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Social
News 19/9
Child
labour prevention efforts intensified
Vietnamese and
foreign experts discussed in
The event was
co-organised by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA)
in collaboration with the United States Department of Labour (DOL), and
International Labour Organization (ILO).
It was reported
that over the years, the Vietnamese Government has paid much attention to
protecting and taking care of children, especially to preventing and reducing
child labour.
The government has
endeavoured to harmonize international law, policies, and conformance on
child labour.
Currently, there
are around 1.75 million Vietnamese children aged 5-17, or 62% of the total,
engaged in economic activities. Most of them live in rural areas and
work in agriculture.
Nearly 596,000
children work more than 42 hours a week and many do not go to school.
Child labour needs
to be eliminated as it steals their childhood, talents and human dignity, and
badly affects their physical and spiritual growth, delegates stressed.
The project will
help increase the capacity building and raise the public’s awareness of ways
to prevent and minimize child labour.
Beneficiaries of
the project are those under 18 years old who are involved in many forms of
hard, toxic, hazardous and dangerous work in the garment industry,
agriculture, fisheries, and traditional crafts.
They will take part
in prevention activities and be protected from child labour through direct
interventions, education, vocational training, and other support services.
Their families will
receive assistance from the project to create incomes, improve their
livelihood, and develop household economies.
ASEAN
skills competition set for October
As many as 300
candidates from ten ASEAN countries are expected to participate in the 10th
regional skills competition at the My Dinh National Convention Centre in
They will compete
in 25 skills, two more than the 9th event in 2012. This year, two new events
are
Candidates are
being trained in the
Six
A World Bank funded
project to upgrade six urban areas in the Mekong River Delta has kicked off
its second phase for the four-year period from 2014-2017, according to the
Steering committee for Southwestern region.
The total
investment for the second phase of the project isUS$399 million, of which
US$293 million is sourced from WB ODA funding and the remaining comes from
the Vietnamese Government’s counterpart capital.
The six cities in
the Mekong River Delta include Can Tho, My Tho (Tien Giang province), Cao
Lanh (Dong Thap province), Ca Mau (Ca Mau province), Tra Vinh (Tra Vinh
province), Rach Gia (Kien GIang province).
The project aims to
upgrade infrastructure in these cities, build resettlement areas and canals,
enhance management capacity, repair roads and improve drainage system.
Nearly 3.5 million
people in six urban areas will benefit directly or indirectly from the
project when it is completed.
It is part of a
programme to upgrade national urban areas which has been approved by the
Prime Minister for the period 2009-2020. Accordingly, around 100 urban areas
(fourth-tier cities) will be upgraded in the future.
Cruise
ships bring 34,000 tourists to Thua Thien-Hue
This year, more
than 34,000 international cruise holiday-makers landed in Chan May port to
visit
Director of the
provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Tien Dung, said a
large number of tourists arrived in the locality on the
To optimise the
port’s potential, local authorities are working with relevant units to bring
the harbour in line with international standards.
In addition,
investment has been made to improve the quality and range of services on
offer, as well as promoting the port and locality at domestic and foreign
tourism fairs in a bid to attract more tourists.
In a workshop on
Vietnam’s development strategy for its cruise industry, held as part of the
Festival Hue 2014 in April, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines pledged to implement
infrastructure development projects in Chan May port. The firm aims to bring
around 25,000 tourists to
Chan May port is
one of 46 stopovers for cruise liners in
Due to its
advantageous location, it has the potential to be developed into a port
specialising in cruises.
At present, Chan
May port can welcome vessels of up to 30,000 DWT and large international cruise
ships with a capacity of 3,000 passengers.
Highway 1A expansion to finish late next year
The project to
expand the
So far, the site
clearance process has almost been finished while 35% of construction work to
expand the highway has almost been completed, says the report, which was
released at a conference held on September 15 to review the progress of the
projects to expand parts of
Site clearance has
been completed in 15 among 17 provinces that the highway runs through, and
the resettlement of affected households has basically been finished as well.
Minister of
Transport Dinh La Thang said with the site clearance being nearly finished,
the expansion can be done late next year, one year ahead of original
schedule.
The master project
of expanding
In addition, 17
other projects costing over VND47.8 trillion in total and funded by Government
bonds have a combined length of 678 km.
The three remaining
projects include two with a combined length of 60 km funded with VND3.38
trillion from the State budget, and one project over a 25-km section worth
VND4.2 trillion financed by loans from the Asian Development Bank.
According to the
timeline set by the Transport Ministry initially, the national highway
expansion project should be ready in late 2016 with four lanes.
Meanwhile, the
The first stage of
the project has been finished with a 110-km section from Dak Gion to Tan Canh
District in Kon Tum.
Deputy PM
avows help for migrants
The Government
called upon authorities to provide support for migrants, especially those
settled in poor areas, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc confirmed in a
workshop in
The event was
organized to address the challenges of increased migration within
Incentives include
the provision of farmland, water and accommodation for the displaced, as well
as infrastructure improvements and poverty reduction schemes, Phuc said,
adding that coordination between local authorities and agencies would be
necessary to help migrants stabilize their lives.
He acknowledged
that the trend was cyclical and inevitable amidst the industrialization
process, but that it had real socio-economic and security implications.
Bui Sy Loi, Deputy
Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs, proposed more
investments be made in infrastructure and training in rural areas as well as
adjusting policies on labour and income.
Chairman of the
National Assembly Council of Ethnic Affairs Ksor Phuoc proposed the
rearrangement of the population to eliminate sparsely-inhabited and poor
areas in the North by 2020.
Vuong Dinh Hue,
Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission pledged to devise a
plan to reallocate the workforce at the national level, whilst ensuring the
country is stay on track to sustainable development.
BabyMe
represents Vietnam to join World Startup Competition
Defeating 11
rivals, BabyMe has won the final of the competition Demo Day 2014 to
represent
The competition,
part of the Startup Nations Summit 2014, will feature participation of
startup companies from over 40 countries around the world. The winning team
will be awarded a prize of US$100,000 in cash.
Nguyen Duc Hai,
head of the organizing committee of the contest Demo Day 2014, said that
contestants will be judged by an international panel and many investors from
around the world.
Phan Duy, finance
director of Yola Institute, said that the triumph of BabyMe was due to its
high-quality, convenient and vanguard product that meets the strong demand of
the market.
Malikat Rufai from
the U.S. Consulate General in HCMC, who is representative of the judge panel
of Demo Day, said that BabyMe needs to prove its potential of
commercialization on the world market to compete with other rivals in other
countries if they want to win the competition in
BabyMe is a mobile
phone application that provides information and clear up queries for mothers
from the period of pregnancy until the babies get two years old. The
application is developed from the application Ga Trong, which won the UNICEF
Mobile Hackathon 2013.
Trinh Tuan,
co-founder of BabyMe, said the application is in test run and is scheduled to
go to the market next month. Most functions of the product are free for
users.
The contest Demo
Day attracted participation of eight teams from the competition ‘Thach Thuc
Khoi Nghiep Vietnam 2014’ (Challenge Vietnam Startups 2014) organized by
Startup Vietnam and four teams from the contest ‘Y Tuong Khoi Nghiep Vietnam
2014’ (Ideas of startups in Vietnam 2014) organized by Business Startup
Support Center.
Previously, the
The HCMC government
is looking for Government approval to appoint an engineering, procurement and
construction (EPC) contractor for a project of upgrading
The city wants to
select the contractor to ensure the project will be completed before April 30
next year in coincidence with the 40th anniversary of the Reunification Day
of Vietnam. After upgrade, the boulevard will be turned into a
pedestrian-only street with fountains and art lightings.
The upgrade project
requires total investment capital of VND428 billion for new road surface,
sidewalks and pavements, infrastructure, ountains, an underground control
center for lighting and musical water shows, and public
restrooms.
With many such
components, the city wants a special mechanism to select the EPC contractor
to shorten time for preparations so that the project will get off the ground
soon and can be completed as scheduled.
The roundabout area
of
Yasuzumi Hirotaka,
managing director of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in HCMC,
told a seminar in HCMC last week that half of Japanese needs for fruits and
vegetables have been met due to strict food safety regulations.
However, Hirotaka
said
Nguyen Duy Duc,
deputy chief of the Vietnam Institute of Agricultural Engineering and
Post-harvest Technology under the agriculture ministry, also emphasized the
importance of solutions to improve the value of fruit and vegetables.
He added advanced
technologies should be applied to fruit and vegetable harvest and
post-harvest, such as plant growth regulators and irradiation technology. In
addition, local firms need to invest in pre-processing systems for veggies to
guarantee food hygiene and safety.
Duc said shipments
of agricultural products in the first eight months of this year have
generated US$20.22 billion, up 11.9% over the same period last year.
More
university graduates opt for manual labour
An increasing
amount of university graduates are being forced to take jobs that are not in
the fields of their majors.
Nguyen Van Nien,
from
Another recent
graduate decided to take a position at Cannon Vietnam. She said that the
decision came after a number of other experiences working for private
companies with low salaries.
According to the
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, currently 9.75 million
labourers in
Manpower conducted
a survey showing that there were over 1,000 employees at the Cannon Vietnam
factory with university degrees. Some have said, however, that the figure may
be higher because many do not want to admit they have studied and taken a
relatively low-paying job.
Dinh Thi Hang, from
Daiwa, said that most companies involving manual labour recruit high school
graduates because they are concerned that university graduates may actively
seek other employment.
A representative of
one job recruitment centre in
Cao Quang Dai, from
the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs’ General Department of
Vocational Training, commented that the fact that these statistics reveal a
problem in the Vietnamese education and training sector. He warned that the
unemployment rate in the country could rise when
According to Dai,
it is important to increase cooperation between enterprises and vocational
training schools.
Sukti Dasgupta, a
senior expert at the International Labour Organisation, also pointed out the
importance of vocational training, saying that it is important that Vietnam
encourages cooperation between the the public and private sectors in order to
create a viable workforce that is in concurrence with market demands.
Nguyen Thi Kha,
National Assembly deputy of
Forests of
Central Highlands disappear due to inefficient management
Large swaths of
forestland in the central highlands have been allocated to enterprises for
management, but recently a number wrongdoings and violations have come to
light, calling into question the wisdom of this policy.
Nearly one million
hectares of forestland have been handed over to 56 forest management
companies, many of which have been ineffective in the use and management of
forests. Meanwhile, local residents lack land for cultivation. This paradox
was pointed out a decade ago, but not much has been done to rectify the
situation.
Recently, Truong
Xuan Forest Management Company was found to have lost 4,500 out of the total
6,200 hectares of forestland it was allocated for management in
It is estimated
that in last decade, over 27,600 hectares of forest area in the province was
chopped down or illegally appropriated. In the entire highlands region, about
90,000 hectares under the management of these companies has been destroyed.
The government is also finding it difficult to reclaim this land.
In
Outlining the heart
of the problem, Y Krak, a man from Chu Ma Lanh Commune, said, “Almost all
forestland in Ea Sup District is managed by companies, and we wouldn't be
able to subsist if we did not appropriate it ourselves."
Many forest
companies attribute the situation to a lack of human resources and funding,
as well as lax management by local authorities. In fact, however, these
management companies often lease out the land to other companies who did not
relinquish use after the terms of contracts were over.
In Dak Nong province,
for example, three private companies appropriated a combined 857 hectares of
forestland used as rubber plantations managed by Quang Tinh Forest Company,
along with 1,200 hectares of natural forests.
In order create a
more equitable way of sharing the benefits of these forest areas between
local residents and management companies, the government issued a decree on
the issue, giving certain rights to parties who use the land for forest
cultivation. However, forest management companies were not transparent in the
process.
As a result, many
households that received land from forest companies have used it for
agriculture instead, clearing the forest instead of cultivating it.
In
EU aid
project delivers gains to
The EU has provided
aid to
Speaking at a
two-day workshop to review five years of the EU-funded Health Sector Capacity
Support Project (HSCSP) that opened in Hanoi on September 16, he said,
"we expect in October or November this year to sign a major operation of
114 million euros (148 million USD) in the hope of improving the quality of
healthcare services in the poor provinces of Vietnam."
HSCSP is an
additional contribution by the EU to help the Ministry of Health strengthen
institutional capacity for good governance in the sector and improved health
service delivery.
The programme is
designed to assist government reforms in sector management, paving the way
for a programme-based approach for co-operation between the MoH and the EU
and interested development partners.
It focuses on
designing, piloting, and testing reform tools at the ministry and the health
departments in the provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, and Ha
"The HSCSP
funded by the EU is one of the last technical support projects … in the
transitional period to sector budget support," Minister of Health Nguyen
Thi Kim Tien said.
"The project
focuses on supporting important reforms in the health sector towards the
general objective of improving the health status of people in
In five years of
implementation the programme has yielded encouraging results and the MoH now
plans to replicate them nation-wide.
"[With] the
health sector focusing on reforms to renovate health management for
improvement of service quality, particularly the quality of care at local
levels, the support from the European Community is a valuable contribution …
in efforts to further strengthen the quality of services and expand equal
access to quality health services for people in
At the workshop,
People's Committee leaders of the three provinces where the programme was
piloted signed MoUs with the ministry for commitments to maintain the
sustainability of its results.
Sustainable
financing for HIV/AIDS efforts examined
The issue of
sustainable financing for the fight against HIV/AIDS in ASEAN countries will
be discussed at the 12th regional health ministers’ meeting scheduled to
commence in
This is a matter of
particular concern for
The discussion will
strengthen ASEAN commitments to guarantee funding for national and regional
efforts to combat the disease.
Furthermore,
participants will be able to share their experience in mobilising sustainable
sources for funding the fight against HIV/AIDS in ASEAN countries beyond
2015, Nguyen Hoang Long, Director of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control
department under the Ministry of Health, told the Vietnam News Agency.
Long emphasised the
significance of international funds for
In addition,
international organisations provided vital technical assistance and helped
improve the capacity of staff in
However, funds are
declining, which poses a serious challenge for the Government, Long said.
He spoke of the
worst case scenario, which, in case of a serious lack of finance, would see
hundreds of thousands of HIV carriers go without treatment, and a possible
epidemic, reversing progress made in health, social order and socio-economic
development.
In response, the
Prime Minister issued a decision last October approving a project to ensure
funding for HIV/AIDS efforts for the 2013-2020 period. It focuses on two main
objectives, to mobilise all the available financial resources, and to
effectively manage and use the funds.
According to Long,
So far, 10 out of
63 provinces and cities throughout
Due to the
Government’s strong commitments and the comprehensive engagement of sectors,
organisations and people,
The country’s
successful models were praised as a significant contribution to global
efforts by the international community.
International
workshop on sustainable energy in Vietnam
Sustainable energy
development in
According to Dr Ngo
Duc Lam,
Energy insecurity
was reinforced by additional factors, including inefficient energy use and a
lack of investments in the development of alternative and renewable energy
sources.
Dr. Dao Trong Tu
from Vietnam Energy Association (VEA) said
With fossil fuels
running low and a rapid increase in demand for coal, the country would need
to import coal for power generation from 2015 onwards.
During the seminar,
Jakob Jespersen, international coordinator of the Danish Ministry of Industry
and Trade shared
Jakob said
Experts suggested
the State come up with incentives and price policies to encourage
international investment to develop these renewable energy sources.
They also mentioned
the need for consumers to get involved and use energy effectively.
Hoa Binh
hosts community consultation on forest protection
A seminar was held
in the
The event was
jointly organised by the Centre for People and Nature Reconciliation
(PanNature), the Central Rural Development Centre under the Hue University of
Agriculture and Forestry, and ForLand organisation.
The outcomes of the
consultation, which was conducted in four villages in Da Bac and Tan Lac
districts, showed that over the past decade, Hoa Binh has allocated nearly
236,000 ha, or 73 percent of forest land for local people.
The province has
planted 79,000 ha of forests and set up 1,440 forest protection teams
involving 7,000 people. About 1,600 out of 1,700 villages have built their
own regulations on forest protection and forest fire prevention.
However,
participants pointed out shortcomings in forest land allocation in the
province, including slow granting of land use right certificates, lack of
public engagement in forest protection, and the forest farms’ ineffective
management.
The seminar
acknowledged proposals made by the local authorities and people on amendments
to some contents of the Law relating to households and local communities,
which will enable ethnic minority people to benefit from forests and forest
land.
In the coming time,
ForLand will work with the province’s forestry sector and authorities at all
levels to create the best conditions for residents to manage and use forest
land effectively.
Asian media
members discuss regional coverage
About 20 newsroom
chiefs, editors and journalists from media organisations in the Asia News
Network (ANN) opens a two-day meeting in Ha Noi today.
The meeting is
hosted by the network, Viet Nam News and the German Konrad Adenauer
Foundation.
The meeting aims to
enhance co-operation among the 22 members of the network to improve news
coverage of events in the region.
Discussions will
include updates on developments in newsrooms, archive services for ANN
members and the organisation's strategy for the next year. It will also
explore the recent development of new media platforms using digital content,
video sharing and e-paper.
Delegates will meet
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Pana Janviroj from
He said ANN wanted
to revise and establish new media platforms to better take advantage of
technology.
Janviroj said
issues affecting
ANN is a consortium
of 22 newspapers spanning 19 countries and territories. —
Experts
discuss health insurance
Health experts from
the ASEAN region,
Like many nations
in the ASEAN community,
"Expanding
universal health insurance coverage to include the informal sector is a
challenge for many countries, particularly ASEAN countries, where the
informal sector represents a large proportion of the population," said
Universal health
coverage was at the core of WHO's work in the Western Pacific and was the
focus of the Health Financing Strategy for the Asia Pacific Region
(2010–2015) endorsed by the Regional Committee in 2009, according to Tien.
"We plan to
disseminate information and offer incentives for enrolment in health
insurance in order to invite more participation," the health minister
said.
The government's
subsidy has covered all poor and ethnic minority people since 2006. However,
31 per cent of the population remains uninsured.
Gia Lai
food poisoning victims recover
Victims hit by a
fierce bout of food poisoning in Gia Lai province have fully recovered and
been discharged from hospital yesterday.
Director of the Chu
Se medical centre, Ho Thanh Hung said that the six remaining victims,
including one in intensive care, would remain at the hospital.
A total of 114
people were admitted to hospital after contracting food poisoning from meals
served at a funeral on Monday in Ho Lang village.
Victims showed
signs of stomach ache, nausea and diarrhea. The cause is being investigated.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Năm, 18 tháng 9, 2014
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