Day: September 29, 2021

The National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Legal Affairs on September 29 reviewed the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Intellectual Property (IP) Law, under the chair of its Chairman Hoang Thanh Tung.

At the meeting, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat stated that amending and supplementing a number of articles of the IP Law is vital to the country’s socio-economic development.

Vietnam has joined international commitments towards the improvement of protection and enforcement of IP rights during global economic integration. Such commitments require amendments and supplements to the country’s IP Law.

Legislators believed that the draft law has basically met international commitments to which Vietnam is a member, especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA).

Concluding the meeting, Tung asked drafting agencies to gather opinions and clarify theoretical and practical foundations in a bid to ensure consistency in the legal system, as well as the bill’s compatibility with international commitments that Vietnam has participated in.

He added that based on opinions by the NA Standing Committee and contents of this meeting, the Committee for Legal Affairs will further complete an official verification report for consideration at the second session of the 15th NA.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Government has issued Decree No.85/2021/ND-CP amending and supplementing several articles of Decree No.52/2013/ND-CP on e-commerce involving foreign traders.

Accordingly, foreign traders and entities operating websites to provide e-commerce services with Vietnamese domains and language, and having over 100,000 transactions from Vietnam each year, must register e-commerce activities in line with regulations, establish representative offices or appoint authorised representatives in the country. Their representative offices or authorised representatives must work with Vietnam’s State management agencies to prevent transactions of goods and services that violate the nation’s laws.

According to a study conducted by iPrice Group and SimilarWeb, the top 50 shopping sites’ web visits in Vietnam’s Map of E-commerce in the first six months reached more than 1.3 billion, the highest ever and up by 10 percent from the first quarter.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hailed cooperation between the Government and the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) during a conference on September 29 to review the two sides’ coordination results in the 2016 -2020 period and the first eight months of this year, and future focuses.

The PM attributed the country’s achievements over the past five years to contributions by the VFF, saying that results in previous and current tenures show that cooperation between the Government and the VFF is suitable for national interests.

The two sides have taken the initiative in carrying out tasks stipulated in the collaboration regulation, according to a report at the event.

The tasks have been implemented in a comprehensive and practical manner that addressed urgent issues in life and socio-economic development, thereby creating consensus in society and strengthening national solidarity.

Amid the complexities of COVID-19, the sides have joined hands to tap on strengths of the national solidarity and mobilise resources in the political system, calling for consensus and support of the business community and people nationwide so as to repel the ongoing pandemic and take care of people’s lives.

In the coming time, the Government and the VFF will step up collaboration in COVID-19 prevention and control as well as manufacturing and production, in an effort to offset impacts of the pandemic.

They will continue to promote national solidarity and implement tasks in socio-economic development and ensuring national defence and security; and work together in law building and social accountability programmes for the next year and the 2021-26 period.

He stressed that the Government has determined to operate with integrity, discipline and effectiveness in the 2021-26 term.

The PM asked the VFF and other socio-political organisations, along with the Party Central Committee’s Commission on Mass Mobilisation to partner with the Government to carry out key tasks stipulated in the 13th National Party Congress, and successfully curb the spread of COVID-19 and foster socio-economic recovery and development.

The Government leader hoped that the VFF will strengthen communication work in encouraging good deeds while repelling wrongdoings, and promptly update information from reliable sources and refute fake and inaccurate news, particularly on COVID-19 prevention and control.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam welcomed about 114,500 foreign visitors in the first nine months of this year, a year-on-year plunge of 97 percent, announced the General Statistics Office (GSO) on September 29.

The GSO attributed the nosedive to the continuation of COVID-19 preventive measures, including the closure of borders to international tourism, noting that most of the foreign arrivals were experts and technical workers performing duties at projects in Vietnam.

In the third quarter alone, the country greeted some 26,300 foreigners, slipping 40.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, as the pandemic has been gradually brought under control since early September, it has called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to roll out tourism recovery policies, with safety being the top priority in the new normal.

Three important factors of the recovery plan include COVID-19 vaccine coverage, safety at tourism destinations, and optimal conditions for domestic and foreign tourists holding vaccination certificates.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong on September 29 sent a message of congratulations to Kishida Fumio on his election as President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan.

After Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic ties on September 21, 1973, the bilateral relationship has experienced rapid development over the past years.

The Vietnam-Japan relationship is now at its best since the establishment of the diplomatic ties, with high mutual trust.

Japan is Vietnam’s leading important economic partner, the largest official development assistance (ODA) provider, second biggest investor, third largest tourism partner and fourth largest trade partner.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam has requested the army to continue supporting Ho Chi Minh City and other southern localities in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic after September 30 when they begin loosening social distancing measures.

Dam, who is deputy head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, made the statement at his meeting with representatives from the Defence Ministry’s Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in HCM City and southern localities on September 29.

According to him, before the localities achieve herd immunity, it needs to take steps to adjust support forces appropriately.

He hailed efforts by military and military medicine forces to treat COVID-19 patients and join hands with locals to combat the pandemic.

Senior Lieutenant General Vo Minh Luong, head of the Government’s special working group on COVID-19 prevention and control in HCM City and southern localities, said after September 30 when HCM City and southern localities start loosening social distancing measures, the army will have adjustments suitable for each locality.

Luong proposed the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA)’s General Department of Politics assign relevant agencies to coordinate with units and localities to extend disseminations to raise public awareness of pandemic prevention and control.

The VPA General Staff and the General Department of Logistics should adjust their forces to suit the new situation, he added.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The RMIT Amazing Vietnam Student Competition (AVSC) 2021 has been launched on the occasion of the World Tourism Day (September 27), aiming to encourage students to seek sustainable tourism ideas and develop their problem-solving skills.

Tenth to twelfth graders across the country can make groups of five at maximum to join the competition, through which they will have chances to explore Vietnamese historical relics and share their Vietnamese tourism experiences with foreign visitors.

From now until November 7, they can submit a video with a maximum length of two minutes on ideas for sustainable tourism development in Vietnam. The six most outstanding teams will compete in the final round slated for December 5, during which they will make presentations on their projects before the jury that includes representatives from the Vietnam Tourism Administration, Grant Thornton, InterContinental Saigon, and RMIT University.

Total award value is 100 million VND (4,400 USD).

Dr. Jackie Ong, head of the Tourism and Hospitality Management Faculty at RMIT Vietnam said that this year, the World Tourism Day is themed “Tourism for Inclusive Growth”.

She underlined the need to foster local communities’ connectivity and encourage the engagement of the society in implementing the inclusive growth plan to improve service quality and boost sustainable development of the tourism sector.

Ong also stressed the significance of youngsters’ involvement in turning Vietnam into an attractive tourist destination.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Indonesian businesses and nationals have presented 169 million VND (7,400 USD) and necessities worth more than 120 million VND to Ho Chi Minh City, which is Vietnam’s current largest COVID-19 hotspot.

The gifts were handed over to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of HCM City by Indonesia’s Acting Consul General in the city Yovanka Yoan Siahainenia on September 29.

At the hand-over ceremony, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of HCM City Nguyen Thanh Trung thanked the Indonesian enterprises and citizens for their timely support.

The aid has practically contributed to consolidating and strengthening the fine friendship between the two countries, he said.

The official used this occasion to call on foreign businesses and communities to further support measures and policies adopted by the Vietnamese government and HCM City’s authorities to combat the pandemic and recover the economy in new normal conditions. Edwin Setiawan Tjie, President of the Indonesian Business Association in HCM City, affirmed that Indonesian firms always pay heed to social affairs and believed that the southern economic centre will soon put the pandemic under control.

The same day, Good Neighbors International (GNI), a non-governmental organisation in the Republic of Korea (RoK), presented 1,000 gift packages valued at 500 million VND to residents affected by COVID-19 in Tan Phu district.

On September 28, Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong (China) and Deutsches Haus Ho Chi Minh Stadt Ltd. also donated 15 ventilators and other machines with a total value of 8.75 billion VND to medical facilities in the city.

Source: Vietnam News Agency