Hanoi aims to earn increasing revenue from cultural business, which are expected to contribute around 10% of the city’s Gross Regional Domestic Products (GRDP) by 2045, according to a plan newly introduced by the municipal People’s Committee.

The city plans to raise the cultural industry’s contribution to GRDP to 5% by 2025 and 8% by 2030.

From now to 2025, Hanoi will focus its efforts on boosting a number of cultural industries in line with local advantages and potential, including cultural tourism, handicraft, performing arts, cinema, designing, culinary, entertainment software and games, advertising, architecture, photography and exhibition, fashion, television and radio and publishing.

By the end of this decade, the capital also sets to turn the cultural industry into a key economic sector driving the others’ growth. This will lay foundation for the capital city to improve local living standards; sustainably, harmoniously and comprehensively boost the economic, cultural and social development; turn itself into a globally-connected, civilized, modern and creative city by 2045.

Vietnamese start-up enters top five innovators in plastic waste settlement

Plastic People has been the only Vietnamese innovator in the Top 5 of the Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge to tackle plastic waste mismanagement in the region.

The challenge was jointly launched by The Incubation Network, in partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership, UpLink by the World Economic Forum, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, aiming to accelerate innovative solutions that are focused on plastic recycling and upcycling in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The top five innovators will be participating in the tailored development programme over the course of five months.

Musician provides accountability for travel abroad without permission

Musician Ho Hoai Anh, one of the two Vietnamese artists involved in a legal problem in Spain, was present at the Vietnam National Academy of Music on August 16 to provide accountability for his trip that was not informed to the workplace.

Meritorious Artist Co Huy Hung, head of the Department of Traditional Music of the Vietnam National Academy of Music said that the school will apply disciplinary measures to Ho Hoai Anh in accordance with the Law on Public Employees and launch official information after a working session with the musician who is currently a lecturer in the academy.

Meanwhile, actor Hong Dang will meet the leaders of the Hanoi Drama Theater where he is working in the next 2-3 days. After the meeting, the theater will send a detailed report of the case to the Department of Culture and Sports of Hanoi, said People’s Artist Trung Hieu, director of the theater.

The Majorca Daily Bulletin previously reported that Spanish police arrested two famous Vietnamese artists for allegedly raping a 17-year-old British girl on Mallorca Island. The two artists, a 37-year-old actor and a 42-year-old musician were arrested at the hotel on June 25. They were released on bail and banned from leaving Spain. Spanish authorities confiscated their passports and asked them to wait for the decision.

Danang wastewater treatment to help prevent beach pollution

Several wastewater treatment projects are going to be put into operation in the central city of Danang, which are expected to help prevent pollution at local beaches.

Director of the Management Board of Da Nang Traffic Construction Investment Projects, Nguyen Minh Huy, shared on August 14 that a project would be completed and put into operation in Son Tra District by the end of this year when wastewater would be treated before flowing into the sea.The VND1.44 trillion project is expected to ensure cleaner public beaches in Son Tra District, he added.

A similar project is also being constructed around My Khe and T20 beaches in Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son District, to curb the wastewater flowing directly into the sea here at present, especially during heavy rains.

With these projects, rainwater is now collected to separate pipes instead of flowing into sewage pipes, overloading the system and causing the mixture to overflow into the sea.

Exhibition showcases Vietnamese family meals

An exhibition by young Vietnamese artists who paint their memories of family meals is taking place at Hanoi's Culture and Art Centre on Hang Buom street, featuring nearly 30 paintings of different types of food.

Entitled Ve Nha An Com (Go Home For Meal), the exhibition is jointly organised by Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Vietnam.

As the theme of United Nations' International Youth Day 2022 is “Intergenerational solidarity,” aiming for a cohesive society where everyone works together towards sustainable development goals, Ve Nha An Com explores the concept of “family meals” through the eyes of youth as its guiding concept.

The exhibition is divided into two sections including dishes and food trays. In the first section, visitors can see simple and familiar dishes but that contain emotional stories. Each of them manifests the love of parents for their children, for example, it could be porridge cooked by dad when his child gets sick or braised fish made by mother sent to children studying far from home.

The second section features paintings of the food trays, which express the emotions, warmth and natural bonds among family members. For example, Tet Cua Nguoi Ha Noi (Hanoians’ Lunar New Year Festivals) by painter Le Phuong Thao aims to remind viewers, especially those who are living far away from home, of the cosy moments of gathering around the food tray with other family members during Tet.

Ve Nha An Com exhibition will conclude on August 18. Entrance is free.

Deputy PM demands faster building of Hoa Lac-based university campus

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam requested construction of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-HN) campus be sped up while examining the project in the Hoa Lac area in Thach That district on August 16.

Approved by the PM in October 2013, the project comprises of 21 sub-projects on more than 1,100ha of land with a total investment of over 25 trillion VND (1 billion USD). It will be carried out until 2025.

However, only 3 trillion VND has been disbursed, and the project is lagging far behind schedule, he admitted.

About 6,000 VNU-HN students are set to learn at the Hoa Lac campus in the 2022 - 2023 academic year. Once fully completed, the campus will host about 60,000 students.

NA Vice Chairman works with WB delegation

Vice National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai had a working session in Hanoi on August 16 with a delegation from the World Bank (WB) led by Danny Leipziger, Managing Director of the Growth Dialogue.

Leipziger, who is also the WB Vice President, pointed to three major difficulties Vietnam is facing when developing the National Master Planning - the harmonisation and integration of planning and relevant legal documents, the ensuring of financial supply for the work, and planning implementation.

He held that basically, the goals of Vietnam’s national master planning are suitable to the country’s growth targets until 2045. However, in order to achieve the goals, there is still much for Vietnam to do, he said, affirming that in this process, the WB is ready to work with the NA of Vietnam and relevant ministries, sectors and agencies to give recommendations to solve bottlenecks in the process of planning design and implementation.

In the consideration and approval of the planning, the NA of Vietnam should pay attention to the integration of indicators to measure the progress of planning implementation, collect information on planning implementation, and empower the overall supervisory agencies to handle arising problems, he advised.

Agreeing with the WB representative, Hai held that the building of the national master planning is a tough and complicated task due to its large scale. Therefore, the NA of Vietnam hopes that in the coming time, the two sides will continue to strengthen cooperation and specify WB’s support to Vietnam in the process of developing and completing the planning.

Health Ministry orders strengthening reporting of new COVID-19 cases

The Ministry of Health has ordered health departments to strengthen the management and reporting of new COVID-19 cases.

The move came after a series of fast-spreading sub-variants of Omicron (BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.75 and BA.2.12.1) were reported in the country.

According to the ministry’s General Department of Preventive Medicine, the number of COVID-19 cases has been on the rise in both Vietnam and around the world.

The country is currently recording an average of about 2,000 new cases each day. The number of new cases is believed to be on the rise again.

Therefore, in order to actively prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic, the department told leaders of health departments nationwide to regularly and promptly review and report new cases of COVID-19.

Data from the ministry shows that Vietnam had confirmed 11,370,462 cases of COVID-19 as of August 16, ranking 12th out of 227 countries and territories since the beginning of the pandemic. The total number of recoveries rose to over 10 million. On August 16, there were 99 patients needing breathing support.

NA Standing Committee scrutinises draft Law on Civil Defence

The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee discussed the draft Law on Civil Defence in Hanoi on August 16.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, presented a Government proposal saying the bill is set to create a framework for the prevention and response to disasters and incidents, while protecting people’s assets and health.

It also aims to deal with loopholes in the legal system, ensuring civil defence, he added.

With seven chapters and 75 articles, the document focuses on six policies regarding the evaluation of disaster and incident risks in civil defence, assignment in State management and decentralisation in the organisation of prevention and response activities, civilian protection measures, the organisational revamp of National Civil Defense Steering Committee, big data application, and emergencies in civil defence.

The Government is seeking the NA's opinions on whether to stipulate emergencies in civil defence.

Party Central Committee's Secretariat issues disciplinary measures against Gia Lai official

The Party Central Committee’s Secretariat decided to remove Vo Ngoc Thanh from the post of Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Gia Lai province for the 2015-2020 and 2020-2025 tenures during its meeting in Hanoi on August 16 under the chair of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Thanh was also dismissed from the position of Secretary of the Party Civil Affairs Committee of the People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province for the 2016-2021 and 2021-2026 terms.

The Secretariat also issued a warning for the Party Civil Affairs Committee of the People’s Committee of Gia Lai in the 2016-2021 tenure and reprimanded the Party Civil Affairs Committee in the 2021-2026 tenure.

The decisions were made after the Secretariat considered the proposals by the Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission. The Secretariat agreed that the Party Civil Affairs Committee of the People’s Committee of Gia Lai in the 2016-2021 and 2021-2026 tenures had violated the principle of democratic centralism and working regulations, and showed a lack of responsibility along with lax leadership and direction, thus enabling the provincial People’s Committee and some organisations and individuals to violate Party regulations and State laws on forestry during their management and implementation of some projects in the province.

Thanh, in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Civil Affairs Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, must bear the main responsibility for the violations and wrongdoings by the Party Civil Affairs Committee and the People’s Committee as well during the above-said tenures.

He violated the principle of democratic centralism, working regulations, Party regulations and State laws when making conclusions and signing a number of documents that ran counter to legal regulations on investment, bidding, land, housing, forestry, construction and planning, the Secretariat said.

High-Level Forum on One Health Partnership Framework opens

The High-Level Forum on One Health Partnership for Zoonoses (OHP) Framework for the 2021-2025 period took place in Hanoi on August 16.

Reports at the event have reiterated commitments of stakeholders to strengthening cooperation in fighting animal-to-human diseases, and the role of the MARD in the OHP Framework.

They also highlighted the role of the OHP Office in coordinating partners and stakeholders to recommend solutions to arising problems.

Tien asked sponsors and organisations to continue offering technical and financial support to improve Vietnam’s capacity of preventing, discovering and coping with epidemics, thus minimising the impacts of zoonotic diseases.

Vietnam’s One Health Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 under the technical support of the European Union was approved by the MARD, MOH and MONRE in March 2022. Since it was signed, 50 projects have been launched or are pending approval.

Army Games 2022: Vietnam’s second tank crew shoot down four out of five targets

Crew No.2 of the Vietnamese tank team shot down four out of the five targets in the qualifying round of Group 1 of the “Tank biathlon” event at Army Games 2022 in Moscow on August 16 (local time).

The crew finished the race in 32 minutes and 21 seconds. Crew No.1 also destroyed four out of the five targets on August 13 and finished the race in 34 minutes 53 seconds.

The second crew from Kazakhstan completed all of the five targets in 29 minutes and 30 seconds, while Uzbekistan hit four targets in 28 minutes and 11 seconds, followed by Venezuela with three targets in 42 minutes and 36 seconds.

Crew No.3 of Vietnam’s four-crew tank team will compete on August 20.

The 2022 Army Games, from August 13-27, has gathered 270 teams from 37 countries worldwide. Its competitions are being held in Russia, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Belarus. This year, Vietnam will host the “Emergency Area” category.

VFF to invite another country to replace India in int'l tournament

The Vietnam Football Federation (VFF) is in touch with a number of national football federations in Asia to invite another team to replace India after its participation in an international football tournament to be held in Vietnam was cancelled.

According to the VFF, the International Football Federation (FIFA) has decided to suspend the All India Football Federation (AIFF) owing to undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of FIFA's statutes.

The decision means that India will not be able to take part in the international football tournament, scheduled to take place from September 21-29 in Ho Chi Minh City. The event has been billed as a warm-up for the Vietnam national team ahead of the 2022 AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup, a biennial football competition organised by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Football Federation which is set to kick off at the end of this year.

India’s suspension will be lifted once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs.

According to the VFF, India’s highest court disbanded the AIFF Executive Committee in May and appointed a three-member committee to govern the sport organisation, amend the AIFF’s constitution and conduct elections that have been pending for 18 months.

The suspension means that the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup 2022, scheduled to take place in India from October 11-30 this year, cannot be held as planned.

HCMC encountering difficulty hiring arts teachers for secondary schools

Only less than a month is left before the beginning of the 2022-2023 academic year, yet all districts and Thu Duc City of Ho Chi Minh City are still dire need of teachers for the two subjects of Music and Arts. The shortage of these teachers has negatively affected the organization of classes in a school while causing disadvantages for students.

In the new school year of 2022-2023, Thu Duc City needs 22 Music teachers, but only 3 have been selected so far. Similarly, compared to the demand of 24 Arts teachers, Thu Duc City can only hire 3. In the list of 69 successful teacher candidates in District 4, only 1 is a Music teacher. Phu Nhuan District has to employ 2 Arts teachers for the new school year, but it sees none in its list of successful teacher candidates. Other areas like District 3, District 8, Tan Binh District are posting from 8-38 job vacancies for Arts and Music teachers now for both the primary and secondary levels.

As to hiring a teacher to teach Arts and Music in many schools at the same time, there must be adjustments in current policies in the aspects of management, minimum number of teaching periods per semester, which is rather complicated. The measures of signing contracts with visiting teachers or allowing junior high teachers to teach in senior high level seem more practical.

Regarding the reason for this Arts and Music teacher shortage in senior high level, most of these teachers just own an associate’s degree, so they do not meet the criteria to participate in the employment process. In addition, before the 2018 General Education program, Arts and Music in senior high level are taught in extra-curriculum clubs rather than in formal lessons, leading to a low demand of teachers.

Even when the new education program is in operation, there is no high need of students to receive deep training in Arts and Music. This means limited income for teachers of these subjects, greatly discouraging them to pursue their career.

Therefore, developing suitable policies to train and then retain Arts and Music teachers is a tough challenge to the city management for a more stable training program for students in HCMC.

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.

Viet Nam plans to cut methane emissions by 30% by this decade's end

Viet Nam strives to reduce at least 30 percent of methane emissions by 2030 in comparison with 2020, according to the Government's latest plan of action.

By 2025, the total methane emission volume should not exceed 96.4 million tons of CO2 equivalent, a decrease of 13.34 percent from 2020.

The limits on CO2 emissions will be applicable to such areas as cultivation (42.2 million tons), animal husbandry (16.8 million tons), solid waste management and waste water treatment (21.9 million tons), oil and gas exploitation (10.6 million tons), coal mining (3.5 million tons) and fossil fuel consumption (1.3 million tons).

Vietnam's investment in education accounts 18% of total state expenditure

Vietnam's investment in education has steadily increased over the past 10 years, accounting for 18% of total state expenditure.

The information was revealed by Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences (VNIES) under the Ministry of Education and Training at the conference announcing the analysis report on Vietnam's education sector in the 2011 - 2020 period, which was organized by the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences and UNESCO on August 8.

Investment in education over the past 10 years was still lower than the targeted 20%. It was equivalent to 4.9% of the country's GDP, higher than many nations in the region, according to the report.

The Ministry of Education and Training is facing many challenges in supervising education expenditure at the local level as it manages only  50 out of 42,000 educational institutions nationwide (from preschool to university).

Poor, near-poor households to receive housing support

Poor and near-poor households nationwide will get financial assistance for housing.

From August 15, eligible families will be given VNĐ40 million (US$1,700) to build a new house or VNĐ20 million for home repairs.

People eligible are those certified as poor households according to multidimensional poverty standards in the 2021-25 period or cases of splitting a household into two or more separate households but the period from the time of splitting to the effective time of the decision must be at least three years.

Housing support beneficiaries exclude families that have received assistance under the national target programme on socio-economic development in ethnic minority-inhabited and mountainous areas in the 2021-30 period as well as other programmes and projects.

In January, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Bình Minh signed a decision approving the national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction for the 2021-25 period with total funding of at least VNĐ75 trillion.

The overall goal is to achieve multidimensional, inclusive and sustainable poverty reduction. It will be carried out nationwide, with the focus on poor districts and extremely disadvantageous communes in lowland and coastal areas and on islands. The programme targets to reduce the nationwide poverty rate by 1-1.5 per cent, by over 3 per cent among ethnic minority households, and by 4-4.5 per cent in poor districts per year.

The number of poor and near-poor households is expected to halve by 2025. 

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