Vietnam joins L’Humanite newspaper festival; Foreign-invested university for Da Nang; Asian liver centre makes debut in HCM City; More funding to develop Hanoi’s craft villages; Campaign launched to make the world cleaner

Vietnam joins L’Humanite newspaper festival

The Nhan Dan (People’s) newspaper - the official voice of the Communist Party of Vietnam - opened a pavilion at the 80th L’Humanite Newspaper Festival in Paris on Sept. 10.

While addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai said since its inception in 1930, the festival has become an important political event of the Communist Party of France (CPF) and the L’Humanite newspaper.

The event is a festival of people and a friendship meeting of representatives from social organisations, politicians and activists for social progress, peace, solidarity and development, he said.

The ambassador stressed that cooperation between the Nhan Dan and L’Humanite newspapers has contributed greatly to strengthening and developing friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and France .

Jacques Fath, member of the Executive Board and Head of the CPF Central Committee’s Commission for International Relations, underlined the Nhan Dan newspaper’s presence at the festival, saying it reflects Vietnam ’s increasingly important role in the world.

The CPF always pays attention to the development of Vietnam as well as its renewal process and reform policies, the official said.

For his part, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Nhan Dan newspaper Dinh Van Luyen expressed his belief that the time-honoured relationship between the two parties would further develop in the future.

Foreign-invested university for Da Nang

A ground-breaking ceremony for the wholly foreign-invested American Pacific University (APU) was held on September 10 at Ngu Hanh Son district, the central coastal city of Da Nang.

Covering an area of 304,000 sq.m, the 100 million USD project is invested by the APU organisation with the first phase worth 21 million USD.

Built as a model of a modern university village equipped with the US-standardised areas of study, research, recreation and culture, internship and sports, the project will be finished in the next three years and its first phase is scheduled to go into operation in May, 2011.

Tran Nguyen Thy Binh, CEO of the university, said that APU in Da Nang would focus on tertiary training.

APU also announced 800 scholarships for excellent students and disadvantaged ones achieving high results in study.

Youths host activities towards Hanoi’s anniversary

More than 5,000 volunteers and young people of Hanoi participated in social activities on Sept. 11 in the lead up to the city’s 1,000th founding anniversary.

Over 100 young doctors from 25 hospitals provided free medical check-ups and treatment for more than 1,000 beneficiaries of social policy, who are former volunteer youths, war invalids, family members of fallen combatants and poor children.

A large number of students and young people donated more than 1,000 units of blood to the National Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

Others collected waste, rode bicycles around the Hanoi Old Quarters to disseminate information about the protection of the environment or removed illegal advertisements on streets in Hoang Mai and Cau Giay districts.

Meanwhile, 1,000 students of the Nhat Nam Vietnam martial art sect gave a public performance and 1,000 young people showed dancing and singing talents.

On this occasion, the Hanoi Union of Young People presented 1,000 national flags to officers and soldiers on the Truong Sa islands and the city’s Young Entrepreneurs’ Association granted scholarships worth totally 500 million VND to 1,000 poor students.

Denmark lends helping hands to VN businesses

Denmark will provide non-State businesses on Vietnam with 123 million Krone (equivalent to 422 billion VND) to help them raise their competitiveness.

Of the funding, which will be supplied in the 2011-2013 period, 40-50 billion VND are expected to be used to enhance these businesses’ global competitiveness, said the Danish Embassy at a press briefing held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 10.

The rest of the funding will be used to help private businesses generate more jobs and further improve working conditions.

Hanoi ready for millennium anniversary in October

A series of important works to dress up and decorate Hanoi is basically complete with just 30 days left until the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi takes place.

The capital city has to date completed 33 major projects, making Hanoi greener, cleaner and more beautiful, according to Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee and deputy head of the National Steering Committee on the anniversary.

Prominent among the completed works are the Hanoi Museum, the Saint Giong statue, the Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Ton Duc Thang statues, the Hoa Binh (Peace) park, the Hanoi-Amsterdam Gifted High School , Beltway 3, Thang Long boulevard, the giant embroidered picture entitled “Coi Xua” (Old Origins) and the ceramic road along the Red River.

Besides, following the UNESCO’s recognition of the 82 doctor laureate steles under the Le-Mac dynasties in Van Mieu ( Temple of Literature), the Thang Long Imperial Citadel has been recently recognised as a world cultural heritage by the UNESCO, she said.

“They are invaluable presents on the threshold of the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi,” said Hang.

The 10-day festival will bring together many politicians, cultural activists and scientists around the world as well as foreign visitors and overseas Vietnamese.

A solemn ceremony will open the festival in the morning of October 1 at the Ly Thai To Garden. The festival will include a meeting and a march and parade on October 10 at the Ba Dinh Square .

As many as 38 foreign and 20 local art troupes have to date registered to perform during the festival, Hang said.

Thousands of antiques have been selected for exhibition, helping visitors understand the world cultural heritages in Hanoi, she added.

The city has almost completed works on decorating and lighting streets as well as attractive lighting systems around lakes and stadiums and on bridges spanning the Red River.

Peace Trees Vietnam marks mine clearing milestone

Peace Trees Vietnam, the first US non-Government organisation licensed for operation in the then war-stricken country, marked its 15th year of clearing land mines in Quang Tri province on Sept. 9 and 10.

The Permanent Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Nguyen Duc Chinh, said at the celebration that Peace Trees Vietnam, with funding of around 2 million USD, had contributed to socio-economic recovery and development in several residential quarters suffering huge war damages and struggling against the aftermath of landmines.

He added that the US NGO had also contributed to promoting friendship between Vietnam and the US, whose diplomatic relations were resumed 15 years ago.

In addition to landmine clearance, Peace Trees Vietnam has also funded development projects for the province.

On September 10 for example, the US Embassy and Peace Trees Vietnam, in association with the provincial Women’s Union, inaugurated a kindergarten and a library for the Van Kieu ethnic minority group in Khe Da commune, Lao Bao township, on the border with Laos .

The projects, valued at over 38,000 USD in total, were funded by Peace Trees Vietnam.

Land management looks to int’l standards

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment held a symposium in Hanoi on Sept. 10 to listen to foreign land managers in an effort to catch up with developed economies in the region by 2020 as planned.

Experts from Sweden, Holland, the Republic of Korea, China and the World Bank shared experiences in land registry, land pricing, land information systems, digital land management, land fund development and land compensation.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen emphasised three key points in the orientation on land management modernisation, based on a modern organisational mechanism, advanced technology and efficiency of land management.

“All this is necessary to contribute to poverty alleviation, democracy and social parity,” said the minister, revealing that the nation’s final goal was to reach international standards by 2030.

Acting Head of the Land Management Department Phung Van Nghe said land managers should no longer simply do an administrative job but should manage the business of national properties.

He explained that land management was geared towards providing administrative and legal procedures for land users and the community.

The Law of Land, promulgated in 2003, has opened up a new era where the Government has shifted land ownership or auctioned small parcels of land to enrich State coffers.

In 2009 alone, land auctions fetched 40 trillion VND (2.04 billion USD), representing a 10-fold increase over five years ago.

More funding to develop Hanoi’s craft villages

Hanoi will provide 3.6 trillion VND (189 million USD) to preserve and develop craft villages over 2010-2015 to preserve traditional craft villages, develop tourism and build new ones while ensuring the environment is protected.

The city will prioritise 25 traditional villages that are under threat of falling beyond repair and that need to be restored and preserved. They include Dong My lacquer village, Dai Ang conical hat village, Nghia Do “sac” paper village, Van Canh “do” paper village and Ngu Xa copper casting village.

The project will help to develop tourism at craft villages, assist family households to maintain their production for tourist purposes, provide finance for vocational training and encourage the production of high quality handicrafts.

The city is also paying more attention to developing new craft villages to help generate jobs and increase local residents incomes.

In order to attract investment to preserve craft villages, Hanoi will grant soft loans to businesses for a duration of 3-5 years, to help them to promote their trade marks and promote craft villages in the city.

Setting up and developing the sale of crafts in domestic and foreign markets with a focus on linking up with supermarkets and trade centres and assisting craft villages to boost exports will be also be conducted.

In order to avoid pollution, the city will encourage craft businesses to move to industrial complexes and help businesses to upgrade their equipment.

At present, Hanoi has almost 1,350 craft villages, making up 59 percent of the country’s total, that provide jobs for over 626,000 people, with an annual average income of 13.1 million VND per person.

In 2009, Hanoi ’s craft villages earned 7.65 trillion VND (402 million USD), equal to 8.4 percent of the city’s industrial production value.

According to the Hanoi Centre for Industrial Promotion and Consultancy, despite the assistance to help traditional craft villages in Hanoi , they have encountered many problems.

In order to promote Hanoi ’s craft villages, a festival “Thang Long-Hanoi craft villages and streets” will be held in Hanoi between September 16-21.

Seminar calls for institutional reform in VN

A seminar on institutional reform was held on September 9 in Hanoi with the participation of policy makers, researchers and foreign advisors.

Sponsored by Vietnam’s Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) and USAiD-funded Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative, phase II, the event aims to build a long-term institutional system and raise its effectiveness through better management to sustain competitiveness.

Experts shared the most effective tools for management and institutional reform, including organisational factors to speed up reform, administrative reform and discussed international trends in this issue.

Scott Jacobs, a senior international expert, said there should be reform in the labour market, infrastructure and economic policies to promote the prosperity of Vietnam. He added that Vietnam has higher success capability in institutional reform than the Republic of Korea or Singapore.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, deputy head of CIEM, said that institutional reform would help lessen the burden on businesses, increase transparency, maximise national resources, support economic growth and generate more jobs.

Campaign launched to make the world cleaner

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on September 11 to launch a campaign running from September 11 to October 10 to make the world a cleaner place.

The campaign, which was launched by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee and the Hanoi Youth Union, is part of activities to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

It aims to raise the awareness of young people and Hanoians about environmental protection, contribute to improving public health and promote the youth as the vanguard in coping with climate change.

After the launch, twenty teams of volunteers and 700 youth union members took part in cleaning up Pham Van Dong Road and riding bicycles through main streets to spread propaganda about environmental protection.

Asian liver centre makes debut in HCM City

The Asian Liver Centre (ALC) made its debut in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11. The centre, the first of its kind in Vietnam, was jointly set up by the Asian Centre for Liver Diseases and Transplants in Singapore and the Hoa Lam Development and Investment Joint Stock Company.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said that the centre is expected to reduce overload in hospitals and its leading Singaporean and Vietnamese doctors will help patients have access to modern medical check-ups and treatment for all types of liver diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The centre organised a workshop on liver diseases the same day.

Outstanding students to be honoured

A ceremony to honour 39 outstanding students across the country, who came first in thí year’s university entrance exams, will take place in Hanoi on September 19, reports the Vietnamese Students Association (VSA).

Among of them scored a perfect 30 out of 30 and will receive a certificate of merit from the Ministry of Education and Training, a laptop, and a prize worth VND5 million.

Others will get a certificate from the VSA and valuable rewards.

The students will also participate in an incense-burning ceremony at the Temple of Literature and a gift distribution to poor children.

6th national public health conference held in Nha Trang

The 6th national conference of the Vietnam Public Health Association (VPHA) was held in Nha Trang city on September 10 with the theme “Sharing information and resources for a better public health sector”.

Nearly 60 scientific reports were presented at the conference by medical experts from around the country.

Conference participants focused their discussion on three major issues: the impact of climate change, the application of information technology in the public heath sector, and elderly people in Vietnam. They exchanged information about healthcare policy, environment, nutrition, research on aging, and HIV/AIDS.

They warned that many in Vietnam have been violating laws regulating the sale of cigarettes, and urged the implementation of a public non-smoking policy and increased public awareness of cooking hygiene and safety.

The presentations and reports delivered at the conference provide a basis for public health policy and better healthcare services for all Vietnamese people.

Int’l experts talk infectious disease prevention

Over 100 experts from the US, Japan, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines met in Hanoi on September 9 to discuss experiences in combating infectious diseases spread by insects and animals in the Southeast Asian region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien expressed her hope that the seminar would share helpful information on preventing infectious diseases spread by virus, discuss safe biological solutions to minimise their effects as well as develop new research and advanced technologies in an effort to combat diseases in the Southeast Asian region in particular and the world in general.

About 30 scientific reports identified the causes of the diseases, along with factors such as climate change and people’s hobbies which may hasten the spread of disease in the community, and warned about the occurrence of new and old diseases such as the SARS epidemic, A/H1N1 flu, malaria, dengue fever and allergy.

The seminar, jointly held by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, lasts till September 10.

PV