Remains of 33 fallen combatants found; Vietnam, Cambodia tighten anti-human trafficking ties; Solutions sought for sustainable craft village; Germany helps Vietnam reduce electric energy loss; PM orders general inspection of websites

The remains were recovered on December 1 and 2 along with personal effects like hammocks, caps, rubber sandals, mirrors, combs and photos.

Local residents made the initial discovery while a drainage system was under construction.

the Vice Chairman of the Quang Ngai city People’s Committee, Nguyen Manh Hung, said the personal effects and other information collected confirmed that the remains belong to those of commando unit 506A of the Quang Ngai military section who were killed while attacking a prison during its 1968 offensive.

The municipal People’s Committee is planning to hold a memorial service and rebury the remains on December 5.

Vietnam, Cambodia tighten anti-human trafficking ties

Concrete measures to combat human trafficking and provide aid to its victims topped the agenda of a workshop between Vietnam and Cambodia on December 2-3.

The move is part of joint efforts to implement a cooperation agreement signed in October, 2005 with the aim of repelling the trafficking of women and children as well as providing them with assistance.

On the sidelines of the workshop, Vietnam and Cambodia signed another cooperative agreement on confirming and repatriating the victims of human trafficking.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Hav Bunse praised the workshop’s success, regarding it as new evidence of close cooperation and strong determination to combat against trans-border crimes for the sake of their peoples’ safety.

Binh Dinh promotes cooperation with southern Lao provinces

Over the past few years, the southern province of Binh Dinh has helped management agencies as well as scientific and technological cadres from the southern provinces of Laos to strengthen managerial skills to control administration and social affairs.

The Quy Nhon University has taught 575 students the Vietnamese language in the southern Lao provinces of Champasak, Sekong and Attapu at a total cost of VND7 billion.

The Binh Dinh Political School has provided knowledge about public administration for 64 key cadres of Sekong and Attapu provinces while Binh Dinh’s agricultural sector also helped improve the managerial skills of agricultural cadres, supplied strains of animal and plants and implement a project to provide equipment for Champasak province’s Veterinary Centre.

Binh Dinh has invested more than US$48 million in 11 projects in Laos from 2006-2010 with a focus on industrial crops, fertilizer production, cooking production and mineral exploitation.

Binh Dinh and southern Lao provinces will continue to promote cooperation programmes in the near future by accelerating investment projects to increase the efficiency of comprehensive cooperation.

Solutions sought for sustainable craft village

The Vietnam Cooperative Alliance (VCA) held a talk on solutions to develop cooperatives and traditional craft villages, in Hanoi on December 3, within the framework of an international fair on cooperatives and SMEs.

VCA Vice President Nguyen Xuan Hien emphasised the need to create a bridge between cooperatives, traditional craft villages and enterprises to develop the market, create jobs for millions of rural workers and enhance social stability.

Hien went on to say that developing the cooperatives is vital for resolving the contradictions between small-and large-scale production and meeting the requirements of the national industrialisation process.

He took the occasion to stress the important role of the growth of the cooperative economy in socio-economic development as 70 percent of the national population is living in rural areas.

For his part, Head of the Xuan Loc Cooperative Nguyen Ngoc Thanh said that it is necessary to unite farmers, enterprises, scientists and the State to ensure the market for agricultural products and the sustainable development of production and create more jobs for farmers. Cooperatives also need State capital, technology and land for production, Thanh added.

According to Head of the Hanoi-based Song Cuong Cooperative Nguyen Van Cuong, cooperatives and businesses can count on the sustainable demand in the domestic market - with 80 million consumers - making them less dependent on exports. To compete with foreign products, Cuong affirmed the importance of cooperation among businesses and craft villages to create a goods distribution network.

The nation is now home to more than 18,290 cooperatives, 50 communal cooperative alliances, 360,000 cooperative groups and almost 1,500 craft villages. They specialise in agro-forestry, fisheries, foodstuffs technology, construction, and handicrafts industry.

Spain helps HCM City tackle river pollution

The Government of Spain will support Ho Chi Minh City in a project to control pollution in the Saigon river.

The Saigon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) daily cited the sources from the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment as saying that Spain will send technical experts to the city to carry out its funded project.

The experts will assess the pollution level and discuss technical measures to prevent the waste water sources from contaminating the river, the daily said.

The Saigon river is the main water source for the Tan Hiep Waterworks in the country’s largest city.

Climate change increases gender inequality

Including gender related issues in climate change policy is just one of the recommendations in a report released by the United Nations and Oxfam representatives at a workshop on climate change in Hanoi on Dec. 2.

The report said that climate change could create gender inequality by generating extra work for women and exacerbating their vulnerability, as they will have to take on more agricultural tasks as a result of male migration and the increase in local non-agricultural jobs.

According to the report, Vietnam has a strong track record on promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment and the country has legislation and policy frameworks in place to address gender inequality and promote women’s rights, including the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Domestic Violence.

However, “gender has been relatively neglected in research and policy analysis, as well as in international and national policy processes,” said the report.

Vietnam’s National Targets Programme to Respond to Climate Change underlined gender equality as a guiding principle but it is largely dormant with no specific targets or activities to address women’s vulnerability or gender issues, especially at community level.

The report added that it is necessary to ensure women’s participation in policy making and decision-making on climate changes at all levels; raise public awareness of training on the link between gender and climate change; protect women’s rights particularly during and after disasters that are caused by climate change and create opportunities for women as a primary response to problems caused by climate change.

All the recommendations were put forward in the context that one million Vietnamese are affected annually by climate related disasters. Vietnam, on average, experiences five to six tropical storms in its coastal areas annually; flooding in its river deltas and flash floods and landslides in mountainous areas. A recent study by the Asian Development Bank confirmed that Vietnam is also one of the countries most economically vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Germany helps Vietnam reduce electric energy loss

The German government has provided Vietnam with a preferential loan of 120 million euro to help the country slash its electric energy loss from 30 percent to 15 percent and save it about 400 million kWh per year or VND350-400 billion annually.

The credit package, which will be channeled to Electricity of Vietnam Group through Germany’s Reconstruction Credit Institute KfW, will be spent on an ‘effective power’ project in rural areas.

The project will focus on improving, upgrading and expanding the rural electric grid, reducing electric loss on exhausted electric wires, and raising the quality of electricity and safety standards. It will also ensure equality for rural clients in terms of prices and service quality.

The project will be carried out in about 2000 communes in 45 provinces across Vietnam, benefiting some 2.9 million households.

Surveys show that many rural electric grids have been seriously downgraded, resulting in an enormous loss of electric power and poor technical standards. Given this, the government has had Energy of Vietnam take over all low-voltage systems in rural areas to provide rural residents with better services and drastically reduce carbon dioxide created by poor electric grids.

Saudi Arabian king helps Vietnam’s flood victims

The King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, has donated 200 tonnes of goods to assist the victims of the recent natural disasters in central Vietnam.

The first plane carrying part of his aid arrived in Hanoi on December 2. The rest of cargo will be brought to Vietnam on December 3.

The Vietnam Red Cross will officially receive all the relief aid of the King on December 4 in the presence of representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Saudi Arabian embassy, and some ministries of Saudi Arabia.

PM orders general inspection of websites

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Ministry of Information and Communication to thoroughly inspect all websites after the Tuoi Tre (Young Age) Newspaper ran an article on the launch of unlicensed websites.

Mr Dung has requested all government agencies involved in the media sector to come up with ways of controlling information, including photos or video clips published on websites to duly deal with violations. The outcome of the investigation must be reported to the PM before December 12.

Tranasia Airlines starts direct flights to Da Nang

A new air route from Taipei in Taiwan will officially commence on December 26, according to the Danang City People’s Committee.

Taiwan’s Tranasia Airlines will operate two flights per week but will increase the number next year if they prove to be popular.

Tranasia Airlines is the second overseas airline after Singapore’s Silk Air to operate direct fights to Danang City

Silk Air currently runs three flights a week to Danang.

Around 1 million rural workers to get training courses

Around 1 million rural workers, including 100,000 from communal cadres, will receive vocational training every year from now until 2020.

The VND25.9 trillion scheme, approved by the Prime Minister, will prioritise poor households, ethnic minority people and policy beneficiaries. Those taking part in the scheme will be exempt from training fees and also have their accommodation and travel expenses paid for.

The scheme will be carried out in three stages. During the first stage, until 2010, around 800,000 rural workers will get vocational training and new experimental models will be developed for at least 18,000 people. It’s expected that at least 80 percent of the trainees on newly developed courses will find jobs after finishing their training.

Around 5.2 million rural workers and around 500,000 communal officials will also be given vocational training from 2011 until 2015.

During the 2016-2020 period the scheme will provide vocational training for 6 million rural workers and at least 80 percent of them can look forward to being employed soon after.
As part of the scheme, vocational training centres in the country’s 61 poorest districts will receive funding for training materials and teaching facilities. Each centre set up since 2009 in 30 districts where the poverty rate amongst households has reached 30-50 percent will receive capital of at least VND12.5 billion.

Seventy-four mountainous, border and island districts that also had their vocational training centres set up in 2009 will each receive VND9 billion to build workshops, dormitories and motorboats.

Seminar discusses studying French in Southeast Asia

A seminar on the study of French in Southeast Asia opened in the Central Highland city of Da Lat on December 1.

The seminar entitled “The Study of French in Southeast Asia – Dynamism, Training Activities and Professionalisation” was organised by the Asia-Pacific French-Speaking Regional Centre (CREFAP/OIF), with the participation of 146 delegates from the region, Canada , Belgium and China .

The participants who are lecturers on the French language and educational experts at French universities and schools are focusing their discussions on major, urgent issues in the study and teaching of French: the language as it relates to French culture and professionalism, its grammar, terminology, and phonetics, the training of young teachers of French in the region, the translation of French and the assessment of the studies of the language made from 2000-2009. Nearly 150 speeches and reports will be presented at the seminar.

According to organisers, the four-day seminar is a chance for the participants to share experiences and put forth new teaching methods to increase the effectiveness of teaching French and bring into full play the role of countries in the French-speaking community in many fields.

Vietnam- a reliable partner for Germany’s development and cooperation

A press briefing was held on December 1 by the German Embassy in Hanoi to announce a preferential credit loan worth US$180 million for a project to cope with climate change and to launch a website on German cooperation and development in Vietnam.

German Ambassador to Vietnam, Rolf Schulze said that Vietnam is one of the countries suffering the most of adverse effects of climate change. The loan will be implemented by the German Development Bank (KfW) to help the Electricity of Vietnam develop an efficient energy programme in rural areas.

The project will be carried out in 2,000 communes with 2.9 million households using electricity in 45 provinces throughout the country. The project aims to reduce losses of electrical energy from 30 percent to 15 percent and save around 400 million kwh per year or VND 300-400 billion per year for the national economy.

At the press briefing, Mr Rolf Schulze said that the official launch of the website www.gdc-vietnam.org on German cooperation and development in Vietnam will provide information about sustainable development, environmental protection, the sustainable use of natural resources and healthcare in the Vietnamese, Germany and English language.

Vietnam has always been a reliable partner for Germany’s cooperation and development and the webpage clearly demonstrated the coordination between Germany and Vietnam in this field, Mr Rolf Schulze noted.

JANI network reviews campaign for disaster risk management

The Joint Advocacy Network Initiative (JANI) held a seminar to review its communication campaign and collect initiatives on how to cope with natural disasters in Hanoi on December 1.

The campaign was launched on May 5, 2009 via press agencies, television and radio stations in Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Hue city, Quang Tri, Ben Tre and Tien Giang.

This is one of the three most effective communication projects in Asia, which have helped improve citizens’ awareness of natural disasters as well as strengthen information sharing and co-operation between non-governmental organizations and State management agencies.

Through the campaign, JANI has established a network of reporters across the country who have a chance to conduct fact-finding in regions hit by natural disasters and to meet and exchange experiences with domestic and foreign experts in the field of disaster prevention and mitigation.

JANI is a project funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department.

Disseminating information on administrative reform

A seminar on developing information system on administrative reform was held in Hai Phong City on December 1 by the Ministry of Home Affairs in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The seminar discussed the role of mass media in strengthening administrative reform and measures to make information on administrative reform more lively and practical with citizens and businesses.

Recently information dissemination has been carried out effectively by mass media. Press agencies, especially Radio the Voice of Vietnam and Vietnam Television have updated citizens and businesses with adequate information on administrative reform. However, to achieve more efficiency, press agencies should publish businesses and citizens’ feedback on cumbersome administrative procedures.

Dinh Duy Hoa, head of the Department for Administrative Reform, said that to improve the quality of information, reporters and editors must grasp problems and administrative and press agencies must close coordinate with each other to publish timely information and feedback.

Vietnam seeks to expand system of marine reserves

Vietnam is trying to develop its marine reserves from now until 2020 to protect its ecological systems and marine creatures with a high economic and scientific value, boost the marine-based economy and improve the living standards of coastal communities.

A conference on this topic was held in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on November 30 with the participation of 25 delegates from 15 nature reserves. It was organized by the Department of Capture Fisheries and Resources Protection and a Danish-funded project that focuses on creating sustainable livelihood inside and around marine reserves.

The participants discussed and shared their experiences in establishing and managing Vietnam’s four current sea reserves.

Pham Trong Yen, from the Department of Capture Fisheries and Resources Protection, put forward the master plan for Vietnam’s sea reserves over the 2010-2020 period. Accordingly, by 2015, 30 percent of each reserve will be strictly safeguarded. From 2016-2020, the department will work out new additional legislation and improve the capacity of its staff that specialize in sea reserves as well as providing local people with basic knowledge of the work. The department will also set up five more sea reserves in the future.

A delegate from the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh, Ngo Van Dinh, said that it’s necessary to launch public awareness campaigns to get people to become more involved in protecting marine resources.

A delegate from the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa suggested preparing a long-term financial plan for the next 5-10 years, charging fees at sea reserves and seeking out new sources of sponsorship.

PV