Social News 9/7 Sick seaman saved off Hoàng Sa Islands   Rescue staffs of the Đà Nẵng-based Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre No 2 (MRCC2) give first aid to a sick seaman in the sea off Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Islands of Việt Nam. — Photo courtesy MRCC2 A sick fisherman was rescued off the northwest of Việt Nam’s Hoàng Sa (Paracels) Islands on Sunday, 140 nautical miles from the coast of Đà Nẵng. The Đà Nẵng-based Regional Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre No 2 said the seaman, Mai Văn Hoàng, 43, from Quảng Bình Province, had been suffering from severe stomach pains since Saturday morning. Hoàng was taken back to port in Đà Nẵng for further treatment at the city’s general hospital after receiving emergency aid onboard. Rescue ships have salvaged eight fishing boats from rough seas or engine failure so far this year. Marine Police Force Zone 3 in the coastal central of Bình Thuận Province successfully rescued nine fishermen by towing their stranded boat to Phú Quý Island last Friday. The rescue forces had received a distress call the previous day saying that the vessel’s engine had broken down about 100 nautical miles to the southeast of the island last Thursday. The police dispatched a rescue vessel which reached them at 8:30pm on Friday. The fishermen are in a stable condition.  3 city hospitals tie up to improve care for pregnant women, newborns    The HCM City Children’s Hospital and Từ Dũ and Hùng Vương maternity hospitals have signed an agreement to work together to provide better care for pregnant women and newborns. — Photo sggp.vn The Bình Chánh District’s HCM City Children’s Hospital has signed an agreement with Từ Dũ and Hùng Vương maternity hospitals to set up an obstetrics department, its director, Trương Quang Định, said. The three will also work more closely together for prenatal diagnosis and consultancy and standardising the emergency treatment protocol, especially for newborns requiring immediate medical attention. Dr Hồ Tấn Thanh Bình, head of the neonatal intensive care unit at the City Children’s Hospital, said the infant mortality rate in Việt Nam, although decreasing, is still relatively high. “The City Children’s Hospital is working with two of the biggest maternity hospitals in HCM City to provide diagnosis before birth and appropriate treatment to improve the lives of patients and infants.” Hoàng Thị Diễm Tuyết, director of Hùng Vương hospital, said co-operation to provide better obstetric and paediatrics care would tremendously decrease the infant mortality rate and improve newborns’ health. Bình said since its opening on June 1 his hospital has received many newborns requiring immediate medical attention from Từ Dũ and Hùng Vương hospitals, where they had been diagnosed before birth. Lê Quang Thanh, director of Từ Dũ hospital, said his hospital has been working closely with Children’s Hospitals 1 and 2, but the two places are always overcrowded. The recent opening of the City Children’s Hospital has alleviated this problem, he said. Định said City Children’s Hospital aims to set up an obstetrics department so that pregnant women whose unborn children are diagnosed with a condition can deliver there and the newborn can be immediately treated. Online gambling ring destroyed The Police Department of High-Tech Crime Prevention (C50) under the Ministry of Public Security arrested Nguyễn Như Hoàng – a member of an online gambling ring via the website named M88.com, in HCM City on Saturday.  On Sunday, many other members of the ring were also arrested. Under initial investigation, thousands of gamblers in Việt Nam bet via the website that was hosted in the Philippines.  It is estimated that gamblers poured VNĐ2 trillion (US$87.1 million) into the website since 2015. Three wheel driver blamed for deadly accident   The scene of the accident kills 3 and injures 1 in the southern province of Bình Dương. Authorities have identified the cause of a traffic accident that left three people dead on Saturday. Nguyễn Thanh Lâm, 35, a driver of a self-modified three-wheel vehicle, who drove in the wrong lane, was blamed for the deadly accident that killed three people and injured one in Bình Dương Province. The province’s Bến Cát Town Police revealed the cause on Sunday after they watched data taken from a security camera installed on a stretch of the road. The accident happened on Saturday noon while a truck crashed into the self-modified three-wheel vehicle. The truck was travelling the opposite way from the three-wheel vehicle. The accident killed Lâm, two people on the truck and injured the truck driver.  HCM City launches campaign to help street kids   A campaign called “Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ” (Giving Wings to Your Dreams) which helps street children in crisis was launched in HCM City on July 6.  A campaign called “Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ” (Giving Wings to Your Dreams) that helps street children in crisis was launched on Friday in HCM City at Children’s House in the city. The event was organised by Kiehl’s Grand in collaboration with the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation in Việt Nam. The campaign will help needy kids in crisis throughout Việt Nam, including care for street kids, education for kids at risk, support for sex trafficking survivors, support for the end of slavery, and a unique legal advocacy service for young people in crisis. Young Vietnamese dancer Quang Đăng has been chosen as a representative for the campaign, which is calling for donations from both foreign and domestic individuals and organisations. People can donate directly to Blue Dragon’s foundation via www.bluedragon.org. Kiehl’s will also donate VNĐ50,000 (US$2.2) per product for each “Ultra Facial Oil Free” product sold during July and August. There will be a limited number of products that contain the campaign’s logo. From July 1 to August 30, the foundation will receive US$1 for each profile picture on Facebook with the frame “Chắp cánh ước mơ” and use of the hashtags #kiehlsxbluedragom #kiehlsxquangdang and #chapcanhuocmo. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/KiehlsVietnam. Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, a non-governmental organization, has operated in Việt Nam since 2003. It has affected the lives of more than 50,000 children and families, rescued 364 young women from forced marriage or brothels, directly rescued 401 children from their places of slavery, and transformed the lives of over 2,000 street kids and children in crisis in Hà Nội. Kiehl’s is among 34 different brands of the L’Oreal Group.  L’Oreal Việt Nam opened in 2007. Last year, Kiehl’s and Việt Nam Autism Network (VAN) created a project called “Chung Tay Giúp Đỡ Trẻ Em Tự Kỷ” (Supporting Autistic Children Together) as part of a global campaign for Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy organisation in the US.  Two missing victims found in Sài Gòn River   Rain hinders the salvage operation of the sand barge on the Sài Gòn River. — Photo vov.vn The bodies of the captain and a crew member of the barge that crashed into a container ship on the Sài Gòn River in HCM City on Wednesday were found on Thursday. The two bodies were found floating on the Sài Gòn River some 50 metres from the barge collision on Thursday afternoon. The bodies were handed over to their relatives. The salvage operation of the barge is underway, expected to be finished by this evening as the entire body of the barge will be completely floated to tow to shore. The incident occurred on Wednesday morning in front of ELFGAS Port when the 8,500-tonne Prosper from Mongolia crashed with the 895-tonne barge BTr.7759 from southern Bến Tre Province, which was carrying 600 cubic metres of sand. The collision injured one crew member and the barge sank, along with the captain and another crew member who were found yesterday.  Cow breeding yields high income for farmers in Tiền Giang   Tiền Giang Province is encouraging farmers to breed oxen and raise cows to earn higher incomes.  Farmers who breed oxen and raise cows in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Tiền Giang have greatly improved their income. Nguyễn Thị Hồng Hạnh, who has 3.3ha of farmland in Gò Công Tây District’s Thạnh Trị Commune, cultivates rice and vegetables, and breeds cows on her farm. She earns a profit of nearly VNĐ500 million (US$22,000) a year from her mixed farming model, she said. Of the profit, VNĐ100 million is from the sale of calves from breeding cows. Farmers breed cows and raise oxen under a model in which they plant crops and breed fish and animals. The garden–pond–animal pen model or other mixed production models are considered useful for farmers who lack sufficient land and for those affected by climate change.    Bùi Văn Hòn, who was the first farmer to breed cows and oxen in Gò Công Đông District’s Tân Đông Commune, is breeding five cows and raising eight oxen for sales of meat. Hòn has only 1ha of rice which does not yield enough profit for his 10-member family. But now he earns a good living from raising cows and oxen. Farmers in Tân Đông Commune, which is affected by saltwater intrusion, have adopted Hòn’s model. Gò Công Đông has 6,315 oxen and cows, according to the district’s Agriculture and Rural Development Bureau. The cow and oxen model has reduced poverty in the province’s coastal areas, islets and outlying areas, according to local authorities. In recent years, authorities encouraged farmers to switch from ineffective rice fields to the garden – pond – animal pen model. In 2012, Nguyễn Văn Trọng, who lives in the outlying Mỹ Phong district in Mỹ Tho City, shifted his 9,000 sq.m of a rice field to the garden - pond – animal pen model. Trọng plants Xiêm coconut, green-skin and pink-flesh grapefruit, as well as grasses for breeding oxen and raising giant gourami.  With the model, he earns a profit of VNĐ300 million ($13,200) a year, far more than what he earned from rice.   He regularly attends training courses on farming and animal breeding techniques. Trọng also donates dozen of million of đồng a year to help the poor, and has helped build transport and irrigation infrastructure in his commune. He has been honoured by city authorities as an excellent farmer in Mỹ Tho City for his results in production and trading of agricultural products. Nguyễn Hoàng Đảm, deputy chairman of the Mỹ Tho City People’s Committee, said Trọng’s garden – pond – animal pen model was suited for the city’s outlying areas.  The province, which is the delta’s largest cattle producer, targets increasing its oxen and cows to 121,000 heads by the end of this year, from 116,000 heads, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Central province begins solar power project at log farm   Solar pannels are installed for a sun-powered pumping system at a log farm in Phú Yên Province. It’s the second ’green power’ project in agroforestry in the province.  The central province of Phú Yên began a solar-powered watering system for log farms in Tuy An district after one-year pilot project using sun-powered pumping systems for sugarcane farms in Sơn Hòa district. The province said the solar power system, built with total investment of VNĐ110 million (US$4,800), will supply more than 4,700 kilowatts per hour (Kwh) per year, cutting three tonnes of carbon emissions into the environment. The renewable energy system will help farmers save 110 litres of fuel for the diesel generator-driven pumping system, while supplying 16 cubic metres of water for farming each day. It’s the second off-grid solar power system that has been developed on a farm in central Việt Nam. According to the project developer, the HCM City-based SolarBK company, the system uses a Solar System Operation Centre (SSOC) control application on a smart phone for remote operation. Tuy An district has grown of 300ha forest, marking 18.5 per cent of forest coverage. Last year, the province officially launched the first stage of a 30MW (Megawatts) biomass power plant. Tuy Hòa city in the province also launched a solar-powered public lighting system and automatic watering at a public park in 2017.  One dies, 21 injured in truck-tractor accident    The accident scene. — Photo soha.vn At least one person died and 21 others were injured in a crash in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai on Friday morning. The accident happened at 5.30am when a truck hit a tractor that carried a trailer carrying 21 people in Kông Chro District’s An Trung Commune. According to witnesses, the truck was heading to Đak Pơ District from Ia Pa District and hit the tractor travelling in the same direction. The crash killed a 13-year-old boy on the spot and injured 21 others. Five people were seriously injured and were taken to the local hospital for emergency treatment. The accident was initially believed to be caused by truck driver Đặng Ngọc Thuận violating traffic regulations when he tried to pass. Thuận, 27, is from central Phú Yên Province. Right after the accident happened, local authorities visited the victims and provided initial financial support worth VNĐ5 million (US$217) for families of victims who died and VNĐ500,000 to VNĐ2 million for families of injured people. This is not the first time a traffic accident has involved tractors and other farm vehicles that transport people. This time of year, local people are harvesting crops so they often use such vehicles to transport farmers to the fields. Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Võ Ngọc Thành urged authorities of districts and communes to take measures to prevent the use of tractors to transport farmers to ensure traffic safety. Business-school ties help train workers   More than 70 per cent of labourers working at industrial zones in the city are from other provinces and mostly unskilled.— Photo danviet.vn A final year mechanics student at HCM City’s Technical College Dương Quang Thiện spends his time taking a training course at Lập Phúc Company. “Thanks to the course, I have chances to practise my technical skills and get more experience,” he said. The enterprise and the school launched the collaboration to equip students with practical skills that match business requirements. Thiện and 17 other students taking the course hope that after graduation they will be offered a position at the company. Lập Phúc mould-making company is one of domestic ones in HCM City to co-operate with universities and colleges to launch training courses for students to attract skilled graduates. Small domestic firms in HCM City lack skilled labour due to more attractive foreign direct investment firms and workers moving overseas. Nguyễn Văn Trí, director of Lập Phúc Company, told Nông Thôn Ngày Nay (Countryside Today) that after spending time training labourers, many workers left their jobs. “The labour force plays a key role in ensuring sustainable development of enterprises. We (enterprises) have no choice but to actively lead training high-quality labour force for ourselves,” he said. Lập Phúc Company is also working with Nguyễn Tất Thành University to train hundreds of mechanics students and is also holding factory visits for students. According to a survey, more than 70 per cent of labourers working at industrial zones in the city are from other provinces and mostly unskilled. It is difficult to have a stable training plan because the number of labourers fluctuates, Trí said. Authorities-company-school Trí suggested the city authorities co-operate with schools in the city and other localities to offer training to more workers. “Enterprises themselves must offer stable wages to attract skilled labourers,” he said. Nguyễn Trọng Hoài, principal of HCM City’s Economics University, said that HCM City’s authorities should train workers not only for the city but for the whole country and ASEAN region. He proposed the city follow the model of developed countries in which authorities take a leading role in lining schools and enterprises to train high-quality workers in key sectors. Local authorities should also link schools with industrial zones and encourage sectors to announce the number of skilled labourers they need. Sử Ngọc Anh, director of the city’s Department of Planning and Investment, said that the city will focus on measures to improve labourers’ skills for not only short-term production but also long term technological development targets. A trendy collaboration Co-operation between local apprenticeship centres and enterprises also occurs in central Quảng Nam Province. Sixteen local apprenticeship centres have launched training courses at school and offer on-the-job training at local enterprises so students can get used to the working environment and technology. By the end of this year, the province aims to have more than 20,000 new workers who graduated from apprentice schools, making the number of skilled workers in the province account for nearly 60 per cent of its total workforce. Phạm Hải Anh, head of Student Affairs of Economic and Technical College of Quảng Nam Province, said the school has trained students following the direction of enterprises. Companies have also worked with the school to compile training curriculums. Hội An South Development Limited Company and the provincial culture, art and tourism intermediate school have worked together to offer hotel and tourism service training to locals. According to the local Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, sectors of textiles, mechanics, hotel and restaurant services offer the highest number of jobs for local people.  Drug traffickers arrested in Sơn La   The drugs that police found after a raid into a house in Mộc Châu Town, Sơn La Province late Thursday evening.  Police found two men packing heroin and synthetic drugs at a house in Mộc Châu Town in the northern province of Sơn La late Thursday evening. They seized about 15 bricks of heroin, three kilos of crystal meth and 6,000 methamphetamine pills. The suspected drug traffickers – Hà Văn Thành, 37, residing in the district’s Lóng Sập Commune, and Trần Hữu Thụ, 41, of Mường Sang Commune – ran to the top of the four-storey house, intending to run away and destroy evidence, but they failed. Reaching Thành’s place, police found another brick of heroin and 1,000 meth pills. Meanwhile, police in Mai Sơn District in the same province recently arrested another drug trafficker, Sồng A Hờ, born in 1974 and residing in Cò Nòi Commune. Hờ admitted buying the drugs from a stranger in Phiềng Khoai Commune of the province’s Yên Châu District for VNĐ80 million (US$3,470) to sell for profit. Authorised agencies seized 12,000 methamphetamine pills, a motorbike and other relevant items. In addition, when searching his house in Cò Nòi’s Phiềng Hy Village, police discovered four packages, allegedly containing opium resin.  The cases are under investigation. Sơn La police last Friday concluded a massive raid into the hideouts of two major drug lords, who were both killed following tense resistance. The leaders of major operations that trafficked drugs from Laos via Việt Nam to a third country, they were shot and killed during the raid that involved more than 300 police officers.  Farmers grow more honeydew melons by irrigation drip method   Honeydew melons grown in membrane houses and watered by a drip irrigation system have brought higher incomes to farmers in Tiền Giang Province. — Photo www.tiengiang.gov.vn Tiền Giang Province is growing more honeydew melons via a drip irrigation method and in membrane houses to raise farmers’ incomes, according to the province’s Department of Science and Technology. The department’s Centre for Biotechnology Application has helped local farmers who used traditional cultivation methods to shift to the high-tech method. Vương Thị Mỹ Thanh, deputy director of the centre, said the 500sq.m membrane house and an auto-drip irrigation system cost a total of VNĐ150 million (US$6,535). Four crops of honeydew melons are sold at an average price of VNĐ30,000 ($1.3) per kilogramme. Each 500sq.m of honeydew melons produces 1.5 tonnes per crop, earning a profit of VNĐ22.5 million ($980). Growers could produce about 30 tonnes of honeydew melons per hectare per crop, earning a profit of VNĐ450 million ($19,607) for each crop. Ngô Hữu Nguyền, a farmer in Chợ Gạo District’s Bình Phục Nhứt Commune, said he was now growing honeydew melons in a 400sq.m membrane house. Thanks to the high-tech method, each year he can grow four crops and harvest about four tonnes, with a profit of over VNĐ60million ($2,614). Meanwhile, a farmer living in Mỹ Tho City Nguyễn Văn Ba invested VNĐ150 million to build a 550sq.m membrane house, producing 1.5 tonnes of honeydew melons per crop with a high net profit of VNĐ90 million ($3,920) a year. “Growing crops for a short time in a membrane house helps control insects and disease, recoups the initial investment, and saves water resources,” he said. In particular, 10 farming households in Gò Công Đông District’s Tân Tây Commune are building a network of membrane houses with a total area of 1,548sq.m, reaching a net profit of VNĐ200 million ($8,714) each year. Farmers in neighbouring provinces of Vĩnh Long, Bến Tre and Long An are also using the drip irrigation and membrane house methods. Most farmers with small fields can reap the benefits of such methods, particularly in cities and provinces of the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region that are seeing rapid urbanisation.  HCM City coastal district efficient at alleviating poverty   Mangrove forests in HCM City’s Cần Giờ District. The coastal district has taken several effective measures to help poor and near-poor households escape poverty in recent years. — VNA/VNS  HCM City’s outlying Cần Giờ District has helped many poor and near-poor people rise above the poverty line in recent years through effective measures. Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung of the district’s An Thới Đông Commune has managed to escape poverty since last year thanks to a preferential loan of VNĐ7 million (US$300) from the commune’s poverty reduction fund.   With the loan and her small savings, Dung bred cows and pigs. After earning some money from this, she bred shrimp and grew bananas and vegetables around shrimp ponds to earn additional incomes. She said: “Previously, my family lacked money and so could not escape poverty. Thanks to the preferential loan and competent agencies helping us with farming techniques, my family has escaped poverty.” Cần Giờ is the city’s only coastal district, and its average income last year of VNĐ43.78 million ($1,900) was lower than that of other outlying districts. Last year, it provided preferential loans worth more than VNĐ200 billion ($8.8 million) to nearly 10,000 poor and near-poor households, according to its People’s Committee. It also provided vocational training to nearly 1,770 workers and jobs to 3,600 poor people, and motorbikes, fishing tools, motor boats, industrial and family sewing machines to 54 poor households.    It built charity houses for 109 poor households and gifted health insurance cards to more than 27,700 poor and near-poor people. As of the end of last year, the district had nearly 2,820 poor and 3,830 near-poor households, representing 15.4 per cent poverty and 20.9 per cent near poverty. The district targets to reduce poverty and near poverty by 9.2 percentage points and 7.6 percentage points this year.    To sustainably reduce poverty, local authorities have encouraged farming households to use their unfertile rice fields to breed aquatic creatures and swifts for harvesting nests and high-value crops. Cần Giờ has an area of more than 70,400ha, including a 33,000ha mangrove forest. But with the soil in more than half the places affected by alum and saltwater, the only aquaculture and tourism are possible and they are the district’s two key sectors. The Cần Giờ mangrove forest is recognised by UNESCO as a world biosphere reserve. The district People’s Committee has collaborated closely with the Fatherland Front Committee for a programme to reduce poverty in 2018-20. Seven detained after explosion at HCMC police station   The site of the explosion at a police station in Tân Bình District, HCM City. The HCM City police have launched criminal proceedings against seven people after seizing TNT explosives during a raid. Four are being held on suspicion of conducting terrorist activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration, and three others in connection with the illegal trading of explosives. The information was released by the force at a press conference in the city on July 5. According to Major General Phan Anh Minh, Deputy Chief of the city’s Police, a big explosion occurred on June 20 at a police station in Tân Bình District, injuring one officer and damaging property. After more than 10 days investigating, the city’s police, in coordination with their counterparts from the neighbouring province of Đồng Nai, arrested seven suspects. They seized nearly 10kg of TNT explosives, as well as other materials used to make bombs, used for similar attacks. After his arrest, Nguyễn Tuấn Thanh – born in 1990 –  is alleged to have confessed that his father Nguyễn Khanh – born in 1964 and residing in Trảng Bom District, Đồng Nai Province – told him to make explosives with remote activation detonators. Police say both admitted to having close relationships with Ngô Hùng, the self-proclaimed commander-in-chief of the Việt Nguyễn dynasty, currently living in the US. Hùng appointed Khanh as Governor of the Đồng Nai autonomous region and Thanh as Major General. Afterwards, Hùng transferred VNĐ120 million (US$5,214) to Khanh and assigned him to organise the production of explosives which would be detonated at police stations. It is alleged that following Hùng’s order, Khanh assigned his nephew, Dương Bá Giang – born in 1971 and residing in Đồng Nai Province – to make the explosives. Thanh was responsible for supporting Giang. Police say after receiving two bombs created by Giang, Khanh handed them to Vũ Hoàng Nam – born in 1996 and living in Tân Bình District, HCM City – and asked him to detonate them at police stations.  On June 20, Nam is accused of throwing two bombs into the police station at Ward 12 in Tân Bình District, injuring himself in the process.  Khanh allegedly gave another bomb to Nguyễn Xuân Phương – born in 1988, residing in Biên Hòa District, Đồng Nai Povince – and asked him to create a blast at Tam Hiệp police station in Biên Hòa District. But police say Phương left the bomb in a deserted location, falsely reporting back to Khanh that he had successfully planted it but that it may have failed to blast. Khanh told the police that he bought explosives from a group of people in Đắk Mil District, Đắk Nông Province. On the basis of this, the police arrested three more suspects. However, those arrested have told police they did not know Khanh would use the explosives for terrorist purposes. According to the investigation authorities, the reactionary Việt Nguyễn dynasty group has enlisted several people to disturb public order in HCM City, filming and posting the incidents on social networks, with many further events planned. The police are expanding the investigation and hope to arrest more suspects. Speaking at the press conference, Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyễn Thiện Nhân asked the police to continue collecting more evidence relating to the case, as well as coordinating with other countries to prevent terrorism. He urged relevant agencies to increase communications to raise public awareness of legal obedience and spread a thorough understanding of the Party’s and State’s policies to promptly detect and prevent terrorist plots.  Knowledge management will be applied at MoFA   Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affair Lê Hoài Trung said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will apply knowledge management (KM) in the daily work of officials and civil servants in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the diplomatic sector. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) will apply knowledge management (KM) in the daily work of officials and civil servants in order to improve the quality and efficiency of the diplomatic sector, said Deputy Ministry of Foreign Affair Lê Hoài Trung. Addressing the workshop on applying knowledge management in the public sector, which was organised by the MoFA on Wednesday in Hà Nội, he said KM was a modern model which had been adopted by many big corporations all over the world. Many countries had applied KM including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, he said. Trung said the ministry would complete and implement the KM strategy soon, possibly in August this year, adding that it had begun studying experiences from other countries and had drawn lessons from them since 2017. Participants at the workshop discussed issues relating to KM trends and the benefits of KM. According to Johannes Schunter, KM specialist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Pacific Office in Fiji, the UNDP has set up strategies to focus on knowledge sharing through investment in human and technology since 2009. The target of the application of KM in UNDP was to enhance the organisation’s global leadership to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, strengthening institutions to provide basic services, reduce risks of conflicts and natural disasters and enhance practical actions with priority given to poverty and inequality. Margaret Gair, a specialist from the United Kingdom, said KM was about connecting people and enabling them to share and seek out knowledge that helps them work more collaboratively and effectively. The application of KM helped leaders throughout the organisation access information and knowledge easy, thus improving the effectiveness of its operation. Participants attending the workshop also agreed on the need to apply KM in Việt Nam. Nguyễn Sỹ Cương, deputy chairman of the National Assembly for External Affairs, said that although KM was a new concept, it was necessary for all organs of government to apply the model to overcome shortcomings in information management and sharing.  Vĩnh Long Province continues administrative reform   Members of the avail of an inter-agency one-stop-shop policy at a government office in Vĩnh Long Province.  The Mekong Delta province of Vĩnh Long will review and streamline procedures as part of its administrative reform and efforts to improve the quality of public services. Vice chairman of its People’s Committee, Lê Quang Trung, said on Thursday that the province would speed up work on a proposed public administrative centre and adopt a competitiveness valuation index to rate government agencies and district people’s committees. Nguyễn Phi Hùng, deputy head of the province’s Department of Home Affairs, said administrative reforms effected in the first six months of this year have helped improve the investment and trade environment and the province’s competitiveness, benefiting the public and businesses. There are 1,762 administrative procedures in use: 1,134 at level 2 (the user to download the required forms to be printed out and filled in), 497 at level 3 (forms can be filled online) and 29 at the highest level, level 4 (forms can be filled and payments can be made online). Following the improvements made this year nearly 92 per cent of administrative procedures can be completed through single-door and inter-agency one-stop-shop policies at the provincial level and more than 99 per cent at the district level. Eighteen agencies functioning under the People’s Committee, eight districts and Vĩnh Long city and 109 communes, wards, and towns have adopted a single-door policy. Five other agencies have adopted an inter-agency one-stop-shop policy. Besides, 239 administrative agencies in the province have achieved ISO 9001:2008 quality certification. Its Public Administrative Reform Index rating last year was 74.77 points, putting it in 44th place out of the country’s 63 provinces and cities. The province’s speed of administrative reforms has been slower than that of many other provinces and cities. The province’s Việt Nam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) score last year was 37.66 out of 60, putting it in 14th place. Improved responsiveness to public problems and a crackdown on corruption in the public sector and public services helped it improve its score. The province’s Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services last year was 82.3 per cent, 1.4 percentage points higher than the country’s average. VNN