Month: October 2021

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on October 31 attended the announcement ceremony of a direct Vietnam – UK air route by the Bamboo Airways held in Edinburg city, the UK.

The budget carrier is planning to bring regular direct flights linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to London into commercial operation from the end of this year after approvals by the two governments. The initial frequency will be six flights per week, and to daily flights from 2022.

Implemented, the flights will help shorten the travel time to 12-13 hours, or 7 hours shorter than the transit ones.

The route is also opening up chances to increase flights between Vietnam and other top destinations in the world. It is expected to help boosting the relations of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The first batch of wax coconuts from the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh worth 70,000 AUD (52,620 USD) exported to Australia has sold out after a short time of marketing, according to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia.

This is the first time fresh wax coconuts have been exported by air to the country, it noted, adding that this shipment is the result of the work of Hoa Uu Dam Trading and Service Co., Ltd, and the trade office in a programme to develop trademarks and improve the value of Vietnamese agricultural products in Australia.

Previously, only a small amount of Tra Vinh waxy coconuts, mainly frozen ones, were exported to Australia, the trade office said.

Tra Vinh fresh waxed coconut is sold at a price tag of 30 to 35 AUD (about 22-26 USD) per coconut.

The trade office has conducted advertising campaigns on social networks, and also published publications to introduce this product and other Vietnamese fruits, with the aim of further promote the export of Tra Vinh waxed coconut in Australia.

Like durian, wax coconut met difficulties to make inroads into Australia before. The trade office is coordinating with Vietnamese enterprises to build Vietnamese fresh coconut brands in the market.

Red Dragon Co., Ltd has cooperated with the Australian importer 4waysfresh to export fresh coconuts from Vietnam to South Australia and Western Australia states in the coming time.

Meanwhile, the Mekong Import and Export Fresh Fruit Co.,Ltd is also urgently negotiating to ship two containers of Ben Tre fresh coconuts to Melbourne and Sydney, the office said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Forty-two out of 106 wind power plans registering for commercial operation received Commercial Operation Date (COD) acceptance as of October 29, according to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

According to the EVN, the 42 plans have total capacity of over 2,131 MW.

It said that the 106 wind power plants have a total capacity of 5,621.50 MW.

EVN units are accelerating paper processing work on granting COD to the remaining plants.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The dossiers for Cheo (Vietnamese traditional opera) art of the Red River Delta and Binh Dinh Traditional Martial Arts will be compiled to seek UNESCO recognition as cultural heritage of the world.

According to a document issued by the Government Office on October 20, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam agreed to let the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism take charge of the work and coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to compile the dossiers for the two Vietnamese heritages.

Cheo is a form of Vietnamese traditional stage art, which strongly develops in the north, especially the Red River delta. It originated in the 10th century from folk music and dance and is popular in areas in the north. When farmers in the Red River Delta had finished harvesting, they organised a festival to entertain themselves and thank the gods who supported them.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tofu made in Mo Village, presently known as Mai Dong village in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District, has been well-known as the most delicious tofu in Hanoi, giving rise to the moniker, “Mo Village’s Tofu”.

Even local villagers cannot remember when the craft of making tofu began in the village .

Mo Village’s Tofu has white colour, a special creamy taste and sweet flavour, which is a popular dish in the daily meals of Hanoians.

Making tofu is a sophisticated process. The soybeans chosen to made tofu must have high quality. The soybeans are soaked in water for 12 hours before being ground with water. The soybean milk is then filtered, and cooked before being mixed with sour water to become soy curd, which will then be pressed into moulds to produce tofu.

Tofu can be fried or boiled, then served hot with fermented shrimp paste, fish sauce mixed with onion or simple spices mixed with lime juice – a perfect dish for summer.

However, fried tofu is the most popular. After being fried in boiled oil, the tofu gets a crispy and greasy coating, which tastes well with rice or rice vermicelli. Fermented shrimp paste with fried tofu and rice vermicelli has become widely popular and is reasonably priced too.

Served at both high-end restaurants and street stalls, tofu is a affordable dish for people from all classes in the society. The dish is also among things that Hanoians miss the most when they are far away from the city.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Organisations of Vietnamese women have developed strongly among the overseas Vietnamese community, helping connect Vietnamese people and promote their mutual support with practical activities.

Formed in 2014, the Vietnamese Women’s Union in Malaysia has become a common house for Vietnamese women in the country.

Founder and President of the Union Tran Thi Chang, a doctor at the National Heart Institute of Malaysia, and members of the union have organised various activities to gather compatriots, especially women, to support each other in hard time.

Members of the union are working to launch a Vietnamese language course for Vietnamese children and Vietnamese brides in Kuala Lumpur, while giving free medical consultations to the Vietnamese community in the country.

Amid the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic that lasted over the past two years, the union has accompanied Vietnamese people, especially workers meeting difficulties in the country. Chang and other members of the union have raised funds to buy thousands of gifts to deliver to Vietnamese communities in different localities of Malaysia.

Recently, the union has assisted them in getting COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Meanwhile in the Republic of Korea (RoK), which is hosting the largest number of Vietnamese brides in the world, many Vietnamese women have worked hard to settle down and integrate into the host society.

President of the Vietnamese Women’s Union in the RoK Mai Thi Hong Ngoc said that the union has done many things to assist the women in successfully integrating into the RoK society.

Besides, members of the union have organised cultural programmes to raise funds to assist disadvantaged people in the motherland, such as victims of flood and natural disasters or poor patients suffering from fatal diseases.

In Australia, the Association of Vietnamese Mothers led by Nguyen Bao Chau, a Vietnamese living in Melbourne, has become a corner for Vietnamese women to meet, exchange and support each other in all fields, especially in raising children in the country. The association has drawn the participation of over 12,000 members.

Since the pandemic broke out in the country, the association has given great help to single mothers and mothers who lost their jobs. Members of the association are also working hard to raise funds to support the frontline force in COVID-19 fight and pandemic-hit people in the home country.

Currently, the association’s activities have been expanded to all states across Australia.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Association in Japan’s Miyazaki prefecture has just been awarded the Miyanichi Prize for international exchange by the Miyanichi Newspaper, for its great contributions to promoting the friendship between the Japanese locality and Vietnam.

According to the Miyanichi Newspaper, the Vietnamese Association in Miyazaki has organized and participated in many cultural activities, and it also serves as a bridge to promote friendly relationship between Miyazaki prefecture and Vietnam.

The association has supported Vietnamese expats living, studying and working in Miyazaki, through holding exchanges, giving help in translation and interpretation, and popularizing information about COVID-19 prevention and disaster warning.

In particular, in the landslide caused by the typhoon No.10 in 2020 in Shiiba village, the association launched a campaign to raise funds for supporting the families of two Vietnamese trainees killed in this disaster, collecting over 1.6 billion VND (over 69,000 USD).

Miyanichi is an annual prize awarded by the Miyanichi Newspaper to organizations and individuals that have outstanding contributions to Miyazaki prefecture in the fields of economy, science, culture and society, education and international exchange.

In 2021, the Miyanichi Newspaper presented nine awards to two individuals and seven organisations. The Vietnamese Association in Miyazaki was the only foreign organization receiving this award this year.

The Vietnamese Association in Miyazaki officially made its debut on October 16, 2021. However, the board for campaigning and preparing for the formation of the association was set up at the end of 2019. The board organized many activities such as translating the life guide of Miyazaki prefecture’s authority into Vietnamese, holding football tournaments, raising funds to support disadvantaged Vietnamese people, providing medical advices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and organising Japanese and Vietnamese language classes.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The European Commission (EC) continued to recognise Vietnam’s efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, according to Deputy General Director of the Directorate of Fisheries (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Nguyen Quang Hung.

Hung said at the recent online meeting between the directorate and the EC, the EC appreciated the changes in terms of legal matters, one of the four groups of recommendations made by the EC to Vietnam to solve IUU fishing. The EC basically approved the revisions Vietnam has made to the legal framework.

It is noteworthy that the EC said Vietnam had done fairly well regarding seafood origin control, with very small volume of aquatic products returned from the EU markets compared to previous years, according to Hung.

However, the monitoring of fishing vessels has faced many difficulties in the recent past due to the resurgence of COVID-19, and the number of operating vessels also reduced.

As for law enforcement, localities have been active in popularizing laws and regulations on IUU fishing among fishermen, and tightening punishments on violations, with the aim of ending fishing vessels’ violation of foreign waters as soon as possible.

Hung noted that the EC pointed to limitations and slow improvement in some localities, one of which is the operation of the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), with a number of vessels over 24m long not keeping their VMS devices connected.

The EC also required Vietnam to extend management of seafood from the current 49 designated fishing ports to 66 other fishing ports for 15m fishing boats, in order to ensure that all seafood catches are legal.

Another problem is the limited punishment of violations of foreign waters, Hung said, adding that the EC requested intensifying the investigation of such violations for due punishment.

On the implementation of the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (PSMA), there are many things Vietnam needs to improve, as it is not long since the country acceded to the agreement.

The official said if the pandemic situation allows, the EC plans to conduct direct inspections at seaports and localities in Vietnam in the first quarter next year.

Source: Vietnam News Agency