Day: January 14, 2022

Two Japanese have been appointed as Honourary Consuls General of Vietnam in Nagoya and Mie cities who pledged to do their utmost to developing Vietnam and its ties with Japan.

During a ceremony held on January 14, Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam, on behalf of Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, handed over the appointment decisions to the two Japanese citizens.

Accordingly, Prof. Dr. Nagato Natsume is acting as Honorary Consul General of Vietnam in Nagoya for the second term. Moriyuki Taniguchi will hold the same position in Mie within the next three years.

Speaking at the event, Nam expressed his hope that the consuls general will help further expand the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan, and provide assistance for Vietnamese students in Japan and Japanese enterprises in the two cities to invest in Vietnam. He himself also vowed to offer the best support for the consuls general so that they can successfully fulfill their mission.

Natsume is Director of the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation. The 65-year-old doctor has worked tirelessly to support Vietnamese children with cleft palate to receive life-changing surgeries since 1990 and transfer technologies in this field to Vietnamese doctors. As Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Nagoya, he contributed to establishing Aichi-Vietnam Friendship Association in April 2018.

He plans to found a research institute in Vietnam that will focus on not only medical studies but also other fields this April.

73-year-old Taniguchi served as a member of Aichi council from 1983 – 1988. In 2011, he established the Japan-Vietnam association for friendship economic exchanges, acting as its president./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The recreation of two sets of whale skeleton in Ly Son island district off the coast of the central province of Quang Ngai basically completed after two months of the work, Secretary of the Ly Son Party Committee Nguyen Minh Tri has said.

The sets, previously damaged about 40 percent, dated back to about 250-300 years ago.

They measure 22m and 18m in length, with the first being believed to be among the largest in Vietnam so far.

The mammals are both nearly 4m high and have 50 vertebrae on their spine, along with 28 pairs of ribs. The skulls are 4m wide.

A project to restore the skeletons and build an exhibition area for conservation, cultural studies and tourism development was carried out with a budget of 14 billion VND (616,470 USD).

Ly Son island currently has seven whale temples which are home to dozens of skeleton each.

The temples, known as Lang Ong, are often seen in coastal fishing villages in Vietnam, reflecting an old fishermen’s belief in the whale’s power to guard their lives at sea.

Fishermen also express respect for the giant ocean mammals when they find them dead, and perform a respectful funeral./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ho Chi Minh City plans to review its investment in transport systems serving regional connectivity.

Under an approved planning, the city will be connected with other regional localities via five road systems. But so far, apart from National Highway 1 which has been invested, the HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay and Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressways that are underway, the remaining systems have yet to be invested.

According to the city Department of Transport, the assessment of the current situation and results of investment in the inter-regional transport system is significant in making preparations for the investment in major and urgent projects to promote regional connectivity, paving the way for socio-economic development of the city and the whole southern key economic region.

Director of the department Tran Quang Lam said that the department has advised the city People’s Committee to propose to the Prime Minister and Ministry of Transport on approving investment policies for key transport projects, including HCM City-Moc Bai, HCM City-Thu Dau Mot-Chon Thanh expressways as well as the ring roads No.3 and No.4.

It has also submitted to the city a middle-term capital plan as well as policies and plans to mobilise resources for the projects as well as the implementation of projects in the public-private partnership form, he said.

Vi Khanh Hung, Vice Director of the department, said that in 2022, the city aims to complete pre-feasibility reports on Ho Chi Minh City-Moc Bai expressway and the ring roads No.3 and 4, while speeding up underway projects.

At a conference to launch tasks of the city transport sector in 2022, Vice Chairman of the city People’s Committee Le Hoa Binh asked the sector to work harder to completed all targets that have been left behind due to COVID-19 in the past two years and give more advice on investment mechanisms and policies for key transport projects.

Currently, the municipal Department of Transport has submitted proposals on investment priorities for a number of major projects in line with the approved planning and forecast on travel demands in next periods, aming to settle bottlenecks in transport and boost the development of the southern key economic region./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency