Day: June 15, 2021

Lychees grown in Tan Yen district, the northern province of Bac Giang have made their way to stores in Japan this year.

The first shipment of early-ripening lychee was sent to the East Asian country at a ceremony at the end of May. From May 24-26, around 20 tonnes were exported to Japan.

This is the second year that the local staple has been exported to this fastidious market, and the achievement is more special as it is attained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chairman of the Bac Giang provincial People’s Committee Le Anh Duong said local authorities have taken measures to ensure the quality, food safety and hygiene of the fruit.

Speaking at the ceremony, Phan The Tuan, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee said in the context of complicated changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bac Giang province has built strong lychee growing areas, especially in Tan Yen and Luc Ngan districts.

The province has prepared necessary conditions to ensure absolute safety in terms of health, security and order for businesses, traders, and drivers entering Bac Giang to purchase and consume lychee. The first shipment of lychees exported to Japan, a large market with very high quality standards, has shown the locality’s determination, seriousness and responsibility in the process of producing and consuming lychee, he added.

The authorities also actively worked with the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam to receive a Geographical Indication (GI) certificate for lychees grown in Luc Ngan district, making it the first Vietnamese product to obtain such certification from Japan.

Since the pandemic has seen complicated developments, particularly as Bac Giang is now one of the country’s hotspots, the provincial authorities have well prepared for lychees consumption this year.

Nguyen Viet Toan, Chairman of Tan Yen District People’s Committee, said: “In 2021, in the context of the COVID-19, the district will focus on protecting lychee areas from the pandemic such as persuading local residents to refrain from travelling out of the areas, setting up checkpoints to control people and vehicles entering the concentrated lychee area, and keeping close health monitoring of local farmers as well as seasonal labourers working in fruit harvesting and transport.”

This year, Bac Giang province has around 28,100 ha of lychees with an estimated output of more than 180,000 tonnes, an increase of 15,000 tonnes year-on-year. This includes 45,000 tonnes of early-ripening lychee harvested on an estimated area of 6,050 ha along with 135,000 tonnes of lychee from the main crop on an area of 22,050 ha.

“The Tan Yen early-ripening lychee has the best quality so far, ensuring food hygiene and safety and not affected by COVID-19,” he added.

The district cultivates lychee in an area of 1,329 hectares, 1,200 hectares of which are set aside for early-ripening lychee.

Many traders have come to survey and sign contract to purchase early-ripening lychees, he said, stressing each kilogramme is sold at 25,000 – 30,000 VND (1.09 – 1.3 USD), particularly the price is 55,000 VND per kilogramme for the Japanese market, and the prices are expected to increase in the coming time.

Last year, Bac Giang shipped 200 tonnes of thieu lychee to Japan.

A year after Japan first opened its market to Vietnamese lychees, the export and consumption of the fruit have been going smoothly despite COVID-19, Vietnam’s trade office in the Northeast Asian country said.

Vietnam began negotiating lychee exports to Japan in 2014. After five years, on December 15, 2019, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that Japan had officially opened its market to Vietnamese lychees but also requested that the fruit undergo a strict plant quarantine process prior to export.

In early June 2020, an agricultural expert from Japan was sent to Vietnam to monitor fruit packaging and sterilisation, completing the final step required by Japan for lychees to be shipped to the market.

Thieu lychees have been exported to 30 countries such as China and the EU, Russia, the US and Canada.

Lychee is the fourth kind of fruit from Vietnam that has successfully made inroad into the Japanese market, following dragon fruit, mango and banana./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education Nguyen Trong Nghia on June 15 offered congratulations to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) on the 96th Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21).

Visiting the VNA headquarters in Hanoi, Nghia, who is also Secretary of the Party Central Committee, commended the agency on its recent achievements, noting that it has always upheld its role as the leading news agency of Vietnam that is comparable with regional and international peers.

He expressed his hope that the VNA will remain one of the units taking the lead in implementing the Party’s guideline and the Government’s plan on the press planning and management.

Welcoming the Party official, VNA Deputy General Director Vu Viet Trang said throughout its 76-year history, the staff of the agency have stayed faithful to and upheld its responsibility towards the Party and the people, thereby contributing to the country’s revolution.

She noted that the VNA hopes to continue receiving attention and directions from the Information and Education Commission’s leader as well as press management agencies so as to better fulfill its assigned tasks and deserve the trust and noble rewards granted by the Party and the State./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Comprehensive, Accurate, and Secured are the key words that can describe a digital platform, which now can also be accessed via smartphones, for registry and information management for persons with disabilities (PwD), launched on June 15 as part of the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project (KV-MAP).

The project partners are the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Vietnam National Mine Action Centre (VNMAC) with the support from Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

An estimated that more than 6 million persons (7 percent or the population) in Vietnam are living with a disability. This digital platform will help make their lives easier and support needs-based assistance. It enables persons with disabilities, including survivors from accidents with explosive ordnance, to conveniently provide and access data about their disability; print a disability certificate and thereby receive government assistance; and communicate other needs the individual might have to relevant authorities. Information registered in the database will be kept confidential.

“This application is very user-friendly and easy-to-navigate. This is a great application for persons with disabilities,” said Tran Le Quyen, sign language teacher at SCDeaf (Support and connect Deaf people to society).

“With this application, I can update and access data anytime, anywhere I want,” said Cao Ngoc Hung, javelin athlete at the Vietnam Paralympic Association. “When logging into this application, I can register my information on my disability level with the local authority. For people with disability in remote areas, using this application saves them from travelling and enable them to update their needs, thus receiving appropriate support from the government and different projects”.

For social protection officers, the digital platform transforms the management and approaches of support for persons with disabilities. It enables MOLISA and its provincial departments to further develop the national database with timely and accurate information on persons with disabilities in support of evidence-based policy making and targeted assistance.

The digital platform has been successfully tested in nine provinces and cities namely Quang Binh, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Hue, Da Nang, Quang Nam, and Vinh Long, with 90,000 persons with disabilities having already agreed to be registered. These include the 75,000 persons who decided to register when the initial district-level pilot was scaled up to a provincial-level assessment covering both Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, thanks to the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project. It is this experience which has helped make the online platform ready for use throughout Vietnam, and this has become easier with the launch of the mobile applications for smartphones using either iOS or Android operating systems.

“We will promote these applications widely, while at the same time continue developing the skills of social workers enabling them to meet the needs of those they serve,” said Nguyen Van Hoi, Deputy Minister of MOLISA with an encouragement to use the new digital platform throughout Vietnam now that has been further upgraded based on the successful pilot phase.

The platform is entirely WEB-based, and the data is centrally stored and managed. With 70 percent of Vietnamese people owning smartphone, the new applications were developed specifically for such devices, thus enhancing the access to services for the population. The application is currently being upgraded with additional support functions to further assist persons with disabilities during registration.

Launching the digital platform, UNDP Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen emphasised the importance of promoting innovative solutions to solve issues for persons with disabilities, who are among the most vulnerable populations in society and have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19. The UNDP rapid assessment of socio-economic impacts of COVID 19 on PwD showed that 24 percent of the respondents did not have a disability certificate, which limited their ability to access the services and assistance they need,” said Caitlin Wiesen.

“We are very pleased that in partnership with VNMAC, MOLISA and KOICA on one of the largest mine action projects in Vietnam, we have developed and contributed a digital solution that benefits not just UXO survivors, but the entire community of persons with disabilities. Accurate, reliable, up to date data enables government to provide persons with disability the full range of support needed.

The updated digital platform builds on a platform originally developed for the government of Vietnam by the International Center supported by the US State Department. The Center and UNDP coordinated the further work on the system, and the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project further upgraded it with a case management module and mobile applications.

“The availability of these application for registration and case management of persons with disabilities is a commendable initiative contributing to the greater goal of Vietnam to make society more inclusive for persons with disability,” said Cho Han-Deog, Country Director of KOICA Vietnam Office. “I am happy to see persons with disabilities, including survivors from accidents with Explosive Ordnance, now will have easier access to social assistance,” he continued.

The Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project has been made possible with the kind support from the Republic of Korea via the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Efforts are being made to ensure that support to survivors from accidents with explosive ordnance in this project to the extent possible benefit all persons with disabilities in Vietnam. This new digital platform is an example of such efforts of inclusiveness./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

To soon bring the life back to normal, vaccines are believed to be the best solution to protect people’s lives and help countries surmount the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnam is working hard to negotiate with vaccine manufacturers so as to secure 150 million vaccine doses to achieve herd immunity in 2021.

To that end, apart from the State budget’s funding, a large number of individuals, businesses and organisations nationwide have made donations to the COVID-19 vaccine fund via official channels.

Besides transferring money to the fund’s bank accounts, donors can also donate via text messages or the website http://www.quyvacxincovid19.gov.vn, which applies advanced technology to help connect collectives and individuals with the Government’s fund in a convenient and safe manner.

Contributions to the fund will help enhance Vietnam’s capability to import, develop, produce, and use COVID-19 vaccines on a large scale to benefit people across the country.

As of 5pm on June 14, 296,215 collectives and individuals had made donations of 5.08 trillion VND (221.36 million USD), including in foreign currencies, according to the fund’s management board.

An estimated 25.2 trillion VND (1.09 billion USD) is needed to provide vaccination for the entire population of Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance noted.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc said his ministry has earmarked more than 14 trillion VND from the State budget for the vaccination programme.

Added with contributions by collectives, individuals, and enterprises both at home and abroad, the existing resources for the task are now nearly sufficient, he added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A delegation of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Popularisation and Education led by Nguyen Trong Nghia, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of the commission, on June 15 visited and congratulated central-level press agencies on the 96th Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21).

The delegation visited the Vietnam Television (VTV), Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, Vietnam News Agency, and Radio The Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

At the meetings with the agencies’ leading officials, Nghia lauded the press’s important contributions to the successful organization of major events of the country over the recent past such as the 13th National Party Congress, the elections of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils in the 2021-2026 term, and the 131st birth anniversary of late President Ho Chi Minh.

Affirming the leading position of the four central-level press agencies in the Vietnamese revolutionary press system, Nghia appreciated their innovation efforts to enhance the quality of popularisation work.

He expressed his belief that the four agencies as well as other press outlets will continue promoting their glorious tradition, fulfilling their assigned tasks, contributing to building a modern, professional, humane and effective revolutionary journalism as the goal set out by the National Plan on Press Development and Management until 2025, and at the same time enhancing the country’s position and prestige in the international arena./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The first National Food Systems Summit Dialogue was held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), in partnership with a number of ministries, the UN in Vietnam and international development partners in Hanoi on June 15 morning.

Themed “Vietnam Food Systems: Transparency, Responsibility, Sustainability,” the dialogue is the very first attempt in a series of events to prepare the nation for its attendance in the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in September 2021.

In his remarks, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Quoc Doanh said since the COVID-19 broke out globally, the world has been facing unpredictable challenges. Global supply chains are disrupted; food production is severely affected; and rural people, particularly the poor and vulnerable groups, are struggling to make ends meet, he said.

Agriculture resources are degrading under the increasingly adverse impact of climate change, posing major challenges to ensuring food and nutrition security all over the world, Doanh remarked.

The deputy minister went on to say that in Vietnam, agriculture plays a significant role in maintaining food security, social stability and livelihoods for more than 60 percent of rural population and contributes 14.85 percent to the country’s GDP.

As the Government of Vietnam is making every endeavour to realise the twin goals of combating COVID-19 and sustaining socio-economic growth, agriculture has become more important in the “new normal”, economically, socially and environmentally.

The food system framework offers Vietnam multi-sectoral, multi-tier approaches and stays in line with the country’s current policies reflected in the Agriculture Restructure Plan for 2021-2025, the National Target Programme on Sustainable Poverty Reduction and Social Security for the 2021 – 2025 period, the One Commune One Product (OCOP) programme, the National Action Plan on Zero Hunger by 2025 and the National Nutrition Strategy, among others, he continued.

Vietnam will better and more effectively implement action plans in poverty eradication, food security and nutrition in rural areas, especially where ethnic minorities groups and vulnerable people live, the official noted.

The dialogue focused discussions on two main issues, namely the current state and problems of Vietnam’s food systems; and opportunities, solutions and actions to transform the food systems towards transparency, responsibility and sustainability by 2030.

The UNFSS 2021 aims to define orientations for sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems, creating multi-dimensional impacts to deliver progress on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The Summit focuses on five action tracks – ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all; shifting to sustainable consumption pattern; boosting nature-positive production; promoting equitable livelihoods and value distribution; and building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses.

In the run-up to the September summit, the MARD on behalf of the Government is organizing two national and three regional dialogues virtually from June 15 through July 15./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Industry and Trade has taken measures to ensure sufficient supply of essential goods as the city decided to extend social distancing measures until June 30.

Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, deputy director of the department, said since the beginning of June when social distancing measures were applied, it has asked production and trading enterprises participating in its price stablisation programme so that adequate goods will be supplied to locals in a timely manner.

They have been instructed to stock a large volume of goods for reserve and be ready in all scenarios related to the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retailers, and production and business units are also encouraged to promote sales, sharing the burden with consumers in the context of the pandemic.

Nguyen Anh Duc, General Director of the Saigon Union of Trading Cooperatives (Saigon Co.op), said in addition to joining the programme which helps stablise prices on the market, it has carried out promotion programmes in a variety of goods categories.

From now until July 10, its Co.opmart and Co.opXtra chains across the country will reduce prices from 25-50 percent or buy one get one free for more than 3.5 million anti-pandemic products including cloth masks and hand sanitiser, he said, adding that more than 10,000 essential products will be added to the list of discounted goods.

Many sought-after essential goods during the social distancing period are also discounted by 20-30 percent. They include cooking oil, sugar, rice, packaged foods and nutritious drinks. Particularly, the prices of fresh foods such as pork, seafood, vegetables and fruits were reduced by 15-20 percent.

Other retailers namely Big C is carrying out the “Fruit Festival Programme” to encourage customers to buy seasonal fruits from other provinces and support struggling farmers.

Municipal authorities on June 14 decided to prolong city-wide social distancing in line with the Government’s Directive No. 15 until the end of June, amid complicated developments of coronavirus outbreaks in the city.

Currently, HCM City has 237 markets, 236 supermarkets, 45 trade centres and 2,735 retail stores../.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A special prize will be awarded for the first time ever at the 15th National Press Awards ceremony, the judging panel said on June 15.

Among 150 works selected from 1,823 entries, the judging panel chose 112 outstanding works which will be honoured at the awarding ceremony.

Specifically, there will be a special prize, nine A prizes, 25 B prizes, 45 C prizes, and 32 consolation prizes.

This is also the first edition of the contest to see the participation of all 63 journalist associations around the country.

The 150 submissions reported on multiple issues in politics, socio-economic development, and security and national defence, especially Party congresses at all levels leading up to the 13th National Party Congress, as well as the fight against COVID-19, natural disasters in the central region, and drought in the south, among others.

Addressing the press conference in Hanoi, permanent Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA) Ho Quang Loi said this is a big event drawing special attention from the press nationwide, and is the highest award for outstanding journalistic works every year.

Due to the complicated developments of COVID-19, the ceremony of the 15th National Press Awards will be organised during the upcoming 11th Congress of the Vietnam Journalists Association, instead of the Vietnam Revolutionary Press Day (June 21) as usual, Loi said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency