Day: October 13, 2021

The 15th National Assembly (NA)’s Standing Committee gave opinions on the national land use planning scheme for 2021-2030 with a vision to 2045 and a land use plan for 2021-2025 during its ongoing 4th session in Hanoi on October 13.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said the scheme aims to arrange land areas to meet the requirements of developing a synchronous infrastructure system; maintain 3.5 million ha of paddy plantation fields; ensure a stable rate of forest coverage at 42-43 percent; reclaim, restore and put unused land into use; and curb land degradation and restore degraded land areas.

According to the draft of the planning, by 2030, the area of land for growing rice will decrease by 348,770 ha, with the reduction concentrated in the Red River Delta and the Mekong River Delta. Meanwhile, many areas will be converted to non-agricultural land such as industrial parks.

The NA’s Economic Committee proposed reviewing and restricting the conversion of rice plantation land into potential rice-growing areas to non-agricultural land.

Speaking at the meeting, NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stressed the need to apply modern technology to the management and monitoring of land dataThe management and use of land is the focus of the NA’s supreme supervision in the practice of thrift and anti-waste, he noted, requesting that land data must be specific based on on-site surveys.

Concluding the land use discussion, NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai stated the planning must go first as a basis for sectoral, regional and provincial planning schemes.

It must be specific to implement but be comprehensive and visionary to create room for development, he said, adding that information review and exchange with ministries, sectors, and localities should be done to avoid conflict and overlapping between the national planning with sectoral and regional planning schemes.

It is necessary to connect the land use planning scheme and plan with land-based economic development for effective exploitation, as well as the prevention of related losses, waste, and vested interest in the future.

In the afternoon, the NA Standing Committee considered and made a decision on supplementing the estimate of revenue and expenditure regarding foreign aid capital in 2021 for the central province of Quang Nam.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and the city’s Committee for Religious Affairs on October 13 honoured 82 religious volunteers who have worked side by side with medical workers at local COVID-19 treatment hospitals.

Addressing the event, on behalf of hospitals and clinics where the volunteers worked, Doctor Le Anh Tuan, Vice Director of the hospital for intensive care for COVID-19 patients thanked the volunteers for their assistance, which he said has helped medical workers complete their medical tasks.

Tuan noted that thanks to the joint efforts of medical staff and the volunteers, so far, 2,500 out of 3,800 COVID-19 patients with severe conditions at the hospital have recovered and been discharged.

To date, over 2,800 medical workers and volunteers from many hospitals, localities and training facilities across the country, including 387 volunteers from different religious, have worked at the hospital, he said.

Phan Kieu Thanh Huong, Vice President of the HCM City VFF Committee underlined that the precious support by religious dignitaries and followers has contributed to reducing the COVID-19 death toll in the city, and increasing the number of recovered patients.

On the occasion, the committee presented certificates of merit and gifts to the volunteers, who will undertake quarantine in line of regulations before returning home.

Since July 22, 670 religious volunteers have been sent to various hospitals for COVID-19 treatment across the city.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam is gearing up to host the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games 31 next year.

An online meeting with the participating countries will take place on October 18 to know the number of athletes and members expected to attend the region’s biggest sporting event.

This will be the basis for the organising board to have detailed plans, especially with the task of preventing and combating the COVID-19 pandemic during the Games.

“Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese Government allowed postponement of the 31st SEA Games to 2022. However, at present, the pandemic is still very complicated in many provinces and cities across the country,” said Tran Duc Phan, deputy director of the National Sports Administration (NSA).

“This greatly affects our preparation process for the event.”

In order to ensure progress, health-related issues and pandemic prevention for the Games are very important. The NSA hopes to soon receive specific directions and guidance on appropriate pandemic prevention and control from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National Steering Committee on COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

Phan said from now until the scheduled start of the event, all staff will be fully vaccinated and be granted a certificate of disease prevention.

Luong Ngoc Khue, deputy head of the Steering Committee for Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Health (MoH), said the 31st SEA Games is an important international sporting event, bringing a large number of delegations from regional countries to Việt Nam.

This becomes a big challenge in pandemic control for the Health Subcommittee under the SEA Games 31’s Organising Board and the MoH.

Therefore, as soon as there is an official decision from the Government on the best time to organise the 31st Games, the ministry will immediately start directing specialised units to work out detailed and specific plans on pandemic prevention and control.

According to Khue, most of the sports are competitive competitions, with many involving direct contact, so the implementation of strict health rules is difficult to apply.

The committee needs to consider and refer to the COVID-19 prevention and control work carried out in other countries that have hosted sports events during the pandemic period for reference, such as Tokyo Olympics, Paralympics, football matches in World Cup qualifiers, to help the MoH develop appropriate plans.

He added that organisers can rely on the actual situation in Vietnam to consider a plan to hold sports competitions in the same place, limiting travel to other provinces.

In the future, the Health Subcommittee will issue a medical handbook with specific instructions including pandemic prevention, movement, and testing to delegations as well as the staff serving the Games.

The NSA will soon send an official dispatch to the Government, ministries, and agencies to set out regulations on vaccine passports to help subcommittees have specific directions which are suitable for the actual situation.

Vietnam is trying its system of facilities to prepare for the Games next year which includes 40 sports and 520 disciplines. Hanoi will be the main venue hosting the event alongside other localities such as Quang Ninh, Phu Tho and Bac Ninh.

Quang Ninh has a 5,000-seat multi-purpose gymnasium, an aquatic sports palace, a shooting range, an archery range, a stadium combined with an athletics field, a gymnasium for martial arts, and fencers, three beach volleyball courts, two beach sepak takraw courts, and two tennis courts.

The province is also upgrading its facilities to host seven sports including indoor volleyball, beach volleyball, beach handball, Chinese chess, international chess, triathlon, and women’s football.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong recently inspected the progress and quality of the works for the 31st Games at the Bac Ninh University of Sports, which will be the venue for the indoor handball competition.

He also checked progress being made at venues in Hanoi, including the National Training Sports Centre and My Dinh National Stadium.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The second sitting of the 15th National Assembly is scheduled to last for 17 days, starting October 20, heard the NA Standing Committee on October 13.

According to plans, legislators will meet from October 20 to November 1, and then from November 8 to 13, according to Bui Van Cuong, NA General Secretary and Chairman of the NA Office.

During the session, the NA will discuss reports on COVID-19 prevention and control, along with socio-economic and budget issues.

A draft resolution on the organisation of online trials will be submitted to the NA for consideration and approval. Meanwhile, a report on the implementation of the investment protection agreement between Vietnam and the EU will be withdrawn from the meeting’s programme as by the end of September the deal was yet to come into force.

The legislature is scheduled to vote to adopt two draft laws and five draft resolutions, and mull over five other bills.

Regarding the voting in the case the meeting would be held both online and in-person, the NA Office has coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security and other relevant agencies to complete the voting software system.

The NA Standing Committee basically agreed with the plan submitted by the NA General Secretary on holding the second sitting in both online and in-person formats, with an optional plan for online meeting in case the pandemic situation turns complicated.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stressed the need to ensure the best quality of the meeting even though the duration will be shortened, in order to make the soundest decisions for such a short period of time.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has been basically put under control, complex issues still remain, he said, noting that great efforts are needed to reap the highest socio-economic achievements in the fourth quarter of this year.

The legislature will accompany the nation in these efforts, he pledged.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An exhibition on seas, island and naval officers is being held in the northern city of Hai Phong from October 13-19, as part of activities marking the 60th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea.

Co-organised by the municipal Department of Culture and Sports and the Navy High Command’s Department of Navy Politics, the event showcases 180 photos, 35 documents and objects, two maps of Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea and Vietnam’s waters, and 10 statistical sheets on achievements made by the Vietnam People’s Navy.

Director of the municipal Department of Culture and Sports Tran Thi Hoang Mai said the exhibition offers an insight into the heroic tradition and achievements by the Vietnam People’s Navy in the fight for national liberation to which the strategic military transport route Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea made important contributions.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea was set up on October 23, 1961 to help with the transportation of weapons from the North to aid the southern liberation army.

During the resistance war against the US imperialists, the Ho Chi Minh Trail at Sea was considered a “true legend” and a miracle of the Vietnamese nation, contributing to the 1975 spring victory.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

FPT UK Managing Director Mohan Naidu has said Vietnam is quickly becoming a hub of technology expertise, and the digitally-enabled future for Vietnam is just beginning.

In his article published on the UK’s intelligentcio.com on October 12, Naidu said Vietnamese enterprise leaders are looking at all business and talent models to get what they need, especially where emerging technologies are concerned.

Vietnam thoroughly embraced this shift and emerged stronger in the pandemic economy by virtue of its ambition, vision and willingness to pivot quickly, he wrote.

The article said software outsourcing is set to explode in Vietnam as its standing grows as an IT development destination. In recent years, Vietnam’s IT industries have been moving up the value chain and offering more value-added work.

According to the author, FPT Software is investing in its intercontinental expansion, with Europe targeted as a first port for capital commitment in the value of 100 million USD. The software company established itself in the EU market and in the UK with its first global client more than 20 years ago. European growth was steady but its focus and trajectory took it into Japan and the US, where it now employs thousands of local and international experts and engineers, reaching revenues of hundreds of millions in USD annually.

The focus has now returned to the UK and Europe, where there is a high demand for digital transformation and innovation projects.

He said the challenge Vietnam faces is a need to grow the digital workforce by an additional 190,000 IT engineers by the end of 2021.

Vietnam tackled this digital fluency challenge head on. A foundation of the attractive talent market in Vietnam is its robust, digitally oriented education system. Currently, Vietnam has 236 universities, 149 of which are training IT professionals, delivering more than 50,000 IT engineers to the workforce annually. This lands Vietnam on the list of the top 10 nations in the world for the highest number of IT students.

The article stressed that as Vietnam continues to promote business reform and cultivate digitally fluent talent; it is poised as a rising star in the global services market.

Earlier, Vietnam ranked ninth in the top 10 digital nations by the US’s investment strategy consultant Tholons. In 2019, the world’s leading consulting agency AT Kearney listed Vietnam among the top five most attractive destinations for IT outsourcing while the US technological consulting and research agency Gartner considered Vietnam as the Tier 1 emerging offshore outsourcing location in the Asia-Pacific.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh on October 12 chaired an online meeting of the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control with six central localities on measures to respond to Storm Kompasu, the eighth entering the East Sea so far this year.

Representatives of localities that are forecast to be hit by the storm – Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien-Hue – said that they had made prompt preparations to brace for the storm, including alerting fishing vessels at sea and designing plans to respond to heavy rains and flooding in different scenarios.

Concluding the event, Deputy PM Thanh required localities to focus on giving drastic directions to minimise the storm’s impacts, thus preventing the double effects from COVID-19 and natural disasters.

Stressing the need for plans to evacuate locals in high risk areas to safer places while still ensuring pandemic prevention, he asked the localities to pay special attention to giving safe shelters and support to migrant workers on the way to their hometowns from southern localities.

Alongside, it is necessary to ensure safety of dams, dykes and reservoirs, while preparing forces and vehicles for rescuing activities.

The Deputy PM asked the National Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control to form working groups to inspect and direct activities to respond to the storm.

According to the National Centre for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, on October 12 morning, Storm Kompasu entered the East Sea. At 4pm the same day, it was about 530km east-northeast of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) islands, packing winds of 90-120km per hour.

In the next 24 hours, the storm is forecast to move westwards with speed of 20-25km per hour. It will enter the southern part of the Tonkin Gulf and land in the area from Thanh Hoa to Quang Binh before weakening to a tropical depression.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Hanoi Department of Transport has asked road passenger transport service providers to set forth specific operational plans and submit them to the department and bus stations for approval of the service resumption.

The department said on October 13 that it has issued a document on the implementation of the Transport Minister’s Decision No. 1777/QD-BGTVT piloting the resumption of inter-provincial road passenger transport activities from October 13 – 20, ensuring safe and flexible response to and effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The transport firms must provide details of routes, trips, drivers and service staff working on vehicles, and manage passengers by QR codes. Any passengers who have not observed regulations stipulated in the Decision are not allowed to use the services.

The companies are requested to send daily reports on their operation to the department before 1pm.

They will also coordinate with local authorities in managing returning passengers in line with regulations by the Ministry of Health and localities to prevent pandemic spread among the community. The list of the passengers should be kept for at least 21 days since the last day of their trips, and forwarded to bus stations before being sent to the department.

The department also assigned its inspection forces to intensify their inspections and handling of violations during the pilot period and report results to the transport management bureau before 1pm each day.

The director of the department will send relevant reports to the Directorate for Road of Vietnam before 3pm every day, and to the municipal People’s Committee and the transport ministry.

Source: Vietnam News Agency