Category: General

Venerable Thich Minh Quang, head monk of the Phat Tich Pagoda in Vientiane, has handed over to the Lao Front for National Construction 25 million LAK worth of essential goods (about over 50 million VND) to help people who are being severely affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those who are staying in quarantine.

The goods are donated by Vietnamese monks, nuns and Buddhist followers in Vientiane.

At the hand-over ceremony on October 1, the Venerable, who is also head of the coordinating board of Buddhism in Laos, said the donors hope the goods would help alleviate some of the difficulties for Lao people.

Khamchan Phomxengsavan – Standing Vice President of the Lao Front for National Construction highly appreciated the contribution of the Vietnamese monks, nuns and Buddhist followers in Laos, which she said showed the bond and concern of the Vietnamese community in Laos for the host country, especially in difficult times.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Non-state sector became the main driver of Ho Chi Minh City’s foreign trade during the first nine months of this year, with its exports and imports increasing 3.5 percent and 39.7 percent, respectively, according to the municipal statistics office.

The country’s southern economic hub saw foreign trade growing 9.7 percent year-on-year from January to September, with exports and imports experiencing opposite trends due to impacts of the worst-ever COVID-19 resurgence, which hit the city since May.

In September, exports totalled 2.37 billion USD, a 5.7 percent decrease month on month. Of the figure, the public sector contributed 93.4 million USD, down 4.9 percent month on month; the non-state sector, 816.3 million USD, up 13.7 percent; and the foreign-invested sector, 1.25 billion USD, down 14.9 percent.

In the first three quarters of the year, the city shipped abroad 31.5 billion USD worth of goods and services, a year-on-year drop of 3.4 percent. Of the total, the state-owned sector contributed 1.53 billion USD, down 15.2 percent year on year; the non-state sector, 8.43 billion USD, up 3.5 percent; and the foreign-invested sector, 18.6 billion USD, down 6.5 percent.

The agriculture sector generated close to 2.9 billion USD from exports during the period, up 8.5 percent year on year and accounting for 10.5 percent of the total shipments. The industrial sector’s exports, meanwhile, fell 13.9 percent to 19.2 billion USD, representing some 70 percent of the total.

China remained HCM City’s largest buyer in nine months, importing 6.65 billion USD worth of goods and services, down 15.9 percent year on year. It was followed by the US, Japan and the EU.

The city spent over 4.1 billion USD on imports last month, down 8 percent month on month. The nine-month figure, however, spurred 21.3 percent year on year to 44.3 billion USD, with imports of the non-state sector surging 39.7 percent to 19.1 billion USD and that of the foreign-invested sector rising 12.2 percent to 18.8 billion USD.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Secretariat of the Party Central Committee on October 1 looked into disciplinary measures against the Standing Board of the Party Committee of the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) in the 2015-2020 tenure and a number of individuals for their violations.

The meeting was chaired by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

The Secretariat said the Standing Board of the VCG Party Committee in the 2015-2020 tenure had seriously violated the principles of democratic centralism, and criticism and self-criticism, working rules, and regulations set by the Central Military Commission.

As a result, many officials and Party members, including the Secretary and Vice Secretary of the Party Committee, the Commander and Deputy Commander, have displayed degradation in political thought, morality and lifestyle, causing extremely severe consequences.

They have showed a lack of responsibility and supervision and loosened leadership and directions, creating conditions for the High Command and its units to violate the Party’s regulations, the State’s laws, and the Defence Ministry’s regulations on financial management and use, the implementation of infrastructure projects, the procurement of technical equipment, materials and goods, and the fight against smuggling, causing serious consequences.

According to the Secretariat, such wrongdoings by a number of high-ranking officers have led to huge economic losses to the State, while seriously affecting the prestige of the Party organisation as well as the image of the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Vietnam People’s Army, triggering public concern.

Taking into account collective achievements and contributions, and repentance of each individual, the Secretariat decided to give a warning to the Standing Board.

The Secretariat also expelled two Major Generals, including one under temporary detention, from the Party and dismissed two Lieutenant Generals and five other Major Generals from their Party posts.

The Central Military Commission was assigned to continue instructing the handling of Party organisations and individuals concerned in line with the Party’s regulations and the State’s laws.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A webinar was held in the central city of Da Nang on September 30 to seek ways to put an end to wildlife trafficking and consumption, gathering more than 100 delegates, including local officials, and domestic and foreign experts.

Nguyen Thi Kim Ha, Vice Director of the Environmental Protection Division of the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the seminar aims to find ways to encourage people not to trade and consume wildlife, while pushing localities to effectively implement policies to prevent and fight illegal trafficking and consumption of wildlife.

According to the organising board, in the past 50 years, the vertebrate population has declined by 68 percent. In Vietnam, many wildlife species have faced the risk of extinction due to illegal wildlife trade and consumption.

In this context, the Vietnamese Government has made great efforts in wildlife protection, including the promulgation of the new Penal Code with stricter punishments on possessing and trading in wildlife and wildlife products.

In Da Nang, various decisions have been given with the aim of protecting and developing the forests and biodiversity and the wildlife, and encourage the community’s involvement in the work.

Vo Van Minh, from Da Nang University, underlined the significance of education and communications activities on environmental and wildlife protection.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Hoai Khuong, from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Vietnam, said that the WWF Vietnam is working with different partners to seek new solutions for the preservation activities in the country, focusing on communication measures to reduce the demand for wildlife in Vietnam.

Tran Huu Vy, Director of the GreenViet Biodiversity Conservation Centre, stressed the need for joint efforts of the community in wildlife protection, which also means protecting the biodiversity and the earth as a whole.

Within the framework of the webinar, an online photo exhibition has been held to introduce about 100 photos and video clips on wildlife. The exhibition is open to the public at http://baovedongvathoangda.org until October 8.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The capital city of Hanoi has completed the disbursement of support packages to people who rendered service to the nation, poor and near-poor households and social welfare policy beneficiaries, with more than 282 billion VND (12.4 million USD) for over 282,000 people.

According to the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, as of late September 30, the city had paid out 1.37 trillion VND in aid, sourced from the State budget and socialization capital, to 12 groups of people hit hard by the pandemic, according to the Government’s Resolution 68/NQ-CP and the Prime Minister’s Decision 23/2021/QD-TTg.

This is the positive outcome of joint efforts from the municipal to grassroots levels with a determination of helping disadvantaged people access support and soon stabilize their life.

On September 21, the city eased social distancing measures, and life is gradually returning to the new normal. However, local authorities still continue providing social welfare support packages for needy people.

Hanoi has to date recorded over 4,200 COVID-19 infections and 47 fatalities, according to data by the Health Ministry.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has cancelled the launch of its Epsilon 5 rocket, expected to carry Vietnam’s NanoDragon satellite and eight others into the outer space, on October 1, possibly due to technical problems.

JAXA said it would announce the cause of the cancellation and a new launch schedule later.

Watching the launch online, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, General Director of the Vietnam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said about a minute before launching the rocket, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) stopped the process to check the machinery system.

After checking, it decided to suspend the launch on October 1, he said.

The NanoDragon, a nano-layer cubesat satellite which weighs 3.8 kilograms, was developed by the VNSC.

Earlier, the satellite was delivered to Japan on August 11 and tested at the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima prefecture from August 16-17 before being officially transferred to the JAXA for launching under the second “Innovative satellite technology demonstration” programme.

The Epsilon 5 was expected to launch NanoDragon along with eight other made-in-Japan satellites from Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,160 VND/USD on October 1, down 2 VND from the previous day.

With the current trading band of +/- 3 percent, the ceiling rate applicable to commercial banks during the day is 23,854 VND/USD and the floor rate 22,466 VND/USD.

The opening-hour rate at commercial banks followed different directions.

At 8:15am, Vietcombank listed the buying rate at 22,630 VND per USD and the selling rate at 22,860 VND/USD, both up 10 VND from September 30.

On the contrary, BIDV cut 5 VND from both rates, listing the buying rate at 22,655 VND/USD and the selling rate at 22,855 VND/USD.

During the week from September 27 to October 1, the daily reference exchange rate followed an upward trend, ending the week up 19 VND.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s national football team on October 1 arrived in the UAE for a match against China in the final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers.

The Vietnamese footballers are scheduled to take part in the first training session in the UAE to prepare for the game at 10pm the same day (Vietnam time).

Vietnam will face China at Sharjah Football Stadium at 0am on October 8 (Vietnam time). Both collected zero points after their two opening matches.

The Vietnamese team was defeated 0-1 by Australia and 1-3 by Saudi Arabia, while China lost 0-3 to Australia and 0-1 to Japan.

This is the first time Vietnam have ever played in such a round of World Cup qualifiers. Vietnam are in Group B along with Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, China and Oman for a spot at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

Source: Vietnam News Agency