SOCIAL IN BRIEF 26/9
Published: 25/09/2009 05:00
A 120kg turtle back to ocean; Vietnam leads in coping with natural disasters; AO victims need better care; US$500 million loan from ADB approved; Vietnam to ratify global treaty on illegal fishing
A sea turtle weighing over 120kg was released to the sea off Tuy Hoa City, central Phu Yen province on September 24. The scientific name of this sea turtle has not been specified but it is believed to belong to a special rare species on Vietnam’s red list. The sea turtle, 1.4m long and 1.2m wide, was bought by Nguyen Ngoc Son, a resident in precinct 6 of Tuy Hoa City from a group of fishermen in My Quang Bac hamlet, Tuy An district, Phu Yen province. This is the biggest sea turtle fishermen in Phu Yen province have ever caught when it entered the waters around Hon Chua island to find cooking. Vietnam leads in coping with natural disasters Mr Morch said that to deal effectively with disasters every country needs international support. At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dao Xuan Hoc praised international support for Vietnam’s disaster relief effort. He expressed his hope that foreign friends will continue to help Vietnam mitigate damages caused by local disasters. At the meeting delegates discussed their experiences in coping with disasters around in the world. They also proposed new measures, such as establishing coordination mechanisms to allocate international aid to victims, socialising humanitarian relief and coping with disasters on the spot. According to statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, over the past 10 years, approximately 750 people a year have been killed by disasters with total property losses amounting to 1.5 percent of GDP. AO victims need better care At a working session with these agencies in Hanoi on September 24, Ms Doan said the Party and State have already developed many policies to improve the lives of AO victims, but that there are snags in these policies at grassroots level that must be ironed out soon. Ms Doan asked the Ministry of Health to set up criteria for identifying victims so that it can calculate the exact number of people who have been exposed to and affected by the toxic chemicals. The ministry must complete a list of illnesses victims have suffered as a consequence of exposure to the chemicals. The Vice President proposed that the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs issue a document guiding cities and provinces in implementing the current policies and also make recommendations to the Government for revising a number of policies. She also asked the Vietnam Red Cross Society and the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) to work closely together to provide the best possible services to the victims. According to VAVA, Vietnam now has 4.8 million AO victims, including those who fought in the Vietnam War and those who have since lived in AO-contaminated areas. Every year, the State spends approximately VND800 billion providing medical check-ups and assisting AO victims. Saigon Invest presents scholarships to Lao students These students will major in tourism, banking-finance, business administration, construction, and information technology from 2009 to 2013. SGI is a leading Vietnamese investment group which has created an SGI scholarship programme for Lao students. The group has also allocated nearly VND19 billion for food supplies to disadvantaged people and for bridge, sewage and road projects in Laos. US$470,000 for Thua Thien-Hue city tourism project Under the contract, Akitek Tenggara Group will define space, tourism development infrastructure and specific products with the aim of bringing tourism to key industries and improve the economic competitiveness of Thua Thien-Hue province. The project will comprise reports, a system of maps and photos and 4,000 books in English and Vietnamese, all designed to attract tourists to the central province. Hanoi to host exhibition on traditional handicraft villages The exhibition will introduce some of the popular handicraft villages and showcase unique handicrafts made by Hanoi artisans over the years. The exhibition will include a calligraphy display presenting 50 artworks by the Vietnam Calligraphy Club and a programme about calligraphy writing. US$500 million loan from ADB approved The PM has authorised the SBV Governor to sign the loan agreement with the ADB, under which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice will work closely with the SBV to finalise the legal procedures and put the agreement into effect as soon as possible. Mr Dung also asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to set up an inter-ministry sub-committee to monitor the loan and the agencies concerned to speed up the disbursement so that it is used effectively. EU transfers disaster prevention experience The beneficiary of the know-how will be Vietnam’s new National Programme on Community-Based Disaster Risk Management, which intends to target the 6,000 most hazard-prone communes by 2020, “It was gratifying that the Vietnamese government has recognised that such models and approaches have helped save lives of adults and children and reduce the severe impact of disasters on the poorest populations,” the EU official said. The meeting took place on the heels of the EU’s approval of a strategy to help reduce the impact of natural disasters on countries considered to be at high-risk, including Vietnam. According to the European Commission, the EU has granted 10 million Euros to Vietnam through 40 disaster prevention initiatives since 1998. Vietnam to ratify global treaty on illegal fishing Nguyen Viet Manh, Deputy Director of the MARD International Cooperation Department, said the treaty is expected to be approved at a FAO World Food Summit in Rome in mid-November, and will go into force 30 days after it is ratified by 25 states. It will be the first ever global treaty to fight illegal fishing, seeking to shut ports to rogue vessels plundering the seas. Under the terms of the agreement, foreign vessels will have to request permission in advance to dock at specially designated ports and will have to provide information on their catch. Signatories will be committed to regularly inspecting fishing vessels in their ports according to a set of international standards. US helps combat influenza in Vietnam The US Embassy in Vietnam on September 23 issued a press release stating that funding during the first year will be US$3.6 million. The project will focus on the five provinces of Ha Nam and Hung Yen in the north, Quang Tri in the central region and Can Tho and Kien Giang in the south of Vietnam as the basis for testing and applying risk reduction practices in local settings. USAID activities in Vietnam include joint-cross border pandemic exercises with China and Laos, support to developing and improving provincial pandemic preparedness plans, training of animal health workers and veterinarians, public communication campaigns, and journalist training in H1N1 prevention and control measures. Pending continued availability of funding, the USAID plans to continue the activity for two additional years, bringing the total contribution to US$10 million. Since 2005, the U.S. Government has allocated approximately US$50 million to support Vietnam ’s programmes to combat avian and pandemic influenza. Laos eyes Luong Prabang-Dien Bien Phu air route There are already direct flights from Luong Prabang to Hanoi, Xiem Riep and three other Thai localities. Japan supports telecom technician training An agreement on the second phase of the project, lasting from 2009-2011, was signed in Hanoi on September 23 between the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. During the four-week courses, technicians from the three beneficiary nations will be taught skills needed to operate and maintain circuits and digital microwave transmission equipment, as well as general knowledge about Internet Protocol (IP) and Next Generation Network (NGN) technologies. The first phase of the programme started in 2005 and has gained practical results for the information technology-communications sectors in the three countries. Vietnam joins global community to combat A/H1N1 flu The conference convened in Hong Kong, China from September 21-25, as the world is facing the likelihood of A/H1N1 flu spreading while the economic crisis has caused many countries to make cutbacks in their health care programmes. The WHO’s General Director Margaret Chan and Regional Director for the Western Pacific Shin Young-Soo, stressed that in the present context the international community needs to cooperate in more depth and mutual assistance and information exchanges are essential to preventing the spread of the epidemic and accomplishing previously set millennium goals. During his address to the conference, Minister Trieu thanked the WHO for assisting Vietnam’s health services. Trieu said that the country has achieved some remarkable results in people’s health care services while reaching most of its millennium goals. According to him, the country has met almost all of its healthcare targets set for the 2006-2010 period. On the sidelines of the conference, Minister Trieu met with the Hong Kong Department of Health to discuss how to cope with infectious diseases including H1N1 flu and develop health care insurance. The Chairman of the Hong Kong-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, Jonathan Choi pledged to provide US$1 million in aid to the Vietnamese Health Ministry’s Programme 1816 to improve the capacity of grassroots-level health centres. PV |
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