Nearly 46,000 workers sent abroad in 8 months; Vietnam-RoK peacel village to be built in Quang Nam; Vietnam to be severely affected by El Nino

Out of the total, 13,202 were sent to Taiwan (China), 5,549 to the Republic of Korea, 3,793 to Japan, 3,051 to the UAE, 1,166 to Malaysia, 2,660 to Libya, 2,349 to Macao, 1,484 to Russia and 11,880 to various other countries.

To implement the PM’s decision on labour export promotion, local businesses have been working round the clock. Many have recruited, trained and sent workers from poor districts on contracts signed with foreign partners.

According to MoLISA, the Vinaconex Corporation has already recruited and trained 60 workers, most of whom are H’Mong people from the districts of Mu Cang Chai and Tram Tau in Yen Bai province. All of the workers have been recruited by foreign companies on 2-year contracts. Their basis salaries range from US$230 to US$250 a month.

30 workers were sent to Libya this month and more are scheduled to go in September.

HCM City to host two exhibitions on construction industry

Two international exhibitions on construction industry, building materials and interior and exterior decor will be held in Ho Chi Minh City in September.

The announcement was made at a press conference jointly held by the Ministry of Construction’s Information Centre and the HCM City-based AFC International Exhibition and Fair Company on August 28.

Vietbuild 2009, scheduled to take place from September 9 to13, will present the latest building materials, energy-saving and environmentally-friendly machinery, equipment and technologies used in the production of construction materials.

The 3,700-stand exhibition is expected to attract 1,300 construction companies from 22 countries and territories, including the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Japan, China, Malaysia, the US, France, Germany and India.

Another exhibition, which is on Real Estate and Interior and Exterior Decor, will be held from September 20 to 24. It will concentrate on different kinds of housing and interior and exterior trimmings produced by over 300 domestic and foreign companies.

Also, there will be workshops on investment opportunities in Vietnam’s real estate market, legislation surrounding the real estate market in Vietnam as well as various issues related to housing for low-income people in urban areas.

Vietnam-RoK peacel village to be built in Quang Nam

The government has approved a US$2 million project to build a Vietnam-the Republic of Korea (RoK) Peace Village in the central province of Quang Nam.

The investment capital in non-refundable aid is sourced from the Korean War Veterans’ Association.

Quang Nam will allocate VND4.2 billion from its budget for land acquisition and bomb and mine clearance at the construction site.

Vietnam to be severely affected by El Nino

The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology announced that over the next three months, Vietnam will be severely affected by El Nino.

Temperatures in most areas across the country will be higher than normal. The average temperature this autumn will average 0.5-1.5 degrees Celsius higher to reach 26-28 degrees Celsius, while central Vietnam and the southern province of Long An will experience below average temperature.

Average rainfall in August has only reached some 150 to 200mm, 30-70 percent lower than in recent years.

EC grants scholarships to 49 students

Forty-nine Vietnamese graduates will receive the European Commission’s Erasmus Mundus scholarships for further overseas studies in the 2009-2010 academic year, the EC delegation to Vietnam announced on August 31.

They will study in France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Norway, Belgium, Spain, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Denmark and Portugal. France tops the list, receiving 11 awardees, followed by the UK (8) and Germany and Italy (5).

The scholarships will allow the beneficiaries to follow one of 129 post-graduate courses at selected European universities offering Erasmus Mundus European Master and Doctoral Courses. Each graduate will have to attend at least 2 universities in different European countries, depending on which universities jointly organise the course.

Willy Vandeberge, Charge d’affaires of the EC delegation to Vietnam, said that the number of Vietnamese students receiving such scholarships has increased annually, from just 3 in 2004 to 49 this year.

He said the EC will promote the Erasmus Mundus scholarship programme at universities in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City from September 7-9.

Erasmus Mundus is a higher education co-operation and mobility programme which promotes the European Union as a global centre of learning excellence.

Kon Tum declared free of foot-and-mouth disease

The Central Highland province of Kon Tun has declared itself free of foot-and-mouth disease one month after an outbreak appeared in Vinh Quang village, Kon Tum City.

The chairman of the Kon Tom City People’s Committee has been asked to end temporary check points and encouraged local people to take preventive measures against a recurrence of the disease.

The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also directed the Veterinary Department to carefully monitor the situation of Kon Tum and neighbouring provinces and proposed necessary measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Ho Chi Minh City’s friendship organisations mark 20th anniversary

The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations (UFO) held a meeting on August 31 to mark its 20th anniversary and receive the Labour Order, second class.

Established on July 29, 1989, the UFO now has 27 friendship unions and more than 50 branches. Over the past 20 years, the union has strengthened people-to-people diplomacy. Through the union, foreign organisations and individuals have donated more than US$123 million and billions of Vietnam dong to help poor children in remote and mountainous areas and disabled children across the country.

Le Hung Quoc, the union’s president thanked the Party and State for its great appreciation of the union’s contribution over the years.

Spain helps Vietnam reduce poverty

The Government of Spain has pledged to help Vietnam alleviate poverty, protect the environment and promote sustainable rural development in northern Quang Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces until 2010.

The second phase of the US$1.97 million “Application of Territorial Based Rural Development Approach” project received an additional US$1.4 million from the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development.

The project aims to support local residents in the two provinces to develop economy, infrastructure and culture. The first phase of the project, worth US$461,000, was carried out in northern Quang Ninh in 2007-2008

Quang Ninh received 1,250 foreign tourists

Saigontourist Travel Service Co. on August 30 welcomed Italian cruise ship Costa Allegra which anchored in northern coastal Quang Ninh province for a four-day trans-Vietnam tour.

A total of 1,250 tourists from Italy, France, Spain, Germany and the UK on board the cruiser toured popular sites in Ha Long Bay, Yen Tu area and a number of northern famous villages.

The five-star cruise ship docked at Tien Sa port in central coastal Da Nang city on August 31 where its passengers explored the city. They also visited Thien Mu Pagoda, King Minh Mang’s royal tomb and Dai Noi (the Citadel’s Inner City) in the former imperial city of Hue city and the Thanh Ha pottery village in central Quang Nam province.

Costa Allegra will leave Da Nang city on the evening of August 31 and is scheduled to arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on September 2, where tourists will explore the Cu Chi tunnel, travel around the city by cyclos, and enjoy music and dance programmes.

Saigontourist said that it will receive around 3,000 tourists aboard the cruise liner in September, bringing the total of sea travellers welcomed by the company to 45,000

New school for Vietnamese pupils in Cambodia opened

A new primary school for overseas Vietnamese children officially opened in Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh on August 30 to mark the 64th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day (September 2) and the August Revolution.

The Khmer-Vietnam Tan Tien school, a three-storey building with more than 10 classrooms, is located on an area of 1,200 sq. m in Mienchay district, Phnom Penh. The State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee and several overseas Vietnamese benefactors will financed the school construction.

Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia Ngo Anh Dung praised the efforts that the Vietnamese community in the country has made in the recent past.

The school will provide training to over 400 pupils in the capital city of Phnom Penh.

On the occasion, the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, the Fatherland Front Committees of Ho Chi Minh city and neighbouring provinces of Long An, Dong Nai and An Giang together with many sponsors, Vietnamese and foreign alike, donated millions of VND and presented 1,000 sets of textbooks, 4,000 notebooks, computers and music teaching instrument to the new school.

First school in Thua Thien-Hue hit by A/H1N1 virus

As many as 14 out of 19 samples from a high school in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue have tested positive for the A/H1N1 virus, according to the Hue City Medical Centre.

23 pupils from two classes at Nguyen Hue school, who were suspected of having the disease, were put in quarantine at the centre on August 27 and 28.

The centre has also quarantined some relatives of the pupils, raising the total number being monitored there to 28.

The Vice Headmistress of the school, Hoang Thi Kieu Dung, said the school has allowed the remaining pupils of the two classes to stay away from school for one week and monitor their own health.

PV