Four rare civet species have been found in Xuan Lien Natural Reserve in the north-central province of Thanh Hoa thanks to photo traps.

Director of the Xuan Lien Natural Reserve Management Board Pham Anh Tuan said that a project on the investigation and preservation of species of the civet family (Viverridae) in the natural reserve has been implemented from 2021.

Under the project, photo traps have been installed eight times, which helped discover four rare civet species - Cay Van bac (Chorotogale owstoni), Cay Voi moc (Paguma larvata), Cay Voi huong (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), and Cay Moc cua (Crab eating mongoose).

The project is expected to raise awareness among the residents and local authorities in the conservation of endangered rare mammals, creating ecological balance, thereby contributing to the conservation of endangered species in Xuan Lien Nature Reserve in particular and Vietnam in general.

According to the management board, the civet family (Viverridae) is a typical group of mammals in the tropical forest ecosystem. They nest in caves and tree holes, and eat small animals, rodents, birds, frogs, and insects. In the world, the civet family has 33 species in 23 genera, belonging to four subfamilies and nearly 350 different subspecies.

Russian version of Vietnam’s famous chronicle launched

An eight-volume Russian version of “Dai Viet su ky toan thu” (Complete Book of the Historical Records of Dai Viet), a famous chronicle of Vietnam, has been translated from the Han (Chinese) language and debuted.

The Institute of China and Contemporary Asia under the Russian Academy of Sciences held an event on March 15 to introduce the Russian version, a work by a team of five scholars.

In his remarks, Kirill Vladimirovich Babaev, acting Director of the institute, said this scientific work is significant to not only the study of Vietnam in Russia but also the development of the two countries’ relations.

The work is the most important of its kind to the Oriental studies in Russia in recent decades, he noted.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, senior researcher Andrey Lvovich Fedorin, head of the translation team, said the first ideas and steps of this project was made in the 1990s, and it took 30 years to complete the work.

The translation of such an important history book was a highly difficult task, but his team applied themselves to the work with their passion for the Vietnamese history and the wish to bring the knowledge closer to readers in Russia, he added.

Assoc. Prof. Elena Yakovleva Aleksandrovna from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations said the eight volumes will serve as textbooks at universities of Russia, and that many issues mentioned in the chronicle are still relevant today.

“Dai Viet su ky toan thu” was first compiled by historian Ngo Si Lien as ordered by King Le Thanh Tong in the 15th century. It was later amended and supplemented by other scholars.

Innovation platforms boosting sustainable development announced

The Institute for Innovation and Development (IID) on March 15 held a “Drive Innovation for Impact” event to announce three digital innovation platforms boosting sustainable development.

They are iMapVietnam at http://imapvietnam.org, impactUP at https://impactup.site, and V.innovate at http://vinnovate.vn.

Specifically, iMapVietnam is a business authentication and impact measurement platform for businesses doing business for sustainable development in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, impactUP is a platform for training, incubating, and accelerating social entrepreneurship in and among Vietnamese people; and V. innovate is an assessment platform for the innovation-startup ecosystem and social impact for universities and localities.

IID is a not-for-profit science and technology organisation under the Asia-Pacific Economic Centre (VAPEC). It is positioned as a leading research institute in the field of innovation for sustainable development, with three pillars of activity: creativity and knowledge sharing; capacity building; and resource connection.

Prof., Dr. Vo Dai Luoc from VAPEC welcomed the platforms announced this time, and stressed the importance of innovation in the current situation.

He also emphasised the need to consider learning from the experience of countries around the world to shorten the application process in practice in Vietnam.

Gathering held for Vietnamese women in Netherlands

The Overseas Vietnamese Association in the Netherlands recently held a gathering for Vietnamese women living in the country to celebrate the International Women’s Day (March 8).

Participants had a chance to enjoy Vietnam’s traditional dishes, and watch an ‘ao dai’ (traditional Vietnamese gown) show, a dance performance with the country's typical conical hats, and a short play.

Children from 16 provinces and cities of the Netherlands also brought to the event their paintings featuring the beauty of the Vietnamese land.

Speaking at the event, Ambassador Pham Viet Anh encouraged Vietnamese in the European country to always support activities held by organisations and associations to preserve Vietnamese cultural identities.

Agreement on use of foreign photographer’s works on Son My massacre

A press conference was held in the central province of Quang Ngai on March 15 to announce the content of the agreement on the right to use a foreign photographer's works on the Son My massacre.

The massacre happened on March 16, 1968, taking the lives of 504 civilians, including many children and women. Ronald L. Haeberle's images of the incident were published on the US’s Life magazine in 1969.

On March 8, the provincial People's Committee signed an agreement with the photographer on the license to use and display photos of Son My massacre at the Son My memorial site with the caption "Photos taken by Ronald L. Haeberle".

On March 7, the US photographer and international friends returned to Son My, an area in Tinh Khe commune of Quang Ngai city, where he took 60 pictures of the mass killing by US troops 55 years ago.

On March 16, 1968, US troops stormed Son My village with the aim of killing all and destroying all. Within just four hours, 504 civilians there, including 17 children and 182 women, were slaughtered. The incident went down in history as a piercing pain of people in Son My and Vietnam as a whole.

SEA Games 32: Cambodia announces 37 sports for competition

Regional athletes are set to compete in 37 sports at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 32) in Cambodia this May.

Vath Chamroeun, Secretary-General of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia, said among the 37 sports, Cambodia has decided to include three traditional ones – Ouk Chaktrang (chess), and the two martial arts Bokator and Kun Khmer.

He noted that the three will be a golden opportunity for Cambodian to show these traditional sports to foreign audiences and will be expected to snatch more medals, reported the local newspaper Khmer Times.

According to Ou Dara, Deputy Secretary-General of Cambodia Kun Bokator Federation, at least five countries have registered to join Bokator events at the games – they are Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Before the 32nd SEA Games in May, Cambodia plans to organise two events – the International Bokator Referee Training Course from March 24 to 28 and Cambodia Kun Bokator National Championship which runs from March 29 to April 3.

Cambodia will host the 32nd SEA Games from May 5 to 17, 2023 and 12th ASEAN Para Games from June 3 to 9, 2023.

Both games are combined and called “Cambodia 2023” to reflect unity, diversity, and equality. The slogan of Cambodia 2023 is “Sport: Live in Peace”.

More than 2,500 renal patients benefit from Singapore-Vietnam haemodialysis project

Since 2018, the Haemodialysis Care Project between Vietnamese and Singaporean partners has worked to improve the overall quality of care for more than 2,500 renal patients in the northern region.

The five-year project was a collaboration between Hanoi Medical University (HMU), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and Singapore International Foundation (SIF).

During the project, a team of Singapore International Volunteers (SIV), comprising doctors, and nurse specialists from the TTSH’s Department of Renal Medicine, worked with their counterparts from HMU, as well as Bach Mai and Viet Duc hospitals and other dialysis centres in Hanoi.

The SIVs trained close to 260 Vietnamese practitioners. Among them, 12 were then picked to become master trainers, who were taught advanced skill sets with which they trained other healthcare workers.

In addition to enhancing the training of Vietnamese caregivers on safe practices, the project also taught them about the current standards of renal care through a series of interactive components for knowledge exchanges.

Activities included workshops on clinical training, discussions on leadership engagement, developing haemodialysis guidelines, a study visit to Singapore and a symposium among healthcare professionals. 

Ministry proposes adding further taxpayers to compulsory social insurance

The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has proposed to add a group to the list of people paying compulsory social insurance.

The group includes individual business households, business managers, unpaid managers of cooperatives and part-time employees.

According to the ministry, the Law on Social Insurance still misses this group of people who have the need and ability to participate in compulsory social insurance.

The ministry is collecting experts' opinions on the draft amended Law on Social Insurance to expand coverage.

There are now more than 5.1 million business households across the country, six times larger than the total number of enterprises.

Of which, there are more than 1.7 million households declaring and paying taxes, according to the tax authority.

However, a small number in this group participates in voluntary social insurance.

Regarding cooperatives, data from the Ministry of Planning and Investment shows that, in 2022, the country had about 29,000 cooperatives, with nearly six million members. They are employing about 970,000 workers. However, up to now, only 7,000 cooperatives have registered to participate in compulsory social insurance for about 40,000 employees.

Survey results in some localities showed that many business managers and unpaid managers of cooperatives have the desire to participate in compulsory social insurance, MOLISA said.

With these additional subjects, there will be an additional 5.1 million people participating in compulsory social insurance.

For compulsory social insurance policy, each unpaid business or cooperative manager must pay 25% of the salary rate based on whatever they choose to contribute to as the monthly insurance premium.

For part-time employees participating in compulsory social insurance, the employees and employers will contribute 25% to social insurance together. The employers have to contribute 17% to the sickness, maternity, workplace accident, retirement fund, and survivorship allowance. The employees will contribute 8%.

This will result in additional fees for both the employee and the employer. However, in return, employees and employers both receive benefits from contributing to the social insurance fund, MOLISA said.

As of 2022, 17.49 million people across the country had joined social insurance, accounting for 33.89% of the labour force. In which, the number of people participating in compulsory social insurance is 16.03 million.

President Vo Van Thuong receives more congratulations from foreign leaders

Leaders of more countries and the Secretary-General of the United Nations have offered congratulations to President Vo Van Thuong on his recent election as the State leader of Vietnam by the 15th National Assembly.

In his congratulatory letter, King of Malaysia Al-Sultan Abdullah expressed his belief that under President Thuong’s leadership, Vietnam will continue recording fast development and stronger economic growth. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relationship, he also highlighted his hope for close cooperation with Thuong to further enhance their countries’ strategic partnership.

For his part, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier emphasised the traditional friendship between Germany and Vietnam and affirmed that his country will join the Southeast Asian nation in expanding ties in trade, investment and labour, as well as cooperation in international issues of common concern like climate change.

Offering congratulations, US President Joe Biden reiterated his country’s commitment to supporting an independent and prosperous Vietnam while voicing his wish to work with President Thuong to promote the two countries’ cooperation and friendship on basis of common interests. He also noted with satisfaction the numerous achievements obtained recently such as in increasing people-to-people exchange, controlling COVID-19, and fighting climate change, which he said have contributed to common security and prosperity in the region.

Meanwhile, Governor General of Canada Mary Simon held that the two countries’ relations have been growing strongly within the framework of their comprehensive partnership and on the basis of common interests and mutual respect. She said that she hopes bilateral ties will harvest more achievements and continue flourishing for the sake of the two peoples, especially amid the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship in 2023.

On this occasion, President Thuong also received congratulations from President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, President of Poland Andrzej Duda, Queen of Denmark Margrethe II, President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Finland Sauli Niinisto, President of the Seychelles Wavel Ramkalawan, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Vietnam attends 12th ASEAN-Japan deputy defence ministers’ meeting

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen Hoang Xuan Chien delivered a keynote speech at the 12th ASEAN-Japan deputy defence ministers’ meeting in Tokyo on March 15.

Speaking at the event, Chien affirmed that the region is facing a series of traditional and non-traditional security challenges, notably maritime security, terrorism, cyber security, climate change, natural disasters and epidemics.

He said these challenges are transnational in nature and no country can effectively solve them on their own, which requires substantial cooperation among countries.

Chien hailed Japan's support for ASEAN's central role and its active participation in ASEAN-led mechanisms, particularly the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM ) and Japan's "Vientiane Vision 2.0".

About maritime security, he emphasised the importance of strengthening collective efforts to ensure the maintenance of international law and principles in international relations, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) as well as joint efforts to prevent and manage conflicts in order to maintain common peace and stability in the region.

On the sidelines of the event, Chien held a bilateral meeting with Gen. Neang Phat, Secretary of State at Cambodia's Defence Ministry, during which they expressed their satisfaction with the recent developments of bilateral defence cooperation, especially in realising the "Vietnam-Cambodia, Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Year 2022" plan in areas such as exchange of delegations, cooperation between military regions and border guard forces, personnel training, among others.

They also agreed to working closely together on the cooperation plan for 2023.

NA Standing Committee mulls over draft revised Law on Water Resources

The National Assembly Standing Committee offered opinions on the draft revised Law on Water Resources during their 21st meeting in Hanoi on March 15.

The bill comprises 88 articles and 10 chapters.

Head of the NA's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Le Quang Huy said full-time deputies of the committee agreed on the need to issue the revised Law on Water Resources to institutionalise the Resolution on the protection of environment, natural resources, climate change adaptation, disaster prevention and mitigation adopted by the 13th National Party Congress.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue proposed adding the important function of water resources in disaster prevention and mitigation, such as flood drainage, storage, regulation, flooding prevention, protection corridors, and supplementing the concept of flood drainage corridors.

He also suggested reviewing regulations on the calculation of water resources taxes in line with regulations on taxes and prices.

NA Standing Committee scrutinises draft revised Law on Bidding

The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee discussed some contentious issues on the revised draft Law on Bidding on March 15 as part of its ongoing 21st session in Hanoi.

Reporting on the debate of some of the major contents of the draft, Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs Nguyen Phu Cuong said that in late 2022, the 15th NA looked into the draft at its fourth session. Once the session concluded, the Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs coordinated with relevant ministries and agencies to consider legislator opinions and amend the bill.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said the draft law is important as it is related to the use of state capital and assets, administrative procedures and processes, the transparency of the investment and business climate, and the prevention of corruption and negative phenomena.

He said that the law should also be applied to businesses where the proportion of state capital to charter capital is less than 50% or zero as they use state capital for investment.

Provided that state capital is used, bidding is compulsory, he emphasised.

Regarding COVID-19 vaccine procurement, Hue said this is an unprecedented issue, so regulations on such special cases should be included in the draft so that the Government or the Prime Minister won’t have to issue specific resolutions in the future.

The top legislator also requested further consideration of some issues in the field of health care such as negotiations on the price of medicine or bidding on special drugs and chemicals to ensure smooth operation.

Concluding the discussion, NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai asked the Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs to continue working with relevant agencies to collect and consider more opinions from legislators and related bodies to ensure the quality of the draft law to be submitted to the parliament.

Contest on protecting Party's ideological foundation 2023 launched

The 2023 contest on protecting the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’s ideological foundation was launched among the members of the Party Organisation of the Central Agencies’ Bloc on March 15.

This is the third edition of the contest, which is jointly organised by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Communist Review, the Nhan dan (People) Newspaper, the Vietnam News Agency, the Vietnam Television, and the radio Voice of Vietnam.

The contest aims to continue affirming the significance of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation, refuting wrongful and hostile views in the new situation, while enhancing the awareness and responsibility of Party Committees, organisations, members as well as officials and people in the work.

Secretary of the Party Committee of the bloc Nguyen Van The said this is the second years the contest has been launched among members of the Party Organisation of the Central Agencies’ Bloc.

Last year, the contest received 1,108 entries. The organisation board honoured 32 works in magazine and newspaper categories, while presenting certificates of merit to 15 Party Organisations with outstanding performance in joining the contest.

This year, the contest will have three categories – magazine (print or e-magazine), newspaper (print or e-paper), and radio/television/video clips.

Each author and group of authors can submit up to two works in the magazine and newspaper categories and up to three works in the radio/television/video clips category, with contents focusing on major issues in the protection of the ideological foundation of the Party and the refutal of wrongful and hostile views of points; values of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thoughts; Vietnam's current development model; the Party's theories on Party building and rectification and fighting against corruption and other negative phenomena; and the core and new contents of the document of the 13th National Party Congress and the Resolutions of the 13th Central Committee’s sessions.

Entries can be submitted to the organisation board until June 30, 2023, in Vietnamese or foreign languages.

The awarding ceremony is slated for mid-September. Each category will have one first, two second, three third and 10 consolidation prizes. Collective awards will also be presented to 15 outstanding Party Organisations under the Party Organisation of the Central Agencies’ Bloc.

Mong Cai int’l border gate welcomes first foreign tourist group post COVID-19

The pair of Mong Cai (Vietnam) – Dongxing (China) International Border Gates officially resumed customs clearance procedures for international tourist on March 15.

The first foreign tourists entering Vietnam through the border gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh on the day were a group of 38 Chinese tourists. They are scheduled to visit several places in Vietnam during their four-day tour such as Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh) and the capital city of Hanoi.

The Mong Cai - Dongxing International Border Gates were officially re-opened on January 8 but only Vietnamese and Chinese citizens were allowed to go through to return home after a period of being stuck due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On February 21, import-export activities were fully resumed, and individual travellers were allowed to go through the border gates.  

It is expected that about 3,000 people will go through the border gate on March 15, the day China re-opened group tours to Vietnam.

Both the authorities and tourism agencies in Quang Ninh have got infrastructure and staff readied to receive foreign tourists. 

Vietnam is on the list of countries to which Chinese group tours can be conducted starting from March 15 in the second phase of China’s pilot programme on resuming outbound group tours.

Vietnam Airlines Festa to offer great promotions with int’l routes

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines in conjunction with the People’s Committee of Hanoi will organise the “Vietnam Airlines Festa”  event from March 18 – 19, during which many air ticket and tourism promotion programmes will be offered.

Themed “International Day”, the event will offer a good chance for visitors to enjoy culture and cuisine activities of many countries.

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of operating the air route between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (1993 – 2023), Vietnam Airlines will offer promotional round-trip tickets for air routes between the two nations from March 18 – September 30, 2023 with preferential prices of only 30 USD.

It will also give 50% discounts to passengers for the routes linking Vietnam and countries that Vietnam celebrates the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties with, in 2023, including France, Australia, Japan, the UK, Malaysia and Singapore.

Initiated in 2018 by Vietnam Airlines and the municipal People’s Committee, Vietnam Airlines Festa is an activity to introduce tourism and air products and services to domestic and international visitors.

Visitors to the Vietnam Airline Festa this month will also have a chance to join exchange programmes and lucky draws to win free air tickets and many attractive gifts.

Futsal championship applies new format, rules to improve quality

The National HDBank Futsal Championship 2023's new format and rule changes are expected to make a better and stronger tournament when the competition kicks off this weekend.

The Việt Nam Football Federation on March 14 announced the schedule of the event which features eight teams, four from HCM City, two from Hà Nội and one each from Khánh Hòa Province and Đà Nẵng City.

They will compete in a two-leg round robin format in home and away grounds, which is applied for the first time in futsal. Previously, participants played in one place only.

The tournament regulates that each club is allowed to register one foreign player and one player of Vietnamese origin.

Tú said bringing futsal to four big cities and provinces will introduce indoor football to a wider community, push the development of the sport and also create entertaining activities for tourists to the competition destinations.

The first leg will be from March 19 to April 18 and the return from June 28 to August 4 with a total of 56 matches.

The opening match will be a Hà Nội derby between veterans Thái Sơn Bắc and new faces Hà Nội at the Athletics Palace.

Sanvinest Khánh Hòa will host GFDI Sông Hàn at the Nha Trang National College of Pedagogy's gymnasium.

A day later, reigning champion Sahako will entertain Cao Bằng while Tân Hiệp Hưng will face multi-time winner Thái Sơn Nam at the District 8 Futsal Club.

The winner will enjoy a prize of VNĐ500 million (US$21,300), while the first and second runners-up will have VNĐ200 million and VNĐ100 million, respectively.

As a co-organiser, the Voice of Việt Nam (VOV) will take charge of popularising the tournament on its channels.

This season's matches will be broadcast on radio and television channels such as VOV1, VOV2, VOV Traffic, VOVTV, VTC1, VTC3 and other channels of VTC Digital Television. Other channels include VOV Live, VTC Now, VOV.vn, VTCnews and Voice of Việt Nam online newspaper.

Taekwondo team wins most golds at regional championship

The Vietnamese national taekwondo team came home on May 14 as the top performer at the 16th ASEAN Taekwondo Championship in the Philippines.

After three days of competition, Việt Nam grabbed 27 gold medals in both kyorugi (combat) and poomsae (performance) events.

In the senior kyorugi, the team secured 10 golds, four silvers and six bronzes. Among the winners were Olympian Trương Thị Kim Tuyền, two-time SEA Games winner Bạc Thị Khiêm and SEA Games silver medalist Lý Hồng Phúc.

The senior poomsae athletes took home three golds by Nguyễn Hồ Cẩm Giang and Ngô Văn Thông in the mixed pair freestyle, Nguyễn Phan Khánh Hân in the individual female freestyle and Nguyễn Thị Kim Hà in the individual female recognised poomsae events.

The other medals were won by junior martial artists.

The Philippines came second with 21 golds while Indonesia was third with five golds.

About 380 athletes, officials and international referees from the eight country-member association participated in the event from March 10-12 at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay Hotel in Manila. 

Boxers target high results at world championships

A nine-strong contingent from Việt Nam is expected to have a strong showing at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi, India on March 15-26.

They will be against more than 350 rivals, a record number, from more than 70 countries at this biennial event which offers participants a lucrative prize fund of US$2.4 million. The winning boxers will walk away with $100,000.

Among the Vietnamese athletes, Nguyễn Thị Tâm (50kg), Võ Thị Kim Ánh (54kg) and Nguyễn Thị Hương (81kg) have the most potential.

Young athlete Ánh was considered a secret weapon after she secured a gold at the 2022 Thailand Open in the flyweight category. 

Tâm was denied a bronze medal at the 2019 edition after losing by a decision in the quarter-final match. Tâm was previously announced the winner in a match against Liliya Aetbaeva of the host Russia and would have advanced to the semi-final and be assured third place. But after a complaint by the Russian team, she became the loser and disqualified, losing her historical medal for Việt Nam boxing at the world event.

In the last four years since her 'accident', Tâm has had outstanding performances to earn her a berth at the Tokyo Olympics. At international competitions, she snatched two golds in the 30th and 31st SEA Games, a title in the Asian championship and a gold at the Thailand Open in 2022. 

Tâm, 28, is currently No 1 among 178 athletes in her flyweight division by BoxRec with a 5-star rating. 

When Tâm failed to make history in 2019, Hương did. She beat American Graham Dixon Krystal in the last round and qualified for the semi-finals to bag her a heavyweight bronze.

Nguyễn Thị Hương is expected to do better than a bronze at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships
Last year, Hương took a gold at the National Sports Games and a bronze at the Asian championship.

Hương's world bronze is the highest score of Việt Nam to date but at the Indian event, the Vietnamese athletes are expected to achieve higher results.

The Việt Nam team arrived in India on March 13 and had two days preparing for matches, which will begin on March 16.

The competitions will be held in 12 weight categories ranging from 48kg to over-81kg at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.

Several countries have decided to boycott the upcoming world event after the IBA allowed Russian and Belarusian boxers to compete under their national flags. The countries boycotting the New Delhi event are Ukraine, the US, the UK, Canada, Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Norway.

The world championship is not a qualification event for the Paris Olympics 2024 as declared by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IBA, however, has declared it as a main qualification event. 

HCM City land price coefficient for compensation raised

HCM City’s residential land price coefficient for compensation payment this year is between three and 25 while for agricultural lands is 38.

Under the current regulations, official land prices are only amended every five years by the city government, and so the coefficient – (the K coefficient) or the number of times by which land prices are multiplied to match market prices – is adjusted every year.

The new coefficient takes effect on March 18.

The areas with the highest rates include Hóc Môn District (10-25 times), Thủ Đức city (6-25 times), Bình Chánh District (6-22 times), Nhà Bè District (10-21 times), and Củ Chi District (13-20 times).

To provide an example, the official price on Trần Não Street in Thủ Đức City is VNĐ22 million per square metre. The K coefficient there, depending on exact location is 6-25. Thus anyone whose land is acquired under eminent domain will be paid VNĐ132-550 million per square metre.

In addition, the coefficient of farmlands has gone up to a maximum of 38 this year from 35 last year.

The areas with the highest coefficient are Bình Chánh District (15-38 times) and districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11, and Tân Phú, Tân Bình and Gò Vấp districts (35 times).

The coefficient is also applied to calculate fees when people want to acquire land-use rights or change land use.

Compensation and site clearance for public projects remain a serious problem in the country’s largest city, causing many key public projects to be delayed for years.

But the city has promised drastic measures this year to speed up a number of key projects such as ring roads 3 and 4, the HCM City-Mộc Bài Highway and others. 

Improving infrastructure key for Mekong Delta to develop

As bridges are considered an impetus for the development of the Mekong Delta region which is crisscrossed with canals, many important structures have been built in the region over the last few years.

In early March, Tiền Giang Province’s authorities completed the payment of compensation for the remaining households affected by the construction of Rạch Miễu 2 Bridge which connects Bến Tre and Tiền Giang provinces.

The project has a total length of more than 17.5km (including the bridge and roads leading to it), and a total investment of VNĐ5.17 trillion (US$219 million). It is expected to be completed by 2025.

Also crossing Tiền River, Mỹ Thuận 2 Bridge linking Tiền Giang with Vĩnh Long is scheduled to be completed by December this year. The 6km bridge has a total investment of over VNĐ5 trillion from the State budget.

Vice Chairman of the Tiền Giang provincial People’s Committee Phạm Anh Tuấn said that these projects are “significant, necessary and urgent” to the localities, contributing to socio-economic and culture development and defence and security assurance of the entire Mekong Delta region.

Along with the projects currently underway, the Government, ministries, sectors and localities are working hard to begin construction on others.

Specifically, the Ministry of Transport has just approved an investment project on building Đại Ngãi Bridge crossing Hậu River and connecting Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng provinces with an investment of nearly VNĐ8 trillion. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

In February, the People's Committee of Cần Thơ City proposed the Ô Môn Bridge construction investment project across Hậu River linking the city with Đồng Tháp Province.

In late 2022, Bến Tre and Vĩnh Long also agreed to approve the proposal of building Đình Khao Bridge crossing Cổ Chiên River.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Chí Dũng said that in the 2021-2025 period, the total capital sourced from the State budget for projects in the region is estimated at about VNĐ320 trillion, up 23.3 per cent compared to the 2016-2020 period.

The Mekong Delta region is home to more than 21 million people, accounting for nearly 20 per cent of Việt Nam’s population. As a key economic hub, the region provides 90 per cent of the country’s export rice, 70 per cent of its fruits and 65 per cent of its aquatic products.

With 15,000km of waterways, the region’s logistics system remains inadequate. Connecting modes of transport is the ideal way for the Mekong Delta region to develop more strongly and overcome the delay of goods and high costs of shipping.

Việt Đức Hospital resumes operations following suspension due to supply shortage

Việt Đức Hospital has resumed surgeries following a two-week suspension of elective surgeries due to a shortage of medical supplies, according to its director Trần Bình Giang.

The new regulations and policies on management and procurement of medical supplies issued recently helped to remove the bottlenecks and difficulties for the hospital in procurement and bidding, Giang said.

A doctor of the hospital said after the suspension, his department resumed operations on Wednesday for 20 patients.

Both patients and doctors feel relieved and can rest assured now, the doctor said.

Việt Đức Hospital, the primary surgical centre in northern Việt Nam that conducts an average 80,000 surgeries a year, announced the suspension of all elective surgeries from March 1 due to medical supply shortage triggered by cumbersome regulatory requirements.

Many other hospitals also saw easier procurement of medical supplies after new regulations were issued, according to the Ministry of Health.

Students join autonomous racing league driven by machine learning

More than 100 students from universities across Việt Nam took part in the final competition of the BUILD-IT AWS DeepRacer League - an autonomous racing league driven by machine learning held in HCM City on Tuesday.

The event was co-organised by the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Building University-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology (BUILD-IT) Alliance, implemented by Arizona State University, and Amazon Web Services.

The DeepRacer is AWS’ latest machine learning tool. With the DeepRacer, students can tweak algorithms to train the autonomous car to identify and eventually follow a racetrack. As the DeepRacer cautiously meanders around the track, it gradually learns to identify the track and confidently sped along. The students are awestruck to see the DeepRacer learn by trial and error to complete a full circuit independently.

In the final race, ten top students whose models were selected competed for the final prize.

The 10 finalists had to design their own vehicle control model based on available hardware. The models will have to take advantage of the camera and sensor system to easily navigate the road and achieve the highest speed.

Nguyễn Đăng Khoa from HCM City University of Technology was named as the champion of the grand prix.

Khoa’s car model was assessed by the panel and audience to be the most beautiful and have tightest turning radius.

The ultimate goal of the BUILD-IT AWS DeepRacer League was to give student developers a unique opportunity to get started with reinforcement learning (RL) - an advanced machine learning (ML) technique that takes a very different approach to training models than other machine learning methods - to meet fellow machine learning enthusiasts, online and in person, and to network with world-class solution architects from AWS. Students were not required to have a technical background to participate in the league, as AWS Educate’s Machine Learning provided a fun and easy yet comprehensive learning experience for all those who are interested in machine learning.

By modernising technology and engineering higher education in Vietnamese universities, the BUILD-IT Alliance is helping Vietnamese universities produce graduates with the skills that Việt Nam's increasingly sophisticated economy demands. BUILD-IT leverages diverse government, industry, and academic partners to directly link higher education to the needs of the private sector. The Alliance builds strategic leadership skills to help the university's own leaders advance university autonomy, improve program and instructional quality, and form lasting partnerships with the private sector. BUILD-IT supports women's participation in technology and engineering programs through leadership forums, academic initiatives, and scholarships.

Hà Nội leads in prize winners in the contest for gifted students

Results from a national competition for gifted high school students have revealed Hà Nội had the largest number of winners.

Among more than 2,000 award-winning students at the contest held in February this year, Hà Nội topped the country in the number of winners (141), followed by Nghệ An (87), Vĩnh Phúc (79) and Hải Phòng (76).

The localities with the least number of awards include Hà Giang (2), Bạc Liêu (4) and Lai Châu (5).

The capital city also led the way in the top awards, with 22 students picking up the First Prize, including nine from the Vietnam National University of Hà Nội, followed by Hà Tĩnh (8), Nghệ An (7) and Hà Nam (6).

The National Contest has been held each year since 2001. The best students in academic exams will then go on to represent the country at international competitions.

This year, more than 4,500 students from across the country took part. Over 2,000 of them have been awarded the prizes, with 97 first, 520 second, 732 third and 934 consolation prizes.

HCM City picked up 42 prizes, 18 in English and 24 in other subjects.

Prize winners also automatically gain entrance to colleges and universities.

Many of the top students will represent the country at the Olympiads in physics, maths, biology and informatics to be held May, July and August this year. 

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