Social

Food adverts threaten children’s health

2008-05-04T17:31:00.001-07:00

23:15' 04/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Customers buy food in a fast-food store on Hai Ba Trung Street in HCM City.
Food advertisements are leading children to potentially dangerous diseases, warns Viet Nam Association for Standardisation and the Protection of Consumers deputy chairman Do Gia Phan.

Children prefer foods that contain too much sugar, salt and fat, for no other reason than they like the advertising, he says.

The result is they have energy but are malnourished.

The State should ban products that too easily make people fat, he argues.

Nutrition Institute Communication Centre director ,Dr Hoang Kim Thanh, says that not one single food contains sufficient nutrition.

This means that eating too much of one type of food will lead to obesity and the possibility of heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

Even dairy produce, such as milk and cheese, which are said to be good for children, can cause obesity and harm the liver and kidneys if they are over consumed because of their high protein content.

Figures show obesity is rising in urban Viet Nam.

For example, in HCM City, about 6 per cent of children under five and 23 per cent of primary-school children are overweight.

One 11-year-old has set a record at 79 kg.

Children don’t have enough knowledge to know what is good for them and are often attracted by advertisements, says Dr Thanh.

"Why don’t you let me eat cheese which helps me grow taller." a mother quotes her son 7, as saying.

Attracted by an amusing advertisement, the boy became addicted to cheese.

His mother says she bought cheese for him when he was an infant because it provides calcium and other nourishment, but he refused to eat it.

It was only after watching an amusing advertisement that he changed his mind.

Not only television but newspapers, magazines and leaflets entice children to food. Dairy, beverage and fast-food companies deliver their produce to supermarkets, schools and kindergartens for children to sample.

Children drink milk to collect the games that are offered with the product.

One five-year-old child weighs 32 kg.

"She eats only a half bowl of rice at a meal but still gets fat because she consumes the snacks, cake, chips and sausage that are advertised on television," complains her mother.

New regulations

The International Customer Service Association has proposed regulations to govern the advertising of food and beverage - without alcohol - for children.

The proposal is now awaiting World Health Organisation approval.

In the meantime, Dr Pham Thanh Tuyen advises parents to control advertising that might influence their children.

"Parents can limit the times that children watch food advertisements by having them participate in other activities," the physician says.

And they shouldn’t spoil children by buying them all the food they want.

Body of drowned US tourist found in Sapa

2008-05-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

06:03' 05/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Three divers from northern coastal Quang Ninh province on May 4 noon found the body of a US tourist who drowned in Ca Nhay water fall two days ago in Ban Ho village, Sa Pa district of northern Lao Cai province.

An official from Ban Ho village, Dao Van Son, said that the body of Cottr Hnolivev was found about five metres under the rock’s chink, not far from the site where he swam and fell into a whirlpool on the afternoon of May 2. He was touring the village with two other visitors, an American and a British, and two Vietnamese guides.

The local rescue forces could not find his body as they lack special diving equipment, so divers had to be sent in from Quang Ninh.

Ca Nhay Fall in Ban Ho is a beautiful place located at the foot of Hoang Lien Son mountain. There are many deep caves and whirlpools in the area.

This is the first accident for foreign visitors at the tourist spot. Earlier, two Vietnamese were drowned when they were swimming under the fall.

SOCIAL IN BRIEF 4/5

2008-05-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

23:56' 04/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Heavy rains flood streets in HCM City
Heavy rains flooded many streets in Ho Chi Minh City, causing traffic jam and environmental pollution.
An hour heavy rain on May 2 flooded many streets, including Hong Bang in District 5, Minh Phung – Cay Go in District 11, February 2 in Dicstrict 10.
Hung Vuong street in District 6 alone was between 30-40 centrimetres under water, causing traffic jamp.

Hundreds of houses in Ward 7, District 3, were flooded by 40 centimetres. Water receded after three or five hours.

HCM City entrepreneurs donate eye treatment for people in Quang Ngai

VND 100 million was presented by the Entrepreneurs’ Club 2030 in Ho Chi Minh City to Quang Ngai province on May 2 to help eye operation and treatment for 200 poor blind people.

Apart from free operation and treatment, poor patients will get free medicines, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

The operation will be implemented by doctors from the Quang Ngai Eye Centre and the Binh Son hospital.

Quang Ngai now has around 3,000 poor blind people, who need support for treatment and operation.

100-bed hospital to be built in Kien Giang province

A 100-bed public hospital will be built in September under the current free clinic in Kien Giang province.

The VND 70 billion public hospital should help expand the clinic’s services to more patients who could otherwise not afford health care, said Tran Lam, head of the clinic and chairman of the province’s Association for Poor Patient Sponsorship.

“The hospital receives money from enterprises nationwide,” Mr Lam said.

The current fourth floor clinic covering 500sq.m provides free examinations and medicines to more than 200 poor patients daily. The clinic will serve as the base for the new hospital.

The clinic recently added one more floor to the building to provide acupuncture services.

Similar to the free clinic, each patient going to the hospital will be provided with free examinations, medicine, food and transportation.

The hospital also plans to bring in modern equipment to ensure the patients receive the best care possible.

Lam noted that the hospital would work to provide services in line with private hospitals.

All doctors and nurses in the hospital will be volunteers.

8,945 ethnic minority households in Yen Bai escape poverty thank to soft loans

As many as 8,945 ethnic minority households in Yen Bai province have escaped poverty thanks to soft loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policy.

The bank has provided VND 138.602 billion for 29,775 ethnic minority households via its network in Yen Bai province.

Concretely, the bank has helped local poor households buy 40,465 horses, buffaloes and cows; more than 2,300 goats; over 72,000 pigs; 256 tonnes of fish, plant 16,566 hectares of forest.

The support was given through over 3,000 savings and loans receiving units in 232 villages.

Gov’t offers financial aid to fishermen

The Ministry of Finance has recently issued guidelines on the Government’s policy to support fishermen.

Any fishermen wanting to buy or build new fishing boats with engines of more than 90 Horse Power (HP), or boats to be used to provide fishing boats, will receive annual support of 70 million VND from now to 2010.

Fishermen can receive a sum of 10 million VND if they want to use more fuel-efficient engines for their boats that have a capacity of 40 to 90 HP each, and 18 million VND for engines with a capacity of more than 90 HP.

The Government will help fishermen pay 30 percent of their insurance fees while seamen will receive 100 percent support for life insurance fees.

Vietnam Red Cross launches humanitarian campaign

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) has launched a campaign marking the 118th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh (May 19) and the 145th anniversary of World Red Cross and Crescent Day (May 8).

The campaign is entitled “Each organisation, each individual associated with one humanitarian address”.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in Hanoi on May 4, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan called on all organisations and individuals to take part in the campaign which aims to help disadvantaged people across the nation.

The Vice State President presented gifts to two Hanoi families who were exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin during the American war. The VNRC donated 50 wheelchairs to wounded soldiers and disabled people in Hanoi.

According to the VNRC, the campaign aims to help about 651,000 disadvantaged people in 2008.

The campaign will be launched in Ho Chi Minh City on May 18 with nearly 10,000 people walking in support of AO/dioxin victims and other disabled people.

Nearly 30,000 ethnic minority families given business loans

Some 29,775 ethnic minority families in the northern province of Yen Bai have been given 138.602 billion VND in loans to help their businesses at preferential interest rates.

The money has been used in the breeding industry, to plant 16,566 hectares of forests, and to change outdated methods in agricultural production.

Thanks to the loans, as of the first quarter of 2008, nearly 9,000 ethnic minority families had escaped from poverty.

Global care supports ethnic pupils in Lao cai province

20 ethnic pupils who have overcome many hardships to achieve good results in their studies in the northeastern mountainous province of Lao Cai have received scholarships from the Global Care organization of the Republic of Korea.

On the occasion, their families were also provided with breeding animals worth 20 million VND each.

The Global Care organization has also established a group named “Young talent” to help poor outstanding pupils.

Apart from receiving 300,000 VND per month during school time, fees at university or vocational schools and help in finding a job, the pupils were also presented with clothes and learning aids.

Canada gives aid to control pollution

The Canadian Government has provided Vietnam with a non refundable grant worth 15 million USD to improve the capacity of Vietnamese managers handling industrial-pollution control.

A memorandum of understanding, as part of the Village Project Executive Group (VPEG), was signed on May 2 between Natural Resources and Environment Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen and Canadian ambassador Gabriel Lessard.

The grant will benefit nine cities and provinces – Bac Ninh, Binh Duong, Long An, Quang Ngai, Soc Trang, Ha Tay, Hanoi, Hai Duong and Da Nang in the next five years, starting in 2008.

The Vietnam-Japan friendship association marks its 40th anniversary

The Vietnam-Japan Friendship Association in Ibaragi prefecture, Japan held a ceremony on May 3 to mark its 40th anniversary and the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Speaking on the occasion, the association’s chairman, Shimoyama Toranosuke, highlighted Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements in recent years and the Vietnamese government’s cooperation in implementing the association’s activities effectively.

Mr Shimoyama expressed his wish to develop sustainable relations between Japan and Vietnam to ensure a lasting peace, happiness and prosperity in the interests of the two peoples in particular and the world in general.

Professor Furuta Motoo from Tokyo University also delivered a speech giving an overall picture of Vietnam over the past 20 years of Doi Moi (Renewal).

At the Cultural House in Ibaragi prefecture, north of Tokyo, there are many stands displaying photos and newspapers cutting about Vietnam and the relationship between the two countries and the association’s activities in support of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims in recent times.

Vietnamese community in Angola turns towards home country

Many significant activities have been held by the Vietnamese community in Angola to support their compatriots in Vietnam.

As much as US $22,500 was given to the Fund for the Poor, Study Encouragement Fund, Fund for Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, Fund of Community Support, Fund to Build Houses of Gratitude.

About 5,000 Vietnamese expatriates are currently living and working in Angola. Most of them live on small trade, but now they have applied hi-tech in business and work in tourism, hotels, and restaurants.

Notably, an avenue was named after Ho Chi Minh in Luanda, the capital of Angola. That means this African country has deep feelings for the beloved leader of Vietnam and Vietnamese people.

University cements scholarship deal

A five-year cooperation agreement was signed between the HCM City Technology University and the cement manufacturing joint venture company Holcim Vietnam last Friday.

Under the agreement, Holcim will provide scholarships worth VND110 million per year from now until 2013 for top students as well as the disadvantaged struggling to graduate from university.

Holcim will also supply 200 to 300 tonnes of cement per year for Technology students’ activities during their "Green Summer" campaigns to develop remote areas in the country.

Tech University students will be able to take tours of Holcim’s plants and factories or even intern there to familiarise themselves with the industry.

Eighty wedding guests get food poisoning

Ha Tay Province’s Phuc Tho District Preventive Medicine Centre said nearly 80 people were treated on Wednesday evening for vomiting and diarrhoea.

The patients were among 600 people who had attended a wedding party on the morning of the same day.

Eight food samples were tested, as the patients were suspected of suffering from food poisoning.

Three dead in Vung Tau seaside drowning

Three people, including two teenagers, drowned while swimming off the Vung Tau beaches on Wednesday.

At one point in the day the weather and wind direction changed suddenly, overturning the floatation devices of many swimmers and carrying them out to sea.

Forty-six people were rescued over the course of Wednesday and Thursday. However, strong winds and heavy rains prevented the rescue team from saving three of the stranded victims .

Heavy rains in North should help irrigation

The Central Weather Forecast Bureau said the North and North Central regions would experience showers and gales today and tomorrow.

These rains are caused by strong winds and low barometric pressure.

The rains will supply a great amount of water for hydroelectricity reservoirs and irrigation networks.

However, mountainous areas should take precautions against strong winds, hail and landslides.

Three die after binge drinking on wine

Can Tho General Hospital on Thursday said three out of four people who had arrived suffering from wine poisoning died.

The remaining patient was moved to HCM City for further treatment.

The poisoning victims were initially hospitalised on Monday with symptoms of low blood pressure and severe respiratory problems.

Catholic congress in Hai Phong

Catholics in the northern port city of Hai Phong convened their fifth congress from April 28-29 to identify major tasks for the next five years.

At the congress, 137 parishes pledged to uphold patriotic tradition and the emulation movement to firmly advance the city during the process of industrialisation and modernisation.

They agreed to promote the movement to build cultured life in residential areas and strive to fight social evils.

Also on April 29, nearly 200 outstanding Catholics from parishes across central Binh Dinh Province attended their fourth congress.

ICF pays to remove VN girl’s tumour

Doctors successfully removed a 7kg tumour from the face of a Vietnamese girl in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida in the US, with financial support from the International Children’s Fund (ICF), according to a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Mexico.

It’s reported that the tumour first appeared on Lai Thi Dao’s tongue when she was three years old and quickly spread. The tumour, one-third of the girl’s weight, made it difficult for her to eat, speak and move around.

The ICF raised US$107,000 for the girl’s surgery.

Australia gives VN 170 scholarships

The Australian Government will provide 170 scholarships to Vietnamese students for postgraduate study at Australian universities in 2009.

Australia Development Scholarships are given out to students interested in studying business, trade, public policy, law, development research, management, agricultural science and environmental research, public health, English teaching and educational management in universities in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Two dead in bus-truck smash

Two people were killed and 20 others injured when a truck collided head-on with a bus on National Highway 1 in Quang Nam Province early yesterday morning.

The south-bound bus was travelling from Hai Duong when it crashed into the truck at Tam Xuan 2 Commune in Nui Thanh District, police said.

The collision totalled the bus, killing the driver and a passenger, and injured 20 of the 33 passengers on board.

Survivors from the bus said the collision was so severe that many passengers were thrown out of the front window onto the road.

Vice President calls for joint actions for disadvantaged people

Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan has called on mass organisations, individuals and all strata of people to jointly take actions to help disadvantaged people.

The Vice President made the call at a ceremony to launch the campaign “each organisation, each individual helps one humanitarian address”, held by the Vietnam Red Cross Society in Hanoi on May 4.

She said the campaign is a good and practical initiative in response to the 118 th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh and the 145 th anniversary of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Day which will fall on May 8.

The campaign aims to bring help to an estimated 651,000 disadvantaged people this year. The assistance ranges from cash donations, capital for business start-up to free medical treatment.

The campaign will later be launched in Ho Chi Minh City on May 18. Around 10,000 people will take part in a march to support Agent Orange victims and disabled people.

Traffic accidents claim over 200 lives during holidays

The week-long holidays from April 25 to May 1 saw 217 traffic accidents occur across the country, killing 207 people and injuring 105 others.

According to the Road and Railway Traffic Police Department, most of the accidents were caused by speeding and traffic law violations.

Major hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City reported that the number of traffic victims with head injuries suddenly increased last week, especially on the two national holidays on April 30 and May 1.

In the period, traffic congestions were seen in many places, especially tourist and entertainment.

Bird flu breaks out in one more southern province

2008-05-02T18:35:00.001-07:00

15:15' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Bird flu has been discovered in the southern province of Vinh Long, killing nearly 400 chickens of a farmer family in Xuan Hiep commune, Tra On district, reported the local veterinary agency
According to Labourer Newspaper, chickens died on a massive scale on April 26. On April 28, the veterinary agency announced its test results, which showed that the chickens had died of bird flu. None of the chickens were vaccinated.
Vietnam currently has three provinces with this disease, Can Tho and Vinh Long in the south and Son La in the north.
Meanwhile, Youth Newspaper reported that foot-and-mouth disease in cattle is now in the two central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh.
Blue ear disease in pigs continues to develop and it currently exists in ten provinces, including Ha Tinh, Quang Nam, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Thua Thien-Hue in the central region, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh in the north.

Empty houses litter city as real-estate skyrockets

2008-05-02T18:34:00.001-07:00

22:08' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
While limited land funds are making it difficult for Hanoi to keep up with public works projects and ensuring enough accommodations, hundreds of villas in many urban areas are sitting half finished and abandoned.
Half-finished and abandoned houses in the new Linh Dam residential area in Hanoi.
In new urban areas, such as in Xuan La Ward of Tay Ho District, unfinished buildings covered in moss and pathways overgrown with grass sit next to beautiful apartment buildings.
A similar view can be seen in Van Quan Urban Area in Ha Dong City. Dozens of villas are unoccupied and covered with weeds. The area is littered with injection needles thrown out by drug addicts.
The situation is even worse in Me Tri Urban Area. Weeds, garbage, injection needles and condoms are piling up in unused villas.
Hoang Ngoc Thanh, who owns a house in the urban area, said many houses around his seem abandoned, although they were only built several years ago.
"I never see the owners of these houses," said Thanh.
Thanh said he bought his house from his cousin, who bought it from another acquaintance.

The fact that many houses in these urban areas are left abandoned is evidence that many houses have been sold to people purchasing the houses only for speculation. This has led to a huge waste in funds.

These abandoned houses provide a platform for socially vulnerable groups to carry out illegal activities, and is harmful to the surrounding environment.

Citizens from Me Tri Urban Area said they were worried about their safety, with drug addicts in the area.

A security guard from the same area said they had difficulty keeping an eye on the drug addicts and prostitutes staying in the abandoned houses.

The situation so far has no solution in sight.

A land consultant said these houses were unaffordable for the average buyer and would be difficult to sell.

"These houses keep waiting for their owners," said the consultant.

Even with empty houses littering the area, land and house prices have yet to go down.

Nguyen Chi Si, the director of Ha Noi No 2 Construction Investment Company, said the prices keep rising because of speculation.

While some policies have been implemented to prevent speculation, they have proven ineffective because the houses and land are being traded illegally, according to Si.

"If this keeps up, home ownership will be unreachable for most of the population," said the land consultant.

Nguyen Manh Ha, head of the House Management Department, said that houses must be bought by people intending to live in them.

The State should prevent speculation by collecting tax on land usage and on the house, said Ha.

Nation’s rice strategy a success

2008-05-02T18:33:00.001-07:00

18:02' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
The rush to buy rice ended across the country on the back of falling rice prices, following moves by food companies and market regulators to defuse the worst panic buying in many years.
Official figures show that Vietnam currently has 1.23mil tonnes of rice available in stock, which authorities say testifies that the price rises and rush buying was a result of rumours, speculation and distribution impediments rather than a rice shortage.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Development (MARD), in an official report released to the public on Tuesday, forecast that Vietnam is well on track to producing 36.55mil tonnes of paddy (unhusked rice) this year, if there are no adverse weather conditions.
"If there are no serious natural calamities, Vietnam’s 2008 rice output could reach or even surpass the 36-million-tonne target, ensuring national food security as well as rice exports," said deputy minister of MARD Diep Kinh Tan.

Prices fell to VND16,000-17,000 per kg of premium quality rice yesterday. Rice prices started to climb from VND11,000-13,000 last week to around VND20,000-22,000 per kg over the weekend.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent an urgent notice on Sunday, affirming that Vietnam is fully able to provide food for domestic consumption while ensuring some rice exports.

The Viet Nam Food Association asked members to transfer more rice to stabilise the HCM City market, while the Northern Food Corporation has ensured its outlets all listed prices at VND11,000 for a kilo of export-standard rice. After feverish buying in anticipation of further price rises, business is back to normal at rice shops, with very few buyers yesterday.

The Government on Tuesday issued an official letter asking the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and MARD to closely observe and ensure smooth production, distribution and export of rice as planned.

The Prime Minister also asked the two ministries, as well as the ministries of Public Security, National Defence and Information and Communications, to review and draw lessons from last week’s rice market instability.
Authorities were required to more closely regulate the rice market against smuggling, speculative hoarding and false rumours.
Official figures
With paddy output predicted at 36.5mil tonnes, domestic consumption of paddy in 2008 is forecast at 27.8mil tonnes. That includes 1mil tonnes reserved for breeding, and 5.8mil tonnes in animal feed and post-harvest loss.
The remaining 8.75mil tonnes of paddy, equivalent to 4.5mil tonnes of rice, will be available for export, the report shows.
The Government’s export target of 3.5 to 4mil tonnes was feasible, while still ensuring national food security.
MARD’s official statistics show that Vietnam produced 19.8mil tonnes of paddy in the last six months. Five million tonnes of paddy output, equivalent to 2.8mil tonnes of rice, is earmarked for export.
The General Department of Customs reported that Vietnam exported 1.6mil tonnes of rice in the first four months of 2008, earning US$775mil in revenue, up 73% on the same period last year.

Weak distribution systems

Mekong region countries consider ‘rice cartel’

BANGKOK — An organisation of rice exporting nations similar to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is set to be established by countries in the Mekong region as global prices of the grain surge.
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam have agreed in principle to form a rice cartel, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told a meeting in Bangkok on Wednesday.
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam had agreed to join the Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (OREC), he said.
Myanmar has also agreed to join, he said, though the country is not a large rice exporter.
Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said the organisation should begin meeting soon.
Thailand is the world’s largest rice exporter, shipping some 9.5mil tonnes last year.
Global rice prices have soared this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertiliser costs, greater global demand, droughts, loss of land to biofuel plantations, and speculation.
Global demand for Thai rice has soared after Vietnam and India imposed limits on exports to ensure domestic supply.
Thailand has repeatedly insisted it will not limit exports, but on Tuesday the Government announced it was releasing its stockpile of 2.1mil tonnes into the domestic market to keep prices stable.

MOIT deputy minister Nguyen Cam Tu attributed the temporary shortage to current distribution systems.

Vietnam currently has two rice distribution systems. One is used for supplying rice for export, while the other is reserved for the domestic market. The former was being handled well by the Government and operating smoothly. However, the latter is still at the mercy of the market’s whims.

"We now lack major commercial companies that can be used as effective tools by the Government to regulate the market for rice and other food items," Tu said.

Current food and foodstuff distribution systems are organised unprofessionally so they develop independently without close co-operation, according to Hoang Tho Xuan, director of the MOIT’s Department of Domestic Market.

"Consequently, the market has many distributors but none of them are strong enough to hold enough sway over the market when fluctuations like the last price hike occur," said Xuan.

"Worse still, most activities carried out by current food and foodstuff distributors are out of the control of authorised agencies. In particular, people sell to merchants and then merchants sell to merchants, following their own principles."

With that kind of organisational style, the domestic food market does not have major distributors to support the market and protect it from fluctuations. This created opportunities for speculative practices to arise, he said.

Not only rice, but many other essential commodities, such as fertilisers and steel products, also face distribution problems, he added.

Low skills stymie rural workers

2008-05-02T18:32:00.001-07:00

22:21' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Rural labourers are finding they can’t hack it in cities
A huge number of labourers from rural areas are migrating to the cities to find work, but due to low qualifications most are finding they can only pursue low-paying manual labour.
Manager of a private company in Thanh Hoa Province, Pham Dang Khuyen (left), instructs farmers to make rattan products for export. Most rural workers are untrained.
This trend has highlighted the poor vocational orientation among the masses of job-seekers pouring into the cities.
Rural labour accounts for more than 70% of all labour nationwide, and most labourers have not undertaken any vocational training course. Meanwhile, about 331,430 ha of farming land will be rezoned for other activities during the 2006-2010 period, which means that more than 2.5mil farmers will lose their means of making an income, according to statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.
It’s a problem that’s reflected in most of the restaurants and garages in Hanoi, where it is easy to find workers who are from the rural areas of northern Vinh Phuc, Ha Tay, Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa provinces.
Many of these workers start manual work to survive day to day, and do not spend much time to plan for a better job in the future.
Nguyen Van Tuan from Giao Thuy District, in the northern province of Nam Dinh, said he came to the capital to find work, following the lead of many of his friends who left the countryside for the big smoke.
Tuan said that after three years in the city, he still hadn’t found a stable job. He used to work as a waiter, gas station attendant and also collected and recycle old electronic products.
Each time he grew dissatisfied with his work, he returned to Giao Thuy. But his time back in the countryside was always short, as the low income he made from farming motivated him to again try his luck in the city.
With a salary between VND600,000-VND1mil per month, people like Tuan find it hard to survive in the city without any savings to help them establish a new life.

Some employers in the city raise concerns about rural workers, saying that they are not reliable as many decide to quit their jobs to return to the countryside.

"Most of the people we hire from rural areas have the idea that they can quit their jobs whenever they want, and that’s why we can’t totally trust them," said one restaurant owner in Hanoi.

Focus on training

Training rural labourers is the primary target in plans on tackling the problem. But so far, vocational training hasn’t provided a solution, due to poor labour management methods and ineffective training.

Many rural labourers have only completed secondary school and have no other qualifications or training.

Lam Van Cong from Ha Hoa, Phu Tho has worked as a cleaner in a hotel since he was 16 years old. Cong said that when he started his job, he didn’t have any idea about what he was supposed to do.

"Other cleaners helped to guide me sometimes and I became used to my job without taking any vocational training courses," said Cong.

"If I take a course, it will cost me money and time."

Trinh Van Truong from Tinh Gia, Thanh Hoa and five of his friends have worked at garage in the city for four years. They all learnt how to do the work while doing the job.

"If I take vocational training courses at a centre, it takes one year and a substantial amount of money," said Truong.

"Meanwhile, while working at the garage I learn the skills required for the job while also making some money."

Tran Tien Dat, director of a vocational training centre of Nha Be District, HCM City, said authorities needed to boost public awareness on the need for proper vocational training and the long-term benefits of this type of training.

"Most labourers need a job but they don’t have any direction to find a suitable job," said Dat.

"The short term benefit is still their first priority so they don’t want to waste any time taking a course."

PM grants major cities more power

2008-05-02T18:31:00.001-07:00

22:01' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung granted authorities of Hanoi and HCM City more power in decentralisation efforts to help the two cities complete their socio-economic development plans.
After a recent meeting with leaders of HCM City, Dung concluded that the city played an important role in the country’s socio-economic development, accounting for 22% of GDP, one-third of the State’s budget and 40% of the country’s export turnover.
Dung wanted HCM City to balance necessary goods for consumption and production including electric, petroleum, iron and foodstuff to avoid price hikes.
The city was asked to strengthen controls on anti-smuggling and trade frauds, and check-up on the progress of public investment projects, ensuring unnecessary and ineffective projects were postponed or delayed.
He emphasised that priority should be given to social welfare projects, especially for needy and underprivileged people.
The Prime Minister also gave the city concrete guidance on subterraneous building projects, readjusting estimates for projects funded by ODA, and managing activities of credit organisations, investment funds, securities companies and real estate companies.
After the meeting with Hanoi’s leaders, the Prime Minister asked provincial authorities to effectively implement measures to control inflation, increase production and exports, stabilise prices on the market and prevent speculation.
The municipal authorities were instructed to co-ordinate with the Ministry of Construction to plan city expansion with traffic infrastructure in mind.
Dung agreed with the city’s plan to celebrate the 1000th year of Thang Long – Ha Noi and assigned the Ministry of Construction to co-ordinate with the municipal People’s Committee and relevant sectors to develop a project to renovate the ancient citadel area.

Labor market forecast to cool down

2008-05-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

13:10' 02/05/2008 (GMT+7)
The human resource advisory services director of Navigos Group has forecast Vietnam's labor market with generally cool down this year given better supply and a foreseeable salary easing for certain industry categories.

Winnie Lam of the Vietnam's leading recruiting and integrated human resource solutions provider said companies now had better choice for employees as a lot of training companies had joined the market.

Lam used the finding of Navigos Group's quarterly Vietnam Online Employment Indicator Report to show that supply in all industries/categories in the first quarter of 2008 grew over 40% higher than the last quarter of last year, marking the largest growth of total supply in the last five quarters. Meanwhile, the demand index rose by 17%.

"It is interesting to see the labor supply-demand gap start to narrow," Lam said.

She added that this year would see salary slowing down for some industries, including finance, which was the hottest category last year, and the fact that employers were becoming more cautious about salary competition.

Lam said some categories Including retail banking would remain "very hot", and the result is that employees continue to ask for higher salary. Moreover, salary will not slow down in the new technology and management areas where highly-skilled people are still in need.

However, salary in Vietnam was generally lower than in other regional countries and the costs were still reasonable, Lam told the Daily after a news briefing that Navigos Group held here on Monday to announce the launch of Vietnam Salary Survey 2008.

This year, the group includes a broader range of job categories in the survey to capture the growth in the country's ever-changing labor market. The 17 new job groups and a total of 75 in all help the survey cover almost every job category in the Vietnamese market.

The addition enables the final report to be more extensive, and helps companies analyze and compare gross salaries, net salaries, bonuses, allowances and benefits for hundreds of different positions.

The first such bilingual-version survey for both English and non-English readers will continue the competency-based approach, as in the previous report's format, placing emphasis on analyzing company and individual data.

Lam said more than 60 companies across Vietnam had committed to join the survey. The target is 200 large and small companies from different industries and economic sectors throughout the country.

Navigos Group will release the final survey in the third quarter of 2008 before annual salary reviews and adjustments to help answer critical questions regarding remuneration and measure a company's competitiveness in the labor market.

"A clear understanding of competitive, industry-specific salary levels is critical in shaping a company's talent pool in the current market," Lam said.

Navigos Group launched Vietnam Salary Survey in 2005. Last year, the survey attracted the participation of 156 foreign-invested and local companies, with collective data from 28,000 employees in 11 major industries.

Navigos Group's Vietnam Salary Survey 2008 is open for companies to register their participation until July 12 this year.

Vietnamese laborers abroad remit 1.7 billion USD per year

2008-05-01T16:01:00.002-07:00

13:26' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The information was recently released by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs. In the future, the country will focus on exporting skilled laborers instead of manual laborers.

In Da Nang City, on April 24, the Ministry organized a conference on Creating jobs and the Law on overseas laborers under signed contracts. According to Mr Nguyen Dai Dong, Head of the Job Department under the Ministry, the country has sent over 160,000 laborers abroad on fixed term contracts, mainly farmers.

Besides the Malaysia and Taiwan markets, currently Vietnam has increased its overseas laborers in high-income countries like Japan and the Republic of Korea as well as expanded to new markets in the Middle East like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Macao, Singapore, Australia and the US.

Vietnam also reopens the Czech Republic and Algeria labor markets and expecting to reach new ones in North and Central Europe.

“Every year, overseas laborers send around 1.7 billion USD back to the country. The capital is a good resource to contribute to national socio-economic development and create more jobs”, Mr Dong said.

However, the Ministry confirmed that the country’s labor export activity still faces a lot of challenges like weakness in issuing documents and the lack of strong, effective policies.

The quality of laborers does not meet the demand of some importers like foreign languages, skill, and awareness of legal compliance and the repercussions of breaking contracts. Vietnam still witnesses fraud and illegal labor exporting individuals and organizations. Mr Dong stressed the importance of supervising and inspecting sectors, especially job promotion and development.

In order to reach the target of sending abroad 400,000-500,000 laborers by 2010, the Ministry is enhancing solutions to stabilize and expand markets where Vietnam will get more benefits, focusing on markets using skilled laborers.

Vietnam needs to effectively teach foreign languages and raise awareness of industrial working environments for pre-departure laborers, as well as to offer them more assistance before, during and after departure.

Overseas Vietnamese aspiration for advertising Vietnam images to the world

2008-05-01T16:01:00.001-07:00

13:24' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Living far from Vietnam since 1974 when he began study abroad in Japan, Le Viet Hao always thought of the homeland and dreamed of returning to Vietnam.

In his “Envision” software, Mr Hao has designed a 14-subject column about Vietnam including festivals, landscapes, business people and fashion not only to satisfy his love of Vietnam but also to realize his aspiration to advertise Vietnam images to the world.

Now Chairman of the Content Interface Corporation (Canada) specializing in designing software, he returned to Vietnam 3 months ago and set up the Network Company to train and support Vietnamese IT engineers to approach international standards.

By a simple click on a unique interface, Internet users can explore a lot of information relating to Vietnamese landscapes with videos and images. For example, by clicking on Ha Long Bay, hundreds of photos of the bay will appear along with articles about its history, sightseeing, geography, people, hotels and restaurants.

He usually brings his digital camera to record unforgettable moments during his travels about the people, life and land. On this year’s trip to Phu Tho province in the third lunar month to commemorate the Hung Kings, the first of the ethnic Viet kings who set up the Van Lang state of Viet people thousands year ago, he was very happy when catching the spirit of the supernatural.

“The time in Phu Tho was not enough for me, I will return and discuss with Hung Vuong Museum staff about introducing such a meaningful festival on the website as soon as possible”, he said.

He is going to realize his idea by designing educational software that will be more effective and attractive for youth intended to compete with the charm of online games. The software will reduce study time by 5-10 times for learners, especially via videos and interesting sounds.

Graduated from the University of Japan, he has worked for IT firms in Japan and Canada before setting up his own company. At age 52, he dreams of contributing to national socio-economic development.

In Viet Network, he wishes to produce complete software for exporting, instead of doing partly for foreign customers.

He said that he is working with Vietnam Committee for overseas Vietnamese Affairs in designing a program for learning Vietnamese online.

Population growth rate affects job generation

2008-05-01T16:00:00.003-07:00

13:34' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Deputy Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa.

About 1.6 million people enter the job market every year. Meanwhile, the nation's population is growing by more than a million annually.

The population has been increasing by more than 1% annually, and more than 1 million people reach working age each year, Hoa told representatives at a national conference held last week in Da Nang City. The conference looked at implementing an employment programme and the Law on Vietnamese people working overseas under contract.

Hoa said the national employment target programme aims to ensure jobs for about 49.5 million people by 2010 and create new jobs for 8 million people in the 2006-2010 period. The rate of unemployment was expected to be reduced by 5% by 2010.

In 2006 and 2007, the Government approved an additional fund of 485 billion VND (30.3 million USD) for a national employment fund allocated to 64 cities and provinces nationwide and social and political organisations. In that period, more than 160,000 labourers were sent to work abroad.

At the conference, representatives from localities, enterprises and employment service centres asked relevant sectors to complete policies and regulations on labour and employment, revising articles from the Labour Code and from the Law on Minimum Salary. The representatives also said that it was necessary to develop a Law on Employment.

Participants also discussed ways to develop the domestic labour market and expand the foreign market, while strengthening check-ups and management of projects under the national employment target programme.

According to Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the country's economy has developed in more than 20 years of doi moi (renewal), but it is not yet stable and is only minimally competitive. The unemployment rate in urban areas was still high at 5.10% in 2006.

The country's population is expected to reach 89 million by 2010. With the working population increasing at a rate of 2.4-2.5% each year, there are about 1.6 million people in need of employment annually.

11.30am on April 30,1975: An unforgettable memory

2008-05-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

13:09' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Thirty-three years have elapsed since the historical moment when the Saigon puppet government’s President Duong Van Minh declared unconditional surrender to the Liberation Army. However, that eventful day is still fresh in the minds of witnesses.

Sen. Lieu. Gen. Professor and People’s Teacher, Hoang Minh Thao: When Duong Van Minh declared his surrender, I was deputy commander of the Fifth Military Zone, in charge of Infantry Divisions 968 and 324, a reserve force for comrade Le Trong Tan.

I was so happy that my eyes filled with tears. Sitting next to me, Major General Lu Giang, commander of the southern section of Military Zone No5 and Colonel Thanh Sơn, commander of Division 968 had the same feelings. We were deeply moved as we had been 30 years before when the August 1945 Revolution succeeded. At that time I was in Nha Trang city. I wanted to go to Saigon immediately to see how our people lived there and then return to the north to rejoin my family.

I thought after reunification Vietnam would rapidly advance forward to socialism. Unexpectedly, our country went through a very difficult period after that.

Lieu. Gen. Nguyen Hung Phong, former political deputy commander and Secretary of Military Zone No1 Party Committee: In the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign I was deputy political commissar and chairman of the political committee of Military Zone No1. Our task was to launch a direct attack on the Saigon General Staffs headquarters after liberating Thu Dau Mot town, and also their military bases in Phu Loi, Tan Yen, Lai Khe and Ben Cat (now in Binh Duong province).

At the historic time of 11.30 on April 30, 1975, Nguyen Chuong, commander of Division 312 and I were in the newly-seized Engineers School listening to the BBC news bulletin. Upon hearing of our victory on all the battlefields and the takeover of the Independence Palace we jumped up and down with joy, embraced each other and cried. We had been awaiting this historic moment for such a long time. As if to compensate our great losses, we spent all night talking and enjoying ourselves.

Lieu. Gen. Doan Sinh Huong, commander of Military Zone No 4: At that time I was chief of Company 9 which belonged to Armoured Brigade 273 in the 3rd Army Corps. We had just attacked and seized Tan Son Nhat airport and the Puppet regimes General Staff. We hugged each other, shouting and crying with joy.

After that I sat alone in the tank and thought of my companions in arms who had laid down their lives in battle, and my parents, brothers and sisters. I honestly thought about what I would do after the war. I could have gone back to my village to work on the farm or work as a factory worker. I could have also gone into sport or singing for which I had a gift and wanted to do when I was at school. I didn’t think of staying in the army. At that moment I wished I could go back and see my parents so I bought two packs of candy as a present to them and a hairpin for my girlfriend.

Maj. Gen. Nguyen Minh Long, former deputy chief of the War Department, the General Staff: In the Great Victory of Spring 1975, I was deputy commander of Division 324 in the 2nd Army Corps. We liberated Hue city on March 25, 1975, and then joined the campaign to liberate Da Nang and other southern provinces. In Binh Thuan, our division was appointed to be the mobile reserve force for the Army Corps and the General Staff.

At 11.30 on April 30, 1975, we were stationed in Cam Ranh Bay to watch for enemy reinforcements landing. Comrade Chu Huy Man told us that our armed forces had seized the Independence Palace and liberated Saigon, we burst into tears out of happiness. We had won the war and regained independence for our country. However, we felt sad as we had no chance to directly participate in the last battle of the historic Ho Chi Minh campaign. At that time, we all wanted to go into battle to contribute to the nation’s victory.

Professor Phong Le: At that time I was Sub-editor of the Literature Magazine under the Institute of Literature. We were listening to presentations by German Professor Hans Kotum and Doctor Dichter Cris when the Voice of Vietnam radio announced the news of victory. The meeting hall resounded with thunderous applause. We poured into Tran Xuan Soan street, passed Hom market and Hue street to Hoan Kiem lake. We walked and sung the song, "As if Uncle Ho were with us on the day of great victory." The two German professors accompanied us. We were very happy and all shops offered as free food. We spent the evening watching fireworks display over Hoan Kiem lake.

On that joyful day I remembered the starvation in 1945 and the success of the August Revolution shortly after that. Peace had returned and our country had become completely liberated 30 years later. I thought my work would surely change after the country’s reunification.

Poet Anh Ngoc: On April 30, 1975, Ha Dinh Can and I, as reporters of the Quan doi nhan dan (People’s Army) newspaper, went from Phan Thiet to Phan Rang to make a report. While we were on the road, suddenly some people ran out and cried, "Saigon is liberated!" To be frank, the news didn’t surprise me because we had anticipated it.

On the following day, May 1, 1975, a truck from the air defence force gave us a lift to Xuan Loc. And then we took a lambretta to Saigon. That night we stayed in the USAID headquarters. I had a very strange feeling on the first night in the city. It inspired me to write the song, "Hanging up a hammock in Saigon".

Son My marks war-end with great growth

2008-05-01T15:59:00.001-07:00

13:07' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

International visitors at the Son My relics

VietNamNet Bridge - Historic Son My, often recognised as the site of a war-driven massacre that has caused posttraumatic stress among returned soldiers and Vietnamese alike, is marking the 33 rd anniversary of the end of the war with an economic boom.

Modern life in the prosperous and peaceful Tinh Khe village in central Quang Ngai province has gradually eased citizens’ grief over the loss of loved ones in a massacre where US soldiers slaughtered 504 locals 40 years ago.

Tinh Khe Village People’s Committee Deputy Chairman Lu Trung Tin says the village is now combining handicrafts trade and services with agricultural diversification to record an economic growth rate of over 13 percent annually.

Locals are now enjoying a stable, average income of 8 million VND per capita per year and the village’s poverty rate has dropped to 13 percent.

Across Tu Cung and Co Luy communes, aquaculture is spreading to replace a rice farming monopoly. As a result, a number of industrial fish and animal farms have earned between 30 and 50 million VND annually each.

The My Khe coast, glittering with sunshine and lined with forests of coconut trees, has been transformed from a revolutionary base to a popular tourist area attracting hundreds of billions of VND in infrastructure development.

Son My itself has also become a tourist site, welcoming tens of thousands of tourists, including veterans who fought in the war in Vietnam and US soldiers who were involved in the Son My massacre.

War veteran Robert Kirkland confided in the site’s guestbook he had returned to Son My six times and could not say in words the feelings that touched his heart with every visit. He said he felt compelled to ask the locals for forgiveness for the crimes and said that peace and freedom are the most important in life.

The music of the violin played by US war veteran Mike Boehm, who has frequented Son My for the past 14 years, touched the hearts of all the participants at a March 16 ceremony to remember victims of the Son My massacre.

For many years Boehm has worked for Quaker Mandison to raise funds in the US and Western European countries to support projects such as the construction of Peace for My Lai park and the Son My primary school.

While the horror of war and Son My lest be forgotten, for it stands as a reminder of what should never be repeated again, it is clear the village is moving from the past into the future and the locals are embracing new opportunities and prosperity with open arms.

SOCIAL IN BRIEF 1/5

2008-05-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

23:16' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

Free eye treatment given to poor Cambodians

A group of Vietnamese doctors from Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho conducted free eye surgeries and treatment to poor patients in some Cambodian provinces from April 27-29.

During the working tour, the Vietnamese doctors gave free medical checks and medicines to more than 730 eye patients and performed operation on 196 patients in Kandal and Kompong Chnang provinces.

The Vietnamese surgeons also shared their experience in new surgery method to treat cataract and prevention and treatment of common eye diseases with their Cambodian colleagues.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Em Sam Onn expressed his thanks to Vietnam for its humanitarian aid to Cambodian poor patients.

He described the Vietnamese doctors’ contributions as a manifestation of friendship and good neighbourliness between the two countries.

Old man witnesses change in Central Highlands

As a lifelong resident of the Central Highlands Dak Lak province, Ale B Village P atriarch H’ri can recall many changes in the region over his lifetime.

“The life is no longer as hard as it was when the country was newly reunified,” says the old man, who lived through the two resistance wars against the French and US aggressors and then the joy of the national reunification day.
He says now all roads in his village have been asphalted, all local families have access to the national electricity grid and no children are illiterate.

It is not only Dak Lak that is enjoying progress but all the five provinces in the Central Highlands, an area of more than 56,000 sq. kilometres, with a population of 4.2 million belonging to 47 ethnic groups.

Last year, the whole region registered an economic growth of 15 percent and per capita income of 8 million VND, up 36 percent from the previous year.

The region is the Vietnam ’s leading producer of lucrative crops such as coffee, cacao, pepper, rubber, tea and cashew. It is the main contributor to national agricultural exports, helping Vietnam bring in billions of US dollars every year.

With its sloping terrain of various rivers and springs, the Central Highlands is also a successful region for the development power plants. It has seen the construction of big plants including Se San 2, Se San 3, Dong Nai 3, Play Krong and Buon Kop.

The regional transport system has developed rapidly over recent years, with the completion of 14 highways of 2,100 km in total length and a trans-provincial road system that has catered for increased tourist numbers.

The rate of poor households in the region has dropped to 19 percent in 2007 from nearly 23 percent in 2006. Around 98 percent of the communes and 82 percent of families in the region have had access to electricity. Almost all local people have benefited from the development of clinics, schools, broadcast stations and water supply systems.

The ethnic communities of the region have been supported through priority recruitment policies by local enterprises, which have provided ethnic labourers with stable jobs and incomes.

The provinces have allocated more than 1,600 ha of production land to ethnic households, built thousands of houses for ethnic families and provided them with loans to support agricultural production.

Week on safe water and environmental sanitation in rural areas launched

A Week on safe water and environmental sanitation in rural areas commenced at the Muong Than senior secondary school, Than Uyen district, Lai Chau province.

The week, launched by the People's Committee of Lai Chau province and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, is the 14th event of the kind in Vietnam.

According to the Vietnam Centre for Safe Water and Environmental Sanitation, Vietnam has had around 70% of its households having sanitary water.

However, according to the Ministry of Public Health's survey, only 18% of households, 12% of schools and 3% of markets in rural areas have had standard toilets, while only 15% of households have had safe water. These figures are too low compared to the targets in a national programme on safe water and environmental sanitation in rural areas throughout 2010.

Therefore, in 2008, the centre will promote its dissemination and education activities, so as to make the public fully aware of the issues.

In addition, investment will be promoted to improve sanitation conditions in rural areas.

Australia to provide 170 scholarships

Australia will provide 170 scholarships for Vietnamese to join post graduate study in Australia in 2009, reported the Vietnam News Agency.

This was announced by the Australian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City said on April 28.

The scholarships will be provided by the Australia Development Scholarship project of the Australian government for Vietnamese to study business, trade, public policy, law, development research, management, agricultural science and environmental research, public health, English teaching and educational management at Australian universities in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Japanese ODA capital ‘used well’

Loans from Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) used for infrastructure projects in Ho Chi Minh City have been used effectively, according to Ho Chi Minh City authorities.

Loans have been used to build new terminals at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the city’s East-West Highway, the Thu Thiem Tunnel under Saigon River, the city’s first metro route, and a waste water treatment system.

Speaking at a meeting with Wada Sada on April 27, chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association, Le Hoang Quan, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, said Vietnam was the number one recipient of the Government’s ODA loans.

Wada, who is also chairman of Kansdai’s Small-and Medium-sized Enterprises’ Association, was leading a 22-member business delegation on a tour of Vietnam last week.

The tour offered Japanese businesspeople to see the rapid development in Vietnam, said Wada, adding that he would send a report to the Japanese Prime Minister to request further investment into Vietnam in the near future.

Members of the delegation expressed interest in waste water treatment and urban development projects in Ho Chi Minh City, said Wada.

He added that the association would help further economic and cultural relations between Kansai and Ho Chi Minh City.

Acute diarrhoea in Hanoi contained

Acute diarrhoea has basically been contained in Hanoi, said Dr Le Anh Tuan, director of the Hanoi Department of Public Health.

Recently, only between five and ten people, who were suspected to have suffered from the disease, have been hospitalised each day. They are being treated properly.

In addition, food safety and hygiene practice in the city has been promoted. So far, 30 street food vendors have been suspended by local authorities due to their failure to meet the food hygiene and safety requirements.

However, there is still a high risk of the disease reoccurring. Thus, the local health service is still warning local people about promoting food hygiene and safety practices so as to prevent the disease.

134 outstanding workers in Hanoi honoured

One hundred and thirty four outstanding workers in Hanoi were honoured at a ceremony in Hanoii on April 27.

The workers are among 27,195 outstanding workers at the organisational level and 1,739 outstanding workers at the district levels in 2008.

Pham Quang Nghi, secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, said that the capital city's workers and labourers should receive more support and training services from trade unions at all levels, to become a driving force in the industrialisation and modernisation process in the city in particular and the country in general.

Most enterprises in the city have paid a due attention to implementing the outstanding workers' campaign, having been aware of the important role of workers and labourers, who directly create products and services.

HCM City marks April 30 Victory

The entire Party Committee, administration and people of Ho Chi Minh City have committed themselves to developing the city in line with the national goal “a rich people, a strong country, and an equitable, democratic and civilised society”.

The message was delivered by HCM City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan at a ceremony held on April 29 to mark the 33rd anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam and the world’s 122nd May Day.

Highlighting the historic significance of the April 30 Victory and the international labour spirit’s great impacts on Vietnam’s revolutionary cause, Chairman Quan spoke of the city’s achievements over the past 33 years of socialist construction, particularly over 22 years of renewal.

The mayor affirmed HCM City’s resolve to overcome economic difficulties and challenges.

Representatives of war veterans and youth voiced their strong determination to join efforts with the municipal authorities and people to fulfill tasks for 2008 and the following years.

US-funded detoxification clinics put in use

Two detoxification clinics using methadone were put into operation in the northern port city of Hai Phong on April 29 to help injecting heroin users beat the addiction and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The newly-established centres are the first of their kind in Vietnam which are funded by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

The clinics are capable of accommodating around 500 drug users with the substitute drug, initially providing treatment for addicts selected from communes and wards of Hai Phong city - a heroin and AIDS hotspot in the country.

Cultural week kicks off for Vietnamese students in Laos

Vietnamese students in Laos launched a cultural week in Vientiane on April 28.

The opening ceremony saw the participation of Lao Education Minister Somkot Mangnorket and Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Huy Quang.

The event is held to celebrate major anniversaries of the two countries, including the establishment of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party on March 22, the establishment of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Party (March 26), Vietnam’s Southern Liberation anniversary (April 30) and President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19).

A photo exhibition will be held during the week, showcasing images of the land and people of Vietnam and their special friendship and cooperation with Laos through different periods.

A Vietnam-Laos music programme and international sport competitions will also be held as part of the event.

10 doctorate scholarships in Poland

In the 2008-2009 school year, the Polish government will provide ten doctorate scholarships for Vietnamese to study social and natural sciences, economics and technology.

Candidates are lecturers from universities and colleges nationwide.

Profiles can be sent to the Postgraduate Department under the Ministry of Education and Training at 49 Dai Co Viet street, Hanoi before May 10th 2008.

Solar energy project for Tra Vinh

Southern Tra Vinh province will operate its first solar electrical energy project, worth 36,000 USD to be financed by the Czech Republic, in an islet five kilometers from the coast.

The project will supply a total of 1,100 Kwh for 10 local households and a primary school. It will also provide electricity indirectly to nearly 110 households in Cau Ke district.

Solar electrical energy is considered not only clean but also economical, safe and long lasting.

Promoting high quality human resource training

At a televised conference about high quality human resource training in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan said that the state will propose solutions to promote high quality human resource training in these two cities.

The state will support links between universities and enterprises and use financial power to promote human resource training and attract foreign investment in this field.

Participants discussed issues relating to high quality human resource training and prioritized objectives set forth by the two cities for four key industries, including information technology, tourism, ship building, finance and banking.

According to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committees, these four training sectors lack human resources. Ho Chi Minh city alone will need 91,000 information technology workers from now until 2010. Each year, the city needs 30,000 labourers, while only about 11,000 information technology workers are trained in colleges and universities. The finance and banking, tourism and ship building fields also need tens of thousands of labourers each year.

At the conference, participants also discussed demand for s of high quality human resource training, prioritized objectives of the two cities, the need to increase cooperation between the state and enterprises and universities, and planning for human resource development based on local demand.

A centre for training support and human resource supply will be put into operation in Hanoi in June to create a link between educational establishments and enterprises. A similar center will be built in Ho Chi Minh City.

British Embassy provides capacity-building support for of Vietnam

On April 29, British Embassy in Vietnam officials handed over a variety IT equipment to the Immigration Department of Vietnam in the support of common efforts to tackle illegal migration and increase returns.

In the past couple of years, the Embassy has provided capacity-building support for the Department. This included the provision of forgery detection equipment and English language training.

Ms.Kara Owen, Deputy Head of Mission, said at the presentation ceremony, “We are delighted to know that the equipment has been using on a daily basis and is adding value to front line immigration officers’ work”.

The new equipment includes four laptops with internet connection devices, two desktops, four printers and two digital cameras.

Looking forward, migration remains a top priority for the UK in 2008. The British Government will continue to provide further support for the Ministry of Public Security’s Immigration Department under the new Returns and Reintegration Fund.

Japanese Kansai region boosts co-operation with HCM City

Japan-Vietnam Friendship Society President Wada Sadao of the Japanese Kansai region has pledged to increase cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City, especially investment in urban and liquid waste treatment projects.

Wada Sadao, who is also President of the Medium-and Small Enterprises Association of the Kansai region, made the promise during his meeting with the HCM City People’s Committee’s Chairman Le Hoang Quan on April 27.

As the head of a 22-strong Japanese business mission to Vietnam, Mr Sadao said he will report Vietnam’s drastic growth to his Prime Minister for stronger investment into the Southeast Asian country.

Chairman Quan told his guest that Japanese ODA projects are making great contributions to Vietnam’s largest economic hub. He said Tan Son Nhat airport is now one of the 100 busiest in the world and the Thu Thiem tunnel is the most modern in Southeast Asia. Other projects such as the East- West avenue, the Metro 1 system and a liquid waste treatment factory are very important for the city’s economy.

UN congratulates Vietnam on the commencement of the methadone substitution programme

The United Nations on April 29 congratulates Vietnam on the introduction of methadone maintenance therapy in two clinics in Hai Phong City.

These clinics will be treating 700 heroin-dependent people with methadone from now to December 2008. One of the most effective treatments for heroin dependence, methadone is on the WHO list of essential medicines.

“The UN is pleased to be working with ministries, communities and other sectors in implementing effective harm reduction approaches ensuring a comprehensive response to HIV in Vietnam”, said Mr. Eamonn Murphy, Chief of the Joint UN Team on HIV and UNAIDS Country Director.

Forty years of international experience shows that methadone reduces illegal drug use, crime, mortality and the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. The new clinics in Hai Phong are expected to produce marked improvement in the lives of those affected by heroin dependence. The Methadone Substitution Programme will be expanded through the opening of clinics in HCMC later in May.

Substitution therapy is an important component of the 2006 Law on HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control and is crucial to the success of Vietnam’s response to the HIV epidemic, which is largely driven by injecting drug use. The UN supports the Government’s efforts to include methadone and other evidence-informed treatment regimens in the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, now under revision.

The organization also applauds Vietnam for taking this important step towards effective drug treatment and HIV prevention.

Vietnamese students in Russia hold football tournament

Vietnamese students in Russia are competing in a football tournament being held at the Spartac sport complex from April 19 to May 11.

The annual event, jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese overseas students’ association in Moscow, is part of a series of activities marking Southern Liberation Day (April 30), May Day and the later President Ho Chi Minh’s birthday (May 19).

This year’s tournament attracted 22 football teams, including 16 qualifying for the final round on May 11. The event is aimed at promoting understanding and strengthening solidarity among overseas Vietnamese living in Russia.

The tournament is sponsored by a number of Vietnamese businesses and trade centres in Russia and supported by many Vietnamese students in Moscow.

Money launderers in the spotlight

Financial analysts from Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam sharpened their skills at a regional workshop in the capital yesterday.

The two day workshop, organised by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank (WB), focused on different analytical methods and access to information sources in the pursuit of suspected money launderers.

Each of the analysts were from Financial Intelligence Units in their respective countries. In Viet Nam, the unit is also the State Bank of Viet Nam’s Anti Money Laundering Information Centre, which analyses financial reports and investigates suspected money laundering cases.

The financial intelligence unit often works with suspicious transaction reports and large cash transaction reports from banks and other reporting institutes.

The workshop is part of a long term technical assistance programme, provided by UNODC and the WB to tackle money laundering as an organised crime.

Cathay Pacific’s green contest

Budding environmentalists are getting their pens ready as Cathay Pacific launched its 11th annual essay writing competition last week.

The contest, titled the Cathay Pacific International Wilderness Experience (IWE) is run in co-operation with the Ha Noi’s Student Association and is open to all high school students between the ages of 16 and 18 in Ha Noi.

The two top entrants from Viet Nam will join 20 other high school students from around the world on a special educational course from July 21 to 27 in South Africa’s Simangaliso Wetlands Park.

Each entrant must complete an application and submit an original 500-word essay - written in English - about the environment before May 23.

Rare bear smuggler heads to court

Legal proceedings have begun against a woman caught smuggling the corpses of two rare Tibetan bears, according to the Forestry Management authority in Huong Hoa District, Quang Tri Province.

Tran Thi Ngoc Lanh, a resident of Quang Trach District, Quang Binh Province, was caught transporting the bears through the Lao Bao border checkpoint to Dong Ha coastal town.

The case is still under investigation.

Quang Ninh border police find drugs

A special task force under Quang Ninh Province’s Border Guards have uncovered a ring of drug smugglers operating between Viet Nam and China.

Ngo Ngoc Phan, 23, from Mong Cai Town, was caught red-handed last Thursday carrying 7,200 tablets of Phenadoxone, a kind of synthetic drug, from China to Viet Nam by motorbike.

Phan said he’d been employed by Pham Thi Mai Lien from Mong Cai Town to transport the drug.

Following Lien’s subsequent arrest, along with her accomplice Chi Trung, she supplied information about a heroin trafficking ring operating between Viet Nam to China.

US surgeons remove giant facial tumour from Vietnamese girl

2008-05-01T15:57:00.000-07:00

22:47' 01/05/2008 (GMT+7)

Lai Thi Dao (photo: AP)

Surgeons from Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami , Florida , have successfully removed a 7 kg tumour from the face of a Vietnamese girl.

The surgeons’ team said that Lai Thi Dao got a bean-sized spot on her tongue at the age of 3, which later developed very fast to become a tumour.

The benign tumour called “Schawannoma”, making up one-third of her weight, caused a lot of difficulties for Dao in her daily life.

The 12-hour 107,000 USD operation was paid by an NGO for Children.

Vietnam initially controls pig disease

2008-04-30T18:01:00.001-07:00

14:43' 30/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has initially put the blue ear disease on pigs under control, announced the Veterinary Department’s Vice Head Hoang Van Nam on April 29.
The Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) (known as blue ear disease) have so far found in 10 provinces, including northern Thai Nguyen, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh provinces, central Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, and Central Highlands Lam Dong province.
To fight the epidemic more effectively, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Chinese Veterinary Administration to send experts to Vietnam in May.
The ministry has also signed with the Chinese side a contract to import 1 million doses of anti PRRS vaccine.
In addition, localities have been urged to tighten control over transportation of pigs and their products, as well as butchery.
Last week, northern mountainous Son La province discovered a new outbreak of bird flu, joining southern Can Tho Province in the list of the disease-stricken localities.

Mekong Delta: State employees unexpectedly ‘emigrate’

2008-04-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

17:20' 30/04/2008 (GMT+7)
The People's Committee of Ngoc Hien District, Ca Mau Province
VietNamNet Bridge - A series of state employees in provinces in the Mekong Delta have quit their jobs, resulting in a scarcity of talents within state agencies.
Losing tons of money on training
More than 310 state employees in Ca Mau province have quit their jobs in the past three years.
The reason, according to the Ca Mau Department of Home Affairs, is low income. State employees aren’t able to support their families and the pay is incommensurate with their abilities.
Some provinces in the Mekong Delta, such as Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Hau Giang, have issued many preferential policies to attract talents to state agencies. Particularly, Ca Mau spends between VND28-30 billion (US$1.75-1.875 million) for training and improving the qualifications of its state employees. This is a large fund for a small province like Ca Mau.
According to the Ca Mau Department of Home Affairs, the province trained more than 93,000 state employees from 2001 to 2007, including 5,976 people at the graduate level, over 500 people at post-graduate level and 3 trained abroad. In this period, other Mekong Delta provinces like Bac Lieu, Hau Giang and Soc Trang also invested VND25, 20 and 30 billion in this task, respectively.
Can’t hold state employees
Nguyen Binh Dang, Director of the Project Management Board of Ngoc Hien district, Ca Mau province, said: “Most of our staffs live in Nam Can (30km from Ngoc Hien district by river-way). Sometimes they miss the ferry so they have to come to the office by high-speed boat, which is very costly.”
As the trip is very difficult, engineer Phan Hoang Phong, an employee of the Ngoc Hien District Project Management Board, said goodbye to the agency to seek a new job at Vinashin Ca Mau, which is based in Nam Can.
Le Van Khang, Vice Chairman of the Ngoc Hien Commune People’s Committee, said the committee doesn’t have a spacious office yet. Over 90% of the committee lives in Nam Can and they have to go to the office by ferry. As the working and travelling conditions are poor, many employees are discouraged.
Ngoc Hien is the remotest district of Ca Mau. It is surrounded by two big rivers which boast no bridge.
Cao Van Thuong from Tan An commune said: “To do any administrative formality, I have to wake up at 3 in the morning to go to the People’s Committee (of Ngoc Hien district). I’m a hamlet office but my allowance is not sufficient to pay for travelling costs.”
In Bac Lieu province, state-owned hospitals are losing their best doctors to private ones. Tran Van Khanh, Director of the Bac Lieu General Hospital, said since 2000, his hospital has lost seven experienced doctors.
Policies need to be changed
At present, all state employees are under a common salary policy. Both technicians and normal employees enjoy the same wage levels. Each province applies its own policies in attracting talents.
The People’s Committee of Ca Mau province has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to raise the salaries of state employees, especially commune-level officials: state employees’ monthly incomes must be equal to or higher than the average received by workers of non-state agencies.

Gov’s supports insurance premiums

2008-04-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

03:44' 30/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The Government will spend VND700bil (US$43.8mil) to pay 50% of voluntary health insurance premiums for people living near the poverty line to buy voluntary health insurance cards this year, Tong Thi Song Huong, head of the Health Insurance Department under the Ministry of Health said.
The programme will begin in mid May. The support rate could be up to 70% of voluntary health insurance premiums in areas that have their own budgets for voluntary health insurance.
Voluntary health insurance cards cost VND130,000 (US$8.10 ) a year. According to estimated, roughly 16mil people live near the poverty line in the country.

Detoxification by methadone begins in Hai Phong

2008-04-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

16:49' 29/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – From now to the end of December 2008, two clinics in the coastal city of Hai Phong will use methadone to detoxify 700 heroin addicts.
Methadone is a gentle drug which is used to gradually replace heroin for drug addicts. Hai Phong is the first place the Health Ministry has permitted to use methadone in treatment. In May, the new treatment method using methadone will be applied in HCM City.
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic, antitussive and maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients addicted to opioids. It was developed in Germany in 1937. Although chemically unlike morphine or heroin, methadone also acts on the opioid receptors and thus produces many of the same effects.
Methadone is a rigorously well-tested medication that is safe and efficacious for the treatment of narcotic withdrawal and dependence. For more than 30 years this synthetic narcotic has been used to treat opioid addiction. Heroin releases an excess of dopamine in the body and causes users to need an opiate continuously occupying the opioid receptor in the brain. Methadone occupies this receptor and is the stabilising factor that permits addicts on methadone to change their behaviour and to discontinue heroin use.
Taken orally once a day, methadone suppresses narcotic withdrawal for between 24 and 36 hours. Because methadone is effective in eliminating withdrawal symptoms, it is used in detoxifying opiate addicts. It is, however, only effective in cases of addiction to heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs, and it is not an effective treatment for other drugs. Methadone reduces the cravings associated with heroin use and blocks the high from heroin, but it does not provide the euphoric rush. Consequently, methadone patients do not experience the extreme highs and lows that result from the waxing and waning of heroin levels in the blood. Ultimately, the patient remains physically dependent on the opioid, but is freed from the uncontrolled, compulsive, and disruptive behaviour seen in heroin addicts.
Methadone maintenance treatment provides the heroin addict with individualised health care and medically prescribed methadone to relieve withdrawal symptoms, reduces opiate cravings, and brings about a biochemical balance in the body. Important elements in heroin treatment include comprehensive social and rehabilitation services.
The Health Ministry has chosen Methadone because of its advantages like it can be taken orally so it can reduce HIV transmission and other diseases transmitted via blood, is less addictive than other kinds of drugs, and drug addicts only need to take it once a day.
Methadone has been used in detoxification for 40 years in the world and the World Health Organisation has added it to its list of essential medicines.

SOCIAL IN BRIEF 30/4

2008-04-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

02:33' 30/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Work starts on Dak Nong’s biggest bridge
Construction of a bridge that is part of the Ho Chi Minh Highway began in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong on April 28.
The bridge, which is designed to be 980m in length, 18m in width and with two 400m approach roads, will be the biggest of its kind in Dak Nong Province.
It is estimated to cost roughly 3.87 million USD (62 billion VND) funded by the Ho Chi Minh Highway Management Board.
The opening of the bridge to traffic in February 2010 is hoped to increase accessibility and opportunities for socio-economic development in the province.
Nghe An receives remains of volunteer soldiers from Laos
A ceremony to hand over the remains of 162 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who died during the wars in Laos was held in central Nghe An Province on April 28.
The hand over saw the participation of Lao Deputy Defense Minister Ketsin, representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs and local authorities.
The remains were then buried at the Vietnam-Laos Friendly Cemetery in Anh Son District.
Workshop talks on China-VN border
Propaganda campaigns were important part of land border demarcations between Vietnam and China, a workshop in the northern province of Cao Bang heard on April 28.
More than 150 participants from local authorities, relevant agencies and the media attended the workshop, which was organised by the Party Central Commission on Education and Propaganda.
The meeting heard that propaganda campaigns were needed to secure the early completion of the demarcation of the land border as it would ensure consensus among Vietnamese people about the work.
Participants agreed that the campaigns should result in a shared understanding among the people, which will combat information deemed to oppose the work.

SOCIAL IN BRIEF 29/4

2008-04-29T16:56:00.002-07:00

12:10' 29/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Hanoi: 30 markets and restaurants closed
The Hanoi Department of Health on April 28 announced the names of 30 markets and restaurants that are temporarily closed for violating food hygiene standards in the past ten days.
The Department said there are many stores that sell unhygienic food which can spread cholera so the city will continue inspection over food stores and markets in the coming days.
Dr. Le Anh Tuan, Director of the Hanoi Health Department, said the number of hospitalized acute diarrhea patients is reducing, from around 100 patients a day in early April to 5-10 patients in recent days.
(Source: TP)
HCM City turns off 50% of public lights
The city has issued an instruction on power savings, under which 50% of public lights along streets and on parks will be turned off. However, traffic lights will not be turned off.
The city also asked families to restrict using electric equipment during the peak hours (6-10pm) and factories to reasonably arrange production activities.
(Source: Tuoi Tre)
Justice Ministry surveys appointment process in Ca Mau
The Chief Inspector of the Justice Ministry, Nguyen Sy Cuong, led a working group to the southern province of Ca Mau on April 28 to learn of the province’s appointment process.
Today, inspectors will work with officials of the Organizational Board of the Ca Mau Party Committee.
The inspection trip is conducted after the province’s Party Chief received VND100 million in bribes from an unnamed person to solicit for a position in the local government.
(Source: TP)
Faked medicines increases year by year
The volume of faked drugs is raising yearly on the market, reported the Vietnam Drug Administration. Last year faked medicines accounted for 3.30% of tested samples, the highest ratio in the past seven years.
Dr. Truong Quoc Cuong, Head of the Vietnam Drug Administration, said at a conference on developing the pharmaceutical industry held in Hanoi last week, that the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market reached $1.13 billion last year and it will reach $1.34 billion this year. Locally-made medicine volume satisfies 52.86% of the total demand.
Vietnamese drug producers have produced 27 groups of medicines under the World Health Organization’s classification. However, the local pharmaceutical industry is developing spontaneously.
There are some kinds of medicines are in surplus while many others must be imported. More than 90% of materials serving the pharmaceutical industry are imported.
Though a drug distributions system has been set up, the health sector can’t completely control drug prices on the market.
According to the Vietnam Drug Administration, drug prices will slightly increase from now to the year end due to the price increase of materials and inputs.
The Health Ministry said it is a top priority to develop the pharmaceutical industry to meet the need for drugs of Vietnamese people in the future and to stabilize the drug market.

Truong Sa archipelago marks 33rd liberation day

2008-04-29T16:56:00.001-07:00

14:16' 29/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – A celebration has been held by the central Khanh Hoa province’s People’s Committee and the Navy Command to mark the 33rd anniversary of the liberation of the Truong Sa archipelago (Spratly).
Over the past 33 years, the local people and army have overcome difficulties to achieve socio-economic development and national defence and security targets.
The locals now produce their own green vegetables and have access to clean water. They have developed their islands into more beautiful, environmentally hygienic and strong regions, contributing to the country’s renewal.
The celebration saw the Song Tu Tay, Sinh Ton island communes and Truong Sa Town presented with certificates of merit for their success in completing tasks in 2007.

Japanese ODA projects benefit HCM City

2008-04-29T16:55:00.001-07:00

13:46' 29/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Japan-Vietnam Friendship Society President Wada Sadao of the Japanese Kansai region has pledged to boost cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City, especially investment in urban and liquid waste treatment projects.
Wada Sadao, who is also President of the Medium- and Small Enterprises Association of the Kansai region, made the promises during his meeting with HCM City People’s Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan on April 27.
As the head of a 22-strong Japanese business mission on a field trip to Vietnam, Sadao also promised to report Vietnam ’s drastic growth to his Prime Minister for stronger investment into the Southeast Asian country.
Chairman Quan told his guest that Japanese ODA projects are making great contributions to Vietnam’s largest economic hub. He said the Tan Son Nhat airport is now one of the 100 busiest in the world and the Thu Thiem tunnel is the most modern in Southeast Asia. Other projects such as the East- West avenue, the Metro 1 system and a liquid waste treatment factory have all been significant to the city’s economy.
Japan is the largest donor of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam.

Illegal strikes making investment environment worse

2008-04-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

16:51' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam does not lack laws to deal with strikes, but it lacks a mechanism to implement the laws effectively.
Illegal strikes are still taking place in many industrial zones and export processing zones in southern cities and provinces, and are making Vietnam’s investment environment less attractive in the eyes of foreign investors.
Alain Cany, Chairman of EuroCham, has recently expressed his concern over the illegal strikes that have taken place at some foreign invested enterprises (footwear, garment, furniture).
He said that EuroCham has been receiving more and more reports from its members about illegal strikes. These are strikes that do not follow the procedures stipulated by the amended Labour Code. Most of the strikes have occurred because labourers want higher pay in the face of the higher inflation.
EuroCham well understands that labourers have the right to go on strike and shares the concerns about inflation, but it has called on local authorities to take action to make the regulations on strikes stipulated by the Labour Code respected, Mr Cany said.
A lot of foreign investors are worried that the number of strikes will increase in accordance with the inflation rates.
According to state management agencies, labourers have gone on strike recently because they have complaints about wages, extra working hours and other unsatisfactory treatment.
In fact, the strike mushrooming began at the end of 2006, and since then, state management agencies have been considering drawing up necessary measures to cool the strikes down.
In an effort to clean the investment environment and ease worries of foreign investors, the government promulgated Decree No 11 on compensation for employers for damages caused by illegal strikes.
Under the decree, employers have the right to ask trade unions or representatives of labourers to compensate them for damages caused by illegal strikes. The employers have the right to initiate legal proceedings at district courts where strikes occur if the representatives of labourers refuse to make negotiations.
However, experts have pointed out that the decree can only help a little in dealing with illegal strikes. They stressed that it is necessary for labourers and employers to sign collective agreements, as the labour laws just provide the frame for all types of enterprises.
Meanwhile, according to the Vietnam Labour Union, collective agreements have not been used popularly (70% of state owned enterprises, over 10% of foreign invested enterprises, and less than 5% of private enterprises).
An official of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said that Vietnam does not lack laws to settle strikes, just a mechanism to bring the laws into full play.

Ha Giang to hunt down human traffickers

2008-04-28T17:39:00.002-07:00

21:42' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – An increase in kidnapping cases involving children and women in the northern province of Ha Giang has caused concern among the local police force.
The victims were being sent to China, where they were sold or forced to work.
Children take part in a drawing contest during a campaign to fight child trafficking.
According to a provincial border post, the kidnappers stake out their intended victims. In one case, the criminals waited until the right time to abduct an ethnic minority woman who was working on a field alone and far from her home. She was taken away by kidnappers armed with a gun and knives without any chance to escape.

The kidnapping gangs include Chinese and local people. Chinese criminals were responsible for kidnapping and taking victims away, while their Vietnamese accomplices were assigned with searching for victims and keeping them under surveillance.

Late last year, two Mong ethnic minority people were brought to court after being charged with tricking a local woman into being sold to a Chinese man.

Ly Phay Sinh, 26 and Ly Mi Sung, 22, were only detained by officers at Lung Cu border post, in Dong Van District, when a trafficking victim informed authorities about the identities of the men.

Sinh said he had helped trick Giang Thi V. into being abducted across the border to China where she would have to work as a prostitute.

Vulnerable area

Nong Minh Thach, deputy head of Lung Cu border post, said slash and burn farming had forced many local people in the region, where 80% of the population belonged to Mong ethnic group, to work far from home.

"If women are kidnapped, it’s because they are working in areas near the border where there are few passers-by," said Thach.

So it’s difficult for Vietnamese police to investigate and find out who the kidnappers are as well as who has been kidnapped.

Women who have escaped and returned to Vietnam tell some shocking stories.

Many are forced to work hard on farms during the day, while at night they must have sex with the men who have bought them.

The extent of the problem is reflected in some cases where the victims of kidnapping and human trafficking were the relatives or family members of the criminals.

Ha Giang Province’s Border Post uncovered 25 cases of women being trafficked last year.

Children abducted

Colonel Dang Quang Huy, from the political work office of Ha Giang Province’s Border Post, said children were being kidnapped as well.

"Kidnapped children are passed over the border and sold to Chinese families that have a decent income but have few or no children," said Huy.

"Each child costs from between VND20mil to VND30mil, however the price depends on the agility and intelligence of the child."

"Traffickers sell women, who are usually aged from 17 to 30, for about VND20mil each, depending on if the buyer wants a wife or a labourer," said Huy.

Poverty, poor education and little ability for self-protection were also leading to an increase in kidnapping cases, he said.

Since 2000, Ha Giang Province’s border army has been informed about 40 cases of child kidnapping.

These victims were mainly boys who were kidnapped in communes located near border gates in Dong Van, Yen Minh and Meo Vac districts.

A local police officer said criminals were ruthless enough to release a one-year-old child in a remote forest after they discovered the victim was a girl.

According to local police, criminals took advantage of local people’s trust. They would persuade their victims to let them come inside their homes, and waiting for the best opportunity, would kidnap children and threaten to kill family members if their activities were uncovered.

Last December, two masked kidnappers broke into the house of Ho Mia Dia, in Seo Lung Village of Lung Cu District, while she was alone with her one-month-age son.

The kidnappers forcibly took the child from his mother and escaped quickly. Although local police were alerted immediately, the kidnappers fled with their victim to China.

Too many people, not enough jobs

2008-04-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

12:41' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
A rapidly growing population is outpacing efforts to create employment
Rapid population has affected the country's capacity to generate jobs in the 2006-10 period, according to Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thanh Hoa.
About 1.6mil go in search of a job every year. Meanwhile, the nation's population is growing by more than a million annually.
The population has been increasing annually by more than 1%, and more than 1mil people annually reach a working age, Hoa told representatives at a national conference held last week in Da Nang City. The conference looked at implementing an employment programme and the Law on Vietnamese people working overseas under contract.
Hoa said the national target programme on employment aimed to secure jobs for about 49.5mil of people by 2010 and create new jobs for 8mil people in the 2006-10 period. The rate of unemployment was expected to reduce by 5% by 2010.

In 2006 and 2007, the Government approved an additional fund of VND485bil ($US30.3mil) for a national employment fund allocated to 64 cities and provinces nation-wide and social and political organisations. In that period, more than 160,000 labourers were sent to work abroad.

At the conference, representatives from localities, enterprises and employment service centres asked relevant sectors to complete policies and regulations on labour and employment, revising articles from the Labour Code and from the Law on Minimum Salary. The representatives also said that it was necessary to develop a Law on Employment.

Participants also discussed ways to develop the domestic labour market and expand the foreign market, while strengthening check-ups and management of projects under the national target programme.

According to Minister of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the country's economy has developed in more than 20 years of doi moi (renewal), but is not yet stable and is only minimally competitive. The unemployment rate in urban areas was still high at 5.10% in 2006.

The country's population is expected to reach 89mil by 2010. With the working population increasing at a speed of 2.4-2.5% each year, there are about 1.6mil people in need of employment annually.

City launches multipronged plan to fight inflation

2008-04-28T17:38:00.001-07:00

16:54' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The city government has initiated several measures to curb inflation and keep prices in check on essential goods.

Among the measures is a request to companies to boost factory production, lower the cost of raw material inputs, and reduce the hoarding of essential goods.

The trade sector has asked Vissan, the country's largest producer of processed meat products, to keep prices stable until June.

Trade officials said the company had enough meat imports to meet increasing demand for processed foods until the end of the year.

The city's food companies have been urged to regularly stockpile around 2,000 tonnes of rice to ensure food security.

The city's Union of Trading Co-operatives, its supermarkets and trading centres have arranged to cut prices on commodities to ensure that prices remain lower than the market price.

The city will also not increase fees for hospitals and public transport such as buses and ferries.

The city will also earmark VND1tril (US$62.5mil) from the local budget to help enterprises boost production and market products to reduce the price of daily essentials by 5-10%.

Recent price hikes

In the last few days, the price of essential consumer goods, such as paper and cement, has increased sharply.

The price of paper has soared to more than VND17mil a tonne, a record level.

The construction industry is now facing a hike in cement prices. For example, the price of a 50-kilo bag of Ha Tien cement rose by 20% to VND67,000.

Despite the price hike, a cement shortage remains because of the construction boom in recent months.

Phan Thi Kim Hoa, marketing manager of Ha Tien 1 Cement Company, blamed the recent hike on the increase in cost of materials, transport fees and building materials.

Prices of daily essentials such as rice, meat and milk have risen, leading to financial hardship for low-income residents and the poor.

Nation gets on board global campaign to defeat malaria

2008-04-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

16:33' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – A campaign to prevent and treat malaria were launched throughout Vietnam on Friday.

The campaign was part of the World Health Organisation's first global day - Friday, April 25, - to publicise the dangers of mosquito-borne scourge.

The day's theme was "Malaria - a disease without borders" and its purpose was to provide "education and understanding of malaria."

In Vietnam, the focus is the dissemination of information about malaria and enhanced monitoring in the high-risk Central Highlands, central provinces, the southeast and some northern highland provinces.

Mosquito nets will be provided free to 11mil people in mosquito-prone regions and repellent sprayed. Central Quang Tri Province's Preventive Medicine Centre reports that not many inhabitants use mosquito nets although more than two have been distributed free to each household.

Only about 30% of inhabitants sleep under mosquito nets in some communes.

Nets for drugs

Some people even swap their free mosquito nets for drugs," said northern highland Lai Chau Province Health Department director Do Cong Huan.

The director said resistance to anti-malaria drugs was on the rise throughout country and the public healthcare network covered only 80% of remote Vietnam.

More than 32% of Vietnamese, or 20mil people, live with the disease.

The director warned of a potential malaria epidemic with the arrival of the wet season. Vietnam will spend VND145bil - more than US$9.06mil - to prevent and treat, malaria this year, says National Entomology Institute director Nguyen Manh Hung.

The money will be used to reduce the mortality and infection rate by at least 5% against last year.

This means deaths from malaria are expected to fall below 0.02 per 100,000 people and infection below 0.8 per 100,000 people.

Almost 72,000 Vietnamese were infected with malaria last year and 20 died.

The number of fatalities was almost 90% less than in 2000.

Wages leave many factory workers in poverty

2008-04-28T17:36:00.001-07:00

21:53' 28/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The Government is being urged to adjust the poverty line to support many workers who are struggling to make ends meet in industrial zones along the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.

Workers process seafood for export at Tra Noc Industrial Zone in Can Tho Province. A new poverty-line standard should be issued to help these workers have a better living standard.
Having worked for one and a half years at the Ty Xuan Company producing leather shoes in Hoa Phu Industrial Zone in Vinh Long Province, Nguyen Thi Phuc has recently had her wages boosted from VND710,000 (US$44) to VND860,000 ($53) per month. But even with this raise, Phuc says supporting herself and her young family is a daily struggle.

Every month, she has to hand over VND300,000 ($18) for her boarding house and VND300,000 for her child to attend a private kindergarten. "The remaining VND260,000 ($16) doesn’t cover food for the month, and inflation has meant prices have gone up a lot recently."

To make enough money to survive, Phuc has to work overtime at VND6,000 ($0.37) per hour. "Most of the time we just eat rice and vegetables. I can only afford some meat or fish once a week," she said.

Phuc’s story is a familiar one among workers in the industrial zones, areas known as the cornerstones to the nation’s economic development.

According to Nguyen Thanh De, a worker in Tra Noc 1 Industrial Zone in Can Tho Province, his monthly income of VND1.4mil ($87) only just covers basic essentials. There’s no way he can save anything.

President of the Trade Union of industrial zones in Vinh Long Province Nguyen Thanh Nhan agrees. "A lot of male workers told me that because they can’t save money, they dare not plan to get married."

Bread and board

Part of the problem is the cost of renting accommodation. In Hoa Phu Industrial Zone, Vinh Long Province, no companies provide their workers with accommodation and about 60% of workers IZ have to live in boarding houses. Prices range from VND280,000 to VND360,000 ($16-$22) per room, or VND60,000 to VND80,000 (up to $5) per bed. This is a considerable burden on their wages.

In 2006, the Trade Union in Can Tho City put forward a project to build 1,000 apartments for low-income workers in the city. Under the plan, workers would pay rent monthly, and after 10 years could be owner of the apartment. But in March 2008, the city’s People’s Committee issued a document stating that due to a limited budget, the proposal had to be scrapped.

Social services

Underlying the problems faced by factory workers is the fact that their incomes do not fall below the poverty line, rendering them unable to claim social services.

Workers’ standard of living should be taken into account based on practical conditions, vice director of Rach Mieu Bridge Company in Ben Tre Province Ha Ngoc Nam says. "Businesses should not be responsible for raising wages if they are adhering to Government policies on the minimum wage. There should be a poverty line applied to workers."

Vice President of the Trade Union office in Ben Tre Province, Tran Trung Hao, agrees. "Workers in IZs have a hard life. According to the current criteria, workers are not classed as living below the poverty line. So in the past ten years, the Fund for the Poor has never helped workers improve their temporary housing. Despite rising inflation, the average monthly income for workers in IZs is only VND1.3mil to VND1.4mil (up to $87)."

The importance of calculating the poverty line according to practical conditions is vital to helping those most in need. The fundamental reason for this is in rural areas, farmers may be poor but they still have a house and the cost of living expenses is a lot cheaper. In contrast, workers in urban areas have to pay for their own accommodation and the prices of daily essentials are substantially higher.

According to statistics provided by the Department of Economic and Social Policies from the Ministry of Trade Union in Can Tho Province, 97.85% of workers in Can Tho Industrial Zone said workers should be provided with accommodation. Nearly 90% said firms needed to do this if they wanted to keep hold of their employees for the long term.

Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s review made debut

2008-04-27T16:48:00.001-07:00

22:33' 27/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) Central Committee and the Hanoi Buddhist Institute introduced the first issue of “Khuong Viet” Review to the public at a press conference in Hanoi on April 26.

Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, Permanent Vice President of the VBS Central Committee and editor-in-chief of “Khuong Viet” Review, told the press that the first issue of Khuong Viet Review was published on the occasion of the 6th National Congress of the VBS.

The quarterly review was named after Buddhist monk Khuong Viet (933-1011), who was a brilliant politician, diplomat, and national security advisor of the country in the 10th century.

With the principle of studying and making knowledge and cultural value of Buddhism popular, the review will provide readers with Buddha’s teachings and information about religious activities of the VBS Central Committee and local VBS committees as well as historic and cultural relics

New plant should ease HCM City’s water shortage

2008-04-27T16:47:00.001-07:00

22:08' 27/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Construction began on April 25 on a new water treatment plant, which is expected to reduce the water shortfall in suburban districts and industrial parks in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Water and Environment Joint-Stock Company ( WACO ), which specializes in engineering, procurement and construction of water and wastewater treatment plants, will build the plant.

The 216 billion VND (13.5 million USD) water treatment plant and its 13 km-long pipeline system is part of the Kenh Dong Water Supply System project in Thuong Hamlet, Tan Thong Hoi Commune, Cu Chi District.

The Kenh Dong Water Supply Joint-Stock Company provided the funds for the plant.

Major components include a raw water intake pumping station, a filter tank, a 20,000 cu.m reinforced concrete reservoir, and a water pumping station.

Upon completion by September next year, the plant will treat raw water taken from Tay Ninh province’s Dau Tieng Lake through Kenh Dong Canal, with a capacity of 200,000 cu.m per day.

Ten more people tested positive for cholera

2008-04-25T17:26:00.001-07:00

16:05' 25/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Ten more people were tested positive for cholera, with an additional 60 more people suffering from acute diarrhoea on April 23, said the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environment.

The ten people had been hospitalised some days earlier, but their sample test results were just announced on April 23.

Dr Nguyen Duc Hien, director of the National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, said that cholera virus had resisted two of four traditional anti-biotic medicines, which used to be used for cholera treatment.

A recent survey states that there are around 1,000 acute diarrhoea infected places in Hanoi with 44 people infected with cholera.

The city's authorities are determined to have contained the epidemic by April 30.

Unsafe helmets to face ban

2008-04-25T17:25:00.001-07:00

16:20' 25/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Safety helmets that hinder their wearer’s sight are to be banned.
The necessary regulations would be published next month, said Standards and Quality Committee deputy director Nguyen Minh Bang.
The new regulations would also require helmets to carry clearly printed information about their origin and other details.

The deputy director said the quality of rims that did not hinder their wearer’s sight would also be tested.

If proven unsafe, they too would be banned.

But tests showed that nine of ten hard-rimmed helmets did not meet the required safety standard, said the deputy director.

The need for the new standard stems from the proliferation of stylised helmets that worry safety officials, said Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Thang.

Not only rimmed helmets but home-made helmets that vary in shape from peaked caps to oval.

"Hard-rimmed helmets create extra danger for their wearers in an accident," said the deputy minister.

The new regulation will require domestic helmet makers to provide their name; the name of the helmet and the date when it was made on their product. Imported helmets will have to carry their place of origin; the name and address of the importers; size and date of production.

The information will be printed on a quality stamp provided helmet importers and makers. — VNS

Proposed ban on ‘fancy’ helmets opposed

AScience and Technology Ministry draft proposal that would ban fancy safety helmets has raised the ire of scientists, consumer representatives and manufacturers.

The intended ban would apply to helmets other than those which hinder their wearer’s site.

"It’s necessary to have a sound scientific basis to clearly define which shapes in helmets should be banned," Southern Quality Management Agency official Pham Huu Cat.

"We should worry about the materials from which the helmets are made rather than their shape," said Southern Standard and Customer Protection Association director Nguyen Nam Vinh.

They should be allowed if they meet the quality standards, he said.
There were no regulations about the shape of safety helmets in other countries so experiments and research should be done before a style was banned, said scientist Nguyen Tri.

"We are businessmen so we have to meet the customer demand," said a Chi Thanh Helmet Enterprise representative.

Banning stylised helmets would be unreasonable, he said.

European rules for motorbikes

2008-04-25T17:23:00.001-07:00

17:31' 25/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Nation to impose strict new emission standards

All new motorbikes in the country will have to meet European emissions standard from July - despite the fact that there are currently no testing centres in the country, said Pham Quang Thanh from the Viet Nam Register.

Until suitable facilities become available here, Thanh said domestic manufacturers would have to send motorbikes assembled here abroad for emissions testing.

He said 10 verification foreign centres had so far been approved by the Government, including ones in China, Thailand and Japan.

The EURO 2 emissions' standard puts a limit on the amount of noxious fumes new motorbikes are permitted to release. The standard is currently applicable in the European Union.

In 2005, the Government published a decision to apply European standards to motorbikes in Vietnam from July 2008.

Enterprises are responsible for having their products verified according to the law, said To Duc Long from the Register.

However, he said officials would inspect motorbikes to ensure they met manufacturers' claims. Those who falsely claim that their vehicles meet EURO 2 standards will be punished, said Long.

Officers from the Viet Nam Register will inspect verification certificates, said department head Trinh Ngoc Giao.

Giao said a verification centre would open in Vietnam next year. He added that the department had spent five years trying to find a suitable site.

"At last, the department has been given the nod and the centre is now being built," said Giao, adding: "In the meantime, we will ensure that newly assembled motorbikes or bikes coming into Vietnam meet the EURO 2 standard."

SOCIAL IN BRIEF 25/4

2008-04-25T17:22:00.001-07:00

15:53' 25/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Nearly 3 million people live in malarial areas
As malarial areas are large, nearly 30 million Vietnamese people (around 32% of the population) are living in these areas, including key economic development, mountainous, border and Central Highlands regions.
Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Director of the Central Institute for Malaria, Parasitology and Entomology, said that the number of people dying from malaria is falling year by year in Vietnam.
In 2007, Vietnam had only 20 people die of malaria, a reduction of nearly 90% compared to 2000 of the total 70,910 malaria patients. The Central Highlands has the highest number of malaria patients.

As of 2008, the World Health Organisation has designated April 25 as World Day for Malaria Prevention.

Le Ha

Hanoi opens only two streets for tourist cyclos

The Hanoi Department of Transport and Public Works has arranged two parking lots for tourist cyclos on Yen Phu road and Tran Quang Khai street.

The department has announced it will permit cyclos to run on two routes only as of April 25: a route around Hoan Kiem Lake and some ancient streets in the city’s hub and a route around Thang Long ancient citadel.

To prevent disruption of traffic, tourist cyclos are banned from running from 6.30-8.30 in the morning and 4.30-7 in the evening. Around 300 tourist cyclos are licenced in the capital city.

(Source: VNE)

HCM City holds drug prices

Local authorities have told the HCM City Department of Health to wait to give permission to pharmaceutical producers and traders in the city to raise medicine prices until June 30, 2008 under the Prime Minister’s guidance and the Health Ministry’s dispatch to stabilise prices in the market.

The department is also instructed to strictly control the declaration and list of drug prices to prevent speculation, monopoly or joint monopoly to cause unreal scarcity of medicines in the market to force prices up and to punish any violator.

(Source: Tien phong)

HCM City to have press groups

The city will select eligible newspapers in terms of human resources and finances to set up press groups on a trial basis, said Nguyen Tuan Viet, Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Culture and Information on April 24.

At a meeting to review eight years of implementing the Press Law in HCM City, HCM City’s Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai confirmed that the Party and the state always highly appreciate the role of the press in the renovation period, in social-economic development and international integration.

Viet said that the city will make more favourable conditions for the press to improve its quality and expand its operations in HCM City.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)

Transport Ministry considers Former Deputy Minister’s case

Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung said that the Ministry is considering the case of former Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien, who has had some charges dropped against him in the PMU18 scandal. Previously Tien asked the ministry to reinstate him.

Dung said the Transport Ministry would have to ask for the government’s guidance to deal with this case. “We will report the case to the government in April 2008 but we can’t say when it will be finished,” Dung said.

Related to administrative penalties for Tien under the People’s Supreme Procuracy’s suggestion, Dung said Tien will be fined under the regulations, depending on his violations.

(Source: Tien Phong)

Vietnam to import 100,000 doses of blue ear vaccine

As blue ear epidemic is developing unpredictably, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has instructed related agencies to import 100,000 doses of vaccine from China.

According to Dr. To Long Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Veterinary Diagnosis, the vaccine will arrive in Vietnam on April 28. It will be allocated to provinces and cities which have the blue ear epidemic.

Vietnam has 27 million pigs, 17 million in the southern and 10 million in the northern regions.

By April 21, the disease had been reported in 657 communes of ten provinces, attacking 222,000 pigs, including over 221,300 culled, reported the Veterinary Agency.

(Source: Tien Phong)

US$3.2 billion for Can Tho-Kien Giang highway

The government has approved the construction of Can Tho 2 Bridge and a 160km highway that crosses the southern provinces of Can Tho and Kien Giang at a cost of $3.7 billion.

In the first phase of construction, the highway will have six lanes and eight lanes in the second phase, with road width of 95m. The highway will serve between 25,000 to 30,000 cars a day, which can run up to 120km/h. Of the total capital of $3.7 billion, $3.2 billion is for building the highway and $500 million for the Can Tho 2 Bridge, which crosses the Hau River.

The Can Tho-Kien Giang highway will be built in the build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode.

Minh Ha

Defendants in sex clip scandal to go on trial this May

Six months after discovering the culprits who put a sex clip of actress Hoang Thuy Linh on the Internet, the Hanoi People’s Procuracy has finalised its charges against the four, who are charged with spreading depraved culture under the Vietnamese Penal Code.

The four defendants are Nguyen Huu Tai, 24, student of FPT-Arena University; Vu Thi Thuy Linh, 22, student of private Thang Long University; Vo Thanh Hiep, 26, student of FPT University; and Nguyen Thu Linh, 22, student of London Fashion Training Centre in Hanoi.

According to the Hanoi People’s Procuracy’s indictment, the four above defendants uploaded a sex clip of Hoang Thuy Linh and her boyfriend on the internet last October, resulting in public outrage.

The case will go on trial in Hanoi this May.

T. Nhung

Thanh Hoa: Over 330,000 people face food shortage

Because of flooding in early October 2007 and the cold spells in early 2008, the central province of Thanh Hoa has suffered great losses of crops and animal husbandry. As a result, around 330,000 locals may face food shortages in the coming months.

The local authorities have asked the government to allocate rice to these people, totalling over 5,000 tonnes.

From October 2007 to April 2008, Thanh Hoa received rice relief three times, with a total volume of 9,000 tonnes.

Caodaism sect pledges to follow religious policies

2008-04-23T17:58:00.001-07:00

11:56' 23/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Twenty dignitaries of Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao, a sect of Caodaism, have confirmed their belief in Party and State’s religious policies and pledged to abide by the regulations.
The dignitaries, who represent more than 20,000 women of Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao sect in southern Hau Giang and Ca Mau provinces, made the statement at a reception given by the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee’s Standing Committee in Hanoi on April 22.
They said they were happy with the Party and State’s attention to Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao women and its religious followers.
Member of the Standing Committee Nguyen Van Vinh praised the contributions of Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao women to the past national construction and current development.
As one of 10 sects of the Cao Dai religion, two followers of Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao were bestowed the People’s Armed Forces Hero title and 119 others were awarded the Vietnamese Heroic Mother title.
Meanwhile, thousands of women were conferred with War of National Defence medals.

New road cuts traffic in central city

2008-04-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

16:16' 23/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Stretching from the southern tip of Hai Van Pass in Da Nang's Lien Chieu District to Tuy Loan Village along National Highway 1A in Hoa Vang District, the Da Nang Bypass officially opened to traffic last Saturday.
Cars drive along a new section of National Highway 1A that bypasses Da Nang's inner districts.
The new road spans across 18km and over 8 bridges, and is the final step of the first phase of the Da Nang Port Improvement Project.
The Ministry of Transport's Projects Management Unit (PMU) 85 said the bypass should facilitate transportation on the section of the National Highway from Quang Ngai to Quang Tri provinces and enhance Hai Van Tunnel's efficacy while simultaneously minimizing traffic in and out of Da Nang City's inner districts.
"The bypass will play an important role on the highway from Quang Ngai to Da Nang, as well as from Phu Bai (Thua Thien-Hue) and Cam Lo (Quang Tri)," said Nguyen Van Thanh, director of the project's primary contractor, the Civil Engineering Construction Corp. No 6 (Cienco 6).
The Ministry of Transport's figures predict a reduction of 3,000 vehicles per day on the section of National Highway 1A going through Da Nang City's central districts.
The Japanese Government, through the Japan Bank of International Co-operation, funded the project with a VND239bil (nearly US$15mil) loan.
"The completion of the bypass means an accomplishment of an important part of the East West Economic Corridor," according to Kohei Nagai from Japan Port Consultants, the consulting agency for the Da Nang Port Improvement Project.
The East West Economic Corridor, or Trans-Asia Highway, runs through Central Vietnam, the Lao Bao Border Gate in Quang Tri Province, Central Laos, northeastern Thailand, and finally use Andaman Sea in Myanmar.

City names Keppel Land developer of resettlement area

2008-04-23T17:55:00.000-07:00

13:50' 23/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – A consortium comprising the Singapore-based Keppel Land and domestic realty firm Tien Phuoc has been named developer of a resettlement area in HCMC's District 2 for households affected by key projects in the city, including the Thu Thiem New Urban Area project.
An official of the HCMC government told the Daily on Monday that the consortium has been named developer of a project to build 1,886 apartments and a park in the city's eastern district. The project covers 17.3 hectares encompassing two wards An Phu and Binh Khanh.
Under the city's decision, Keppel Land and its Vietnamese partner will use their own funds for completely building apartments and the park, and then transfer the project to the city government for using as resettlement houses for key projects.
In return, the city will allocate a land plot of 30 hectares for the two investors for developing a residential area. The land plot is part of the Nam Rach Chiec Residential Area, which totally covets 90 hectares in An Phu Ward.
The consortium is also asked to provide fund for building infrastructure facilities for the remaining 60 hectares of the Nam Rach Chiec area as well as building 200 sample houses for the resettlement area in Nam Rach Chiec.
This method, often referred to as "land in exchange for infrastructure," has been seen in several other projects, such as the cost-intensive project to develop the Tan Son Nhat-Binh Loi-outer beltway and elevated roads.
The city authorities also asked the Department of Finance to work with relevant agencies to compare the funds that the consortium will spend developing 1,886 apartments for the affected families and a park on 17.3-hectare area, and the market-based value of 30 hectares in the residential area in Nam Rach Chiec.
Besides, District 2 and other departments of Urban Planning-Architecture, Construction, Environment-Natural Resources, Finance, Planning-Investment and Transport and Public Works are also told to support the investors in preparatory stage for the project.
Last July, Keppel Land joined forced with two local partners to develop a township in Dong Nai Province. The total investment for the first stage of the 193-hectare project is estimated at over US$600mil.
The Singapore-based realty developer has recently also entered into joint ventures to develop luxury condominiums on an 8.5-hectare site along the Ca Cam River in Saigon South and a 1.7-hectare waterfront residential project by the Saigon River in Binh Thanh District.
Another residential development in progress in HCMC by Keppel is The Estella, a 4.8-hectare site located in An Phu Ward in District 2. This is part of Keppel Land's first residential township, Saigon Sports City, which is an integrated residential, commercial and recreational sporting hub on a 64-hectare area in HCMC's An Phu Ward, District 2.
In Hanoi, Keppel Land has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop two residential townships, one in Long Bien District and one in Dong Anh District.

High costs slow construction projects

2008-04-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

14:24' 23/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Land clearance process also slowing needed developments
A sharp increase in the cost of construction materials and difficulties in land clearance led to the slow disbursement of basic construction capital in the first quarter of 2008, according to Pham Sy Liem, deputy chairman of Viet Nam Federation of Civil Engineering Associations.
The Phap Van overpass linking Thanh Tri Bridge with National Highway No 1 is under construction.
"Although the Government has had corresponding policies for contractors to deal with the high costs of construction materials, it takes time for them to come into effect," Liem told Viet Nam News.
The Ministry of Transport (MoT) reported that they spent less capital on basic construction in the first three months of the year than targeted.
Only VND651bil (US$40.7mil) was disbursed out of VND742bil ($46.4mil) spent from the budget, meeting only 10.5% of the year's plan.
From the Government's bond capital, VND770bil ($48mil) was disbursed out of VND1.7tril ($106mil) spent on the MoT's basic construction projects in the first three months of the year, meeting 7.5% of the year's target, the MoT reported.
On average, only VND470bil ($29.4mil) was disbursed every month while usually VND1.5tril ($93.8mil) should be disbursed monthly to meet the year's target of about VND18tril ($1.1bil).
Over the rest of the year, as much as VND2tril ($125mil) must be disbursed in each month to meet the year's target.
Construction costs have increased from 150-170% because of the price hike of materials, forcing many projects to come to a halt, Liem said.
The Ministry of Construction has allowed previous contracts to be reviewed to deal with the increase in material costs, however, many procedures have to be taken to avoid contracts from being overestimated, Liem said.
He proposed that the ministry earmark capital for basic construction projects in advance before carefully evaluating and establishing professional teams headed by high-ranking Government officials who can issue immediate decisions to tackle hindrances in each project.
Investment in basic construction should follow the general Government guideline of limiting or cutting ineffective or non-urgent projects while using more capital for projects which can be finished sooner and are socio-economically beneficial.
Land clearance speed, a traditional hindrance for construction in Vietnam, also continues to challenge the disbursement of basic construction projects, Liem said.
According to the MoT's Department for Transport Construction Appraisal and Management, land clearance speed is slower than planned in most of MoT's basic construction projects, negatively impacting the projects' progress.
Projects with serious land clearance problems include 4B Lang Son national route, Thanh Tri bridge, 32 Nhon - Son Tay national route and an upgrade to bridges along N1 national route in its third phase.
The Ministry of Construction early this month presented to the Government a document outlining 16 major hindrances on land clearance activities.
The speed of land clearances could be improved if more professional and scientific methods, and the principle of satisfactory compensation, were strictly applied, Liem said.
"The slow disbursement of basic construction projects doesn't directly affect any individual but has huge negative impacts on the economy. If a national route is completed months after planned, how much money does it cost the economy?".

Expanding population requires smart solutions to unemployment

2008-04-22T16:34:00.000-07:00

22:44' 22/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – It is forecast that Vietnam’s population will reach around 89mil by 2010, creating a huge demand for new jobs. Thoi Bao Kinh te Viet Nam (Vietnam Economic Times) spoke to several experts about the issue.
* Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs:
In order to reach the target of creating jobs for 1.7mil workers this year, the labour sector should implement various solutions. The first one involves improving and updating labour law. The ministry will also sponsor labour consultancy activities and development of job market information from job agencies.
The sector will also apply stricter regulations on labour safety by more frequently checking equipment and machines at enterprises and increasing fines for breaches of labour law.
The sector will ask authorities and enterprises to provide sufficient forecasts on labour demands up to 2010.
The labour sector will co-ordinate with the Social Policy Bank and other concerned agencies to solve problems in drafting and examining projects to distribute national fund for jobs creation more quickly.
We intend to focus more on projects that create many jobs, and encourage handicraft villages and small enterprises to expand. This year, the sector will build two job agencies in the north and central region. The same agency will be built next year in the south.
In addition, the job transaction centre model will be used more, and job-search programmes will be promoted more in the countryside and remote mountainous areas.
* Do Thi Xuan Phuong, deputy director of Hanoi’s Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Department:
Labour export has been considered as an important part of solving unemployment in the city. There are 70 enterprises specialising in exporting labour in Hanoi. But during the past few years, not many labourers in the city have taken part in labour export. That’s why this year, the city will promote labour export programmes among the local community.
Experts in the field suggested that city authorities should build more training centres for labour export to meet the increasing demand of labour export enterprises.
Last year, the city created nearly 80,000 new jobs, reducing the unemployment rate to below 6%. Among the new jobs, the service sector featured prominently, offering most of the positions.
This year, increasing the labour quality to offer more skilled labourers is the most important task of the local labour sector. The city will try to reduce the unemployment rate to 5.7%.
* Nguyen Xuan Vui, general director of Airseco (Airlines Service and Trading Joint-Stock Company):
Labour export has brought many jobs to labourers in areas that are undergoing changing land-use, or for young men finishing military duty. Labour export has also offered labourers the chance to be trained and to practise abroad.
Vietnamese who work overseas send home around US$1.6bil each year.
Foreign employers have noted that Vietnamese workers are clever, agile and eager to learn. Yet they face various challenges, such as stiff competition from workers from other countries and Vietnamese workers’ limited capacity for foreign languages.
Exporting labour is a sensitive field and requires enterprises with established trademarks to join in with work in this area.
In my opinion we should classify enterprises in the labour export sector according to their performance.
We can tally the number of labourers sent abroad by an enterprise to check the company’s effectiveness. However, other factors are also important like the rate of labourers who have to return home earlier than stipulated by contracts; the rate of labourers that have accidents and the way enterprises solve problems associated with working abroad.
If the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs gives strict guidance and enterprises make plans and invest in training, we will raise labour export to a new level during the next few years - that is sending highly-skilled technical labourers who can meet growing global demand.

Foot-hand-mouth worsening in HCM City

2008-04-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

07:15' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Children with foot-hand-mouth disease in a hospital in HCM City
VietNamNet Bridge - The increasing number of children diagnosed with foot-hand-mouth disease indicates the epidemic is entering a new phase, said doctors at the Infectious Disease Department of Paediatrics hospital No 1, HCM City.
Yesterday morning alone, the department received 52 children suffering from the disease, which is highly infectious.
The disease can lead to inflamed sores on the lips, tongue and mouth, fever, sore throat and tender hands and feet. Children are generally more affected.
"The number of patients this week doubled over last week," said Truong Huu Khanh, head of the department.
An increase in victims was also reported at the Paediatrics Hospital No 2. About 30 patients a day are being admitted.
It said cases in the first three months of this year were seven times higher than for the same period last year.
"These figures show that the risk of a serious epidemic is very high," said one doctor. Most children are admitted with long lasting fever, nausea and vomiting. Their hand, feet and mouth are often covered with pus-filled blisters.
"Convulsion, waking up with a start or with glowing eyes are other symptoms," said Dr Khanh.
The disease is easily treated, but if left alone can damage the brain and heart. Death sometime occurs.
"Children under three-years’ of age can get the disease through touching nose fluids, spittle or touching bottles, food or toys belonging to those already suffering," said Khanh.
To prevent the disease, parents should take note of any symptoms – and take their children to hospital for diagnosis and treatment if they persist, said Khanh.

PM asks authorities to protect farmlands

2008-04-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

13:57' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Unregulated farm conversions could leave farmers jobless
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged local authorities and related agencies to 'minimise' the conversion of agricultural land, especially the wet rice areas for non-agricultural uses.
One farmer has to dry rice on the pavement in Linh Dam urban area, formerly a farming area.
Projects in violation of the Land Law should be restored to their original agricultural state, Dung said in his instruction published by the Government website last Friday.
"The Government fears that the unregulated conversion of farm land into industrial parks urban areas or construction sites will affect national food security and push thousands of farmers out of their jobs.
Dung appointed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to cooperate with related authorities to set up a task force to evaluate the status of farm land use in provinces nationwide.
The delegates will work with various agricultural provinces' People's Committee in Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam to inspect the zoning and strategies for using farming land at grassroots administrative levels. The results recorded in the inspections would be compared with national statistics.
The PM's decision requires numerous local organisations to reassess the land use situation. Land being ineffectively used or reserved for projects behind schedule should be restored.
Tran The Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said the country had lost 34,330 hectares of land for paddy cultivation between 2005 and 2007.
Of the figure, 16,000 ha in the Mekong River Delta and 8,000 hectares of paddy in the Red River Delta had been converted for other purposes. Ngoc said many projects let farm land turn fallow so they could be turned into industrial parks but the rate of land actually in use by those projects was quite low.
Ngoc cited the 306 ha Xuyen A Industrial Park in southern Long An Province, which was authorized in 1997 but until now still leases less than 15% of the total area. The 274 ha Duc Hoa Industrial Park in the province only uses 26% of the land.
Most of provinces and cities in the nation's rice basket were racing to set up industrial parks to attract more investment funds, Ngoc said, adding that some provinces lack the potential to attract foreign investors.

Report sees need for higher medical fees

2008-04-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

17:34' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – A public healthcare report to the National Assembly's Standing Committee has called on the Government to increase hospital fees to ensure the smooth operation of healthcare units during a committee discussion yesterday.
According to a report by Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu, the nation's hospitals and healthcare units could hardly operate with the income from their current hospital fees.
These fees, which were set up by the Government in 1995, are becoming increasingly insufficient. And market prices and salaries have both increased several times over the years.
Currently, in large hospitals like Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City and Viet Duc and Bach Mai hospitals in Hanoi, hospital fees and healthcare insurance fees account for 80 to 90% of the hospitals' expenses.
Furthermore, they must spend part of this income on increased staff salaries, which places more financial pressure on them. Thus, investments, maintenance and new healthcare equipment cannot be given the priority they deserve.
"We should consider hospital fees as the price of healthcare service. Hospital fees should be sufficiently calculated to ensure better operational spending for hospitals and healthcare units," said Trieu.
He suggested the Government should apply new hospital fees, which would be clearly identified. Parts which were provided by the Government's budget would not be counted into the hospital fees, but parts that the hospitals had to cover would be taken into account.
Welfare beneficiaries, poor people and children under six could use healthcare services with insurance paid through the Government's budget. Meanwhile, those with higher salaries would have to pay all hospital fees.
The report also indicated an urgent need to adjust the imbalance in the receipts and expenses of the healthcare insurance fund. For over 15 years, most patients only purchased voluntary healthcare insurance when they fell sick.
In 2006, the fund's deficit was VND1.1tril (US$70mil), the figure rose up to VND1.3tril in 2007 ($85mil). It was predicted that this year's figure could reach as high as VND2.5tril ($156mil).
According to Truong Thi Mai, chairperson of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Issues, the Government was now carrying out measures to adjust hospital fees in accordance with the current situation. In the first stage, hospital fees would be calculated adequately to ensure operations.
In the second stage, full hospital fees would be applied. This would be combined with the application of providing healthcare insurance for every citizen. Public hospitals would then control human resources, salaries, recruitment and the purchasing of all equipment and other facilities.

Acute diarrhea epidemic slackens in Hanoi

2008-04-21T17:12:00.001-07:00

09:59' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - The Hanoi Department of Health has asked the public to stay vigilant even though the acute diarrhea epidemic is showing signs of abating in the capital city.
Head of the department Le Anh Tuan said at a press briefing in Hanoi on April 18 that over the past few days, less acute diarrhea patients had been admitted to hospital and no more cases had tested positive for Vibrio Cholerae.
Mr Tuan said that the Hanoi Preventive Medicine Department had taken water samples from 30 out of 110 high-risk lakes and ponds in the city for testing and found that 11 out of 30 lakes had no this strain of bacteria, but many of the remainder had Ecoli infections.
Earlier, 1.75 tonnes of Cloramin B was used to disinfect Linh Quang lake in Dong Da precinct from Vibrio Cholarae. Later water samples showed that the lake was free from the strain. More than 2,000 residents living around the lake were given vaccine to protect them from the bacteria.
Currently, Hanoi cannot control the supply of vegetables into the city, said Mr Tuan, adding that 60 percent of the vegetables have an unknown origin. Vegetables taken from several green grocers have tested positive for Vibrio Cholarae.
He asked local people to pay more attention to food safety and hygiene to protect themselves from the epidemic.

Bulldozers to head to illegal highway structures next month

2008-04-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

16:41' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The Transport Ministry will begin clearing illegal structures along National Highway 1 on May 1.
The VND14tril, about US$875mil, campaign would eliminate encroaching buildings to re-establish traffic safety, said Viet Nam Roads Administration deputy director Ngo Quang Dao on Thursday.
Four sections, Hanoi-Ninh Binh; Vinh-Hue; Da Nang-Nha Trang and Ninh Thuan to south of HCM City, would be cleared during the first three-month phase, he said.
The Viet Nam Roads Administration estimates that about 80,000 structures have been illegally built along the north-south highway.
They include residences and commercial buildings.
Illegal roads also criss-cross the major artery.
Owners of the structures are being told this month to clear sites 5-7 metres from the road's edge or they will be bulldozed.
Owners of structures erected after 1999 would not be compensated in accordance with Decree 172, said Ngo Quang Dao.
Occupiers of land that local officials had illegally allocated for cultivation or the building of dwellings before that date could negotiate for payment but not until the third phase of the campaign which begins in 2010.
The deputy director said that about 50% of illegally built cross roads - often lower than the highway and a cause of accidents - would be eliminated.
Most had been built without the Transport Ministry's permission.
Although the administration's permission was now necessary for all new roads only 27 of the country's 64 cities and provinces had so far submitted their projects for approval, he said.
The deputy director said that all illegal structures along the highway would be eliminated during the campaign second phase, from the end of July to 2010.
Municipal officers had been asked to co-operate in having the illegal structures cleared by next March in accordance with Viet Nam Government Resolution 32 of last June.
Viet Nam Railways plans to spend more than VND4tril, about $250-mil, between now and 2020 to have illegal structures cleared from alongside its tracks.

The poor afraid of getting rich!

2008-04-18T17:11:00.000-07:00

07:01' 19/04/2008 (GMT+7)
A silk shop in Van Phuc Village
VietNamNet Bridge – The poor have to suffer many pains: natural calamities, epidemics, price escalation, etc. when they don’t have money. But when they have money, they are afflicted with even greater pains. This absurdity actually exists.
When a village is turned into a street
Villagers at Van Phuc silk village in Ha Dong city, Ha Tay province are not happy about the news that they will become residents of the capital in the near future.
Thuy Hanh, the owner of a silk shop in Van Phuc village, said her husband was born in Chuong My district, Ha Tay province, so he experienced a merging. In the past Chuong My district’s Thien Phuong and Phung Chau were merged into Hanoi, but after the merging there was no change in these communes, so they were returned to Ha Tay.
But as Ha Tay will be merged into Hanoi, the land prices in Van Phuc are rocketing. Land traders are flocking to Ha Tay and Van Phuc in particular to buy all kinds of land. The local people consider this a chance to change their lives.
“They sell their land but they are not happy,” Hanh commented.
“Farmers can save several million VND a year. Suddenly they have hundreds of millions of VND from selling their fields. They have money but what will they do when they don’t have land?” queried Nguyen Van Du, Vice Chairman of the Van Phuc commune People’s Committee.
Du mentioned the case of Me Tri and Me Dinh as typical examples of local people getting a lot of money from selling land but after that not having jobs and becoming drug addicts and lazy people.
“Van Phuc is a traditional craft village so we are very worried that the locals will target short-term benefit and forget the long term,” Du said.
When villages become streets, farmers may not be able to adapt themselves to urban life if the urbanisation process takes place too quickly. The poor may get rich from selling their fields but this is short-term wealth, which incurs latent risks, Du added.
Van Phuc village has nearly 1,280 households, 90% of them producing and trading silk. The villagers have a traditional profession so they are not poor, but they still worry about urbanisation.
Swapping life for money
All three sons of an old couple in Tho Xuan district in the central province of Thanh Hoa headed to HCM City to earn their living. The couple didn’t know what their sons did but they sent home VND2 million every month. VND2 million is very valuable in the rural area and the couple didn’t need to do anything. They leased out their fields to receive rice.
Suddenly, the three sons came back, bearing serious diseases, the consequences of a long hardworking period. The old couple just cried and wished that their children had not been so thirsty to get rich far from their hometown and been content to do fieldwork at home.
Thuy’s family in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province, is considered the richest family in his village because they own several brick kilns. He began producing bricks over ten years ago. His children are very keen on getting rich by this job. They spend all their time at kilns inhaling toxic gases discharged from these kilns.
Thuy’s family gets rich from these kilns because for each batch of bricks he can earn several hundred VND, much more than for doing fieldwork, but his children are always sick.
“When we were poor, we always wished to be rich. But now we have some money, we are afraid of being wealthy because its cost is too high!” said Thuy.
Most patients in big hospitals in Hanoi like K, Bach Mai, etc. are farmers. It is difficult for farmers to get rich by farm work because Vietnam’s agriculture is un-concentrated. Each farmer family has 2.5 labourers and owns around 0.7ha of land. The country has around 70 million small rice fields, according to a specialist, Prof. Nguyen Lan Dung.
“Farmers don’t have ‘opportunities’ to make money from doing illegal or legal business. They can only exchange their physical strength for money. They are hardworking, lack knowledge, so sometimes they barter their lives for money,” said historian Duong Trung Quoc.

“Dad, help!”

2008-04-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

03:30' 19/04/2008 (GMT+7)
The healthy kid at home...
VietNamNet Bridge - Bui Duc Minh is just over 3 years old but he has suffered from blood cancer for almost one year already.
His parents, Trung and Thuy, are professors at Economics University in Hanoi, Vietnam. When they decided to take him to Singapore for special treatment in March 2008, the amount of white blood cells in his body had already reached 95% of his blood. His life seemed to be leaving him.
Little Minh told his father with tears from pain: “Dad, help. Please help me out of this.” Listening to him, feeling a sharp pain in his heart, Trung, his father, did not know what to do, since his treatment requires a large amount of money, approximately 200,000 SGD. If only he could give his son all his blood, he would do it without fail.
Here are some passages taken from his parents’ diary:
12th March 2008
This is the last day we stay here, at National Pediatrics Hospital. After spending half a year at this hospital and having more than 30 tests, the doctors still have failed to reach an exact conclusion about his disease. Little Minh has suffered too much from pain and all the long treatment. He can no longer stand it. He does not want to see anyone anymore.
Not until today did they find out that his symptoms show white blood cell marrow type M1 (acute lymphoblastic leukemia AML). The doctors say they are incapable of treating this case in Vietnam. The only hope is to take him to Singapore for special treatment.
And so we pack our things and make our way to Singapore.
19th March 2008
He is suffering from a high fever as we take him to Singapore. The number of white blood cells in his body is 400 % higher than in normal people. Little Minh cannot drink or eat. His nights are always interrupted with pains; he never has a full night’s sleep.
Right after we set foot at the airport, he had to check into the hospital immediately and go through an overall check for thirty minutes. All the results confirmed that he has acute lymphoblastic leukemia AML. He was then sent to a special room for treatment to overcome the immediate danger.
I cannot help my tears from falling during his chemical treatment process when I see him cry in pain and beg for help from his parents and family. What can I do??? At that moment, there’s nothing in my mind other than the thought I HAVE TO get him out of this pain, out of all this surgery. I never want to see him suffering from this pain again. I never want to see him scared when a nurse or a doctor comes close to him. Never.
25th March 2008
After every chemical treatment little Minh feels really tired and hurts. At home every time he gets a vaccine injection he forgets easily. Now 3 or 4 intravenous chemical treatment tubes never seem to leave his little hand. Whenever my child has a high fever, he has to have his blood checked again. There are days that he has to overcome 9 injections. The pain and fear bother him even in his dreams. Sometimes he is half-awake at night crying in his sleep and calling out to us, “Mom, dad, I’m scared…Why did this happen to me? Mom, Dad, tell me?...Why does it hurt me so much?…Please, please get me out of this pain. Mom...Dad...” His dreams and our sleep are full of tears and fearfulness for a suspended future. Once in a while it dawns on us, and we realise how far away we are from our home and from being a happy normal family.

... and the kid in hospital.

26th March 2008
We have talked to the doctor and the results are good. But the relief does not last long, as we are faced with another problem. There are only two ways of treating this disease, neither of which our family can afford:

1. Bone marrow transplant for 300.000 SGD

2. Chemotherapy for 220.000 SGD

Not to mention living expenses for our whole family for one year in Singapore.
According to Dr. Allen Yeoh, either way of treatment will succeed to some extent.
I was shocked at the huge amount of money because this amount of money is completely beyond our expectation. What do I have to do to get this amount of money in 6 months? My son’s life depends on our decision.

I look at him and I cannot think anything. All I can do at that moment is run out of the doors with tears running down my face. I have to calm down and think of some way to save my son. Even if I sold our own and only house, I would not have enough money to get out of this situation. What else can I do? It is my son’s life!

I decide to have him undergo the first phase of chemical treatment method. I only have 3 weeks to do all I can to get the money. My only hope is that some organisations can help me with the money. My son’s little tearful voice keeps spinning in my head, “Dad, please help me, please. Why do I have to suffer from this pain? Dad, tell me why?” My child is only 3.5 years old. I have to do something.

But what can I do now? I beg you for some advice, encouragement and strength, from your wisdom and experience so that I can bring some sunshine back to this little family.
Translator: He looks so small in his bed that is so big. It is not easy to translate the tearful pages of this diary. It breaks every little piece of my heart. So please, I beg you for some help for little Minh. After all, he’s just a 3 year-old child.

Faster compensation sought for displaced City residents

2008-04-17T19:31:00.001-07:00

05:44' 17/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Resettlement housing is readied for occupancy at the Thanh My Loi new urban area in HCM City. The resettlement area is part of the Thu Thiem new urban area project.
VietNamNet Bridge - Chairman of HCM City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan has ordered goverment agencies to hasten compensation to displaced residents to make way for the construction of 12,500 apartments in the Thu Thiem new urban area.
Construction of three resettlement areas in Binh Khanh Ward will start in July to house residents in five wards displaced by the Thu Thiem project.
The first resettlement area located on 17.3ha will have 1,886 apartments, while the second area will include 4,200 apartments covering 30ha and the third, 6,500 apartments on 38.4ha.
Earlier, the city People’s Committee toured the area to survey the progress and set out a deadline for compensation and site clearance work in the Thu Thiem new urban area project.
The project has been delayed because of compensation and site clearance problems, which have raised the accumulative interest on construction item loans to VND583 million ($36,437) a day.

Quang Ninh’s Party Secretary threatened with assassination

2008-04-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

11:40' 17/04/2008 (GMT+7)
Mr. Nguyen Duy Hung
VietNamNet Bridge – Party Secretary of the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh is now under local police’s 24/7 protection and transported by specialized car. Hung said the threat comes from illegal coal exploiters.
The official, Nguyen Duy Hung, received a mobile message on April 14, which says that illegal coal exploiters in Hon Gia, Quang Ninh, have hired gangsters to follow Hung’s every move and assassinate him.
According to Hung, illegal coal exploiters threaten him because of Quang Ninh’s campaign to combat illegal coal exploitation. Within three days, the local government seized up to 105 coal boats and more than 10,000 tons of illegally exploited coal. Around 200 other coal boats will be inspected.
The Party Secretary confirmed that despite the threat, there is no change in his family’s activities.
“My wife is quite worried. My children also know the threat. But I think the threat aims to make me pull back the campaign so I don’t worry,” Hung said.
However, the official reported the threat to the Ministry of Public Security. Local police have assigned bodyguards to protect Hung and his family 24/7 and carry the official from his house to office by specialized car.
On April 16, at a meeting with the Central Steering Board on Anti-corruption, Quang Ninh officials committed to fiercely combat illegal coal exploitation in the province.
There are different coal wharves and grounds owned by private firms in Quang Ninh. Some have used armed gangs to scramble for coal exploitation areas, etc., causing uncertainty in the province, illegal coal exploitation and exports.
China’s Guangxi reported the importation of 31 million tons of coal from Quang Ninh province last year, nearly double the official volume.

Call to standardise social work

2008-04-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

00:32' 18/04/2008 (GMT+7)
A teacher at the northern province of Hai Duong’s social sponsoring centre helps deaf children make clothes. There has been a call for the Government to issue laws regulating the role of social workers.
VietNamNet Bridge - Responding to a call for his Mum from a pale-skinned, paralysed boy, the nurse wipes food from his grubby face and continues to spoon-feed him.
It is part of a day’s work for Nguyen Thi Hao, who works at the Ha Noi Centre for Disabled Children and the Elderly.
"After spoon-feeding 10 paralysed children, I clean the house, then take all the children and wash their hands," Hao said.
The 42-year-old centre located at Ba Vi Township in Ha Tay Province has 72 social workers. Most are nurses.
They take care of 304 people, of whom 170 are elderly. The rest are disabled children. Twenty-eight are under five years of age and 15 are new-born babies.
"Some staff have worked at the centre for more than 10 years. The average monthly salary is VND1.5 million a head," said centre director Nguyen Trong Pham. "All work with the thought that it is relieving pain and discomfort for the unfortunate."
Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Bach Hong has said it’s time to professionalise social workers and put them on the State payroll.
At present, wages for social workers at centres for the elderly or children with HIV/AIDS in orphanages are paid by each centre.
Some social workers are forced to leave work at the centres to find a better income at health centres under the State payroll system.
"If medical exposure for social workers is the same, we must look for places where we are offered a better salary," said one worker at the Ba Vi Centre for HIV-infected children.
Social workers belong to groups enjoying a State monthly allowance.
The Ministry’s Social Sponsoring Department reports that in Viet Nam, there are 7.5 million old people, 5.3 million disabled people and 1.4 million children living in difficult conditions. All need the help of social workers.
Also in need of help are people in Viet Nam’s poorer communes, rural labourers pushed out of work because of rapid urbanisation and those suffering from the growing number of social evils.
However, there are only about 20,000 semi-professional social workers throughout the nation.
"Untrained social workers often lack essential skills and awareness about welfare work," said Nguyen Hai Huu, director of the Social Sponsoring Department. "As a result, job efficiency is far from that required."
For example, care givers for sick elderly people should have some medical skills, however urban families often employ untrained rural women to take care of patients at home.
Unclear role
The role of social workers in Viet Nam is unclear. Many people don’t understand what they are and what they are supposed to do, said deputy minister Hong.
He said Viet Nam was in the process of creating a legal corridor to develop social work as a professional career.
The Ministry has sent a draft to the Government on the subject. If approved, implemention will be carried out from 2009 to 2015.
According to the draft, social workers should be trained at college-university level in Viet Nam.
Hong said the social-worker network must keep pace with the development of the nation and focus on retraining grassroots welfare employees working at ward and commune-level.
The process should focus on building up key social workers. At least two should be provided for each district and 10 for each social sponsoring centre.
Key workers should return to retrain and develop the network in their workplaces.
(Source: VNS

Mekong Delta enjoys bumper rice crop

2008-04-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

11:00' 15/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Farmers in the Mekong Delta are enjoying a bumper winter-spring rice crop. They have already harvested around 1.5 million tons of rice.
Nearly 20,000 tons are left to harvest. The average yield is reported to have reached 6.2 tons a hectare while total production exceeded 9.3 million tons.
At the same time, some farmers in the region have already started their upcoming summer-autumn crop. Dr. Mai Thanh Phung, member of the Steering Committee for Brown Hopper Prevention and Control, said that the currently higher prices of rice, ranging from VND4,500/kg – 5,200/kg, have encouraged farmers to increase production of the crop.
Up to now, farmers in the Mekong Delta, including the provinces of Vinh Long, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Dong Thap, Kien Giang, Long An, An Giang and Can Tho city, have sown nearly 400,000 hectares out of 1.6 million, doubled from last year.
In related news, the price of Tra and basa fish in the delta rose after a month of repeated drops.

In An Giang province and Can Tho city, a kilo of white–flesh Tra fish, used as a raw material for processed foods, ranges from VND15,200/kg to VND15,500/kg depending on its quality, Yellow-flesh Tra fish costs between VND14,000/kg-14,500/kg, up an average of VND1,000-2,000 a kilo compared to three weeks ago.

Many farmers have not yet sold their produce based on the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers’ forecast that the price of Tra fish will go up in a next few days due to increased demand for the filet of this kind of fish from Central America, the Middle East and Europe.

(Source: SGGP)

Construction halts on Sai Gon Givral Hotel after worker dies

2008-04-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

20:13' 15/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Work on the four-star Sai Gon Givral Hotel has been suspended after a collapse led to the death of one worker last Saturday.
It’s reported that three walls of the HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy’s Herbal Medicine Faculty collapsed while workers were digging to build the external wall of the hotel. Phan Viet Hung, one of six workers, was seriously injured and later died in the hospital.
The 13-storey hotel, financed by the Sai Gon Givral Joint Stock Company, received a construction licence last December from the city’s Construction Department. Early this month, the company signed a contract with the Licogi 20 Company to build the foundation and walls of the hotel.
Deputy Chairman of Ward 8’s People’s Committee Pham Ngoc Trang said the Herbal Medicine Faculty has asked relevant authorities to examine the state of its building to ensure the safety of its properties and 500 teachers and students.
The investor and contractor have temporarily reinforced the faculty’s collapsed area. The incident is under investigation by the police, construction inspectors and local authorities.

Buddhist priest to return home for UN day of Vesak

2008-04-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

President Nguyen Minh Triet meets Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh during Hanh's visit to Vietnam in May 2007
Buddhist priest Thich Nhat Hanh and a delegation of monks and nuns from Plum Village in France will be in Vietnam from April 22 until June 21 for the United Nation’s 2008 celebration of Buddha’s birthday.

The priest was invited by the Central Department of International Buddhist Affairs, the Vietnam Buddhist Association and the United Nations Day of Vesak International Organization Committee.

The delegation from France will work with their hosts to provide two courses while in Vietnam.

According to the itinerary, some 500 foreigners living and working in Vietnam will be able to attend a six-day retreat in Hanoi to study meditation and Buddhist thought.

Energy-hungry Vietnam awaits first refinery

2008-04-10T17:42:00.001-07:00

Vietnam, desperate to meet energy needs expanding at about twice the rate of its booming economy, is putting the final touches on its first oil refinery, with a second soon to follow.

The facility in central Dung Quat has been on the cards for more than a decade, but political spats, construction delays and even the make-up of the soil at the site have left the project in limbo.

Now, with authorities keen to cut imports of petroleum products as energy consumption soars, officials at state-run PetroVietnam and French oil services group Technip say the refinery should be operational by next year.

"We are very confident," said Dinh Van Ngoc, the deputy manager of the Dung Quat project for PetroVietnam, adding that production would begin in the first quarter of 2009.

The facility is expected to churn out 6.5 million tonnes a year from 2009 -- or a third of the communist country's needs.

With the economy growing at 8.5 percent in 2007, and energy demand on the rise, authorities are keen to cut down on costly imports. Last year, Vietnam spent eight billion dollars to import 12.55 million tonnes of refined oil.

Bruno Le Roy, the Technip engineer managing the construction site, says the refinery is "60 percent finished" -- but that progress has been a long time coming.

Launched 10 years ago at an initial price of 1.5 billion dollars, Dung Quat finally became a reality in 2005 after several foreign partners including French giant Total pulled out -- costing PetroVietnam another billion dollars.

The project first stalled over the proposed location of the refinery: Dung Quat in central Quang Ngai province -- far from both Vietnam's off-shore oil reserves and its commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Authorities are hoping that the refinery and the industrial zone built around it will create job opportunities for more than 20,000 people in the middle of the agriculture-heavy region.

"The only reason to build it in Dung Quat was to develop the centre," says Tony Foster, an attorney specialising in energy issues at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Last year, residents of Quang Ngai province had a per capita income of 500 dollars -- well below the 800-dollar national average.

Then, several more months were lost when the composition of the soil at Dung Quat did not match the specifications provided by PetroVietnam, forcing Technip to rethink the plans for the refinery's foundation, according to Le Roy.

The state-run Vietnamese group -- under pressure from Hanoi, which wants to see the refinery onstream as soon as possible -- placed the blame on Technip, saying it had not paid close enough attention to the details.

"We think our project is small for them," Ngoc said.

But Le Roy counters that the problem stems from the booming construction industry in Vietnam, saying there are simply not enough workers to complete the project. He has 8,000 workers at present, but needs 2,000 more.

"Quang Ngai is a region with no industrial tradition," Le Roy says. "The building materials arrive in either Ho Chi Minh City or ports near Hanoi. They then must be transferred here. Workers also must be brought in."

The Dung Quat project is "important both politically and from an energy security point of view," Foster notes.

"But most economists would say it was not the right way to do it."

PetroVietnam will have another chance to get things right with the Nghi Son refinery, to be built with companies from Japan and Kuwait for a total of six billion dollars.

The plant, to be operational by 2013, will have a targeted capacity of 10 million tonnes a year, and is to be located about 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Hanoi in Thanh Hoa province.

Vietnam's Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, has said the refinery would create about 10,000 jobs and would mostly supply the north, noting the facility was "crucial for energy security."

PetroVietnam -- its sights obviously set on export markets -- is mulling plans for a third refinery in the south of the country.

Source: AFP

Rail ticket discount for AO/dioxin victims

2008-04-09T17:46:00.001-07:00

12:13' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – AO/dioxin victims are now eligible for a 20 percent discount on train tickets, the first ever promotion geared for this group.

This discount, which started this weekend, would run until the end of May in commemoration of May Day and the Liberation Day on April 30, said a Vietnam Railway Corporation representative.

Veterans imprisoned during the resistance wars are eligible for a 30 percent discount.

The discount for war invalids, the disabled and the old has been raised from 10 to 20 percent.

Vice President warns against untreated wastes

2008-04-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

12:45' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan on April 8 rang the bell on the rampant discharge of untreated solid and water wastes, alerting would-be serious consequences of the act on both present and future generations.

The Vice President raised the situation at a meeting to honour outstanding environment protectors and clean water suppliers in Hanoi on April 8.

Though there are individuals and units that have worked hard to protect the environment, many businesses have still put more efforts in doing business than in limiting environmental pollution, the State leader said.

“In the meantime, Vietnam is encountering climate changes imposed by industries,” Vice President Doan said, noting those challenges cause a threat to the nation’s energy and food security.

The Vice President called on industries and sectors to pour heavy and concentrated investment into the protection of environment.

The State leader also called for concerted efforts to raise public awareness on environmental protection and make the people change their behaviour to the environment.

The meeting, the first of its kind so far in Vietnam, brought together 600 representatives to share experiences on the implementation of the Law on Environmental Protection and discuss measures to protect the country from climate changes.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment honoured 20 units and six individuals for contributions to the protection of environment.

Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen launched a drive to get people involved in protecting the environment in the 2008-2010 period.

More than 23,000 workers sent aboard

2008-04-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

11:42' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam sent more than 23,000 people to work abroad in the first quarter of 2008, reported the Bureau of Administration on Overseas Workers under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The figure represents an increase of more than 17 percent over the same period last year.

The largest markets for labour export remained Malaysia, Qatar, Taiwan, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

The number of Vietnamese workers in markets such as the USA and Australia was limited because of their poor professional and foreign languages skills.

The MOLISA said it would assist labour export enterprises in holding vocational training courses. The focus would be on training in jobs that are in high demand in the international market so as to reach the target of sending abroad 85,000 workers this year.

The ministry also plans to establish some labour export training centres under the system of vocational schools.

At present, Vietnam has sent 500,000 people to work aboard.

Hanoi to disinfect lakes to fight cholera

2008-04-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

17:14' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi will start disinfecting around 30 lakes and ponds this Wednesday in a drive to keep cholera from spreading after health experts last week found the bacterium Vibrio cholerae in one of these bodies of water.

Linh Quang lake. (Photo: VNN)
At an emergency meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, vice chairwoman of Hanoi, told the Departments of Transport and Public Works, and Health to immediately disinfect and clean up the contaminated lakes and ponds in the city.

The water has been contaminated due to untreated wastewater discharged directly into the lakes, she said, adding this was the reason for cholera to spread.

The city asked district authorities to keep the environment clean, monitor the quality of water treatment plants and tighten control of food hygiene and safety.

Relevant State agencies should increase the monitoring of waste-water discharge and drainage systems while the Department of Health should monitor hospital waste, she said.

Last week, the city used 1.3 tons of chloramine B to disinfect Linh Quang lake where the cholera bacterium was detected last week. Health workers are also testing water samples from every lake and pond in the city. Around 68 people living around the lake have contracted cholera.

Hanoi closed Van Chuong market by Linh Quang lake to prevent the spread of the disease on Monday.

The city's Department of Health reported on Monday that over 200 people in the capital city had been hospitalized for diarrhea and that 44 of them had tested positive for cholera.

Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Preventive Health Department of the Health Ministry, told the Daily on the phone that polluted water was the first cause of the escalating spread of the disease.

"To stamp out the epidemic, authorities and residents should tighten the monitoring of water quality by carrying out regular water tests," he said. "The public should be more aware of environment and food hygiene."

Nga warned the epidemic could boom in rural areas because 80% of the toilets there failed to meet hygiene standards and said it would be difficult to control the epidemic if waste continued being discharged into the lakes, ponds and other water sources.

Nga noted the demand for water would run high in the summer and there was a possibility of water shortages, which will in turn lead to haphazard water use in the population.

The provinces that are being hit by cholera are Ta Tay, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam and Vinh Phuc, with nearly 100 patients testing positive for cholera.

HCMC on Monday began taking bold measures to monitor cholera in the city though the disease had yet to spread to the city.

Phan Van Nghiem, head of the Physicians Office under the HCMC Department of Health, said the department had ordered the hospitals to monitor all diarrhea cases and prepare sufficient drugs and facilities to deal with emergency cases.

No cholera cases have been detected in the city, but the city should be on high alert for the disease, so residents should make sure to use clean water, he said.

* The agriculture ministry's Department for Animal Health on Monday reported that blue ear disease remained to be out of control as new outbreaks were detected in Thanh Hoa Province.

The disease has hit 165 communes of 11 districts in the province and at least 37,557 pigs have been killed by the disease. To prevent the epidemic from spreading further, local animal health workers have culled 27,671 pigs.

The pig disease is still active in four provinces - Quang Nam, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

Initial estimates by the agriculture ministry show Ha Tinh has 7,000 infected pigs, Nghe An 10,000 and Quang Nam 500.

The ministry forecast the disease would continue spreading, so health animal experts and market monitors should enhance coordination to prevent the illegal transport and trading of pigs in the affected areas.

Bird flu goes to the south and central region

2008-04-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

14:48' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Bird flu has been recorded in the southern province of Tien Giang and the central province of Quang Nam, announced Bui Quang Anh, Head of the Veterinary Agency.
In Tien Giang, the disease was found in a flock of 1,500 ducks in Phuoc Lap commune, Tan Phuoc district. These ducks had received the first vaccination on March 1.
In Quang Nam, bird flu attacked poultry in Nui Thanh and Tien Phuoc district, where 428 ducks, which were not vaccinated, died.
According to Bui Quang Anh, bird flu could appear on a small scale in other provinces where poultry is not vaccinated.
As blue ear epidemic is spreading very quickly, the Veterinary Agency on April 8 asked related provinces and cities to address their supervision and control of transport of livestock.
So far, nearly 70,000 pigs in the central region have caught blue ear and a record high number of nearly 54,000 pigs have been culled, strongly affecting the animal husbandry sector of the four provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Nam.
“The total number of ill pigs is approximately 70,000, equivalent to the figure of last July, when the blue ear epidemic boomed. However, the loss this time is three times more than last year because only 20,000 pigs were culled last July while it is 56,000 at present,” said Bui Quang Anh.

Fire concerns rage through southern national parks

2008-04-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

16:21' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Thousands of hectares of forest in the southern provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang, Kien Giang and Ca Mau are now at dangerous and extremely dangerous risk of fire. Forest protection agencies and management boards of national parks are at high vigilance.
At U Minh Ha National Park, thousands of hectares of forest have been exhausted of water for a long time. Under fierce sunbeams, fires can break out anytime in this forest. Fire concerns, therefore, are currently high in the national park.
Nguyen Ham Chau, an official of the Forest Protection Agency who is assigned to supervise anti-fire tasks in U Minh Ha National Park during the dry season, said: “The forest protection forces are now at high alert. We have been here for nearly three weeks with sufficient equipment.”
The director of the national park, Nguyen Van The, directly checked all 21 fire supervision stations set up along the 50km boundary of the park on Sunday. He said the 8,527ha national park has up to 6,500ha at extremely dangerous risk of fire so the forest protection team of nearly 200 members has been in the park for the whole week.
The director said if a fire occurred the consequences would be immeasurable. In near-by communes of Tran Hoi, Khanh An, Khanh Lam and Khanh Binh Tay Bac, local authorities have set up a reserve force of 4,000 people in case fires occur.
In another national park, U Minh Thuong, many areas are out of water. The park’s Director Nguyen Van Huong said U Minh Thuong is a huge peat area so it would be terrible if a fire happened. The management board, thus, has also been at high alert.
All national parks have closed their doors to tourists but they still worry about fires caused by local residents who get into the parks to catch fish and get honey. Most forest fires in Ca Mau, Kien Giang and Dong Thap in the past were caused by people going into the forest for these reasons.
According to Director of U Minh Ha National Park Nguyen Van The, around 4,000 households are living in the buffer zone and many of them live on fish and honey from the park. The park’s guards can’t completely control the whole area and deal with these people.

Lack of awareness spreads acute diarrhea, ministry says

2008-04-08T15:45:00.001-07:00

23:15' 08/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Contaminated water, high-risk food and low public awareness are some of the reasons for the continued spread of acute diarrhea in the North, said Dr. Tran Dang, head of the Vietnam Food Administration and a spokesman for the Ministry of Health.
Farmers in Ha Noi, Ha Tay, Vinh Phuc still spread night soil mixed with water on their vegetable fields, according to a survey carried out by the ministry. Even after cleaning with water, coliforms, including E. coli, and the Vibrio cholera virus are still found on vegetables.

Shrimp paste, considered the primary cause of the diarrhea outbreak at the end of 2007, is made in the northern province of Thanh Hoa.

Shrimp paste is contaminated during the dilution procedure before being put on the market.

Due to low public awareness, some people eat raw food such as duck pudding, vegetables, shrimp paste, dog meat and ice water.

More critically, people do not wash their hands before eating and after going to toilet. Only 12 percent of residents wash their hands with soap, according to the survey.

Vendors at roadside eateries do not wear gloves or wash their hands and 80 percent have the E. coli bacteria on their hands.

The acute diarrhea epidemic has hit 12 provinces and cities nationwide, according to the ministry. This includes Ha Noi; Hai Phong; the northern provinces of Ha Tay, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Phu Tho, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc and Hai Duong; and the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh.

(Source: SGGP)

Forbes magazine selects Vietnamese-Korean as top philanthropist

2008-04-08T15:44:00.001-07:00

23:38' 08/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge - Ly Tuong Tuan, a Republic of Korea (RoK) resident of Vietnamese origin, has been named as one of the top 48 philanthropists in Asia by the US-based Forbes magazine.
Mr Tuan, a 36th generation descendant of Vietnamese King Ly Thai To, was recognized for his contributions to charity activities in Vietnam.
The man, who is known as President Ly Sang Joon of the RoK-based Golden Bridge Group, donated US$2.6 million last year to help establish the RoK-Vietnam Cultural Fund, which provides scholarships to Vietnamese students and helps improve the living conditions of poor Vietnamese.
Mr Tuan has also sought business opportunities in Vietnam and hopes to contribute to the development of the country by applying his operation experience in various sectors, ranging from finance and infrastructure construction to investment and real estate.
In September 2006, the Golden Bridge Group opened a representative office in Vietnam.

(Source: VOV)

Three subversives deported after arrest

2008-04-08T15:21:00.001-07:00

Three members of the Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform) Party, a US-based anti-government group whose operations in Vietnam were busted last November, were sent packing Monday following their arrest in Ho Chi Minh City last week.

Vietnamese-Australian Nguyen Tan Anh, Vietnamese-Swiss Nguyen Thi Xuan Trang, and Vietnamese-American Mai Huu Bao, all between 28 and 39 years old, were nabbed on April 3.

The police caught them photographing and filming restricted areas belonging to the southern headquarters of the Ministry of Public Security in HCMC’s District 1.

Investigators also seized cell phones and camera equipment used for clandestine activities.

From interrogation, the three admitted they had been dispatched to Vietnam earlier this month by the Viet Tan Party.

Last December, Vietnamese police also deported two other Viet Tan members who had plotted to distribute subversive materials against the government.

The Viet Tan Party was set up in 1982 in Thailand by Hoang Co Minh, a former senior colonel in the US-backed government in South Vietnam before 1975.

It has since established branches in Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Hai Phong company workers demand more pay, stop work

2008-04-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

Nearly 500 workers at Tan Vinh Hung Company in Hai Phong City went on strike Monday demanding higher wages and fewer working hours.

Some of the workers said their monthly basic salary was as low as VND560,000 but still had to work under high pressure and clean the factory and machines after work.

Before striking the workers had submitted a petition to the company to increase their wages.

The company had agreed to increase their basic salary to VND620,000 per month but asked them to work an extra hour, and the workers were unhappy with the outcome.

Tan Vinh Hung, which is a clothing subcontractor for a Taiwanese company, is situated in Nam Son Commune in An Duong District.

Hanoi police nab street robbery gang red-handed

2008-04-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Hanoi police Monday arrested six members of a gang that robbed people by grabbing their belongings on the street from motorbikes.

The police reported that the six, all aged 15 to 19 years, admitted to seven robberies in recent days.

They were caught red-handed while snatching a woman’s handbag Monday.

The police announced the names of the arrested as Nguyen Manh Tuan, Pham Thanh Tu, Nguyen Hong Quan, Nguyen Dinh Khanh, Nguyen Thanh Duc and Pham Minh Linh, all from Hanoi.

The police are looking for other members of the gang though it is not known how many exist.

Reported by Pham Hai Sam

Overhaul of traditional markets encumbers small businesses

2008-04-07T17:50:00.000-07:00

When about 1,000 businesses in a Hanoi market went on strike last week over the news that it will be replaced with a commercial center, the outcry highlighted the conflict inherent in the urban modernization trajectory.

For the past few years, city officials have been pushing to renovate at least 10 of Hanoi’s traditional markets into new commercial centers.

Architectural transformation of old city structures is hailed as a vital step for the capital to modernize on the eve of its 1000th anniversary in 2010.

Under the plan, a traditional market like Nga Tu So is being remodeled into a 21-to 25-floor commercial center with at least one or two basements.

A new commercial center will also replace the site of Mo Market, on Bach Mai Street, by mid-2010.

However, the development of these new modern commercial structures has met with mixed results.

Consumers have remained loyal to traditional, street-based markets where prices of goods are lower, while new buildings struggle to attract small business tenants due to high-rental kiosks and extravagant taxes

Some locals have questioned the billions of dong the government have invested to demolish traditional markets that had been upgraded not too long ago.

Nghia Tan Market, for example, was rebuilt 10 years ago with construction mostly financed by tenants.

The market lacked electricity for the first five years, and since businesses have only been up and running in the past five years, most tenants have not been able to recover their investment.

“Our current market has been operating smoothly, so why tear it down now all of the sudden?” said Ly, one of the kiosk owners at Nghia Tan Market.

“If we don’t contribute to financing this commercial center, then we cannot own a kiosk in it.

Small businesses like us won’t be able to afford the high rental and taxes in the center, but we can’t just increase our prices and drive customers away.”

At the end of January, a similar case occurred in Bien Hoa Town of the southern Dong Nai Province.

The province had planned to spend about US$11-million to replace Tan Hiep Market, considered one of the best markets in the town, with a new commercial center.

Provincial officials saluted the move as “a successful urban development model” while most of Tan Hiep’s 700 small businesses considered it to be a waste of funds and a violation of their commercial rights.

While Hanoi officials still vow to replace traditional markets, some of the newly-established commercial centers already struggle to draw enough customers and tenants.

Four years after a major upgrade, the 30,000-square-meter Hai Boi Market located in Dong Anh District has only been able to entice 60 businesses to operate on site.

Khuong Dinh Market in Thanh Xuan District, refurbished six years ago, has just 40 percent of its kiosks registered.

Source: TN, Agencies

Southern metro fortifies campaign for clean streets

2008-04-07T17:49:00.001-07:00

Rubbish bins are to be installed on 11 major streets in Ho Chi Minh City’s districts 1, 3 and 10 this month, municipal People’s Committee’s Deputy Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Thu Ha said Sunday.

Local authorities are also planning to build public restrooms throughout the city.

People caught violating street sanitary codes would be severely fined, Ha said.

Official negligence

Deputy chairman of the HCMC Fatherland Front Committee, Le Hieu Dang, said the public was not always to blame for dirty streets.

On many streets, people could not help littering because there were no public rubbish bins, he said.

“Not one can be seen even on Mac Dinh Chi Street where the Fatherland Front Committee is headquartered.”

Several representatives from District 1 agreed.

They said most people wanted to keep their streets clean but a lack of trash bins and restrooms made it difficult to do so.

“We have to blame ourselves first before dumping it all on our citizens,” said a representative from District 1’s Tan Dinh Ward.

Dang said local authorities were also deficient when it came to preventing shop-owners from encroaching on the sidewalks.

Dang said Dinh Cong Trang Street residents once accused ward authorities with receiving “fees” from a cake shop to allow it encroach on the street.

“I questioned ward officials who said they did collect the fees for the ward budget,” he said.

The People’s Committee’s vice chairwoman Le Thi Hong Phuong promised to put a stop to the practice.

“We cannot let a little addition to our ward budget make us forget to enforce our clean street codes,” Phuong said.

Inefficient enforcement

District 1’s chief construction inspector, Thai Duc Do, said it was difficult to enforce the city’s street codes as, except for police, other inspectors could not fine violators on the spot.

Instead, they could only keep violators’ identity papers and request them to pay a fine later at ward authorities’ offices.

Fines were also too low to deter future offenses, Do said.

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha admitted fines were too low but said not only the local police, but construction inspectors at all levels were authorized to issue fines on the spot.

She said the problem was not a question of authorization but whether local authorities took pains to do what they could do to make the streets clean.

Ha promised to increase inspection forces citywide to better enforce street codes.

Nguyen Minh Hoa, head of the Department of Urban Studies from the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities, suggested focusing on specific goals every year rather than having too many and achieve nothing.

“Each office or street should only aim to solve one important issue a year,” he said.

“Developing a clean and civilized habit does not take one or two years, but many.”

Reported by Duc Trung

Family planning campaigns show sharp overall decline

2008-04-06T03:23:00.000-07:00

(05-04-2008)
Medical staff offer advice on family planning methods to women in Ninh Hiep Commune, Gia Lam District, Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc

HA NOI — The implementation of family planning campaigns throughout the nation showed a sharp downward trend in the first quarter of 2008.

Director of the Health Ministry’s Population Information Centre, Nguyen Quoc Anh, said the number of communes carrying out campaigns was just a quarter of that in the same period last year.

The campaigns, usually implemented in the first few months of a year, are considered as a highly effective way to control the whole year’s birth rate.

Anh said the number of third children in families born in January increased in 23 out of 62 cities and provinces in Viet Nam compared to the same month last year, showing that more were conceived in the previous April.

In total, 83,875 children were born in January this year, according to updated population information. This was an increase of 53 children, or 0.63 per thousand, against last January, said Anh.

Half of all cities and provinces also reported higher birth rates this January.

"It’s not a completely new trend," said the Health Ministry’s Population Department director, Pham Ba Nhat.

"Viet Nam failed to meet last year’s target set by the National Assembly to reduce the birth rate by 0.3 per thousand. I don’t think we can meet the target again this year. It’s a gloomy situation," he said.

"In the worst scenario, Viet Nam’s birth rate may grow throughout this year."

Nhat said the nation could do nothing to improve the situation this year as women whose pregnancy began in April would give birth next year.

Nhat said the higher birth rate was the result of "loosening" population management, caused by the dissolution of the National Committee for Population, Family and Children last year.

"I want to have one more child. If it’s a boy, that’s the best thing, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a girl," said mother of two girls Nguyen Minh Khanh.

"On the income my husband and I earn, we can afford a new baby. We want a bigger family."

The number of third children born in 2007 increased by 34 per cent, from 135,000 to 182,000 in the previous year. However, last year’s birth rate was 0.25 per thousand lower than 2006. — VNS

Untrained workers banned at hazardous building sites

2008-04-06T03:22:00.002-07:00

(31-03-2008)
HA NOI — An extremely high death rate has forced the Ministry of Construction to place bans on unqualified and unfit building employees working in dangerous areas.

Labourers who do not have adequate certification, training or physical strength will be forbidden from doing dangerous building work, according to new regulations issued by Construction Minister Nguyen Hong Quan.

The new rules follow a large number of serious work-related accidents last year. Most of them were on building sites.

Figures supplied by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs reveal that from 2002 to 2006, an average of 505 workers were killed each year and 4,800 injured.

Last year, a staggering 621 workers died and 6,337 were injured on the job.

According to the instruction 02/2008/CT-BXD, approved by the Construction Minister, the bans on untrained and unfit building workers will apply to all building sites, particularly on high scaffolding and other high-level work, and on construction work underground and in mines.

Those who have been injured on building sites or have an occupational disease will have to go for health check-ups every six months.

State and other large-scale building enterprises will also have to set up work-safety departments. Those with more than 300 labourers will have to appoint at least one member as head of work safety. Building sites with less workers will have to employ one semi-professional.

Work-safety leaders must be professionals who know how to look after employees and know about the technology necessary for safe construction.

They must also be trained in work safety and have a good knowledge of the rules and regulations relating to the task. As well as work-safety officers, every construction site will have to employ one person to look after workers’ health care – one officer for every 500 labourers.

In addition, each labourer will have to sign a labour contract on a specially set out form before starting work.

On sites involving many sub-contractors, a steering board must be set up to keep a check on the work safety situation. — VNS

Guest workers need more skills

2008-04-06T03:22:00.001-07:00

(01-04-2008)
People apply for work abroad. This year, approximately 85,000 Vietnamese are looking for work abroad. — VNA/VNS Photo Huu Viet

HA NOI — The Department for Overseas Workers Management plans to find work for about 85,000 Vietnamese labourers in foreign countries this year.

The main markets will be Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and the Middle East, the department said.

The department also plans to significantly increase labour quality and the rate of highly-skilled workers.

Despite significant increases in the number of guest workers in recent years, most are in markets with comparatively low income because they lack skills for more sophisticated markets, said Dao Cong Hai, the department’s deputy head.

The department will co-ordinate closely with the General Department for Vocational Training, Vietnamese enterprises and relevant agencies to enhance the quality and quantity of training, said department head Nguyen Ngoc Quynh.

There would also be strict supervision of labour-export enterprises to make sure they supplied workers with the necessary knowledge to work abroad.

The Department for Overseas Workers said it would perfect its official website and co-ordinate more closely with the media to improve the spread of news and information.

Seeking new markets

This year, there may be difficulties supplying labour to traditional markets, such as Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea and Japan and might not meet the demands of high-quality markets, including France, Australia, Canada and the U.S, the department said.

Therefore, the development of new markets is considered a necessity. The Middle East is targeted as the region with the most potential for the next few years, Quynh said.

This year, 10,000 Vietnamese labourers will be sent to jobs in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Quynh said the demand for guest workers in these market was very promising.

"The key point is whether we are able to guarantee labour that meets requirements for professional skills, foreign languages and a sense of discipline," he said.

According to the Department for Overseas Workers, Vietnamese guest workers in the Middle East are mainly bricklayers, electricity workers and builders. Their average monthly income is VND4 – 6 million (US$250 – 375) for untrained workers and VND6 – 8 million ($375 – 800) for trained workers.

Dang Ngoc Quang, Vietnamese trade counsellor in Egypt, said Israel and Sudan were potential markets as well as Lebanon and Libya.

According to Overseas Labour Employment Services and Construction Company director Le Xuan Luyen, besides higher income prospects in Israel, workers can learn a lot from the nation’s highly developed agricultural technologies.

In the first two months of this year, 15,764 labours went abroad. Taiwan led with nearly 6,000 labourers, followed by Malaysia, South Korean and Japan. —VNS

Party official’s Angola visit yields improved partnership

2008-04-06T03:20:00.001-07:00

(05-04-2008)
General Secretary Nong Duc Manh meets Angola’s Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias do Santos. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuan Tuan

LUANDA — Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh’s current visit to Angola has opened up a new period of friendship and co-operation between the Angolan MPLA Party and the Communist Party of Viet Nam, and between their respective countries and citizens.

This statement was made by Permanent Vice President of the Angolan MPLA Party Antonio Pitra Neto in Luanda on Thursday, while meeting with Party General Secretary Manh, who began an official State-level visit to the African country at the invitation of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos the day before.

The MPLA Party leader spoke highly of contributions by the Communist Party and people of Viet Nam to the world’s common struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and social progress.

He informed his guest of the Angolan party’s urgent tasks, particularly regarding preparations for the MPLA Party congress scheduled to take place later this year.

Manh said that solidarity, support and assistance from international friends such as the Angolan people had played an important role in Viet Nam’s achievements.

The host and his guest agreed to further enhance co-operative ties between the two Parties by increasing the exchange of visits, information and experiences in Party-building, as well as in promoting social, economic and cultural development.

Manh invited the leaders of the MPLA Party to visit Viet Nam at an appropriate time. He took the opportunity to present 50 computer sets produced by Viet Nam to the Angolan Party.

On the same day, Manh met Angolan National Assembly President Roberto de Almeida. The Angolan top legislator described the visit to Angola by the high-ranking delegation of Viet Nam as an important landmark, which he said would open up a new development stage in friendship and co-operation between the two countries.

Recalling his visit to Viet Nam in 2004, the Angolan NA President said he had been impressed with the land and people of Viet Nam, and greatly admired the country’s renewal achievements.

Manh affirmed that the two top legislative bodies of Viet Nam and Angola played an important role in the bilateral relations between the two countries, particularly in the development of legal foundations and frameworks for the two countries’ stable and long-term relations.

Manh and NA President Roberto de Almeida agreed to enhance exchanges of friendly activities, experiences and information between the two top legislative bodies of Viet Nam and Angola, as well as to speed up the effective and practical co-operation and friendship between the two countries.

The Vietnamese Party leader took the occasion to convey Vietnamese NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong’s invitation for the Angolan NA President to visit Viet Nam at an appropriate time.

Later that day, the General Secretary met Angolan Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias do Santos. The host highlighted the visit to Angola by Manh and his entourage as a pivotal milestone in the two countries’ relations.

The two sides agreed to increase the exchanges of delegations, experiences and information, and to soon implement agreements signed between the two countries for their effective co-operation, thus bringing in practical benefits for the two peoples, as well as contributing to peace, stability, co-operation and development within the region and the world.

In the evening, the MPLA Party Steering Committee presented a banquet in honour of Manh and his entourage. — VNS