Day: September 25, 2021

900,000 doses of COVID-19 Abdala vaccine developed and produced by the Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) of Cuba were handed over to the Vietnamese Embassy in the country on September 24 (Cuba time).

On the same day, the Cuban Defence Ministry also presented 150,000 doses of Abdala vaccine to the Vietnamese defense attaché in the country.

All the vaccine doses will be transported to Vietnam on the special plane serving the overseas working trip by President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc made an official friendship visit to Cuba on September 18-20 and then travelled to the US to attend the High-level Debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session (UNGA 76) in the US.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

As many as 160,000 shippers in Ho Chi Minh City have received at least one shot of vaccine against COVID-19, with 33,025 of them getting full two shots, reported Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Nguyen Phuong at a press conference on September 24.

According to Phuong, about 2,000 shippers have not been vaccinated, and the authorities of districts are working hard to accelerate vaccinations campaigns in their locality.

He also said the department had a meeting with delivery service providers on September 24, the day those businesses began to conduct testing for their own shippers, and suggested that the businesses distribute rapid antigen test kits to their shippers so that they can test themselves once every three days.

Chief of Office of the municipal Department of Health Nguyen Thi Huynh Mai said her agency distributed enough test kits for the municipal Department of Industry and Trade to hand over to delivery service suppliers.

Pham Duc Hai, deputy head of HCM City’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, said that the city has set up 22 working teams to inspect the COVID-19 prevention and control work in Thu Duc city and other districts.

As of September 23, 6,790,745 people in HCM City received one shot of COVID-19 vaccine and 2,278,043 received full two shots.

According to Deputy Director of the city’s Centre for Disease Control Nguyen Hong Tam, 95 percent of local people aged over 18 have been vaccinated against COVID-19 with one shot. The centre currently still has more than 1 million doses left.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU) Le Quan was elected to the governing board of the Francophone University Agency (AUF) at the agency’s 18th General Assembly meeting, according to VNU.

The governing board is the highest executive body of the AUF, consisting of 18 members representing 10 regions whose members speak partly or entirely French language. It has the function of approving policies and strategic orientations of the AUF.

VNU President Quan is the only representative of the Asia-Pacific region to join the Board of Directors. Quan’s participation in the board is hoped to contribute to the internationalization process of higher education in the region, in Vietnam and at the VNU, and further promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation between partners in the Francophone bloc.

Established in Montreal, Canada in 1961, the AUF is a multilateral organization that supports cooperation and solidarity among university institutions that use French as a language for teaching, especially those in French-speaking countries in Africa, Arab Saudi, Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. It now groups over 1000 members from 120 countries.

The AUF established its Asia-Pacific regional office in Hanoi in 1993. The agency and VNU have cooperated in training, research, exchange of lecturers and students.

The VNU has carried out several cooperation activities with the AUF. As VNU President, Quan has participated in many Francophone-related activities, and is Vice President of Vietnam – France Friendship and Cooperation Association.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue has signed a resolution on the provision of support to labourers and employers affected by COVID-19 using the unemployment insurance fund.

Under Resolution No. 03/2021/UBTVQH15, about 30 trillion VND (1.31 billion USD) from the fund will be used to support labourers who are covered by unemployment insurance as of September 30, 2021, excluding employees in State agencies, socio-political organisations, people’s armed forces and public non-business agencies who are paid by the State budget.

Labourers who have stopped paying unemployment insurance due to the termination of their labour contracts or working contracts between January 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021, and have unemployment insurance premium payment period reserved in accordance with the employment law, are also eligible for the support, excluding retirees who receive monthly pensions.

The support will be delivered from October 1 and scheduled to complete on September 31 at the latest.

The resolution clarifies that employers, excepting State agencies, socio-political organisations, people’s armed forces and public non-business agencies funded by State budget, who are joining unemployment insurance before October 1, 2021, will have their premiums reduced from 1 percent of their wage funds to zero percent for a duration of 12 months from October 1.

The detail beneficiary will be regulated by the Government, along with directions on the implementation of the policies in a timely, effective and transparent manner.

The resolution took effect on September 24.

On September 24, the Government issued Resolution No. 116/NQ-CP detailing support policies for labourers and employers impacted by COVID-19, using the unemployment insurance fund.

Specifically, different levels of assistance from 1.8 million VND (79 USD) to 3.3 million VND (144.8 USD) will be given to each labourer depending on the time they has paid unemployment premium.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Three non-governmental organisations in Vietnam – the Management and Sustainable Development Institute (MSD), Saigon Children’s Charity (saigonchildren) and Capacity Building and Support Center for Women and Children (CSWC) – have joined hands to launch the “You are not alone” campaign to support children orphaned by COVID-19 – the hidden victims of the pandemic.

The “You are not alone” campaign aims to support disadvantaged children orphaned by COVID-19 within the networks of participating organisations, as well as extending support towards the wider community through an open application system where any orphaned child outside their existing networks can seek help.

According to estimates from HCM City Department of Education and Training, in Ho Chi Minh City alone, 1,517 children at all levels of education have been orphaned by COVID-19 in the past few months. This number is much higher when considering all the children not included in the education system, and in other provinces and cities of the country. In combination with governmental support, participation of NGOs specializing in supporting children is essential to the transparent and efficient concentration and allocation of resources.

Children losing a parent are at risk of serious psychological trauma, which, without proper support, can have serious long-term impacts on their mental wellbeing and curtail their chances of success later on in life. In particular, children with families already in difficult financial circumstances, who have now lost the main provider for the family, will require material support along with long-term commitment towards education and emotional support.

“You are not alone” will focus not only on providing financial support to the children, but will also provide mental support and guidance. Combining the diverse experiences and expertise in social work, the participating organisations will be able to aid children in coping with the traumas of bereavement, provide responsible counselling on issues surrounding life and education, encourage and assist children in their personal development, and create a safety net to support these children in the absence of their parent. In essence, the collaboration between participating organisations will help these children overcome the psychological shock and trauma of losing a parent, and prevent this tragedy from affecting the child’s potential.

Registration for support can be made at website https://emkhongleloi.com.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A Vietnamese delegation led by Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Trung Kien, resident representative of Vietnam to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), attended the 65th Annual Regular Session of the agency’s General Conference, which took place in Vienna, Austria, from September 20-24.

At the session, IAEA member countries elected Vietnam to the IAEA Board of Governors for the 2021-2023 term.

With this role, Vietnam will join 34 other member countries of the IAEA Board of Governors in considering and recommending the IAEA General Conference on the agency’s operational programmes and financial issues, considering the admission of new member countries, approving inspection agreements between the IAEA and its member states as well as IAEA’s regulations and standards on nuclear safety and security.

In his speech at the event, Ambassador Kien, who was elected as Vice President of the 65th General Conference, thanked the IAEA for supporting Vietnam in applying nuclear technology in different fields, especially in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Equipment and biological products provided by the IAEA have helped Vietnam carry out testing and diagnosis of infected cases, thus creating conditions for treatment and containing the spread of the pandemic, he said.

Regarding technical cooperation, the ambassador reported that in the 2020-2021 period, Vietnam has implemented six national cooperation projects, and participated in 10 regional cooperation projects.

Vietnam will coordinate with the IAEA to prepare a cooperation framework programme for the 2022-2027 period , which will focus on priority cooperation areas between the two sides, Kien said.

He added that Vietnam will coordinate with Laos and Cambodia to implement a tripartite cooperation agreement on applying nuclear technology – one of the focus of the IAEA’s technical cooperation programme in Southeast Asia.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that in 2021, the IAEA has supported 146 countries and territories to apply nuclear technology in various fields, especially in response to COVID-19, public health and medical treatment, improving the quality of agricultural products and promoting sustainable agriculture, and ensuring nuclear safety and security.

He pledged to further promote the implementation of technical cooperation programmes as well as cooperation projects on applying nuclear technology to solve issues related to human infectious diseases come from animals (ZODIAC) and plastic waste (NUTEC Plastic).

On the sidelines of the session, the Vietnamese delegation held a working session with Deputy Director General of the IAEA and head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications Dr. Najat Mokhtar.

Ambassador Kien also had working sessions with heads of delegations of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, India, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and ASEAN countries on cooperation programmes in the coming time.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc had a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in New York on September 24 (local time), during which the two leaders shared delight at the strong growth of the close and trustful relationship between the two countries over the past 45 years.

President Phuc thanked the German Government for providing COVID-19 vaccines to Vietnam both directly and through the COVAX Facility, along with medical supplies to help Vietnam fight the pandemic.

The two sides agreed to continue to promote the Vietnam-Germany partnership by increasing the exchange of delegations at all levels, bolstering economic, trade and investment cooperation and expanding collaboration to promising fields, especially renewable energy, supporting industry, machinery manufacturing, and logistics. The Vietnamese State leader said that about 100,000 Vietnamese people who have lived and studied in Germany as well as a community of nearly 200,000 Vietnamese currently living in the European country serve as a special bridge connecting the two countries.

He expressed hope that the German Government and State will continue to create favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to settle down and integrate into the host society.

The two leaders also concurred to continue their close coordination at multilateral forums, thus contributing to maintaining peace, opposing power abuse and promoting international law enforcement.

The same day, President Phuc and the Vietnamese delegation laid flowers at the National September 11 Memorial in memory of the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. On September 24 afternoon (local time), President Phuc and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation left New York for Hanoi, concluding the four-day trip to the US for the high-level general debate at the United Nations General Assembly’s 76th session and bilateral meetings.

Source: Vietnam News Agency