The General Association of Vietnamese in Belgium joined the Vietnamese Embassy in the country to hold a Vietnamese family festival on September 25, gathering large crowds of Vietnamese families living across the European country.  

An “Ao dai” traditional dress show was held in the framework of the programme. Meanwhile, lion dance performance was also one of the most anticipated activities in the festival.

A series of other culture activities were also organised in the framework of the event, including exhibitions introducing handicraft products of Vietnam; books for children in Vietnamese language, and Vietnamese literature books.

Venice exhibition introduces land, people of Vietnam

A photo exhibition has been underway in Venice, Italy to introduce the nation, people and festivals of Vietnam to local friends on the occasion of the country's 77th National Day.

A number of cultural activities were also held, including performances of "Quan ho" (love duet), which has been recognised by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.

On the occasion, Pham Hoang Thu from Breton company in Italy presented the Vietnam House of Culture a number of equipment serving its operations.

Earlier, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung had a working session with Paola Mar, a member of the city Council and representatives from universities in Venice to discuss preparations for the Vietnam Week, which aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Italy diplomatic relations in 2023./.

Cambodia Culture Week in Vietnam to open this week

Cambodia Culture Week in Vietnam 2022 will take place from September 27 to October 2 in Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh.

The event is co-organized by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Culture and Arts of Cambodia on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations and the Vietnam-Cambodia, Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Year 2022.

According to the HCM City People’s Committee, the week will official open on September 28 at the municipal Theater with an art performance by the Cambodian national art troupe.

An exhibition entitled “Cambodia – Kingdom of Culture” will be held to introduce tangible and intangible cultural heritages, natural beauty and people of Cambodia.

In addition to activities in HCM City, the Cambodian national art troupe will perform in Tra Vinh on September 30 night.

Within the framework of the Cambodia Culture Week in Vietnam 2022, a plan on cooperation in culture and arts between the two countries’ culture ministries for 2023-2027 is scheduled to be signed.

On the occasion, a delegation of the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Arts will hold working sessions with leaders of the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and pay courtesy visits to leaders of Ho Chi Minh City and Tra Vinh province.

Hanoi calls for donations for poor people

The Hanoi committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) has sent an open letter to agencies, organisations, businesses and people in the city calling for donations to the city’s ‘For the poor’ fund, on the occasion of the “For the poor” month.

In its letter, the Hanoi VFF committee said that 0.16% of the city’s households are poor. Therefore, community support would be of great significance, contributing to the city’s fulfilment of its target of creating conditions for households living in difficult circumstances to escape poverty.

All donations will be announced at a live programme to launch the “For the poor” month in the city, scheduled to be held on October 11.

The Hanoi VFF committee receives support through the following accounts: Vietnam Fatherland Front – Hanoi chapter – “For the poor” Fund, account number: 3761.0.9057259.91046 at the Hanoi State Treasury, or bank account: 1500201116868 at the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development - Hanoi branch.

The city’s “For the poor” month lasts from October 17 to November 18, with various activities.

Two rare Owston's palm civets rescued in Ninh Binh

The Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh has coordinated with the Save Vietnam's Wildlife (SVW) organisation and the police in Ngoc Lac district in neighbouring Thanh Hoa province in rescuing two rare Owston's palm civets (Chrotogale owstoni).

The animals were illegally traded by two traffickers in Ngoc Lac district on September 21. The duo confessed that they bought the civets from hunters.

The animals were seriously injured in their legs, one of them in very bad condition. They are receiving treatment at the Cuc Phuong's Endangered Primate Rescue Centre (EPRC).

Owston's palm civet is native to Vietnam, Laos and southern China. It is listed as Endangered by IUCN because of an ongoing population decline, estimated to be more than 50% over the last three generations, inferred from over-exploitation, habitat destruction and degradation.

Construction of new terminals, runways at Noi Bai Int'l Airport to start in 2024-2025

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has asked ministries, sectors and relevant localities to coordinate closely to reach a consensus on the location and total expanded areas of the Noi Bai International Airport in the suburbs of Hanoi.

He said that with the fast recovery and development of the aviation sector, it is quite possible for the airport to welcome 50 million passengers per year by 2030. Therefore, it may be overloaded and face congestion in the future if it is not expanded quickly. The official underlined the need for the airport to become more modern on a larger scale, deserving its role in the capital city.

Ministries, sectors and localities were requested to fulfill their assigned tasks to ensure that the construction of new runways and terminals of the airport will commence within 2024-25.

According to the Ministry of Transport, currently, Nội Bài International Airport has two passenger terminals with a total capacity of 25 million passengers per year, and a cargo one that can handle 403,000 tonnes each year. In the 2010-19 period, the average growth in the number of passengers was 13.4 per cent, while that of goods was 14.5 per cent. In 2019, the airport served over 29 million passengers and handled 695,325 tonnes of goods, it said.

The Director of the Civil Aviation Agency of VietNam (CAAV) said that French advisory agency ADPi has been working on the planning since June 2019. Under the plan, by 2030, the airport is expected to have a third runway and three passenger terminals. The airport's existing terminal T2 will be expanded so that the combined capacity of Terminals T1 and T2 will reach 30-40 million passengers per year, and a new Terminal T3 with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year will be built to the south. By 2050, the CAAV estimates the airport will serve 100 million passengers and handle five million tonnes of cargo each year.

Deputy Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Trong Dong said that the city basically agrees with the development planning of the airport, pledging that it is willing to engage in ground clearance activities for the project. 

Ha Giang prepares for Buckwheat Flower Festival

The northern mountainous province of Ha Giang is preparing for the Buckwheat Flower Festival 2022 which is slated to be organised in Dong Van District in November.

The event will be launched at 8 pm on November 26.

Within the festival, stalls to introduce Ha Giang’s outstanding agricultural products will be displayed on November 25-28. A marathon competition and a motorbike race will also be organised on November 9-10 and November 19-20 in the province respectively.

This year, the province has prepared nearly 400 hectares of buckwheat flowers for the festival. The flowers blossom from late October to the end of December.

Dong Van District is home to the largest buckwheat flower hub Ha Giang, with the concentration on areas along National Highway 4C and roads, including Pho La, Pho Bang, Pho Cao, Sung La, Thai Phin Thung and Lung Tau.

From now to the year-end, localities located in the Dong Van Karst Plateau Geopark will hold several cultural, sports and tourism activities, including the linen weaving festival in Lung Tam and Can Ty communes from October to November and Lo Lo ethnic minority group’s cultural festival in November.

HCMC to restore two landfill sites with over VND7 trillion

The authority of HCMC plans to carry out two landfill restoration projects with an estimated investment of over VND7 trillion in the 2021-2025 period.

The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment wrote to the Economic and Budget Committee of the HCMC People’s Council on September 21, reporting on its plan to transform the landfills of Go Cat and Dong Thanh into urban residential land.

According to the report, the landfill restoration projects will be carried out under the public-private partnership (PPP) format.

The Go Cat landfill in Binh Tan District was put into operation in 2001 and closed in 2007, with nearly six million tons of waste buried there. The restoration of the 25-hectare Go Cat landfill requires an estimated cost of VND2.8 trillion.

The 45-hectare Dong Thanh landfill started to receive solid waste in 1991 and was closed in 2002, with the volume of buried waste amounting to nearly 11 million tons. The cost of landfill restoration is estimated at VND5.4 trillion.

Besides, the compensation and tree planting projects at the Tay Bac Waste Treatment Complex in Cu Chi District and Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex in Binh Chanh District have been lagging behind schedule and facing cost overruns.

HCMC seeks nod to restart half-finished bridge project

The Department of Transport sought approval from the HCMC People’s Council on September 21 to restart work on the half-finished Tan Ky Tan Quy Bridge project in Binh Tan District.

The cost of the project is over VND490 billion, which will be covered by the State budget.

VND168 billion will be needed for construction and nearly VND200 billion for site clearance compensation. The rest of the capital will go to project management and backup plans.

Work on the Tan Ky Tan Quy Bridge project began in early 2018 under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract with an estimated cost of over VND312 billion. The investor would recover the capital for this project by collecting tolls at An Suong-An Lac toll station on National Highway 1A.

The investor suspended construction work due to land clearance difficulties when the project was 70% completed.

In a review of the project, the State Audit concluded that BOT was not an appropriate form of investment for the project due to the clash of interests between the investor and the public. The city then decided to suspend the BOT project and shift to using State funding.

With a length of 80 meters, the Tan Ky Tan Quy Bridge was built to replace the old bridge spanning Tham Luong-Ben Cat Canal and help ease traffic congestion in the surrounding area.

New regulation on e-identification, e-authentication launched

The Government has just released Decree No.59/2022/ND-CP, stipulating electronic identification and authentication for citizens, effective as of October 20, 2022.

There are three kinds of electronic identity:

_E-identity of a Vietnamese citizen: individual identification number; last name, middle name, first name; date of birth; gender; portrait; and fingerprints.

_E-identity of a foreigner: the foreigner’s identification number; last name, middle name, first name; date of birth; gender; nationality; number, symbol, issuance date, kind of document, and issuance location of his or her passport or valid international travel document; portrait; fingerprints.

_E-identity of an organization: the organization’s electronic identification number; organization name, including its Vietnamese name, its abbreviated name (if any), and its foreign language name (if any); date of establishment; address of head quarter; identification number of the citizen or foreigner; last name, middle name, first name of the legal representative or head of this organization.

Subjects that are granted an e-identification account include:

_Vietnamese citizens from 14 years old; Vietnamese citizens under 14 years old or wards who are registered under the e-identification account of their father or mother or guardian (no need to display their citizen ID card).

_Foreigners from 14 years old migrating into Vietnam; foreigners under 14 years old or wards who are registered under the e-identification account of their father or mother or guardian.

_Agencies, organizations established or registered to operate in Vietnam.

The three levels of an e-identification account of an individual or organization are:

_Level 1 of an individual e-ID account: individual identification number; last name, middle name, first name; date of birth; gender; portrait. In the case of a foreigner, additional information includes nationality; number, symbol, issuance date, kind of document, and issuance location of his or her passport or valid international travel document.

_Level 2 of an individual e-ID account: personal information plus biometric information.

_An organization e-ID account: the organization’s electronic identification number; organization name, including its Vietnamese name, its abbreviated name (if any), and its foreign language name (if any); date of establishment; address of head quarter; identification number of the citizen or foreigner; last name, middle name, first name of the legal representative or head of this organization.

Quang Tri arrests ring leader of smuggling cross-border foreign currency, gold

The Police of Huong Hoa District, Quang Tri Province arrested ring leader Vo Thi Ngoc, 55 years old, living in Da Nang City for an investigation of illegally smuggling cross-border foreign currency and gold. 

Previously, on November 11, 2021, the working team of Lao Bao International Border Gate Customs Branch found 197 metal pieces, rings and threads with different shapes, sizes and weights which are suspected to be gold, silver and 100 foreign banknotes when they performed procedures for re-entry registration from Laos to Vietnam for truck 75H-001.32 driven by Nguyen Huu Chien.

During the checking, the driver could not submit legal invoices and documents or papers related to the above-mentioned goods.

The funtional forces of Lao Bao Border Gate Customs Branch check exhibits including gold, silver and foreign currency.

According to the appraisement and determination conclusion, 1,736.14 grams and 2,180.41 grams of metal exhibits were identified as gold and silver respectively and 100 foreign banknotes had a real foreign currency of US$100. The total value of the above exhibits was determined at VND 2,945 billion (US$125 million).

On December 27, 2021, the Lao Bao International Border Gate Customs Branch issued a decision on prosecuting the smuggling case on the violation of illegally transporting cross-border goods and foreign currency.

French films screened in HCM City

Various French films are being screen for free at Dcine Cinema, No.6 Mac Dinh Chi, District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City at 7pm every Saturday, as part of the "French Cinema Rendez-Vous" programme.

The programme, jointly held by the Institute of France in Vietnam (IFV), Trigger Film Academy, and Dcine Cinemas, not only popularises French classics but also brings to Vietnamese audiences the latest movies, award-winning films and cartoons.

Films scheduled to be screened in September and October include "Mandibules”, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "The Big Bad Fox and Other Taleles", "Victoria", and “Custody”.

All the films will be subtitled in both Vietnamese and English.

Promising young football talents to train in Belgium

For the first time, young Vietnamese talents will enjoy long-term professional training in Europe to improve the nation's football quality.

The ACA Football Partners (ACAFP), the Promotion Fund for Vietnamese Football Talent (PVF Football Academy) and Việt Nam Cable Television (VTVcab) on September 22 signed a cooperation deal in Hà Nội.

Under the deal, PFV and ACAFP take charge of selecting players, including 15-17 years olds. Those chosen will have the chance to go to Belgium to gain experience.

ACAFP and VTVcab will work on producing and broadcasting a documentary series entitled 'Rising Star' about the whole process of selecting athletes, their training and competing activities, and their daily life while in Europe. 

The young Vietnamese talents will train to pursue their dreams at Deinze Football Club NV (KMSK Deinze), a Belgian second-division team owned by ACAFP. 

The reality show's first episode is scheduled to be aired in Việt Nam in mid-October.

Federation set up to promote MMA development

Luu Tu Bao has been voted President of the HCM City Mixed Martial Arts Federation - HMMAF - for the period of 2022-27 during a congress to establish the federation.

Bao, director of Saigon Sport Club, will be supported by General Secretary Nguyen Hoai Nam and a federation of 15 members. 

The city federation's congress on September 15 received prestigious guests such as Chatri Sityodtong, chairman and CEO of Singapore-based billion-dollar combat sports promotion ONE Championship; Viwat Sakulrat, managing director at Tiger Muay Thai which produces world UFC champions Valentina Shevchenko and Alexander Volkanovski; and Việt Nam's WBA Asia champions Trương Đình Hoàng and Lê Hữu Toàn.

HCM City urged to step up fight against corruption

A delegation of the Central Steering Committee for Corruption and Negative Phenomena Prevention and Control had a working session with the Standing Board of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee on September 24 over the handling of corruption cases.

According to the steering committee, the standing board has paid due attention to the fight against corruption and other negative phenomena, and proposed solutions to raise the efficiency of the work.

It also pointed out shortcomings, even violations, the committee said, noting that the assessment and evaluation during the settlement of corruption cases has faced headwinds due to limitations in legal regulations.

In his remarks, Phan Dinh Trac, standing deputy head of the Central Steering Committee for Corruption and Negative Phenomena Prevention and Control, asked the southern motropolis to step up this fight by strengthening inspection and supervision, and raise the efficiency of assessment and evaluation.

The assessment and evaluation work needs more attention as it greatly affects the investigation, prosecution and trial, said Trac, who is also Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for Home Affairs.

Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee, vowed to instruct relevant agencies to fix the shortcomings for better leadership in the work.

Les Miserables returns to Hà Nội Opera House

Musical Les Miserables will be performed by the Việt Nam National Opera & Ballet (VNOB) at Hà Nội Opera House on September 29-30.

After ten sold-out shows in Hà Nội, Đắc Lắc Province and HCM City last year, VNOB will bring back the musical to charm audiences with performances by award-winning artists.

The musical won 14 awards at the National Music and Dance Festival in Hải Phòng City including three gold medals for Bùi Thị Trang, Trần Thu Trang and Phạm Thị Hương and the best actor title for Trịnh Thanh Bình.

Performances of the musical will come under the baton of conductor Đồng Quang Vinh. The familiar melody associated with the fate of the characters will be performed by well-known Vietnamese artists such as Đào Tố Loan, Nguyễn Huy Đức, Trịnh Thanh Bình, Thế Tùng Lâm, and Anh Vũ.

The artists will be accompanied by live music under conductor Vinh with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and English lyrics by Herbert Kretzme.

The show will feature more than 150 artists, actors and crew members. It will also have the participation of the international choir Hanoi Voices and performers from various countries.

The shows will begin at 8pm at Hà Nội Opera House. Tickets can be purchased at https://nhahatnhacvukichvietnam.com/en/ve-ban/. 

Luat, Oanh win first Techcombank Hanoi Marathon

Veteran runner Đỗ Quốc Luật and newbie Nguyễn Thị Oanh won top prizes at the first Techcombank Hà Nội Marathon in the capital city on Sunday.

After being postponed several times, the races were officially held in Hà Nội for the first time with more than 7,000 participants in the full marathon (42.195km), half-marathon (21.1km), 10km, 5km, and Kid Run (for young athletes aged five to 14).

Đỗ Quốc Luật who is a national athletic team member finished first in the men's marathon category with a time of 2hr 32.16min.

On the women's side, Oanh took the gold medal in her marathon debut. Oanh is well-known in Southeast Asia as she has dominated regional SEA Games for many editions in the 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m and 10,000m events.

She has recently begun running long distances and won in the 21km class in several competitions. But it was the first time that she registered in a full marathon.

The 'golden girl' crossed the finish line in 2:56.07.The Techcombank Hà Nội Marathon surpassed the highest prize purse for many years of the Techcombank HCM City International Marathon by raising the prize purse up to VNĐ713.98 million (US$30,600).

It officially became the marathon that holds the biggest cash prize in Việt Nam. Full marathon winners pocketed $5,000 each along with trophies and gifts from sponsors. 

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