to local levels. There must be specialized teams sent to each household to aid needy people to use digital tools for their daily activities. It is these teams that can gradually transform every Vietnamese citizen into the digital version for a digital society in the future. These people with their own demands will in turn boost the growth of the domestic digital market for the formation of a sustainable digital economy.

At the moment, there are 40,000 such teams nationwide with 200,000 members. They are being trained as to digital skills so that they can transfer these skills to the community.

Vietnam finishes second at Super Ball 2022

DKP Team of Vietnam won silver in the double routine category of the Super Ball 2022, which took place in the Czech Republic from August 8 - 13.

DKP Team consist of local freestylers Nguyen Danh Quang and Nguyen Anh Tuan led by coach Do Kim Phuc.

The team impressed the judging panel with a unique performance which combined street folk dance and art ball. They duly earned 25 points through their epic performance, the highest result in the entire competition.

Both Vietnam and Japan scored the same points, but the former ranked behind due to goal difference.

Dubbed the biggest and most prestigious open freestyle football competition in the world, Super Ball includes a variety of competitions, both for male and female freestylers of various levels and origins.

At the recent Tet Freestyle Football 2022 held in Hanoi in the Routine and Battle categories, Nguyen Danh Quang, born in 1994, won first prize, while Nguyen Anh Tuan, aged 24, was awarded second prize.

New project to promote Vietnamese language in Vietnamese communities abroad

The Government has approved a project on designating September 8 as the Day for Honouring Vietnamese Language in Vietnamese Communities Abroad. Chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) and Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Hieu talked to the press about the goals of the project and reasons to choose the date.   

According to the deputy minister, for over 5.3 million overseas Vietnamese living in more than 130 countries and territories worldwide, the Vietnamese language is the means for them to preserve their traditional culture, establish themselves while integrating in the local community. The language is also a bridge to connect overseas Vietnamese all over the world with the motherland.

However, the language is facing a risk of falling into oblivion in overseas Vietnamese communities due to both objective and subjective reasons. Young generations of OVs, who are born and grow up abroad, are not aware of the significance of their mother tongue, while the teaching and learning of the language abroad are hindered by many difficulties.

For those reasons, the idea of establishing a day for honouring the Vietnamese language to encourage the learning and conservation of the language was made a specific task in Conclusion 12/KL-TW dated August 12, 2021 of the Politburo and Resolution 169/NQ-CP dated December 31, 2021 of the Government.   

Concern of Vietnamese guest workers in RoK cleared up

Vietnamese labourers who are working in the Republic of Korea (RoK) within the Employment Permit System (EPS) programme raised questions relating to their rights, interests and obligations at a meeting on August 14.

This is the first in-person legal consultation for the Vietnamese employees after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It brought together Vietnamese workers from Gyeonggi province’s Ansan city and its neighbouring localities.

About 205,000 Vietnamese are living, working and studying in the RoK, of whom 27,000 have arrived under the EPS.

Ly Nha Ky re-appointed Romanian Honorary Consul in Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnamese actress and businesswoman Tran Thi Thanh Nhan, better known as Ly Nha Ky, has been re-appointed Honourary Consul of Romania in Ho Chi Minh City following her success in the previous four-year term.

At a ceremony recently held in the city, Romanian Ambassador to Vietnam Cristina Romila recognised Nha Ky’s practical contributions to the development of the traditional friendship that exists between the two countries, especially during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak which hit Ho Chi Minh City.

Nha Ky was first named as Romanian Honorary Consul in Ho Chi Minh City in June, 2018.

According to statistics compiled by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are now 31 foreign consulate generals in Ho Chi Minh City, with the majority of them being Vietnamese nationals.

New rainy spell forecasted for northern region

The northern region of Vietnam has been forecasted to see a new rainy spell from August 19.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, northern localities would see dry weather from August 16-18 with temperatures of between 26-34 degrees centigrade.

From August 19-23, the region would experience a new rainy front with strong wind. The central region would also witness downpours during this time.

The same weather would also occur in the Central Highlands and southern regions on August 17-23, focusing on the late afternoon and evening. Local people have been warned of hail, whirlwinds and thunderstorms during rain.

Between August 11 and September 10, the rainfall in the northern region and localities from Danang City to Binh Thuan Province would be 5-10 percent higher against the same period of many previous years.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes