Day: November 19, 2021

After a hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the central city of Da Nang has opened its door to international tourists under a three-phase pilot road map.

In the first phase from this November, Da Nang, a large travel hub in the central region, is welcoming foreign visitors through package tours, charter flights, and international commercial flights to the designated areas and tourism service establishments in Phu Quoc city (Kien Giang province), Da Nang, and the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, and Quang Ninh.

In the second phase from January 2022, the city will expand the group of international tourists it is reopened to. They can also take part in tours of destinations in the five abovementioned localities.

It will completely reopen to international tourists in the third phase, whose beginning will depend on the pandemic situation and outcomes of the first two phases.

The municipal Department of Tourism said the reopening to international travellers aims to gradually recover the tourism industry and related sectors, helping guarantee social security and popularise Da Nang as a safe and attractive destination.

Foreign visitors to the city between November 2021 and February 2022 will be mainly overseas Vietnamese and from several key markets like the Republic of Korea and Japan, according to the department.

On November 17, a Vietnam Airlines flight from the Republic of Korea landed at Da Nang International Airport, carrying the first international visitors to Vietnam after a long period of pandemic-triggered suspension. After landing, they moved to Hoi An city of neighbouring Quang Nam province to spend their registered holiday there.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee will convene its fifth session in Hanoi on November 22-23, according to the office of the NA.

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue will deliver the opening speech, with NA vice chairmen taking turns to chair meetings during the session.

The committee is set to consider and comment on a draft Resolution clarifying some articles of the Penal Code and give opinions on the Government’s proposal on adding two draft laws to the Law and Ordinance Building Programme 2022: the law amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on Radio Frequencies, and the revised Law on Medical Examination and Treatment.

Legislators will also scrutinise the signing of an agreement on social security between the Governments of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea.

Their discussions will cover a report on the management and use of the social security fund for the 2019-21 and decide on spending on the fund management for the 2023-24 period. The lawmakers will debate another report on the supervision of legal documents under the auspices of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and other committees of the NA.

The committee is set to consider a report on voters’ petition work in October of the NA, review the second session and comment on the preparation for the thematic meeting slated for December and the third session of the 15th NA.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will pay an official visit to Japan from November 22-25, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The visit will be made at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, said the ministry.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A conference was held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on November 18 to raise local young people’s awareness of the importance of a database for environmental protection and climate change response.

It was part of a project to build a communication programme to heighten awareness of the sustainable and climate-resilient development of the Mekong Delta in alignment with the Government’s Resolution 120/NQ-CP dated on November 17, 2017.

During the event, experts and researchers discussed the urgent need to develop a database for responding to climate change in the region and the role of data analysis and data science.

Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Can Tho city Lam Van Tan spoke highly of the Mekong Delta’s biodiversity, agricultural development and fishery richness. However, climate change is imposing adverse impacts on the region with saline intrusion, natural disasters and diseases taking toll on agriculture and husbandry, he said.

He emphasised the necessity to provide young people with knowledge and data on climate change so they would take right actions to effectively protect the environment.

Dr. Huynh Minh Hoang, from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources’ Department of Information Technology and Natural Resource and Environment Data, said the current data about climate change adaption and natural resources in the Mekong Delta has been lacking coherence, not shared widely and remained out of date. There is also a lack of inter-sectoral data linkages, he added.

It is vital to create a database and information infrastructure for the Mekong Delta with a multi-sectoral approach and long-term vision, Hoang said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The number of Vietnamese workers entering the Republic of Korea (RoK) is expected to rise, reaching 183 at the end of this month, according to the Management Board of Vietnamese Laborers in RoK.

The number of Vietnamese guest workers has increased after the RoK lifted the restriction on the number of the weekly and daily entries in order to adapt to the “living with COVID-19” plan that the government is implementing.

Under the plan, foreign workers from all sending countries will be allowed to enter the RoK if they are confirmed to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and hold RT-PCR test results negative to COVID-19.

According to Ta Thi Thanh Thuy, head of the Management Board of Vietnamese Labourers in the RoK, workers entering the RoK only have to be quarantined for 10 days instead of 14 days. Unvaccinated workers will be arranged for COVID-19 vaccination soon after completing isolation.

New regulations help reduce costs and create favourable conditions for both employees and employers in the context of Korean small and medium enterprises facing labour shortage due to restriction measures imposed by the government to combat the spread of coronavirus, Thuy told the Vietnam News Agency.

Hyun Hey Yong, director of the JI Korea Auto Parts Company, said her company started hiring Vietnamese workers in 2015. Some workers have returned home and recruited again because they worked very well, she said, adding that it currently employs five Vietnamese workers.

A representative of Haesung Metal Co. Ltd said it is waiting to receive more guest workers. Due to the pandemic, foreign workers are restricted from entering RoK, making it difficult for small businesses, he said.

The representative appreciated Vietnamese labourers for their hard-working and compliance with pandemic prevention and control regulations.

Restrictions on entry as well as those relating to quarantine rules have caused the number of foreign workers entering the RoK to drop sharply from an average of 50,000 people per year before the pandemic to less than 7,000 people last year.

The RoK is one of the key labour markets of Vietnam. To offer better support for Vietnamese labourers, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs decided to establish an office under the RoK’s Employment Permit System (EPS) programme in 2013.

Pham Minh Duc, head of the office, said in collaboration with Vietnam’s labour management board in the RoK, it has met with and provided direct consultations for thousands of labourers on weekends. The office has also offered between 100 and 150 consultations over the phone per week.

According to Duc, these activities have made an important contribution to supporting Vietnamese workers, thus reducing the rate of illegal labourers in the RoK from 40 percent in 2013 to less than 26 percent in 2020.

He suggested speeding up procedures to send qualified workers to the RoK soon.

Priority should be given to the vaccination of workers so that Vietnamese workers can enjoy preferential treatment when entering the country, Duc said, adding that the Korean language exams should be quickly completed at the same time to facilitate labourers’ entry in the future.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics on November 19 held a commemoration and a requiem for the people dying of COVID-19.

The event, held at Nhan Hoa Church in Tan Phu district, also saw the presence of President of the municipal Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Committee To Thi Bich Chau and other officials of HCM City.

Chairing the ceremony, Priest Vu Dinh Thai, head of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics in Tan Phu district, said the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on property, claimed lives, and affected the mental and physical health of many people.

In their daily rituals, Catholics always say prayers for those who have died of COVID-19, regardless of their religions. Many parishes across the city have also organised requiems for the deceased, prayed for good health and comforted the bereaved families.

The commemoration and requiem is also an occasion for people to pay tribute to frontliners who have devoted themselves, even their lives, to saving people in the pandemic, Thai noted.

In response to a ceremony held by the Central VFF Committee and the HCM City Party Committee in commemoration of the people and frontliners who lost their lives in the COVID-19 pandemic, all churches and chapels in the Archdiocese of HCM City will ring their bells in five minutes, at 8:30pm on November 19, to say prayers for the deceased’s souls.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A group of journalists of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s representative office in the central city of Da Nang was honoured at a awarding ceremony of the 18th Da Nang Press Awards 2020 on November 19.

In the television category, reporters from the VNA’s television channel VNews in Da Nang won the first prize with the work “Tu tam diem Da Nang”. Meanwhile, journalist Trinh Quoc Dung secured the second prize in the electronic newspaper category with the series “Da Nang lay da phuc hoi phat trien kinh te”, and journalist Tran Le Lam took the third prize in the press photo category.

The organising board awarded six first prizes, six second prizes, eight third prizes and six consolation prizes to the winners at the event.

Nguyen Duc Nam, Editor-in-Chief of Da Nang Newspaper, Chairman of the Da Nang Journalists’ Association, and deputy head of the organization board of the Awards said that, after more than a year of launching, the association received 144 works from 24 central and local press agencies.

The winning works have good social impacts, contributing to guiding public opinion and social criticism, he said.

Addressing the event, Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Ngo Thi Kim Yen highly valued the operation of reporters and editors of central and local press agencies, saying that press works have effectively contributed to improving the cultural and spiritual life, building morality and lifestyle for local people.

Press works have honestly and fully reflected all aspects of life, contributing to improving the people’s confidence in the leadership of the Party, and authorities, she added.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 19 met with 16 children who participated in a contest to draw pictures and compose literature works on the theme ‘Vi mot Viet Nam tat thang’ (For a victorious Vietnam).

The contest, launched last August, was designed for children who were and are fighting against cancer and fatal diseases, Agent Orange/dioxin victims, those with disabilities and autism, and orphans.

Some 250 outstanding works out of 2,300 entries are on display at an exhibition.

At the meeting, President Phuc listened to each story of the young participants, stating that the exhibition helps people better understand and protect children’s rights as well as continue to effectively carry out the Law on Children.

The President called on relevant agencies and the whole society to raise responsibility for supporting vulnerable children.

He asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to devise more programmes fostering children’s talent, the foreign affairs sector to promote their spirit to international friends, and the health sector to pay special heed to the children.

Source: Vietnam News Agency