Day: October 17, 2021

Phu Quoc island in the southern province of Kien Giang is making it new to welcome tourists and investors as it plans to reopen its door to international tourists from this November.

To welcome international tourists using the “vaccine passport”, airlines and Phu Quoc airport said they had completed the preparations.

According to Huynh Quang Hung, Chairman of Phu Quoc city People’s Committee, the pilot plan to welcome visitors is divided into two phases. Currently, big names like Vingroup and Sun Group which own large resorts and entertainment complexes are aiming to welcome visitors in the first stage.

A representative of Sun Group said that during the social distancing period, the group still maintained and renewed facilities of its resorts and hotels, and developed unique products and services in order to achieve more tourists once Phu Quoc reopens its door.

Sun Group is also making love-themed interactive murals on buildings, inspired by classical European art and Vietnamese folk art.

In addition, a current “hot” investment destination like Phu Quoc also takes advantage of the social distancing period to make changes to attract investors.

Director of the provincial Tourism Department Bui Quoc Thai said the reception to tourists from the airport and hotels will be rehearsed from November 1-11 before the island city is officially open.

During the pilot period, the scheme is only applied for those involved in full-package tours organised by travel agents, and not for those with other purposes. Foreign tourists joining in the scheme will make immigration procedures via charter or commercial flights.

The province has chosen seven enterprises in Phu Quoc, 14 four to five-star hotels with 8,000 rooms to serve foreigners. All of their staff have been given two full vaccine shots.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi is now at Level 1 in COVID-19 prevention and control, which means Hanoi is a “green zone” with the low pandemic risk and in the “new normal” status, according to the municipal Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

In the city, over the past two weeks, only four cases have been detected in the community, including one in Hang Trong ward of Hoan Kiem district and three in La Khe ward of Ha Dong district.

To date, up to 98 percent of the local residents aged 18 and above have been given at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

In general, all 579 wards and communes, and 30 districts are assessed to have the low pandemic risk.

The capital city also has stopped examining people and vehicles entering or exiting the city when they pass pandemic checkpoints.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Can Tho City and six provinces in the Mekong Delta region will take part in an online meeting on October 19 to enhance cooperation in pandemic prevention and control and economic recovery.

The meeting will be hosted by the municipal People’s Committee and its Department of Planning and Investment.

The event will focus on cooperation in the key fields of health, agriculture, trade and services, information and communications, transport, and jobs and labour in Can Tho City and An Giang, Kien Giang, Hau Giang, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau provinces.

The localities will discuss support for treatment for COVID-19 patients, sharing of vaccines and medical essentials, and dissemination of guides on health treatment at clinics and hospitals in seven provinces and city.

They will also discuss promoting connections between manufacturers and suppliers and traders and trade promotion agencies. In addition, they will try to find ways to sell their specialties and agricultural products on online trading platforms.

Can Tho City and the six provinces aim to establish an economic entity, or a commodity market, to promote online trade and tourism.

They will create a priority lane for transport of medical equipment, essential goods and forces serving pandemic prevention and control, along with agricultural and aquaculture products and construction materials.

Passenger and goods transport, as well as logistics, in the region will also be enhanced.

The seven localities cover more than 24,100 square kilometres with a total population of 9.2 million.

According to the Ministry of Health, since the fourth wave, the Delta region has recorded more than 23,300 COVID-19 cases and 325 deaths.

The localities have controlled the outbreak and are returning to a new normal.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A get-together and exhibition on Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Vietnam has been held in Brussels, Belgium, by the Belgium – Vietnam Association (ABV).

The October 15 event was attended by Tran To Nga, a Vietnamese French woman and an AO victim, who lodged a lawsuit against US firms that had manufactured the toxic AO defoliant used by the US military during the war in Vietnam.

A documentary featuring the life of Vietnamese in intoxicated areas was screened at the event.

At the event, Nga introduced her book written in French entitled Ma terre empoisonnée (My Poisoned Land).

The ABV has worked to help ease difficulties of AO/dioxin victims and continue to support Nga, said its President Pierre Grega.

The association has also presented scholarships to Vietnamese children who suffer from AO-related illnesses.

The VAVA and a number of Vietnamese Agent Orange/Dioxin victims filed a lawsuit to the US Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York against 37 US chemical companies that had produced and supplied chemicals to the US military for its use in the war in Vietnam, demanding for justice. However, it was refused by the court.

Following the lawsuit, in 2015, Nga lodged a lawsuit against 26 US firms that had manufactured the toxic AO defoliant used by the US military during the war in Vietnam.

The Crown Court of Evry then rejected the lawsuit due to lack of authority to handle a case related to actions of the US Government during the war. However, Nga affirmed that she will continue to pursue the lawsuit.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) on October 17 handed over remains of US servicemen missing in action during the war in Vietnam to the US.

The handover ceremony was held at Da Nang airport in central Da Nang city, with the participation of representatives from the US MIA Office in Hanoi.

The four sets of remains were found by joint search teams during the 138th and 143rd Joint Field Activities from April 2020 to July 2021.

The remains had been jointly examined by Vietnamese and US forensic specialists in Hanoi. The specialists concluded that they might be associated with US servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam and recommended bringing them to Hawaii, the US, for further verification.

The search for remains of US servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam is a humanitarian activity between the Vietnamese and US Governments. This is the 156th handover of remains of US missing servicemen since 1973.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

More than 111,000 employees in Ho Chi Minh City have benefited from the Government’s new support package sourced from the unemployment insurance fund, according to the city’s Social Insurance Agency.

Specifically, from October 1-15, the agency supported 4,512 units and 111,127 employees, with a total amount of 235 billion VND (10.3 million USD).

In addition, over 81.860 units with over 1.76 million employees in the city have their premiums reduced from 1 percent of their wage funds to zero percent, with a total amount of 1.9 trillion VND.

On October 1, the Government issued Decision No. 28/QD-TTg providing regulations on the implementation of support policies for employees and employers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, using the unemployment insurance fund.

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.

Accordingly, different levels of allowances from 1.8 million VND to 3.3 million VND will be given to each labourer depending on the time they has paid unemployment premiums.

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.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hanoi on October 16 received over 85.3 billion VND (3.7 million USD) in cash and kind donated by agencies and enterprises to support the capital city’s COVID-19 fight.

The Hanoi Health sector presented 1.314 billion VND to buy vaccines, while the Truong Hai Automobile Joint Stock Company (THACO) donated 300,000 test kits, 30 ambulances and supported 30 mobile vaccination vehicles worth 84 billion VND.

Addressing the event, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hanoi Nguyen Lan Huong highly appreciated the help of agencies and businesses in the city’s pandemic prevention and control. The city has completed two major campaigns of mass testing, and vaccinations against COVID-19 for the city’s population.

She said she believes that with the solidarity of the people, the capital and the whole country will soon repel the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the life to the new normal.

Also at the event, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hanoi transferred 300,000 COVID-19 test kits, 30 ambulances and 30 mobile vaccination vehicles to the city’s Department of Health.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Innovation Network in Europe (VINEU) was launched at a ceremony held at the Embassy of Vietnam in Germany and via videoconference on October 16.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Dr Nguyen Manh Hai, Counsellor in charge of investment at the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany, underlined that the establishment of VINEU will offer a platform to intellectuals and scientists in Europe to share knowledge and experience in science and technology, thereby contributing to innovation and socio-economic development in Vietnam.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Huy Dong said the establishment of the VINEU is hoped to enhance access to technology and innovation in European nations via Vietnamese experts, as well as expand opportunities in cooperation, investment and trade for Vietnam’s innovation activities, notably in the fields of artificial intelligence, big data and health care.

Director of the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC) Vu Quoc Huy said the NIC, with a network of nearly 1,000 experts and intellectuals across the globe, will continue to support activities of the VINEU and its affiliates to foster Vietnam’s innovation work in the coming time.

Representatives of some businesses and organisations of Vietnam and Europe also shared innovation activities, research studies and products at a seminar held on the sidelines of the launch event.

Source: Vietnam News Agency