Day: October 5, 2021

The Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC)’s Central Committee on October 4 received 200,000 USD donated by Lee’s Sandwiches, a Vietnamese-American fast food restaurant chain headquartered in the US, to aid Ho Chi Minh City’s COVID-19 fight.

The donation, which is meant to financially support local people and frontline workers in the battle against COVID-19, was handed over by Lee’s Sandwiches representative Duong Quoc Khanh Toan.

In August, Lee’s Sandwiches launched a fundraising campaign in which it pledged to donate 100 percent of its sales from Lee’s Coffee products directly to the VNRC in order to purchase medical supplies for hospitals and healthcare facilities designated for COVID-19 treatment, provide local households with food, and support affected people living in quarantined and locked down areas.

Supporters were encouraged to participate in the campaign by purchasing Lee’s Coffee products at Lee’s Sandwiches stores, on their websites, or on their mobile app.

Last year, the fast-food restaurant chain also donated 100,000 USD through the VNRC to aid families hit by flood and storm in central Vietnam.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Italy’s MoCA Cultural Association holds, for the first time in the European country, the solo exhibition of a Vietnamese artist – Henry Le (Le Huu Hieu) – entitled Soul Energy, a collateral event of the exhibition of the 14th Arte Laguna Prize.

The exhibition project, curated by Chiara Canali and promoted by MoCA and Arte Laguna Studio, presents 40 large-scale pictorial works and an installation of human-sized iron sculptures.

The title Soul Energy refers to the energy that pervades the soul of Henry Le, a primary factor that allows him to transfer his spiritual world into works of art, giving it a rhythm and an independent life.

Quoting Oscar Wilde’s famous sentence “A flower blossoms for its own joy”, Henry said that his works exist like flowers: you can enjoy them or you can profit from them. But those works still exist, and maintain their emotional life.

Henry Le was born in 1982 in Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh, Vietnam and lives and works in Hanoi.

With an architect’s past, for more than ten years Henry Le has chosen artistic research as a priority experience of his life, placing it at the center of every reflection, idea and visual practice.

He had a solo exhibition at the Vietnam National Fine Arts Museum in 2014. He also took part in the Art Basel Miami and Contemporary Art Projects USA in the United States in 2016, and the 11th Florence Biennale da Basso in Florence, Italy the following year.

His exhibition Soul Energy was initially scheduled in April, 2020 but delayed to this year due to COVID-19. It is underway at Arsenale Nord of Venice from October 2 – 12.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The administration of Hanoi has issued a number of breakthrough mechanisms and policies to support the development of startups.

According to the municipal People’s Committee, amid the rapid development of technology, especially the Fourth Industrial Revolution, countries around the world have been investing strongly in innovation application and innovative entrepreneurship to develop manufacturing foundation.

The Vietnamese Government views innovative entrepreneurship as one of the national-level goals to provide encouragement and support to turn ideas into innovative startups.

Unlike normal startups, innovative startups are capable of growing fast in terms of clientele, revenue, and profit thanks to the capitalisation of intellectual property, technology, and new business models. If they can manage to surmount difficulties and challenges, they can contribute considerably to socio-economic development.

Given this, creating an optimal environment for innovative startups is one of the focal tasks of Hanoi authorities at present, the Cong Thuong (Industry & Trade) newspaper reported.

The capital city is currently home to about 268,000 businesses, ranking second nationwide. It has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of enterprises over the past years, but innovative firms make up just a modest proportion, about 0.1 percent.

Notably, a survey of some business incubators and associations shows that most of startups there are small- and medium-sized enterprises operating on digital platforms. This type of businesses is considered a stepping stone for the formation of innovative startups. Therefore, these companies need assistance in terms of both corporate governance skills and technical infrastructure so as to grow fast, increase the success rate, and contribute more to the economy.

Learning of startups’ development demand and difficulties, Hanoi has issued breakthrough solutions to support them, including improving the economic policy, setting up an investment support fund, attracting foreign investors, offering tax incentives, and optimising business procedures.

Of note, the city approved a project on supporting innovative startups for the 2019 – 2025 period.

This project aims to complete and developing the innovative startup ecosystem in Hanoi; create a favourable environment for facilitating the types of enterprises able to grow fast basing on intellectual property, technology, and new business models; and perfect mechanisms and policies to boost innovative entrepreneurship, thereby contributing to fast and sustainable economic growth of the capital city.

Among its detailed objectives, the project will work to connect elements of the startup ecosystem to develop a network of innovative startup support; increase communications to encourage innovative entrepreneurship in each resident, young people, and intellectual; and form a centre for innovation and entrepreneurship in Hanoi to connect domestic and international resources for bolstering startups.

In particular, the project will assist the establishment of two – three more business incubators to support innovative entrepreneurship, encourage the formation of three – five private support funds for innovative startups, and attract foreign investment in innovative startups in the capital.

Hanoi expects that by 2025, 500 innovative startup projects will have been helped to develop and 150 innovative startups assisted to commercialise their products. Among them, at least 20 percent will succeed in raising capital from venture funds, while mergers and acquisitions worth about 500 billion VND (21.9 million USD) will be conducted.

Experts held that Hanoi holds numerous factors to become an innovative startup centre of Vietnam as it boasts high-quality human resources thanks to a large network of leading universities, colleges, vocational schools.

However, to become a true innovative startup centre, it still needs to make strong and strategic investment to tap into its strengths, they said, adding that the implementation of the innovative startup support project is an urgent need, matches the current entrepreneurship demand, and also helps turn Hanoi into an innovative startup centre of the whole country.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A number of localities have agreed with the Transport Ministry’s draft plan on resuming domestic flights following the relaxation of social distancing measures.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CCAV) sought opinions of 19 cities and provinces on the plan, comprising Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Quang Ninh, Nghe An, Dien Bien, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, Lam Dong, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Khanh Hoa, Kien Giang and Ca Mau.

The HCM City People’s Committee on October 4 sent a document to the CCAV, basically agreeing with the draft plan.

Such provinces as Binh Dinh, Dien Bien and Phu Yen have also expressed their approval for the resumption.

In a document sent to the CCAV on October 4, the Hanoi People’s Committee said the agency should launch flights to/from Noi Bai International Airport once receiving written agreements of the People’s Committees of Hanoi and its adjacent cities and provinces.

The CCAV suggested resuming 385 round-trip flights per day, with 18 air routes to HCM City (132 flights) and 10 others to the central city of Da Nang.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang has approved a list of 55 projects calling for investment in the 2021-2025 period, with total needed capital amounting to over 20.6 trillion VND (around 910 million USD).

The projects are in various areas, from industrial park infrastructure, electronics, plastics, wood, agro-fishery processing, for-export leather and footwear, to housing, culture, sports and tourism, waste treatment and water supply.

Several projects in trade and the environment are also seeking investors.

Among the projects, the biggest one aims to building housing for workers on an area of 60 hectares in Chau Thanh district at an estimated cost of nearly 3.7 trillion VND

Another project is inviting investors to build technical infrastructure for the 210.5-ha Xeo Ro industrial park in An Bien district, with costs estimated at 3.61 trillion VND.

The province will publicise the list and detailed information on the projects, along with incentives and policies for potential investors.

The provincial administration will continue to intensify administrative procedure reform with a view to creating an open and favourable environment for investors

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Industrial production firms in Ho Chi Minh City have not yet showed signals of recovery due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the municipal Statistics Office, the city’s index of industrial production decreased by 5.6 percent monthly in September. In nine months of this year, the index went down 12.9 percent year-on-year, mostly manufacturing and processing, electricity production and distribution, water supply and waste treatment.

Only three sectors recorded expansion, including metal production up 3.5 percent, electrical equipment up 1.7 percent, water exploitation and supply up 0.1 percent.

Four key industries posted contraction in nine months, including electronics down 15 percent, food and beverages 14.5 percent, mechanical engineering 8.1 percent, and pharmaceuticals 7.4 percent.

Consumption index of manufacturing and processing sector slumped by 14.3 percent while that of metal production, and machinery and equipment up 11.6 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

The above figures showed that local enterprises are meeting difficulties in meeting delivery schedules due to supply chain disruption.

Apart from stepping up vaccination and gradually resuming production and trade activities, the city is offering support to firms, including preferential loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, reducing lending rates, and waiving individual and corporate income taxes.

The Finance Ministry forecast that due to the serious impacts of the pandemic, firms in several sectors still find it hard to recover, especially those working in tourism, aviation and transportation.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam wants to closely cooperate with Japan’s new Prime Minister and government to elevate the bilateral extensive strategic partnership to a new height, for the sake of the two countries’ people, and peace stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.

Spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang made the statement on October 4, while responding to reporters’ queries regarding Japan’s new PM Kishida Fumio.

“Vietnam congratulates H.E Kishida Fumio on his election as the 100th PM of Japan. We believe that under the leadership of PM Kishida Fumio, Japan will further prosper and the Japanese people will be happier,” she said.

Vietnam attaches importance to the friendship and cooperation with Japan, Hang affirmed.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Cham Brahman ethnic people in the south central province of Binh Thuan are celebrating their yearly Kate Festival from October 4-6.

To ensure COVID-19 prevention and control, especially amid complex developments of the pandemic in the province’s Phan Thiet city, this year’s celebration is not held at Po Sah Inu tower as usual.

The managing board of the tower and dignitaries in Ham Thuan Bac district on October 5 performed the most important ritual of the festival in a simple, solemn and safe manner, closely following COVID-19 preventive measures.

Followers were called on to celebrate the festival with their families, refrain from gathering in crowds and going outside in order to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Falling on the first day of the seventh month of the Cham calendar, Kate is the biggest event in the year of the Cham followers of Brahmanism to pay respect to gods and pray for productive harvests and multiple natural and human resources.

In 2017, the Kate Festival was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is one of the 15 biggest festivals in the country, attracting thousands of domestic and international visitors every year.

There are about 153,000 Cham people in Vietnam, of whom over 41,000 live in Binh Thuan, mainly in Bac Binh, Tuy Phong, Ham Thuan Bac and Tanh Linh districts.

Source: Vietnam News Agency