Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and Japanese Vice Minister of Defence Masami Oka co-chaired the ninth Vietnam-Japan Defence Policy Dialogue in Tokyo on March 13.

At the annual dialogue, both sides discussed the global and regional issues of shared concern, especially traditional security issues and emerging non-traditional challenges.

They emphasised the importance of maintaining an environment of peace, stability, security and safety of navigation and overflight in the East Sea for all countries in the world.

Both sides highlighted the need to settle disputes and differences via peaceful means in line with law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and reaching the early formulation of a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law.

Regarding defence cooperation, the two sides agreed that on the basis of the Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia between Vietnam and Japan, bilateral defence cooperation has achieved steps of development.

The areas of cooperation are increasingly expanded and deepened in a substantive manner, they said.

The two sides agreed to further promote cooperation contents, including enhancing the exchange of delegations, especially at the high level, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations; and expand cooperation in defence industry, cybersecurity, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, UN peacekeeping, training, and military medicine.

NA Standing Committee’s 21st session to open on March 15

The 15th National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee will convene their 21st session in Hanoi on March 15 to scrutinise a number of draft laws, according to the NA Office.

During the six-day session, the NA Standing Committee will give opinions on the draft Price Law (amended), the draft Law on Bidding (amended), and the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Public Security, the draft Law on Water Resources revised), the draft Law on the Management and Protection of Defencee Works and Military Zones, and the Law on Housing (revised); and comment on the explanation, acquisition and amendment of the draft revised Cooperative Law.

Lawmakers will comment on the proposal to include the draft Law on Citizenship Identity (amended) and the draft revised Law on Credit Institutions in the 2023 Law and Ordinance Building Programme.

Regarding socio-economic issues, the NA Standing Committee will discuss the adjustment of investment in Ka Pet reservoir project in Ham Thuan Nam district in the south central province of Binh Thuan.

It will consider the legislature's report on ombudsman work in February, and consider and approve the Prime Minister’s proposal on the appointment and dismissal of ambassadors of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

A question and answer session will be held on March 20 and broadcast live on TV and radio channels.

Plan to realise Vietnam-Malaysia MoU on labour cooperation approved

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed a decision approving the plan to realise the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on labour recruitment, employment and repatriation signed by the Vietnamese and Malaysian Governments on March 21, 2022.

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) is responsible for offering instructions to enterprises operating labour services to Malaysia under contract. During the effective period of the MoU, guidance on changes related to Malaysia's foreign labour admission policies will be provided for enterprises.

Regarding labour management, enterprises sending workers to Malaysia are responsible for arranging and managing workers in accordance with the signed contracts and provisions of the Law on Contract-Based Vietnamese Overseas Workers. They must also closely work with the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia in the management of workers.

The MoLISA must instruct the management board for workers and experts in Malaysia and enterprises how to implement the MoU.

The Vietnamese side must partner with Malaysia to establish a joint working group to monitor the implementation of the MoU, hold the annual and ad hoc meetings to discuss arising issues during the implementation.

The group will work since its establishment and until the MoU expires.

Health ministry issues alert after human cases of pig-related disease discovered

The Ministry of Health has warned medical facilities to be vigilant for suspected cases of Streptococcus suis, a bacteria that comes from pigs, after a number of human cases were found over the past few months.

A report from the ministry’s infectious disease surveillance system showed that in the first months of this year, a number of Streptococcus infections were recorded across the nation.

The Medical Centre of Sóc Sơn District in Hà Nội reported that it has successfully saved a patient suffering from anaphylactic shock after eating blood pudding.

L.Q.H.S., 51, residing in Phù Linh Commune, was admitted to the hospital with red skin, chest tightness, shortness of breath and high blood pressure.

The patient said he had no allergies and had a good health record.

On March 1, doctors at Bãi Cháy Hospital received a Chinese patient suffering from and a fever. The patient tested positive for Streptococcus suis.

He is now in stable health condition after 12 days of treatment.

The first human cases of Streptococcus suis were recorded last month when a 52-year-old resident of Hà Đông District, who was the owner of a restaurant which sells blood pudding, was infected with the virus.

The man underwent examination at 103 Military Hospital are suffering from high fever, nausea, and vomiting.

The ministry said that the majority of cases have involved people eating pork products such as blood pudding, or those who slaughter pigs.

Patients often suffer severe clinical symptoms ad need long-term, expensive treatment. Once people become infected with the virus, the disease develops quickly, leading to complications such as septic shock, coma, and multiple organ failure.

In 1960, the first human case was detected and since then there have been around 490 human cases of Streptococcus suis, of which the mortality rate stands at 17.5 per cent.

In Việt Nam, about 10 patients have been admitted to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the past several years.

According to a study by the HCM City-based Hospital for Tropical Diseases, this disease is more prevalent during hot weather.

The majority of patients are farmers who are exposed to pork products or pig slaughtering.

Most of the patients had meningitis symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, stiff neck, and impaired consciousness.

To prevent the disease, the ministry’s Department of Preventive Medicine has called on local health authorities to strengthen supervision to early detect suspected cases of infections and have measures to handle the outbreak.

They have also advised people to stop eating blood pudding and cook pork meat properly in order to eliminate the potential risk of infection, as no vaccination against the disease is available at the moment.

Furthermore, people should avoid the purchase, transport, or slaughter of sick or dead pigs and use protective gloves when in contact with pigs. 

Body of foreign man found on Thanh Hoa beach

People in the northern central province of Thanh Hoa have just found a body drifting on a local beach.

Chairman of Ninh Hai Ward People's Committee, Le Van Thang, said that the body was found at 6 am on March 13 at a beach in Dai Tien Village.

"Some villagers saw the body of a man and informed local authorities early this morning," Thang said. "We found some personal papers which showed that he may be of Chinese nationality."

Thanh Hoa police are further investigating the case.

NA Chairman meets heads of diplomatic representative offices abroad

Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue had a meeting with chiefs of Vietnam’s diplomatic representative missions abroad for 2023-2026 term, in Hanoi on March 13.

The top legislator commended the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its efforts in personnel preparation for the overseas offices through training courses and working sessions with ministries, agencies and localities.

He acknowledged the diplomatic sector’s contributions to the country’s role, reputation and position in the international arena, which, vice versa, has facilitated the development of the sector.

The leader stressed the importance of the country's synergy strength to the diplomatic sector, and cited Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong as saying that the strength is formed by that of the nation and the era.
 
“We need to advance Vietnam’s diplomacy to contribute more to raising the country’s reputation, position and role in the international arena,” he emphasised, asking the mission chiefs to be fully aware of and well implement major tasks and orientations in external affairs as set in relevant resolutions and directions.

He said diplomatic channels, including that of the legislature, should be implemented concertedly, and urged the diplomats to step up the relations between the Vietnamese NA and its counterparts in the countries where they work, and play a more active role in building multilateralism mechanisms, including inter-parliamentary forums, contributing to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world as well.

Hue highlighted the significance of Directive No. 15-CT/TW adopted by the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on August 10, 2022 on economic diplomacy in service of national development by 2030, saying practical efficiency must be the top criterion in economic diplomacy.

Citizen protection and overseas Vietnamese affairs should be a regular task, he continued, asking the officials to well implement the Politburo’s Conclusion No. 12-KL/TW on overseas Vietnamese affairs in the new situation.

The top legislator suggested the diplomats learn from foreign countries’ experience in building law and the rule-of-law state, the legislature's supervision work and the prevention and handling of international trade disputes.

The leader assigned specific tasks to heads of missions in Europe, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Việt Nam attends meeting of Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments

A delegation from the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) Secretariat is attending a meeting of the Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP) in Manama capital of Bahrain from March 11 to 15.

Bùi Văn Cường, Secretary General of the NA and Chairman of the NA Office, led the Vietnamese delegation and was scheduled to deliver a speech at the plenary session on March 13 morning (Bahrain time).

The annual meeting is held in parallel with the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

This year’s event covers such issues as citizens’ participation in parliamentary activities, gender inequality in parliaments, parliamentarians and conflicts of interest, the role of parliaments in the climate change combat, and questionnaire to create a best practice guide for digital parliaments.

It also includes an ASGP Executive Committee session on the reform of administrative processes in parliaments, and the election of the executive committee’s membership.

The ASGP, convening the first meeting in Oslo (Norway) on August 16, 1939, is a consultative body of the IPU and a forum for secretaries general of parliaments to share experience and reach consensus on advice about globally important issues needing attention to be submitted their respective parliaments.

It is also tasked with studying laws, procedures, practices, and working methods of different parliaments to propose reforms while enhancing relations among the bodies assisting parliaments and among secretaries general.

PM gives green light to two expy projects

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has approved the Ministry of Transport’s proposal to allow local authorities to develop an expressway in northern Vietnam and another in the southeastern region.

The expressway in northern Vietnam would run through Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh and Thai Binh provinces, with a total length of some 88 kilometers.

The length of the expressway in southeastern Vietnam is 129 kilometers. It would link Gia Nghia City in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong and Chon Thanh District of neighboring Binh Phuoc Province, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said at a meeting chaired by PM Chinh yesterday, March 12.

The transport minister underlined the need to build the two expressways to bolster the traffic infrastructure development, satisfy the soaring travel demand and promote socioeconomic growth in the regions.

The ministry at the meeting also agreed to develop a 26-kilometer expressway section passing through Ninh Binh using public capital and assign this province to take charge of the construction of the section.

Thai Binh was told to be in charge of the 62-kilometer Nam Dinh-Thai Binh section, which would be built under the public-private partnership (PPP) format.

Similarly, the Gia Nghia-Chon Thanh expressway project would follow the PPP format, with the government of Binh Phuoc taking charge of the project, the local media reported.

Representatives of the relevant ministries and agencies at the meeting suggested plans related to the scale of the roads, site clearance, projected traffic volume and financial estimates, as well as the possibility of attracting private investors to join the projects.

Addressing the meeting, the PM said the three provinces of Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, and Binh Phuoc have enormous growth potential, but their traffic infrastructure systems remain incomplete and lack interregional expressways.

Therefore, the development of the two expressways mentioned above would play a crucial role and create a driving force for growth in the regions, PM Chinh added.

As for investment methods, PM Chinh suggested the PPP format and using the central and local budget and capital backed by businesses in line with prevailing regulations.

Regarding their design, the Government leader demanded the expressways have four complete lanes and a revision in their total investments.

In-flight smoker banned from flying for nine months

A man in the northern central province of Thanh Hoa has been banned from flying for nine months after failing to pay a fine for smoking on a domestic flight.

The ban will last from March 15 until December 14, 2023.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, the passenger smoked on Flight VJ244SGN-THD while it was waiting for departure on December 19, 2022.

After being detected, he was expelled from the plane. The Northern Airports Authority then issued an administrative fine against him a day later.

Despite being reminded several times, he still refused to pay the fine.

Vietnamese and foreign airlines have been asked not to serve him during the banned time.

Earlier last August, and September, two other male passengers were also prohibited from flights for nine months for failing to pay a smoking fine.

Under the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam, people caught smoking on a plane will be fined VND3-5 million. They have to pay the fine within ten days after the fine is imposed.

Nghe An pine forest destruction under investigation

Nghe An authorities are investigating the destruction of a local pine forest.

The forest was located in Quynh Trang Commune, Quynh Luu District. 

As many as 198 pine trees with a diameter of 10-40 cm have been cut down. The affected area is around 26 hectares.

The trees were brought out of the forest after being logged. Many stumps have also been burnt.

Le Ngoc Huu, head of Quynh Luu District’s forest management board, said that the forest had been sold to some local households to grow acacia.

According to Le Dang Thang, the forest was located in Quynh Trang Commune, but the households that bought it were living in Quynh Tay Commune. This is also a difficulty for forest management.

Prime Ministerial Directive 05/CT-TTg required ministries, sectors and localities to strengthen forest management and protection, and urgently take action against illegal deforestation and encroachment on forest land.

Science, technology, innovation promoted to support national development

Various measures will be rolled out from now to 2025 to fine tune science and technology organisations and perfect the legal foundation for state management of science, technology and innovation.

The aim is to boost development to support the country’s socio-economic growth, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat told the Vietnam News Agency.

The minister said that resources will be focused on stepping up science and technology research, transfer and application to serve socio-economic development and security-defense protection, to speed up digital transformation, green transition and circular economic development.

The sector will design solutions to mobilise resources from society, especially the science-technology development funds of enterprises for science research and innovation activities, he said, adding that synchronous measures will be applied to expand the science-technology market, and start-up and innovation ecosystems.

Dat underlined that the ministry will review and complete the legal system regarding science, technology and innovation, to better fit with the current requirements in the field.

It will also propose new mechanisms, policies and laws related to public investment and procurement and tax to encourage developments in science and technology, while promoting public-private cooperation in the field.

He said that the ministry will connect with stakeholders to promote research and innovation to increase productivity and efficiency of the economy, while building breakthrough mechanisms at key economic regions to support socio-economic development.

At the same time, it will make a plan for the science and technology system in Vietnam, linking science and technology organisations and businesses, said the official.

The minister said that the improvement of the country’s core technology capacity and the enhancement of productivity and quality is one of the top priorities of Decision 2667/QD-BKHCN approving the science, technology and innovation directions, targets and tasks until 2025.

In order to achieve this goal, the ministry will effectively implement national-level science and technology programmes in line with the sector’s restructuring plan in the 2021-2025 period with a vision to 2030, with businesses playing a core role in transforming science for commercial use, he said.

Meanwhile, the ministry will continue to develop the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park into a centre for high technology research and development, high-tech agriculture area and a concentrated information technology hub. This will serve to speed up administrative reform and improve the quality of the business environment to ensure healthy, equal and transparent competition for all businesses and protect the interest of consumers, said the minister.

Transport Ministry proposes extending auto test certificates by 15 days

Vehicle registration and testing certificates should be extended by 15 days to give auto owners more time due to huge backlogs at auto testing centers, the Ministry of Transport proposed in a letter sent to the Government on March 10.

During this 15-day period, vehicles should be banned from transporting passengers or goods.

The ministry also suggested allowing capable maintenance facilities of car importers and manufacturers to carry out auto inspections.

It proposed removing the limits for auto testing lines and allowing auto inspection centers that have been suspended from operation for three months to resume their services if they are qualified in terms of facilities and human resources.

The proposals came amid a lack of auto inspectors, leading to traffic bottlenecks around auto inspection centers and car owners waiting days to have their automobiles tested.

On March 9, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the ministry to work out policies that exempt brand-new cars from the first technical checks and guide eligible maintenance service centers of automakers to participate in providing inspection services.

This month, 44,350 cars will be due for inspection in HCMC and 68,690 in Hanoi. The southern city is expected to inspect nearly half of the amount, while the nation’s capital city may meet around 15% of the demand.

Dong Nai to build three bridges linking HCM City

The southern province of Dong Nai’s authorities have agreed to build three bridges linking HCM City.

The six-lane bridge linking Thu Duc City and Tam An Commune in Long Thanh will be invested in the 2026-2030 period.

The second bridge, to replace the current Cat Lai ferry, will be built by 2025.

The third that will link the south of HCM City and Nhon Trach District or Phu My 2 Bridge will be built between 2026 and 2030 with six lanes.

Dong Nai and HCM City are currently connected through national highways 1 and 1K and HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Highway. These routes are overloaded.

The Phuoc Khanh Bridge on Ben Luc-Long Thanh Highway and Nhon Trach Bridge on Belt Road 3 are still under construction.

Dien Bien Airport to close from April for upgrade

Dien Bien Airport in the northwestern province of Dien Bien will suspend operations from April 1 for an airport upgrade and expansion project.

An official from the Dien Bien Provincial People's Committee on March 6 told Dantri/Dtinews that the closure followed a proposal from the Vietnam Airports Corporation and the project included work to expand the taxiway and runway as well as the parking lot and passenger terminal.

According to the official, the project would cost VND1.467 trillion (USD62.38 million) and the investor has promised to complete it by October this year.

As planned, the new runway will extend 2.4 kilometres further be widened to 45 metres so that it could accommodate A320/A321 size aircraft.

The passenger terminal, once upgraded, could serve 500,000 passengers per year up from the current capacity of 300,000 per year.

Dien Bien, which is the only airport in the northwestern region, has one 1,830-metre runway that can handle maximum short-haul ATR72 aircraft.

Southern region dealing with largest saltwater intrusion in dry season

The Southern Institute of Water Resources Research has predicted that this March, saltwater intrusion will occur most on main estuaries in the Mekong Delta.

Vinh Long Province has reported certain places with a salinity level of 4.7‰. Opposite to previous years when farmers were not well-prepared for the intrusion of saltwater and hundreds of hectares of orchards were destroyed, this year, thanks to the CMS warning system installed at each hamlet as well as a closed dyke system, these fruit growers feel more at ease.

At present, many farmers in Thanh Binh Commune (Vung Liem District of Vinh Long Province) are urgently watering their fruit trees while storing freshwater in reservoirs for the harsher days of saltwater intrusion to come. Compared to the years before, most of them have built such useful reservoirs and are frequently updated with the latest salinity level by the Division of Agriculture and Rural Development (sited along the rivers of Co Chien and Mang Thit). In addition, the sluices are effectively operated accordingly. Therefore, 1,222ha of durian trees here have not experienced any negative impacts yet.

Similarly, in Hau Giang Province these days, agricultural officers are closely checking the salinity level on the main rivers flowing to both the West and East directions. When saltwater intrusion is detected, the sluices there will be closed, and temporary dams will be erected. 110 such dams are also planned throughout Vi Thuy District to timely stop saltwater from intruding.

The Southern Regional Hydro-meteorological Center reported that the water level along rivers and canals in Ho Chi Minh City is rather high due to the high tide at the beginning of the second lunar month in the year.

At the start of this week, the highest salinity level at most stations is even higher than this time last year. Particularly, the figures from February 21-28 at the stations of Ly Nhon (7km away from Soai Rap River estuary), and Cat Lai (54km away from Saigon River estuary) are 23.1 percent and 5.4 percent respectively.

It is forecast that from March 1-10, this figure will drop quickly at the beginning of the week but then back high at weekend. The salinity level of 4 percent can further penetrate the mainland at a distance of 62-65km from estuaries, raising the level of disaster risk due to saltwater intrusion on Saigon – Dong Nai River to level 3.

Six detained in bribe-taking case at Hanoi’s auto testing center

The director, deputy director and four technicians at the 29-07D vehicle registration and inspection center in Hanoi City’s outlying district of Dong Anh, were prosecuted and arrested for allegedly taking bribes.

The six comprise the auto testing center’s director Le Thanh Chung, deputy director Hoang Tuan Anh and four technicians, Dao Huy Chung, Le Van Ngoc, Do Van Huan, and Nguyen Van Hung, with Hung already quitting the job.

Between 2015 and 2022, Le Thanh Chung and Hoang Tuan Anh colluded with their subordinates to accept bribes from vehicle owners to overlook their vehicles’ technical issues, receiving around VND100,000-200,000 per vehicle. The kickbacks, worth hundreds of millions of dong now, were divided among the six, according to the local police.

At a local police station, the suspects gave inconsistent statements. The police are expanding a probe into the case, a representative of the Dong An District police said.

Dong Anh District has two auto testing centers. Besides the 29-07D center mentioned above, the 29-13D facility is being closed to serve an investigation.

The police in Hanoi recently unearthed many violations at local auto testing centers.

To date, up to 23 of the 31 auto testing centers in Hanoi were found to have allegedly violated vehicle registration and inspection regulations, while one shut down on its own. The police have also pressed charges against hundreds of individuals over bribery and falsification charges.

Decade-long general planning scheme for Cuu Long river basin approved

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has signed a decision to approve the general planning scheme of the Cuu Long (Mekong) river basin for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050.

The planning scheme aims to ensure water security in the river basin, and reserve, regulate and distribute water sources in a fair, sustainable, and efficient manner to serve socio-economic development, ensure defence-security, and environmental protection. It also includes the building of a roadmap to restore degraded, depleted, and polluted water sources; and construction a data system for the sector given the country’s digital transformation process.

As per the freshly approved document, by 2030, 100% of cross-border flow monitoring sites will be monitored virtually and automatically, while the entire inter-provincial water sources will have their waste water receiving and load capacity made public. In addition, all urban waste water will be treated meeting national standards, before being discharged into water sources and public drainage systems.

Following the pact, the exploitation and use of water in and the discharge of waste water into the Mekong river basin are expected to be controlled via the connection and transmission of information and data on a monitoring system of the activities according to regulations.

Meanwhile, facilities will be upgrade and constructed to reserve, exploit, use, and develop water sources, with 28 sub-regions lacking fresh water prioritised.

Hanoi finds optimal solutions to sort solid waste at source

Hanoi has been looking for optimal solutions for waste treatment, an environmental expert said, suggesting that new modern waste treatment facilities and waste sorting at source are key to improving the city's waste treatment capacity.

According to Nguyen Huy Nga, former director of the Department of Environmental Management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Hanoi has promoted solid waste management while raising public awareness of environmental protection, helping Vietnam as a whole reach the target of processing 96% of urban household waste by 2023.

However, the treatment of domestic solid waste is not only a challenge, but also a vital issue for the capital's sustainable development now and in the future. Therefore, Hanoi has been looking for optimal solutions to sort solid waste at source, Nga said.

He stressed that the key point is to sort waste at the source, as required by the Law on Environmental Protection 2020. This will help reduce overloading of landfills.

First, the city should identify the most important solid waste treatment technologies in the coming years so that appropriate measures can be taken. For example, whether to sort food waste for composting or burial or what kind of solid waste to burn to generate electricity.

He noted that the most important for sorting solid waste at source is to raise people’s awareness. One of the main reasons for the failure of previous projects to sort waste at source is that people are not aware of their important contribution to the city's environmental protection and they have not adopted waste sorting habits.

The municipal authorities should keep regular communication to raise people's awareness and schools in the city should teach students how to sort waste at source so that they can apply it at home, Nga suggested.

Another crucial aspect is for Hanoi to develop a specific policy on environmental fees and penalties, and at the same time, a very specific policy to create a competitive environment for businesses to participate in waste collection, treatment and recycling.

Moreover, the application of sanctions is also an effective solution to enforce waste classification regulations at source in the near future. According to Nga, burying garbage must be stopped to prevent pollution.

Statistics from the Hanoi Urban Environment Company (Urenco) show that the city generates about 7,000 tons of solid waste every day, of which 51.9% (more than 3,600 tons) is food waste and only 7.1% (about 500 tons) is recyclable solid waste. At present, domestic solid waste is mainly collected and taken to landfill, accounting for 98%, only 2% of domestic solid waste is treated by incineration method.

Urenco is working on a waste segregation plan for power generation that will separate waste into many categories, such as: recyclable, organic, combustible and noncombustible.

Garbage will be divided into two categories: recyclable and non-recyclable. The main goal is to reduce the amount of waste in Hanoi's landfills. The city's two large landfills are now overloaded. In the long run, landfills will no longer be a suitable solution for waste disposal.

The Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex receives an average of 4,000 tons of waste per day, while the Xuan Son Complex receives the rest in the form of combined incineration and burial.

According to Hanoi's Solid Waste Management Plan to 2030 with a Vision to 2050, there will be 17 waste treatment zones with a capacity of up to 1,200 tons per day.

The Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment is also developing a solid waste management plan that focuses on treating waste and plastic waste for recycling, promoting the development of circular economy models, sorting waste at source, collecting, reusing, recycling and treating.

Kon Tum releases large number of wild animals to nature

The Forest Protection Sub-department in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum has said that since 2018, its units have received 326 wild animals, of which nearly 300 individuals have been released to nature and handed over to national parks, and the rests are being cared for by these units.

Specifically, among these animals, which are mainly turtles, lizards, pangolins, monkeys, langurs, nearly 50 individuals were voluntarily handed over by local people, while the remainders were seized in illegal wildlife smuggling cases.

Most recently, in late February, the Forest Protection Unit of Kon Tum city received a pig-tailed macaque belonging to IIB group (endangered and rare animals) voluntarily handed over by a local man after being persuaded by forest rangers.

In the same month, police in Lam Dong province, also in the Central Highlands region, arrested Dang Thi Viet Hoai for illegally trading and possessing a large quantity of wild animals.

Searching Hoai’s house, the police discovered that 70 wild animals, including 26 civets and 37 bamboo rats, were kept in captivity. In addition, in her cold stores, Hoai also stocked squirrel, boar and jungle fowl meat and three dead weasels.

Fisherman with stroke brought from Song Tu Tay island to mainland for treatment

A helicopter operated by the Army Corps 18 under the Ministry of National Defence has operated an emergency flight to bring a fisherman suffering a stroke from Song Tu Tay island in the central province of Khanh Hoa’s Truong Sa district to Ho Chi Minh City for treatment.

While working on a local ship at sea on March 5, the patient, born in 1953, felt dizzy, then fell on the deck and was unable to speak and paralysed on the right side of the body.

Later on the day, he was brought to the island for emergency care.

Initially diagnosed with complete paralysis of the right side of his body and suspected of having a stroke for 17 hours, the man was recommended to be transported to shore for further treatment at the Military Hospital 175 in HCM City.

Quan The Am festival returns to Da Nang City

The Quan The Am (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) festival returned to the central coastal city of Da Nang on March 8 after a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

The three-day event taking place at Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountains) landscape marks the 48th anniversary of the liberation of Da Nang.

The festival is one of the traditional events associated with the religious life of Buddhist dignitaries and followers, and local residents featuring a combination of Buddhist values, the people and Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountains) scenic spot.

The festival is usually held from the 17th to the 19th days of the second lunar month, attracting a large number of Buddhist dignitaries and followers, and domestic and foreign tourists.

This year’s event includes a wide range of rituals, cultural and sports activities, such as the ceremony of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, an incense offering ceremony to worship Huyen Tran Princess, a ritual to pray for national prosperity and people's peace, hot-air balloon performance, Non Nuoc stone carving competition, folk games and folklore singing performances.

There is also a seminar on the value of "Ma nhai” Steles on Ngu Hanh Son Mountain which is recognized as part of documentary heritage under the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP).

On this occasion, the Organization of Vietnam Records (VietKings) handed over record certificates for the largest 24K gold-plated real bodhi leaf and 16 colored carving porcelain paintings on the wall in Quan The Am Pagoda.

The Quan The Am (Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva) Festival was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021.

The Ngu Hanh Son (Marble Mountains) landscape site was recognized as a National Special Relic in 2018.

Ngu Hanh Son is a group of five mountains representing the five basic elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, including Kim Son (Metal Mountain), Thuy Son (Water Mountain), Moc Son (Wood Mountain), Hoa Son (Fire Mountain) and Tho Son (Earth Mountain). The site located in Hoa Hai Ward, Ngu Hanh Son is about 7 kilometers from Da nang city to the Southeast. The complex which is one of the most visited sites in Da Nang, attracting a large number of visitors, saw glorious victories during struggles for the country’s protection.

The 400-year-old Non Nuoc stone sculpture village at the foot of Marble Mountains was also recognized as a national intangible heritage in 2014.

Asia-Pacific’s biggest stamp conference takes place in Hanoi

The Vietnam Philatelic Association under the Vietnam Post Corporation hosted a conference of the executive committee of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP) in Hanoi from March 10 to 12.

This is the second time Vietnam hosted such an event.

On this occasion, the FIAP Executive Board will organise training programmes to improve the level and skills of forming and upgrading stamp collections to make them qualified to take part in international stamp exhibitions.

Leading stamp collectors in the region will provide Vietnamese collectors with new knowledge on stamp display and collection.

According to Chu Thi Lan Huong, President of the Vietnam Philatelic Association, and Deputy General Director of Vietnam Post Corporation, 28 years ago, the association first hosted the FIAP Executive Committee Meeting in Ho Chi Minh City.

She said that with FIAP’s support, Vietnam’s stamp collecting activities have been growing strongly. Now, there are 33 stamp collection associations across the country with thousands of members including children and students.

FIAP is a non-profit and non-political federation of philatelic societies in Asia and Australasia, founded in Singapore on September 14, 1974. Currently, the federation has 31 members which are stamp associations of the Asian region, Australia, and South Africa. Vietnam has been an official member of FIAP since 1993.

HCMC seeks ways to effective exploit ChatGPT

HCMC Information and Technology Department, Vietnam National University-HCMC, Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union-HCMC yesterday co-held the discussion ‘Implementing ChatGPT in State Management to Serve Citizens, Businesses: Chances - Challenges’.

Director Lam Dinh Thang of the HCMC Department of Information and Technology declared that his Department is welcoming proposals, opinions from IT experts, scientists, businesses, and the public regarding the implementation of AI-based applications, especially ChatGPT in order to boost work performance and reduce time for procedures to serve the community.

Director Dinh Dien of the Computational Linguistics Center (HCMC University of Science – VNU-HCMC) voiced the difficulties in information management when using ChatGPT. However, he added that it is cost- and labor-efficient to exploit this tool to answer common questions provided that the human resources can master and control it.

Statistics from HCMC Information and Technology Department on 1,000 businesses revealed on February 25 that 48 percent of them have already used ChatGPT in their daily operation. Haft of them said that this application is gradually replacing certain positions in their companies, saving hundreds of thousands of USD.

Participants in the discussion agreed that with reliable input data, ChatGPT is truly useful. The most prominent concern now is how to better control these input sources to eliminate wrong information, data loss, cyber frauds while maintaining information privacy.

Dr. Vo Van Khang, Vice Chairman of the Southern Information Security Association, presented a solution to get rid of information leaks, saying that it is necessary to first screen the input to erase wrong one, mostly by requesting information sources for assessment. Then in the long term, an ecosystem for ChatGPT should be developed for it to truly become an aid to humans, who are the ones making the final decision.

Accepting this suggestion, HCMC Information and Technology Department proposed that IT businesses and scientists, educational institutes research corresponding software pieces that can exploit ChatGPT for state management tasks to serve both citizens and businesses.

In particular, there should be apps for online public services to answer questions about the progress of administrative procedures; for the Hotline 1022 to receive feedbacks, reports, and proposals from the public and enterprises; for the municipal leaders to timely update their working schedules, to summarize essential materials; for schools in HCMC to establish a so-call study assistant at all levels.

Deputy Director of the HCMC Department of Information and Technology Le Thanh Minh confirmed that his Department is going to deliver financial aids under the form of scientific project to state units and businesses that plan to develop such useful software.

Vice Chairman of HCMC People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc stressed that the city pays much attention to advanced technologies to apply in real life. It cannot be denied that ChatGPT possesses certain strengths, so his Committee has assigned HCMC Information and Technology Department to research more on the tool as well as other AI-based applications to serve city dwellers by increasing the work performance of state agencies here.

“HCMC will lose a valuable change for development if we are too slow to exploit cutting edge technologies, including AI-based products like ChatGPT. Nevertheless, we should be wise to selectively use them while avoiding any negative responses or blind following”, said Vice Chairman Duc.

More needs to be done to meet mandate of disclosing information online: study

Despite an improvement in the online disclosure of district-level land use plans and provincial-level land pricing frameworks, the difference between the reviews in 2021 and 2022 was not significant, according to recent research findings.

The findings were shared at a thematic discussion jointly organised by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Vietnam and the Centre for Education Promotion and  Empowerment of Women (CEPEW) in Hanoi on March 9.

Accordingly, there was an increase in the number of district-level land use plans and provincial-level land pricing frameworks available online on local government portals in 2022 compared to 2021. At the same time, local authorities have become more responsive to citizen requests for land information.

However, despite these changes, the difference between the two reviews was not significant, indicating that more needs to be done by provincial and district authorities to meet the mandate of disclosing information online.

Regarding the disclosure of the provincial land pricing frameworks, as of October 6 last year 41 out of the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities (65%) publicly posted the land pricing frameworks on their websites, an increase of 22.2% compared to the review findings in 2021. However, information in some of these portals is stored in the form of compressed documents and archived non-systematically, leading to difficulties for users who want to search for land pricing frameworks.

Regarding the disclosure of district-level land use plans, as of October 6 last year, 389 out of the 705 the district-level People's Committees (DPCs) (55.2%) disclosed this information last year on their portals. Among these 389 districts, 19 DPCs (4.9%) that publicised the district-level land use plans in 2022 issued the land use plans on time. Compared that with the review findings in 2021, the number of DPCs that publicised land use plans on their portals/websites increased slightly, about 7%.

In terms of the disclosure of district-level land use master plan information - a new content assessed in 2022, by October 6 last year, 345 out of the 705 district-level localities nationwide (nearly 49%) publicised this information for the period of 2021-2030. Specifically, among these 345 DPCs, 105 were recorded to have disclosed such information on time; 116 did not disclose on time; and 124 were unidentifiable in terms of the disclosure time.

With regard to completeness, 171 out of the 345 DPCs (49.6%) fully disclosed three documents: approval decision, explanatory report and map of land use master plan.

According to the review findings, only 53 DPCs (0.75%) met all the five criteria: information disclosure, searchability, timeliness, completeness, and usability.

This study is part of an annual series of action research on land information disclosure in Vietnam by local authorities from 2021 to now. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Embassy of Ireland, and the UNDP jointly funded this study through the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) Research Programme of UNDP.

The level of land information disclosure of the provincial and district authorities is evaluated based on five criteria: information disclosure; searchability; timeliness of information; completeness of information (for district-level land use master plan and annual district-level land use plans); and information usability (easy to read, understand and readable with common softwares).

Hanoi elects new vice chairwoman

The Hanoi People's Council has elected Vu Thu Ha, 51, vice chairwoman of the Hanoi People's Committee for the 2021-2026 term.

A native of Hanoi, Ha holds an MBA and a BA in law and mathematics education.

She began her career as a teacher at Ai Mo High School in Gia Lam District, and later held various positions in Long Bien District before being promoted to director of the city's Department of Internal Affairs in 2019.

As the new vice chairwoman of the Hanoi People's Committee for the 2021-2026 term, Ha will oversee the city's socio-cultural aspects, including science and technology, labor, vocational training, employment, social affairs, culture, physical training, sports, health, and family and child welfare.

Following Ha's election, the Hanoi People's Committee is composed of Chairman Tran Sy Thanh and six deputy chairpersons, of whom Vu Thu Ha is the only woman. The other five are Le Hong Son, Nguyen Trong Dong, Duong Duc Tuan, Ha Minh Hai and Nguyen Manh Quyen.

During the March 10 session, the City Council adopted several resolutions, including the Plan for the Efficient Management, Utilization and Exploitation of Public Assets, adjustments to the Public Investment Plan, and modifications and additions to the list of projects for land requisition and its change of use from rice cultivation in 2023.

Vietnamese surgeons perform dual heart and kidney transplantation

Hanoi-based Viet Duc Hospital informed that for the first time, hospital surgeons successfully performed a dual heart and kidney transplant at the same time on a male patient.

The organ donor is a 29-year-old woman in Hanoi. Her father revealed that her 17-year-old brother suffered from congenital dilated cardiomyopathy and lung failure, so since the age of 14, he has come to Viet Duc Hospital for treatment. According to doctors’ diagnosis, the boy required a simultaneous heart and lung transplantation. The family registered to receive donor organs at Viet Duc Hospital, but the boy couldn't wait for a suitable donor, so he died 2 months ago from pneumonia.

While the bereaved family is still painful about the death of the boy, they were informed about the traffic accident of their daughter on February 9. Doctors diagnosed the girl to have a severe traumatic brain injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage. Knowing that their daughter can’t survive, the parents agreed to donate their daughter's organs to save the lives of other patients who were languishing and anxiously waiting for the source of donor organs.

This simultaneous heart-kidney transplant was performed on February 15 and lasted 10 hours. After the transplant, the functions of the heart and kidneys of the recipient have recovered to almost normal, the patient can sit up, eat, walk and communicate, without the need for special support facilities.

In a few days, the male recipient will be discharged from the hospital to reunite with his family with the heart of a Hanoi girl.

Associate Professor Nguyen Quang Nghia, Director of the Viet Duc Hospital’s Organ Transplant Center expected that more and more people are willing to donate organs if they unfortunately die to help those waiting for an organ transplant have a better chance of living.

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