Social News 22/10 Free health checks offered in Kien Giang Over 500 disadvantaged people in the Cuu Long (Mekong Delta) province of Kien Giang received free health screening on Sunday. At the programme, organised in An Minh Bac Commune in U Minh Thuong District by local authorities, the Thien Tam Charity Foundation belonging to the Tan Binh District Red Cross, and Bayer Viet Nam, medicines and supplies like instant noodles and cooking oil were also donated to the beneficiaries. They were taught how to grow rice safely and farm fish naturally. A Bayer spokesperson said a new bridge would soon be completed in the area to improve the traffic situation for 1,200 locals. Earlier, on Saturday, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, president of the HCM City Society for Reproductive Medicine and vice president of the Viet Nam Gynecology and Obstetrics Association, spoke with teenagers about reproductive health. The health screening programme and bridge construction, which together cost VND450 million (US$21,000), are part of the company's routine activities to support disadvantaged people over the last 20 years, he said. An Minh Bac Commune has more than 2,500 households, of whom nearly 10 per cent are living in poverty. Secondary students study conservation More than 20,000 secondary students in HCM City will take part in a wildlife conservation programme during the 2014-2015 academic year. The annual programme with the message "Say no to illegal wildlife products" includes the traveling SOS Exhibition, which is being held at the Tan Binh and Hoang Hoa Tham secondary schools in Tan Binh District. The programme, a joint initiative of the non-profit organisation Wildlife At Risk (WAR), the city's Department of Education and Training and the Forest Protection Department, will also offer free tours for 500 students to visit the Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station during the academic year. Earthquake rattles Lai Chau Province An earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale happened around midnight yesterday in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau's Muong Te District, according to the Institute of Physics of the Earth. The earthquake did not cause any damages, although experts from the institute have kept close watch on the area. Institute expert Cao Dinh Trieu said that recently Son La and Lai Chau provinces had seen several earthquakes measuring less than 4 on the Richter scale. Lai Chau Province saw an earthquake measuring 6.8 in 1935 and another measuring 6.7 in 1983. Police arrest drug trafficker The central city's Counter Narcotics Police Force seized a woman trafficking 2,300 tablets of methamphetamine on a bus from Ha Noi to Da Nang on Sunday. Pham Thi Nga, 43, who owns a hotel in the city's Son Tra district, was carrying the drugs when the police arrested her at the Da Nang bus station. The police also found 140gr of methamphetamine, swords and electroshock weapons at her hotel and 2kg of crystal methamphetamine at her daughter's house. The case is currently under investigation. Two drown near Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen Two people drowned in the sea off Ward 7 in the central Phu Yen province's Tuy Hoa City yesterday. The victims were 42-year-old Nguyen Phung Anh Tien, who lived in the province's Duc Trong District, and 44-year-old Le Dinh Phu from Phu Hoa District. Nguyen Sy, a witness, said that Tien was washed away by strong waves while swimming in the sea. Phu jumped in to save Tien, but he too was overcome by the waves. The Phu Yen province has been hit by heavy rains, strong winds and waves in the last few days. Inspector-General listens to requests for compensation Vietnamese Government Inspector-General Huynh Phong Tranh met with citizens in Quang Ninh Province for the first time on Friday to listen to their complaints and concerns. The Inspector-General received 35 citizens on behalf of 215 families from Phuong Nam Ward, Uong Bi City. Ngo Thi Man told Tranh about local families' concerns regarding the compensation for land withdrawal for a project in Uong Bi City. On behalf of other families in the ward, she requested support for farming production and asked that the compensation rate for site clearance be 150 per cent of the compensation rate for agriculture land, following a decision by the provincial People's Committee. She added that local residents had submitted these requests to the Government many times but had seen no result. Tranh said the province's land withdrawal decision aimed to serve public purposes. He deemed the compensation request irrational because the land was not urban land and asked local authorities to consider the other requests based on existing regulations and laws.  Vietnam, Switzerland work on low-cost medicines The Vietnam Ministry of Health and Switzerland’s Novartis Group have signed a memorandum of understanding on low-cost with the aim of increasing Vietnamese people’s access to essential generic drugs that they can afford. The MoU covers the invention cooperation based on science and clinical tests, management of pharmaceuticals, drug quality and domestic production, Lao Dong newspaper reported. It also helps improve the public’s access to advanced health services, it added. Generic drug is defined as a drug product that is comparable to a brand/reference list drug product in dosage form, strength, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use. Moscow Trade Centre Women’s Chapter debuts The Vietnamese Moscow Trade Centre Women’s Chapter made its official debut on October 20 as part of festivities celebrating Vietnamese Women’s Day. Speaking at the launch ceremony, President of the Chapter Pham Thi Oanh said over the past two years the centre has gradually taken shape and has become a reliable forum for women entrepreneurs to get actively involved in business and economic activities. The centre represents 300 women who are earning their living in Liublino market- the busiest one in Moscow and Russia. It now has one president, three deputy presidents and 60 members. Chief of the Administrative Office of the Vietnam Embassy in Russia Chau Dinh Nguyen, in turn said he praised the centre's accomplishments over the past two years and its efforts to overcome obstacles they faced in Russia. This year, the centre has collected a total of US$3,000 to support sea and island programmes, VND40 million for Agent Orange (AO) victims in the northern port city of Hai Phong and US$1,600 for disadvantaged children in Vietnam. The centre received certificates of merit from former Vice State President Truong My Hoa, Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan and Hai Phong City’s People’s Committee. Vietnam to enhance Ebola prevention measures at medical units The Ebola emergency operations centre (EOC) under the Health Ministry held a meeting on October 19 in a bid to early address Ebola prevention measures concerning Vietnamese current situation. Representatives from the Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Control and related agencies as well as from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attended the event. During the meeting, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long urged the EOC to complete an Ebola reaction plan as soon as possible. Under the blueprint, rapid response teams will be established at central, regional and provincial levels while educational campaigns must be launched to raise the community’s awareness about Ebola prevention. The Steering Committee for Epidemic Prevention and Control will work closely with the WHO and the CDC to carry out drills providing medical staff with guidance on the disease recognition along with treatment protocol. Prior to the meeting, the Deputy Minister inspected preparations at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases. The hospital has so far set up two isolation rooms, stored medicine, upgraded its research laboratory and had its staff practise steps of receiving and treating Ebola patients. According to the WHO, Ebola is marking its growing numbers in terms of infected cases and death toll. From December 2013 to October 19, 2014, there were 9,284 people contracting Ebola, of whom 4,604 people succumbed to the disease. Besides the West African countries, one case was reported in Spain and three in the US, including one death. Until now, no infection case of the virus has been reported in Vietnam. Ebola control measures to be ramped up Southern Tay Ninh province’s health authorities and border guards have taken strict measures against the Ebola virus although there has so far not been a single case detected amongst the one million tourists who cross into Vietnam at the locality’s border gates. Tourists from Ebola-affected countries, including Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and individuals who visited Ebola areas in the last 21 days are asked to submit medical declarations. Anyone suspected of carrying the contagious disease will be taken to the nearest medical centre for supervision and a blood sample will be taken to Ho Chi Minh City’s Pasteur Institution for testing. The Moc Bai and Xa Mat international border gates, which see a large number of tourists passing through, have been equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, such as body temperature scanners and pasteurised units that are operated 22 hours a day to provide initial treatment for any Ebola suspects. So far, the international border gate authorities have held over 972,000 travellers in quarantine, including four from Nigeria and three from Liberia. Vietnam gives talk at international meeting on pre-school education Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Nghia delivered a speech on Vietnam’s pre-school education development policy at the 4th World Congress and 14th International Meeting on Early Education and Preschool held in Monterrey City, Mexico. The speech focused on the efforts of the Vietnamese Government to promote national pre-school education and recent achievements in the field. It also highlighted future challenges and strategies to push the sector further. Vietnam was the first Asian nation and the second in the world to sign the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, Nghia said, adding that the Vietnamese Government continuously prioritises education and human resources development. According to the Deputy Minister, in recent years Vietnam has paid particular attention to developing a network of pre-schools in each locality throughout the country and meeting the increasing demands of families. There are 13,700 kindergartens in Vietnam, with 88 percent being public schools. However, the country is also facing a number of difficulties, such as shortages of schoolrooms, high-quality teachers and funds for the sector, which require joint efforts from the government, all sectors of the economy and the public. During her speech, Nghia highlighted the need to step up communication efforts to increase the public’s awareness of the role of pre-school education, and to focus on developing infrastructure, ensuring sufficient funding, improving relevant policies, training teachers and revising training programmes in an effort to make the sector stronger in the future. Taking place from October 16-18, the meetings brought together more than 1,500 delegates from 31 countries. On the sidelines of the events, the Vietnamese official held meetings with several international delegations to share Vietnam’s experience in developing the sector. She was received by the General Secretary of Mexico’s Labour Party Alberto Anaya Gutierrez. Prospects – reliable address for Vietnamese students in UK More than 100 Vietnamese students in the UK gathered at a seminar in Cass Business School on October 18 for career advice and job application skills. The sixth Prospects, co-organised by Vietnamese Professionals in the UK (VietPro) and the Vietnamese Student Association at City University London ( VietSoc City ), became a practical and useful career orientation destination for Vietnamese students in the country. At the event, students consulted Vietnamese experts in the UK about career orientations, said Nguyen Ngoc Anh, a member of the organising board. The experts, who are working in the fields of banking, consultancy, finance and service and real estate, also helped students check their job applications carefully and make full preparations for an interview, she added. Thanks to the annual event, many students have passed recruitment examinations and received job invitations from companies.- Forum focuses on farmers' welfare A poverty reduction programme for farmers was discussed at a meeting in Hanoi on October 20. At the meeting, 50 participants from 15 countries discussed plans for implementing the second phase of the Medium Term Cooperation Programme for Asia and the Pacific. The programme, initiated by the United Nation's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in 2006, recognises the key role of farmers in producing food for the world's population. This was the first regional steering committee meeting of the programme's phase 2, hosted by the Vietnam Farmer Union, which is also in charge of implementing the programme nationally. Lai Xuan Mon, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Farmer Union, said at the meeting that the programme's phase 2 aimed to reduce poverty and eliminate hunger in Asia and the Pacific. Vietnam was actively taking actions to implement the programme to help local farmers, he said. However, he added that challenges also lay ahead, as Vietnam was still an agricultural country where farmers were 70 percent of the population and agricultural production had yet to yield the expected benefits for them. Farmer organisations faced a major challenge in their struggle for food sovereignty and family-based agro-ecology that was both health- and environment-friendly, said Zainal Fuat, the programme's phase 2 co-ordinator for farmer organisation La Via Campesina. The programme's phase 2 involves 895 farmer organisations in 15 countries with an estimated membership of 15 million farmers.    Int’l science film festival 2014 to open The International Science Film Festival 2014 with a focus on future technologies will take place in Hanoi and some localities across Vietnam from October 24 to December 15. The fourth festival will draw the participation of 12 nations in Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Audiences will learn technologies for the sustainable future through short firms, experiments and games. Apart from screenings in Hanoi, the films and TV shows will be aired in other localities, including Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho, Thai Binh, Da Nang, Hue, Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Lieu and Da Lat. Mekong Delta to benefit from transport links The Mekong Delta area could increase its annual export value from the current 10 billion USD to 18 billion USD within the next three to five years if linkages between the provinces were improved, Dang Huy Dong, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment said. Speaking at a seminar in Can Tho last week, Dong said that regulations now being drafted by the Southwest Region Steering Committee and the Ministry of Planning and Investment aimed to transform the delta into a key agricultural production area. The regulations on regional linkages call for further development of transport, irrigation and infrastructure in the delta. The linkages would also focus on production, processing and sale of agriculture and fishery products, as well as the establishment of brand names and improved quality of the delta's key products. The draft regulation calls for improved environmental protection, climate-change adaptation and better response to natural disasters. Experts speaking at the seminar said that Can Tho city and the 12 provinces in the delta had to work together to promote development of the region. The Delta produces 90 percent of the country's rice exports, 70 percent of fruit and 50 percent of the fishery output. Nguyen Quang Phong, Deputy Head of the Southwest Region Steering Committee, said the delta lacked stable economic growth and had not reached its potential, citing a report reviewing 10 years of implementation of the Party's Political Bureau's Resolution 21. The report said that many investment projects had failed to produce the expected results. Le Viet Thai of the Central Economic Research and Management Institute said the delta had yet to develop linkage policies even though experts had urged provinces to do so for the last five years. The delta's provinces and Can Tho city have signed many cooperation commitments but they exist only on paper and have not been implemented. Phong said many provinces, for example, had not identified their key strengths. Participants at the seminar said investment and development plans of the provinces had often been drawn up separately, with each province going their own way, causing either an oversupply or shortage of agricultural produce. They recommended that an agency be responsible for implementing regional linkages and asked the Southwest Region Steering Committee to play an important role. Vietnamese expats in France raise fund for Ly Son islanders The Vietnamese People’s Association in France (UGVF) raised 1,300 EUR (1,600 USD) at an event held on October 19 in support of the fishermen in Ly Son island district who protect the nation’s sovereignty over sea and islands. At an earlier fundraising event, the Association raised 3,000 EUR (3,800 USD) for the purpose. According to Nguyen Thanh Tong, a UGVF advisory board member, Vietnamese nationals living in France are touched by the efforts of Ly Son islanders to protect the nation’s sovereign waters while conducting catch in the traditional fishing grounds. He added that the most recent fundraiser showed the Vietnamese expats’ love for their homeland. UGVF has implemented a number of humanitarian projects worth 69,000 EUR (88,000 USD) since 2013, benefiting Muong Khuong district in the northern province of Lao Cai and the flood-affected regions in the central province of Ha Tinh. The funded projects also include HIV/AIDS screening in Vietnam’s Central Highlands; professional training in biomedicine in France; the “Green Bamboo Warm Shelter” that provides homes for street children in Ho Chi Minh City; and the supply of interest-free loans for poor farmers in Long Trung commune, the Mekong delta province of Tien Giang. EROPA 2014 shares experience in improving public administration The Eastern Region Organisation for Public Administration (EROPA) held a plenary session in Hanoi on October 20 as part its annual meeting with the objective of exchanging experiences in improving public administration. The session drew the participation of senior officials from Vietnam’s Ministry of Home Affairs and representatives of member organisations. Different successful cases of public administration improvements were discussed during the event, including the Japanese government’s transparency and accountability relating to the digital system, the role of the private sector in climate change mitigation and adaptation in the Philippines, and the challenges of Vietnam’s public administration and governance system in the context of regional and global integration, as well as solutions for the future. Koichiro Agata, a professor at Japan’s International Institute of Administrative Sciences, shared Japan’s experience in introducing its e-government, adding that it needs to be accessible to the public in a way that ensures the credibility, transparency and fairness of the system and helps reduce costs. Vietnam has undertaken maximum efforts to apply advanced technology to public governance, such as building a database of civil servants, creating software for the civil service entrance examination, providing online services for social welfare payments and developing the ongoing plan to issue citizen identification numbers, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Northwest region asked to build database for sustainable development Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc urged the Northwestern region to set up an inter-sectoral database and focus on improving investment policies in a move towards comprehensive and sustainable development. Speaking at a seminar recently held by the Vietnam National University - Hanoi and the Steering Committee for the Northwestern Region, the Deputy PM, who is also Head of the Steering Committee, asked academics to try harder to address the region’s shortcomings. Despite positive changes to its socio-economic structure and an annual average economic growth rate of 11.5 percent, the region is still facing difficulties in all areas, with a household poverty rate of 29.5 percent, the highest rate nationwide. Natural disasters caused by climate change and the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources are also posing a direct threat to the region’s sustainable development, Phuc stressed. During the seminar, participants discussed methods for establishing the inter-sectoral integrated database and analysed policies on the region’s sustainable development. The system is expected to provide reliable information to serve scientific research, and develop and adapt appropriate socio-economic development policies and strategies. The northwestern region comprises the six provinces of Hoa Binh, Son La, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Lao Cai and Yen Bai. Vietnamese agricultural products on display at Paris fair A range of Vietnamese agricultural products, particularly fruit and vegetables as well as high- quality rice, are being showcased at the Global International Food Products Exhibition (SIAL Paris 2014) in Paris from October 19-23. On the first day of the fair, Long Son Company, a prestigious cashew nut exporter, won a 500 million USD contract to ship cashew nuts to Turkey. The company estimates its export earnings for this year at 110 million USD. Dao Van Ho, director of Vietnam’s Trade Promotion Centre for Agriculture, said that the event serves as a bridge for Vietnamese agricultural, food and beverage businesses to enter the European market. This is the fifth time Vietnamese businesses have attended the fair. According to Ho, Vietnam’s export turnover of agro-forestry-fisheries products is likely to reach 30 billion USD this year, compared to 27.5 billion USD earned last year. Held every two years, SIAL is a major global event featuring the world’s leading food retailers and buyers in one location. This year, SIAL attracts more than 6,300 businesses and 150,000 visitors from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Vietnam is represented by 16 enterprises.- Vietnam helps Laos build youth friendship village The Central Committees of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU) and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union (LPRYU) held a ceremony on October 18 to launch a youth friendship village along the Laos-Vietnam border. Covering a total area of 1,034ha in four villages of Khamkout district, Laos’ central province of Bolikhamsay, the project was funded by non-refundable aid from the Vietnamese Government. The village will provide vocational training and guidance for Lao youths, thus boosting socio-economic development, ensuring security-defence and establishing new residential areas for sustainable development. Its construction began in August 2012 with a total investment of nearly 40 billion VND (1.88 million USD). The villag comprises a 1,900 sq.m community centre, accommodation for students, and a medical station, along with other support facilities. Speaking at the opening ceremony, HCMCYU First Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh and LPRYU Secretary Vylayvong Butdakham highlighted the importance of the project in strengthening the traditional friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, and the links between their youth unions in particular. They said they hope the village will help Lao youths stabilise their lives and promote socio-economic development in the shared border area between the two countries. First communist youth’s 100th birthday celebrated A celebration to mark the 100th birth anniversary of national hero Ly Tu Trong, the first communist youth of the Vietnamese revolution, was held in the central province of Ha Tinh on October 19. The event was c o-organised by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union ( HCMCYU), the Ministry of Public Security and local authorities. Speaking at the ceremony, First Secretary of the union Nguyen Dac Vinh gave an overview of Trong’s life, affirming that the hero should act as a role model for Vietnam ’s young generation. Highlighting the young hero’s sacrifice, Ha Thi Khiet, Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation, declared that the Party and State always appreciate the role played by the younger generation, HCMCYU and its chapters in the national building and defence. She called upon youth union members to follow Trong’s example and strive to contribute to the country’s development in the future. Ly Tu Trong, whose actual name was Le Van Trong, was born on October 20, 1914 in May village in Nakhonphanom, Thailand. As the first communist youth member of HCMCYU, he was arrested by the French army in February 1931 and executed in November that year at the tender age of 17. Dong Thap to preserve 57 rare species Tram Chim National Park, located in the Mekong Delta Province of Dong Thap, has made the conservation of 57 endangered species, including 8 plant, 32 water bird, and 17 aquatic species, a top priority. According to Nguyen Van Hung, the Director of Tram Chim National Park, the province has approved a plan to invest 207 billion VND (9.68 million USD) in the protection and development of Tram Chim’s wetlands ecosystem for the 2013–2020 period, with more than 7 billion VND (327.568 USD) to be spent on biodiversity conservation. A number of conservation measures have been implemented so far, including monitoring wildlife migration and population changes, supplementing food for redheaded cranes in the dry season and releasing numerous fish species back into the wild. Tram Chim National Park, the world’s 2,000 th Ramsar site, is home to 130 plant, 130 fish and 231 bird species. Its most notable species, the migratory redheaded crane, is listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. Domestic vaccine producers to benefit from new incentives The Prime Minister issued a decision allowing the application of several preferential policies for domestic vaccine production projects with the aim of helping Vietnam meet the domestic demand and latter export surplus products. As part of the decision, domestic vaccine producers will be offered loans from the Vietnam Development Bank to upgrade their production chains in order to produce multivalent vaccines domestically and reduce imports. Producers can also benefit from State-supported preferential interest rates. Additionally, vaccine producing projects will benefit from support policies and mechanisms, such as the antibiotic production projects that followed on from the Prime Minister’s Official Note No.918/TTg-KGVX issued on June 8, 2011. They will also be entitled to hire 10-15 hectares of land in the Hoa Lac High-Tech Park to build production facilities, with businesses facing land difficulties given priority to.- Dong Nai updates reproductive health information for female workers More than 1000 female workers aged 20–40 at Taekwang Vina Co. Ltd, a company owned by the Republic of Korea, were given advice on reproductive health and relevant laws at Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Park in the southern province of Dong Nai on October 19. Lao Dong Newspaper, the Dong Nai Labour Federation, the Justice Initiative Facilitation Fund (JIFF) and the General Department for Population and Family Planning jointly hosted the event. During the consultation session, questions on sexual health, childcare methods and reproductive service, as well as policies and regulations to prevent domestic violence and child abuse, were answered by lawyers and experts in the field. In addition to providing medical advice, the programme also included fun activities and small competitions. HCM City to host int'l conference on stoma The 8th Congress of the Asia Society of Stoma Rehabilitation and Asia South Pacific Ostomy Association will be held in Ho Chi Minh City from October 31 to November 1. The biennial conference, titled "Enhancing the quality of life of ostomates," will discuss various aspects of stoma rehabilitation and discuss problems facing ostomates or people who have undergone ostomy, a surgery to create a stoma. A stoma is a surgically constructed opening, especially one in the abdominal wall that permits the passage of faeces and urine. Experts from Asia and other countries around the world will discuss total care for ostomates, stoma rehabilitation, wound care and other issues at the event. Long-term strategy crucial for saving primates Located in a region dominated by a tropical monsoon climate, Vietnam is home to some of the world’s rarest wildlife species, including 26 primate species and sub-species, which play a crucial role in cultural life and scientific research. However, key primate species, such as the Tonkin snub-nosed monkey in northern Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang provinces, and the white-headed langur on Cat Ba island in Hai Phong city, are facing extinction due to poaching, trafficking and habitat loss. A lack of food and genetic problems triggered by human encroachment into their natural habitats, including the transmission of human diseases, are also partly responsible for reducing the species’ reproductive abilities and survival chances. Therefore, the development of a long-term strategy and legal framework is urgently needed to protect the primates and allow their populations to recover. It is also necessary to set up animal rescue centres and conservation sites, as well as investing more in scientific research and increasing public awareness of the need to protect wildlife and the environment. At the same time, it is advisable to develop sustainable ecological and community-based tourism models and allocate sufficient financial sources for the conservation of these species. Vietnamese scientists discovered two new primate species, the gray-shanked douc langur and the northern buffed cheeked gibbon, as recent as 2007 and 2010. The country has established a system of protected areas and special-use forests, spanning 2.2 million ha in 30 national parks and 114 nature reserves. Established in 1993, the endangered primate rescue centre based in Cuc Phuong National Park , Ninh Binh province, has rescued over 260 individuals, successfully bred 240 offspring and released more than 50 primates back into the wild. Similar centres are run in Ho Chi Minh City’s outlying district Cu Chi and at Cat Tien National Park in southern Dong Nai province. Vietnam, Germany share industrial wastewater treatment experience Vietnamese and German experts came together in a seminar in Hanoi on October 20 to share their experience in industrial wastewater treatment techniques in a bid to protect the environment and natural resources. The seminar, the second of its kind between the countries in the field, was co-organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMU). MoNRE Deputy Minister Bui Cach Tuyen said Vietnam aims to develop more industrial zones and clusters to promote industrialisation and modernisation. So far, Vietnam has made plans for nearly 1,000 industrial zones and clusters, with more than 800 of them fully operational at present, thus contributing to national development and responding to environmental challenges, Tuyen added. BMU State Secretary Gunther Adler emphasised the urgent need for proper industrial wastewater treatment before discharging water back into the environment. The German State Secretary called for comprehensive coordination between the two countries, with a focus on the involvement of businesses. Vietnam attends education conference in Mexico Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Nghia led a delegation to attend the 4th International Preschool Education Conference (IPEC) held in Monterrey, Mexico from October 16 to 18. The conference drew the participation of more than 1,500 delegates from 31 countries around the globe. Speaking at the event, Nghia highlighted the nation’s recent achievements in early childhood education. Vietnam has always placed a high priority on developing soft skills for children, particularly entertainment activities for poorer children in mountainous areas, she noted. During its stay, the Vietnamese delegation met with a number of international delegations, exchanged pre-school education experience with leading global experts and visited schools in Mexico. Finnish delegation to share city planning experience Smart-city solutions and deepened innovation and business cooperation between Vietnam and Finland are on the agenda when Finland's Minister for Economic Affairs, Jan Vapaavuori, visits Hanoi on October 20 and HCM City tomorrow. Minister Vapaavuori's official delegation will include 30 Finnish businesspeople from companies representing a wide range of different fields, including IT, clean-tech solutions and education. The education group will share expertise with Vietnamese counterparts in teaching and learning methods, an area in which Finland is especially strong. At a special seminar in HCM City tomorrow, urbanisation and building smarter cities for the future will be explored.a The seminar will include talks about Finland's smart solutions city design, intelligent traffic arrangements and effective waste and water management, as well as smarter administration and better living standards directly linked to better education. Through decades of cooperation, Vietnam and Finland have built a very strong foundation, and are now looking to create new partnerships in the fields of science, research, culture and education, as well as stronger trade and economic ties. In Hanoi, Minister Vapaavuori and his delegation will meet several ministers and ministry representatives. A bilateral air traffic agreement between Vietnam and Finland will be signed at the Ministry of Transport on October 21. Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND