Day: July 15, 2021

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has instructed relevant agencies to tighten security checks for flights to Japan.

The move followed a request from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) on the application of enhanced security measures on flights to Japan during the time the country hosts the Olympic Games (from July 23 to August 8) and the Paralympic Games (from August 24 to September 5).

To fulfill the responsibilities of a member state of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and relevant aviation laws, the CAAV required airports with flights to Japan to direct the aviation security control force to strictly implement random checks of at least 10 percent after the first security check for passengers and carry-on luggages.

There should be 10 percent random inspection of check-in baggage.

Airports were asked to increase the frequency of security surveillance and regularly update the situation, assess risks and promptly apply additional measures if necessary. They should report to the CAAV when there emerges any information threatening aviation security.

The CAAV also made similar request to airlines with flights to Japan. They were asked to coordinate with airports in implementing aviation security control measures at the request of the Japanese Government.

A representative of the CAAV said that the above-mentioned measures are applied to all flights originating from Vietnam to Japan, including passengers and baggage on connecting flights, from 00h00 on July 22 to the end of August 10 and from 00h00 on August 23 to the end of September 7./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) in coordination with Hanoi Youth Union and Hanoi Youth Palace on July 15 launched a competition “Youth digital citizen challenge 2021” to engage young people in designing better digital solutions and services.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Diana Torres said Vietnam has risen from 99th place to 86th place among 193 nations in the E-Government Development Index ( EGDI) of the United Nations, from 2014 to 2020, which reflected the country’s efforts in digital transformation.

She said, however, to achieve the ambitious goals set in the National Digital Transformation Programme until 2025 to become one of the top 70 nations in the EGDI, Vietnam will need to work harder to ensure that all citizens engage in digital transformation and effectively use its achievements.

The UNDP is committed to supporting an inclusive and people-centered digital journey, she said, adding that the youth of Vietnam have the skills, knowledge, innovation, and devotion to support local governments in this process, helping the country to achieve its targets and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Tran Quang Hung, Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Youth Union, said with energy, commitment, and innovative ideas, young people are major drivers of change to create solutions that will accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

However, the participation of the youth in governance is still low.

“They need support, capacity building, and more space to utilise their strength to actively participate in governance activities. This is the motivation for the Hanoi Youth Union to collaborate with the UNDP to organise this competition,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Vietnam has 23.3 million young people (in 2018), equal to 24.8 percent of the population. To tap into the innovative potential of young people and the power of technology, the competition encourages young people to “Create a solution package, including a technology product or service, or a communication strategy to boost the quality of e-public services in Hanoi”.

All participants including students, programmers, designers, entrepreneurs aged from 18 to 30 years old are welcome to join the competition.

The registration and first round will be held online from July 15 to August 10. Ten teams with the best ideas will be selected to participate in a two-day bootcamp from August 18-19 with experts from UNDP, the Hanoi Youth Union, government bodies, and some of the best companies in Vietnam to develop the teams’ ideas.

Three winning teams will have the chance to earn rewards worth a total 70 million VND (3,040 USD), coworking space packages from The HUB Global, and other grand prizes from sponsors and partners./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue chaired a nationwide teleconference in Hanoi on July 15 reviewing the elections of deputies to the 15th legislature and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 tenure.

In his opening speech, Hue, who is also Chairman of the National Election Council (NEC), described the election as the country’s significant political event that took place in a democratic and fair manner in line with the law, ensuring safety and thriftiness. It was really a great festival of the nation, he said.

The event was held at a time when the country experienced 75 years of independence, 35 years of renovation with important achievements of historical significance.

The entire Party, army and people are striving to bring the Resolution by the 13th National Party Congress into life, carry out the 2021-2025 socio-economic development tasks and build the law-governed socialist State of the people, by the people and for the people, he said, adding that the public trust on the Party and State has been consolidated, thus laying a solid foundation for the country’s rapid and sustainable development.

According to Hue, the election was prepared thoroughly, professionally and flexibly from the central to local level on the basis of upholding people’s right to mastery, ensuring favourable conditions for every citizen to fully exercise right to nomination and election in line with the law.

The largest-scale election recorded nearly 70 million votes in 84,767 voting areas. Voters chose qualified representatives with moral virtue and brainpower out of around 450,000 candidates. The voter turnout reached up to 99.6 percent despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

Representatives from the NEC, the Government and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee presented reports reviewing the election work and pointing out shortcomings that need to be fixed for the next elections.

The top legislator asked participants to give opinions on reports to contribute to the success of the event./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Science and technology is the solution to developing areas populated by ethnic minority groups, said Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh at a conference in Hanoi on July 14.

At the event that reviewed a national sci-tech programme on ethnic affairs, concerning such development, Binh highlighted the need to consider ethnic cultural identity, knowledge, and traditions as well as socio-economic growth, and ensuring defence-security its targets.

The implementation of the Party’s policy on ethnic affairs is key to its success, he affirmed.

Listing a host of measures including training of youth and scientific and technological application, he said they will equip ethnic people with new skills and effective business methods.

While many of ethnic-populated areas have seen scientific and technological advances applied in the local life and businesses, others still face high poverty rate and a lack of conditions for such application, Binh said.

Beginning in 2015, the national programme that is worth 176.1 billion VND (7.67 million USD) has to date carried out 51 tasks.

In the 2016 – 2020 period, it built 2,324 application and technological transfer models that are suitable to 34 provinces and cities with ethnic population. As a result, over 7,000 jobs were created; 1,106 new technologies transferred; close to 3,500 public personnel and technicians and 45,328 farmers trained./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ford Hai Duong expansion project’s first phase, which started in January last year, was completed on July 15, with 80 percent of the total investment in the project disbursed.

The firm will bring its total number of employees to 1,200, when the two-phase project is completed in the middle of 2022,

On January 14 in 2020, Ford Vietnam announced it would invest an additional 82 million USD into expanding its Hai Duong automobile assembly and production factory. Aiming to increase the plant’s annual output to 40,000 units from the current 14,000, this move brought Ford’s total investment in Vietnam to more than 200 million USD.

The factory has been being expanded by more than 60,000 square metres, raising its total area to 226,000 square metres. Once completed, it will assemble and manufacture various models of cars and spare parts, as well as provide maintenance and repair services.

The same day, Ford Ranger pickup trucks, locally assembled at the facility, became available for delivery.

Ranger is the key product of Ford Vietnam, remaining in the top 10 best-selling vehicles in the country for months. Local sales of Ford Ranger reached 754 in June, bringing the total units sold in the first half of 2021 to 6,912. The model was imported to serve local demand for the past two decades./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

When Ho Chi Minh City went into lockdown under the Government’s Directive 16 on July 9, many businesses and manufacturers prepared plans to set up temporary accommodations for their workers to avoid the spread of coronavirus and maintain production.

Hoang Minh Anh Tu, general director of the Alta Group, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the business rearranged the factory’s premises in order to set up about 100 tents.

Besides preparing meals, the company also has separate living quarters for male and female employees. Male workers sleep in tents, while female workers stay in the office block and sleep in bunk beds.

COVID-19 tests are offered regularly to delivery workers and periodically to workers staying at the company.

The company has also set up a temporary isolation area for F0 (infected cases) and F1 cases (direct contacts of F0s) before they are taken to concentrated isolation areas by a medical task force.

Many businesses at Saigon Hi-Tech Park have prepared plans to maintain production by renting hotel rooms for employees to stay.

Nidec, for instance, encourages its workers, including those from Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces where COVID-19 cases have been reported, to stay at a hotel near the company to avoid interruptions in production, according to Luu Kim Hong, head of the trade union at Nidec Vietnam Co. Ltd.

The deputy head of the Saigon Hi-Tech Park management board, Le Thi Bich Loan, said that FDI enterprises such as Intel, Schneider, and others have also rented hotel rooms near the park to provide temporary accommodation for workers.

However, factories in the Hi-Tech Park should first send detailed plans to the board of management for evaluation and appraisal before they renting rooms, he said.

According to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA), nearly 100 enterprises have registered plans to keep production going.

HEPZA said that temporary housing was the best choice for small businesses with only a few hundred workers, but large-scale enterprises with up to tens of thousands of people should research better options.

Many businesses have had difficulties offering workers temporary housing due to female workers’ personal hygiene needs, a representative of an FDI enterprise in Saigon Hi-Tech Park said.

Moreover, some company premises are not large enough to set up temporary accommodations and ensure a safe distance between employees.

The Juki Vietnam Co., Ltd. in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7 is an example. The company’s director Dao Quoc Cuong said: “Based on the company’s current facilities, only 35 percent of workers can stay at the company. Living expenses for workers can be solved, but reducing production by 50 to 100 percent will cause the company to suffer serious losses and lose customers.”

Head of the Business Association of Saigon Hi-Tech Park, Ho Uyen, said that in order to minimise cross-contamination at factories, businesses should send some workers back to their hometown and increase the frequency of testing.

The regulation requiring testing every three days is another difficulty for small-scale enterprises.

Tran Viet Anh, General Director of Nam Thai Son Import-Export Joint Stock Company, said that workers should be tested once a week instead of every three days because it takes time to get COVID-19 test results, which increases the risk of infection.

HCM City has 1.6 million workers at industrial parks and export processing zones./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Experts of Vietnam and the Archaeological Survey of India team have been accelerating the implementation of a project to conserve and repair tower-temples of Group A at the My Son World Cultural Heritage Site in the central province of Quang Nam.

Director of the Management Board of the site Phan Ho said the experts and hundreds of skilled workers are sparing no efforts to complete main conservation tasks for the A1, A12 and A13 tower-temples prior to the rainy season.

The area of Group A, comprising 13 monuments, suffered huge damage during wartime and needs urgent repairs due to harsh influence of nature and time. Once the religious and political capital of the Champa Kingdom, My Son Sanctuary is located within a hilly landscape in Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen district, about 70 km southwest of central Da Nang city and 40 km from Hoi An ancient town.

It is comprised of eight groups of 71 monuments built from the 7th to 13th centuries.

The sanctuary was recognised as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 1999./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Businesses have expressed their hope that customs agencies and relevant ministries and sectors will further simplify administrative procedures, which, they suggested, should be completely handled online, according to a survey.

The survey was conducted in 2020 among 3,657 firms operating in import-export, production, outsourcing, processing and logistics, among others, to find out their satisfaction with import-export administrative procedures.

Its results were announced at an online workshop held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the General Department of Vietnam Customs, with the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), in Hanoi on July 15.

VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said Vietnam’s export and import have still made noted achievements despite the impact of COVID-19 and the disrupted global trade as from 2020.

The country’s total export-import value last year reached 545.3 billion USD, up 5.3 percent year-on-year, he cited figures from the General Statistics Office (GSO). In the first half of this year, the number stood at 316.73 billion USD, a rise of 32.2 percent from the same period last year.

The figures reflect great efforts of domestic firms amidst a range of challenges caused by the pandemic, Loc stressed.

The interviewed businesses suggested increasing publicity and transparency in the implementation of administrative procedures, upgrading the infrastructure system, and raising the capacity of officials.

Customs agencies and relevant ministries and sectors should better coordinate in this regard to create optimal conditions for enterprises to complete export-import procedures, they said.

According to Hoang Viet Cuong, deputy head of the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the businesses better evaluated the information provided by customs agencies, and were more satisfied with agencies’ response to their concern.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the VCCI’s Legal Department, said the businesses lauded reforms in the customs sector and its improved service quality, notably positive changes in the inspection and management work.

They also suggested better coordination between customs agencies and concerned ministries and sectors, and stressed the need to ensure consistency and stability in building and realising policies and laws.

USAID/Vietnam Mission Director Ann Marie Yastishock applauded coordination between the Ministry of Finance and the VCCI and the General Department of Vietnam Customs in conducting the survey and releasing its outcomes.

The USAID wishes to continue its cooperation with the Vietnamese agencies to tighten the links between the Government and the private sector to consolidate the policy making and law enforcement in the time ahead, she said./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency