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Social News 13/12
Vietnam climbs 16 notches in transport infrastructure: WEF
The availability and quality of transport infrastructure of
In terms of the Enabling Trade Index (ETI), the WEF placed
The ETI is conducted every two years by the WEF, with a focus
on the four main modes of transport: road, air, railroad and seaport
infrastructures. Air connectivity and sea line connectivity are also taken
into consideration by the WEF before it announces the Index.
Former banker’s accomplices admit law infringement
Some accomplices of Nguyen Duc Kien, former vice chairman of
Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), said depositing VND718 billion at VietinBank was
illegal but Kien insisted he did not intentionally violate law.
In previous days, their lawyers asked the appeals court to
declare Kien and his accomplices innocent as there were not enough grounds
for their indictments.
However, Trinh Kim Quang, former vice chairman of ACB, and Ly
Xuan Hai, former CEO of the bank, on December 10 admitted wrongdoing in
approving an authorization for 19 ACB staff members to deposit more than
VND718 billion at VietinBank to enjoy higher interest rates. The deposited
money was later appropriated by Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu, a former VietinBank
official.
At the time, the central bank had yet to give guidance on the
matter in the revised Law on Credit Institutions.
Kien admitted that when the law took effect in 2011, ACB’s
board of directors was aware of the violation but they still proceeded. Kien
intended to pay VND718 billion for ACB to fix the problem but Hai disagreed
at his scheme.
“… We are aware of the violation but we didn’t infringe the
law on purpose. Our mistake is that we didn’t know legal changes to make
suitable adjustments,” Kien said.
Meanwhile, the prosecution insisted they had enough evidence
to prove Kien is guilty to four counts: illegal trading, swindling to
appropriate assets, intentionally acting against state regulations on
economic management causing serious consequences, and tax evasion.
They said Kien set up five companies to facilitate illegal
business practices. The firms conducted financial transactions although they
were not licensed to do so. For Thien Nam Production Development and
Import-Export Company, Kien ordered it to conduct illegal gold trading
although it was not licensed to trade in gold.
Kien also conspired with his sister and wife to transfer
profits generated by his B&B Company to individuals so that he could
evade corporate income tax.
Kien was charged with fraud for selling 20 million Hanoi ACB
Investment Company shares to Hoa Phat Steel Company even though those shares
were being mortgaged at ACB.
Kien appealed against all the verdict and the punishment
handed down on him. But while being arrested, Kien petitioned to fix the
problem by returning VND264 billion to Hoa Phat Group.
Man arrested for storing firecrackers
Police in the central
Le Anh Dung, 41, in the province's Huong Son District, told
police that he bought the firecrackers from
Manufacturing, trading, transporting and using firecrackers
has been banned in
Vietnamese students bagged two gold, two silver and one bronze
medals at the 11th International Junior Science Olympiad (IJSO) in
All five medal winners are 10th graders at the Ha
Noi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted.
The one-week event, which ended on Wednesday, drew the
participation of 234 students from 41 countries and territories.
IJSO is an annual physics, chemistry and biology competition
for 15-year-old students. The contestants are required to flexibly apply
basic scientific knowledge to tackle a multiple choice examination, a
theoretical examination and an experimental examination.
Work starts on air traffic control tower
Construction of an air traffic control tower began at Cat Bi
International Airport in northern Hai Phong city yesterday.
When completed in the fourth quarter of 2015, the tower aims
to provide round-the-clock air control services for all arriving and
departing flights.
The nearly VND80 billion (US$3.76 million) project comprises a
42.9m tower, a two-storey building and auxiliary facilities.
The airport, which serves 20 flights a day, has seen the
number of passengers rise by 38.16 per cent annually over the past five
years. According to the airport's development plan, by 2025 it will be
capable of handling 7-8 million passengers and 100,000-250,000 tonnes of
goods a year.
The project is part of a Vietnam Air Traffic Management
Corporation plan to modernise its facilities, according to Hoang Thanh,
chairman of the corporation's Members' Council.
The southern
The suspects had been caught in the act on October 11 when
they were smuggling the goods, worth about VND92 million ($4,300), from
Investigation showed that the suspects had bought the goods in
The smuggled goods were confiscated.
Poverty alleviation needs communes’ greater involvement
It is urgent to create a common legal framework for the reform
of the decentralisation and granting of authority to communes and community
with a view to sustainably reducing poverty.
The suggestion was proposed at a policy dialogue on the issue
held by the National Office on Poverty Alleviation under the Ministry of
Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs in collaboration with British Oxfam in
The dialogue shared information concerned in order to revise
mechanisms and policies relating to poverty alleviation in the upcoming time,
especially the mechanism to decentralise and grant authority to communes and
community.
Oxfam undertook a policy-analysis work on “Commune-level
planning with the participation and decentralisation of finances to
grassroots levels” within the “Supervising and analysing poverty-alleviating
policy” project in Lao Cai, Hoa Binh, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Dak Nong, Ninh
Thuan and Tra Vinh in 2014-2016.
The results showed the provincial government plays a key role
in implementing the reform of commune-level planning and increasing the
decentralisation of investment to communes and granting rights to community
to implement small-sized, simple projects in poverty-alleviating programmes.
The observations also showed that a common central legal
framework on commune-level planning and decentralisation as well as the
granting of authority to community will help multiply initiatives at commune
levels.
The reform of commune-level planning for economic-social
development with the participation of community has been a nationwide
movement following the period of piloting village-and commune-level planning
in some provinces in 1990s.
Thirty provinces, including the seven aforementioned
provinces, are carrying out the reform of the commune-level planning, which
proved effective in most disadvantaged communes in Muong Khuong district in
northern Lao Cai province, Dak Rong in central Quang Tri province and Bac Ai
in central Ninh Thuan province.
Basic GAP application promoted for safe food
The application of basic Good Agricultural Practices (Basic
GAP) needs to be expanded since the standard set has increased markedly safe
vegetable production as well as people’s awareness of food safety, said
participants at a workshop in Hanoi on December 9.
Basic GAP, including 26 most basic criteria among 65 standards
of VietGAP, has been built by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development (MARD) with the support of the Japanese International Cooperation
Agency (JICA) with a view to promoting safe farming.
MARD Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh said VietGAP, issued in
2008, has been applied in nearly 2,000ha out of 830,000ha of vegetables
cultivated a year due to its multiple criteria.
The current wider global integration requires the country to
give food safety the main focus of attention while developing agriculture, he
added.
Truong Xuan Dinh, deputy head of the MARD’s Cultivation
Department, said Basic GAP is simple and ensures the safety of produced crop
and makes it easier to trace back to products’ sources.
The
However, the conventional use of fertiliser and pesticide has
sometimes been maintained by growers since they are yet requested to provide
product certificates, she added.
A representative from a safe vegetable production cooperative
admitted the Basic GAP project has yet paid due attention to marketing
activity, thus failing to create a brand for safe products and attracting
farmer’s wider participation.
Truong Xuan Dinh said much work is needed to do to make both
producers and farmers aware of food safety, overhaul the planning of
cultivation areas, and devise policies supporting the application of Basic
GAP.
The third session of the Vietnam-Laos joint committee on
science and technology cooperation took place in
Vietnamese Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan and
his Lao counterpart Boviengkham Vongdala expressed satisfaction at the
cooperation activities in intellectual property, human resources development,
and legal infrastructure for radiation safety, helping
The Vietnamese side will continue to assist the Lao side in
building legal documents in the field of science and technology, while
devising joint projects in the fields of agriculture, biotechnology,
information technology, telecom, and geographical information.
Belgium-based
The network will also underpin the existing partnership
between
The International Training Centre (ITC) of the Faculty of
Bioscience Engineering at the university is of great value for Vietnamese
students, offering a wide range of high standard international graduate
programs, workshops and trainings.
The university is also taking part in a joint steering
committee meeting with the participation of five local universities, chaired
by Can Tho University until tomorrow.
AmCham grants VND1.5 billion in scholarships to city students
AmCham
The organizer awarded 45 AmCham Scholarships and 17 Honorable
Mentions to 62 applicants who passed the four intensive assessment rounds of
the AmCham Scholarship 2014. The prizes include 45 scholarships valued at
VND10 million each, 17 scholarships valued at VND4 million each and 180
Foundation in Accountancy scholarships from ACCA Vietnam valued at VND5.5
million each.
After 14 years of development, the AmCham Scholarship program
has partnered with 11 leading universities in HCMC, including University of
Technology, University of Natural Sciences, University of Social Sciences and
Humanities, University of Economics and Law, University of Information
Technology, International University, Hoa Sen University, Foreign Trade
University HCMC, Banking University, HCMC University of Law, and HCMC
University of Technical Education.
The three-month long AmCham Scholarship 2014 Assessment
Process included four rounds, including application form screening, English
test (Axcela Test), Ability Test (SHL Test) and Interview in English with HR
specialists.
The scholarship assessment process is similar to the
recruitment process for Management Trainee programs at many multinational
companies, which aims to evaluate the candidates’ abilities and equip them
with vital skills for entering a professional working environment.
According to AmCham, the number of applications this year
increased in both quantity and quality. The number of applications increased
by more than 30% compared to last year’s which were distributed evenly in all
majors from Economics, Business, Social Science to Science and Technology.
A delegation led by Deputy Minister of Public Security, Sen.
Lieut. Gen Le Quy Vuong attended the We Protect Children Online Summit in
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, in his keynote speech, said a
range of countries have committed to law enforcement response to tackle child
abuse images, adding that a new global child protection fund would be set up,
with the UK the first and most major donors paying 50 million GBP over the
next five years.
Addressing the summit, Secretary of State for the UK Home
Department Theresa May mentioned millions of images telling children abuse
available on the web and appealed for a crackdown on online paedophiles.
The
The GCHQ technological expertise and NCA investigative ability
will help analyse and filter huge volumes of child porn images hidden on dark
sites, Cameron said.
Participants called for clearing out porn images from the web
and intensifying global coordination among law enforcement agencies.
At a working session with NCA General Director Keith Bristow
and Executive Director David Almond earlier, Vuong said both sides have
worked effectively on combating transnational crime, especially illegal
immigration, drug trafficking, and child sex abuse.
He proposed sharing more information about criminals via the
launch of a hotline while stepping up personnel training and negotiations
towards the signing of an extradition agreement and a memorandum of
understanding on financial and money laundering data as soon as possible.
He expressed wish for more
US supports promoting the disabled’s rights in Vietnam
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation to promote
the rights of persons with disabilities in
The five-year document was inked by MOLISA Deputy Minister
Nguyen Trong Dam and USAID Vietnam Mission Director Joakim Parker.
With a view to supporting the promotion of the disabled’s
rights, the USAID will give technical assistance to the Vietnamese
Government’s programmes on creating favourable conditions for the target
group, perfecting related policies and laws, implementing support action
plans, and increasing the engagement of the disabled and their organisations
in building and supervising policies and services.
Deputy Minister Dam said the Vietnamese Government, ministries
and localities have made progress in realising the rights of people with
disabilities, which was marked by the approval of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the recent eighth
session of the 13 th National Assembly.
He thanked the USAID for its assistance to
Workshop discusses building learning society
A workshop to seek solutions to promote the building of a
learning society in the central region opened in the central city of
More than 120 delegates from 19 central cities and provinces
attended the two-day event which was organized by the Ministry of Education
and Training in collaboration with the Party Central Committee’s Commission
for Education and Popularisation, the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association
and UNESCO Vietnam.
Participants focused discussion on the role and responsibility
of Party committees, authorities, communities and individuals in creating
opportunities for people to participate and benefit from lifelong learning.
They shared experience in how to build a learning society at
grassroots level and implementing plans under the national project in the
field to 2020.
Dak Nong calls for Catholics’ bigger involvement in local
growth
Authorities of the Central Highlands
They met with Catholic and Protestant dignitaries on December
11 on the occasion of the upcoming Christmas.
Vice Chairman of the Dak Nong provincial People’s Committee
Cao Huy praised the dignitaries and followers’ contributions to the
locality’s achievements in socio-economics, politics, culture and security
and wished them a merry Christmas.
The local leaders expressed hope that the dignitaries will
uphold their prestige and responsibility to lead a good secular and religious
life following the teaching worlds of the Pope “Living the Gospel amidst the
nation”.
Dignitaries expressed their deep gratitude to the local Party
Committee and authorities for creating favourable conditions for them to
freely practise their faith.
They pledged to continuously encourage parishioners to
seriously observe the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws,
and take an active part in local poverty reduction, socio-economic
development, and the maintenance of security and social order.
According to the provincial Department of Home Affairs, the
locality is home to 111,000 Catholics and 49,894 Protestants.
59 fishing vessels to be built with Gov’t support in Binh
Thuan
Fishermen in Phu Quy island and Phan Thiet city in the central
Decree 67/2014/ND-CP provides basic policies to boost
fisheries development, including assisting fishermen in building
high-capacity, iron-covered ships designed for offshore fishing, a practice
that could earn fishermen higher incomes.
According to Director of Binh Thuan provincial Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development Mai Kieu, among the ships, 44 vessels are
built for offshore fishing, seven for logistics services while eight ships
will be converted and upgraded from existing wood boats. Total costs for the
59 ships are estimated at 435 billion VND (20.7 million USD),
The Department has announced a list of 11 local shipyards
qualified to build new iron-covered ships and upgrade wooden vessels.
Phu Quy district has the largest number of fishing vessels to
be built and upgraded with 51 ships.
Binh Thuan, home to one of the nation’s three biggest fishing
grounds, has a fleet of 8,000 fishing vessels. However, only 650 of them are
capable of operating offshore or provide logistics services.
At a press conference held yesterday, representative of
Dr. Nguyen Thai An, head of the hospital’s cardiopulmonary
resuscitation division, said that doctors have saved a Japanese expert who is
working in Ho Chi Minh City from heart attack. 58 year old Japanese expert
was transferred from a district medical clinic when he was suffering pain in heart
and breathing failure.
An endovascular stent graft surgery was soon carried out to
place stent inside the abdominal aortic aneurysm to help prevent rupture.
This is the second endovascular stent graft surgeries that have been
performed by
At the meeting, an American man Dale E. Washington thanked
Dr. Nguyen Huu Chat said that nearly 1,200 foreign patients
have come to the hospital for examination and treatment.
On related medical news, Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan
yesterday gave the First Class Independence Medal to leader of the central
Hospital Hue at a meeting to mark 120th anniversary of the hospital’s
establishment.
The vice state president also awarded the first, second and
third labor medals to Professor Bui Duc Phu, Professor Nguyen Duy Thang and
several doctors.
Set up in 1894 as per Thanh Thai King’s decree, the hospital
receives around 450,000 patients annually.
Japan grants scholarships to students in Ho Chi Minh City
The Japanese Business Association of Ho Chi Minh City (JBAH)
and Japan Business Federation (KEIDANREN) granted 40 scholarships to students
in the city on December 12.
The Japan Human Resource Development Scholarships (JDS) worth
VND6 million of each was offered to disadvantaged students who have achieved
successes in studies at Ho Chi Minh City University of Polytechnic, and the
The scholarship program aims to support human resource
development in the two countries.
Vietnamese young labor force is increasing drastically;
accordingly, there is a prediction that by 2020 labor force would be nearly
63 million people.
The news was released at a seminar “ Developing skilled
force to meet social demand” held by the Ministry of Labor, Invalid and
Social Affairs on December 11 in Hanoi. Of whom, labor force in
agriculture sector accounts for 35-38 percent; meanwhile labor force in
industry and construction increases by 31 percent and service sector reaches
27-29 percent.
However, according to the General Directorate of Vocational
Training, the current matter that many people pay concern to is how to
improve production effectiveness by increasing skilled workers when the
country is facing a severe competitiveness with other countries in the Asian
region in attracting foreign direct investment.
As per the general Directorate of Vocational Training’s
prediction, demand on skilled workers by 2020 will be 44 million people or 70
percent of the country’s total laborers.
Dang Xuan Thuc, head of the bureau of vocational training
under the General Directorate, said that in order to improve labor force
quality, the education sector should focus on the high level vocational
training programs and developing key sectors.
Universities to use national high school exit examination for
enrolment
428 universities and colleges that have proposed their owned
enrolment regulation projects confirmed they would use high school exit
examination results for enrolment, announced the Testing and Accreditation
Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) at a
training course on education renovation yesterday
Over 50 percent of the colleges will use national high school
exit examination results and the rest facilities will use both the
examination results and students’ school reports. Some top colleges organized
preliminary or additional examinations.
Representatives from the ministry said that exams for high
school exit in this academic year can help to evaluate students’ ability and
will have more open questions on general knowledge rather than those learnt
by heart. The exams will distinguish good students from normal ones.
Related to enrolment examination for college graduates who
would like to enter universities, head of the department Tran Van Nghia
confirmed that the ministry would maintain regulation on university entrance
examination like previous years.
College students who pass the university entrance examination
will be permitted by their universities to cut down subjects and university
credits that they have studied in colleges.
A wide range of political, economic and cultural events within
the framework of the Vietnam Days will be held in
The Days will take place on the occasion of Deputy Prime
Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visits to
The Days will be highlighted by the Vietnam-Qatar Economic
Cooperation Forum in
Each forum is expected to lure more than 300 delegates,
including representatives from government, ministries and the business
community. It will provide a good chance for businesses from
In addition, two galas will be organised in
Over the past 20 years, Vietnam-Qatar and Vietnam-UAE have
actively fostered cooperation in many fields, especially through high-ranking
visits.
Last year two-way trade turnover between
UAE is one of
Both
Education initiative improves students' awareness of climate change
The Ministry of Education and Training on Tuesday organised
the closing ceremony for the Education Initiative for Sustainable Development
(ESD), started in March 2013 jointly with the UNESCO.
Katherine Muller Marin, the UNESCO representative in
She added that the initiative also aimed to provide knowledge
and skills to the students, their parents and the society to adapt to climate
change, prepare them to cope with natural disasters and help them preserve
biodiversity.
After 21 months of implementation, the programme has
successfully educated students and their parents about climate change and
natural disasters.
The selected schools were helped to develop and implement
their plans on assessing and preventing possible disasters and threats, as
well as train their teachers in ICT to improve their capacity.
The province and the district authorities were assisted to
develop an action plan and a strategy to minimise the risks in the management
of Vietnamese heritages, particularly the Hue Citadel, and improve decision
making based on the use of satellite images.
Since August 2013, the programme has trained five elementary
schools that are often affected by natural disasters, to assess their
possible risks and threats, including the
Seven fishermen missing off central Vietnam
A fishing boat carrying seven crew has gone missing off the
coast of central
The fishermen, from Binh Dinh province, have not been seen
since the morning of December 10. They were bound for fishing grounds between
the Paracel and Spratly islands.
Pham Thi Han, wife of the boat owner, Vo Thanh Do, said she
had not seen Do since he took his boat out at 8am on December 10, despite
warnings of possible rough seas due to the remnants of Super Typhoon Hagupit,
which struck the Philippines at the weekend and, though now downgraded to a
tropical storm, is tracking towards central Vietnam.
Maritime agencies are searching for the boat and crew, and
have issued an alert to other shipping in the area to be on the lookout. Some
13 fishing boats are reported to be in the area.
HCMC will have to build around 6,000 kilometers of sewer
within a 600 square kilometer downtown area to better tackle flooding caused
by both rain and flood tides, according to the
Speaking at a meeting of the HCMC People's Council Tuesday,
the center’s deputy director Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung said nearly 42% of the
city’s 2,095-square-kilometer area is about one meter above sea level but
tides have risen to 1.68 meters. Therefore, many parts of the city are
submerged by flood tides.
The city will have to build nearly 6,000 kilometers of sewer
to control flooding in the downtown area and 13 sluices along a 172-km dike
from
The city plans to cope with 10 flood-prone sites next year, in
districts 2, 7, 8 and Thu Duc.
Nguyen Thanh Chung, director of the HCMC Department of
Transport, said climate change has led to more downpours and higher-than-forecast
tides, from 1.32 meters to 1.68 meters this year.
Chung acknowledged that flood control measures and
coordination between relevant agencies have not been effective.
Source: VNN/VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/ND
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Thứ Bảy, 13 tháng 12, 2014
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