Day: February 18, 2022

Hanoi will install outdoor exercise equipment at 2,220 locations across the capital city, raising the total to 3,500 by 2025.

The equipment will be set up at highly-populated areas.

The move aims to improve local people’s physical health, stamina, stature and life quality.

Hanoi began to install outdoor physical equipment in the seven districts of Long Bien, Ba Dinh, Ha Dong, Tay Ho, Thanh Xuan, Cau Giay and Hai Ba Trung during 2014-2016.

The city had more than 1,280 outdoor fitness zones with about 10,500 devices as of the end of last year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An online conference was held in Hanoi on February 18 to assess the implementation of the education-training sector in the first semester of the 2021-2022 academic year.

Participants said that this year, the sector has faced numerous unprecedented difficulties due to COVID-19. About 9 million students have had to study online in many consecutive months, which has posed great impacts on their physical and mental health.

The Ministry of Education and Training has rolled out measures to adapt to the situation as part of efforts to complete all tasks for the year amid the pandemic with high quality.

Meanwhile, localities have shown their flexibility and activeness in education and training activities.

So far, 59 out of 63 cities and provinces have allowed primary students to return to school for in-person classes, while secondary and high school students in all 63 localities have resumed face-to-face learning.

Addressing the event, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do said lauded localities’ efforts in completing tasks for the first semester in a flexible, drastic, creative and adaptive manner.

The first and highest target in the second semester is to ensure safety for students while organising face-to-face learning at schools, he said, calling for schools’ efforts to run online classes only and avoid online learning for the entire school.

Regarding the implementation of the new general education programme in the difficult condition amid the pandemic, Do stressed the need to pay special attention to quality by carefully design teaching plans.

He asked localities to make preparations for the 2022-2023 school year from now to get schools ready for the application of the new general education programme for grades 3, 7 and 10.

He also requested localities to prepare equipment for schools and focus on improving the quality of teacher by enhancing training and re-training activities./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Five members of the U23 Vietnam team had suspected COVID-19 tests prior to its first match at the ongoing 2022 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Youth Championship, according to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

After a training on February 17, some members of the team showed signs of fever. All members then were undergone rapid COVID-19 testing. As a result, four players and a coach had suspected positive tests for coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. They were quarantined immediately.

Vietnam will play against Singapore on February 19 at the Prince Stadium in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Earlier, Indonesia and Myanmar withdrew from the 2022 AFF U23 Championship as many players tested positive for COVID-19./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A ceremony took place at the Lien Ha Thai industrial park in the northern province of Thai Binh’s Thai Thuy district on February 18 to begin the construction of three large-scale projects worth 240 million USD in total.

One of them is the 120-million-USD Lotes Thai Thuy Viet plant of the Taiwanese-invested LOTES Vietnam limited company. The facility produces electronic devices and machine components.

The second project is the Korean-invested Ohsung Vina limited company’s Ohsung Vina Thai Binh plant, which costs 40 million USD and makes electricity devices. The plant, spanning some 60,000 sq m of land, is expected to become operational in June this year and be fully completed in June 2024.

The third project is an 80-million-USD project on the construction and business of factories and offices for rent by the Nam Tai Group Pte. Ltd.

Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Khac Than said the simultaneous start of construction shows the investors’ trust in Thai Binh and their commitments to creating production values and jobs for the province, boosting the development of the local industry, service, and coastal economy.

He requested the district and related public agencies and sectors facilitate the investors in implementing their projects.

On the same day, Thai Binh’s Quynh Phu district also saw a ground-breaking ceremony of the TH Group’s clean food processing plant, which is valued at about 620 billion VND (27.16 million USD). The establishment is scheduled to become operational in early 2023./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) going into effect has given an extra push for Vietnamese goods into the Swedish market as import tariff cut heightens their competitiveness, Diep Van Ty, chairman of the Vietnamese trade association in Sweden, has said.

Food and foodstuff are the biggest earners from the trade deal since the tariffs were slashed to zero as soon as it took effect, said Ty, who is also Chairman of East Asian Food AB, a Sweden-based food importer. These are also the most popular Vietnamese exports to Sweden, he added.

Data from the Vietnamese Trade Office in Sweden showed Vietnam was among the three exporters of rice, besides the US and Norway, posting positive growth in the Northern European country, attributable to the benefits brought about by the EVFTA.

Ty pointed out several challenges facing Vietnamese goods in the Swedish market, notably high shipping costs caused by the long geographical distance between the two countries.

Many Swedish consumers have become familiar with food imported from Thailand and other countries, so it takes time to influence their taste and habit, he explained, adding that the supply of most of the imports from Vietnam can be disrupted by seasonal factors.

To fix the problems, the Vietnamese trade association plans to raise investment for the construction of a major logistics centre for Vietnamese products located at the city of Malmo, expected to facilitate the distribution of goods in Sweden and reduce costs.

The association is also considering to send a delegation to Vietnam this year to seek for quality and stable suppliers./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The United Nations has recently launched a joint project, themed “Working together for an inclusive future. Implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) through effective collaboration.”

Launched just before the World Day of Social Justice (February 20), the joint project brings together the expertise and experience of three agencies – UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP – in supporting national and provincial authorities and organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) to support multi-sectoral interventions in support of the fulfillment of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Vietnam.

It is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, who are longstanding donors of the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

The project aims to serve as a vehicle for multi-stakeholder dialogue and partnership to ensure results and impact towards a CRPD compliance environment in Vietnam, which is fundamental to ensure the materialisation of the principles of leaving no one behind and building back better a more inclusive society for all.

Addressing the launch, Vu Thi Kim Hoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Child Affairs under the Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said Vietnam still struggles to transform the provision of the CRPD into concrete policies, systems, and services.

“For this UN joint project, it is a great pleasure for us to be a key partner in capacity-building activities and work together on the essential ‘pre-conditions’ that are indispensable for addressing the needs and opportunities of people with disabilities in public policymaking and programming across all sectors”.

During the formulation of this joint project, UNDP has led the UNPRPD situation analysis in Vietnam which highlighted significant challenges related to the limited participation of OPDs in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of national programmes.

In the next two years, UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF as partner agencies, will therefore work towards building the capacity of organisations of persons with disabilities and policymakers on CRPD-compliant policy making and implementation; identifying and addressing gaps in the achievement of essential building blocks or preconditions to CRPD implementation in development and humanitarian programmes; and strengthening the disability-inclusive monitoring and accountability of Vietnam’s National Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2025 through the lenses of the CRPD framework.

“People with disability account for 7 percent of Vietnam’s population. We as UN agencies recognise persons with disabilities as key partners in our efforts toward sustainable development in Vietnam, not just as beneficiaries,” said UNDP Resident Representative Caitlin Wiesen.

“Persons with disabilities should not be only engaged in disability-focused policies, their rights and voices should be integrated into Vietnam’s programmes for implementing the National Socio-Economic Development Strategy. As the coordinator of the joint UN project, UNDP will work closely with all partners to empower people with disability to enable their full participation in the law-making process from the planning stages. Together we will act to leverage a multi-sectoral approach that addresses fundamental issues needed to drive systemic and effective changes towards disability inclusion.”

For her part, UNFPA Representative in Vietnam Naomi Kitahara said she believes in the power of people with disabilities, as a solution for societal change, as a solution for policy agenda, as a solution to lead Vietnam to achieve SDGs, and as a solution to protect and promote the rights of persons with disabilities.

“We are confident that this project will advance our work further, by building capacity to transform Vietnam’s commitment to the UN Convention into a reality through inclusive policies, systems and services that benefit all men, women and children with disabilities,” said UNICEF Deputy Representative in Vietnam Lesley Miller.

The project is implemented in a favourable legal environment where Vietnam’s government is strongly committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can fully participate in society and equally enjoy their fundamental rights.

The Government has enacted the Law on Persons with Disabilities since 2010 and is going to revise it in upcoming years. Vietnam also ratified the CRPD in 2015, and various master plans and policies have been issued to guide the CRPD and the Law implementation./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The newspaper “Pravda” (Truth) of the Russian Federation Communist Party has spotlighted the publication of a book by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, which collects 29 articles and speeches of the Vietnamese Party chief in the 2019-2021 period.

In an article published on February 16, the newspaper said the book “Several theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path toward socialism in Vietnam”, has dealt with one of the most common and contentious issues, regarding what is socialism, why Vietnam has chosen the path of socialism, and what the country should do to build socialism.

The article noted that the CPV’s leader stated that Vietnam targets a society for the people, which does not exploit people and infringe on dignity for profit.

It said the development of socialism in Vietnam at present is characterised by a market-oriented Doi Moi direction, international integration and multilateral diplomacy. The market economy in Vietnam operates according to market rules but under the leadership of a socialist law-governed State. Now in a transitional period, the Vietnamese economy is not a capitalist market economy and also not a complete socialist market economy.

According to the article, the Vietnamese Party leader believes that free-market capitalism cannot solve all problems and in many cases it can seriously harm poor countries, and aggravates the contradiction between the proletariat and bourgeoisie across the world. The current freedom and democracy have not been able to guarantee that real power belongs to the people and works for their interests.

The article said the book highlighted the tasks of the CPV and people of Vietnam on the path of socialism building, focusing on speeding up knowledge economy-based industrialisation and modernisation, developing the socialist-oriented market economy, promoting cultural and human development, improving living standards, ensuring social progress and justice, and protecting national defence-security.

It described the book as vivid proof of the serious work that the CPV is constantly conducting to define goals and tasks for Vietnamese communists and the entire nation on the path to socialism./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien had a meeting with visiting Executive Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Frans Timmermans in Hanoi on February 18, during which the two sides sought cooperation orientations in the future, especially in energy and power transformation.

Dien hailed the visit by the EC official in the context that Vietnam and the EU are actively building and implementing specific action plans to realise the outcomes of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

The minister asked for support from the EU, the leading partners with strong commitments and actions in climate change mitigation and green transformation, in the transformation of the growth model towards a green, circular and sustainable economy.

Both sides discussed many issues of shared concern such as the policy to adapt to climate change, plans to realise commitments at the COP26 and power transformation plans ad well as the orientation for the development of circular economy.

Minister Dien said that Vietnam’s commitments at the COP26 show the country’s determination to persistently complete the target of switching from traditional fossil energy sources to green energy resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with its own strength together with cooperation and support from the international community in both financial resources and technology.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade will prioritise the support to clean and renewable energy projects and is willing to coordinate with partners and donors from the EU in the field, he stated. Sustainable development cooperation between the two sides has been implemented positively and efficiently over the years through the institutions within the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), he noted, adding that it is Vietnam’s first deal with contents related to sustainable development, which shows the country’s great attention to the balance between trade and environmental protection.

Thanks to the EVFTA, Vietnam has favourable conditions to access modern technologies from the EU and draw more projects to speed up the growth of green and digital economy as well as renewable energy, thus helping Vietnamese products meet technical and environmental requirements in the EU market, he said.

At the meeting, both sides expressed delight at the Vietnam-EU cooperation in economy, trade and energy, and agreed to strengthen their partnership in the future.

The Vietnamese side proposed that the EU continue to support and give priority to technical and financial support and the transfer of technology to Vietnam, including sustainable energy transformation programme and the Vietnam Energy Partnership Group (VEPG).

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, last year, trade between Vietnam and the EU reached 57 billion USD in 2021, up 14.5 percent year on year, with Vietnam’s export revenue rising 14.2 percent to 40.1 billion USD.

The Import-Export Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that in the first year of implementing the EVFTA, the export revenue of products using the EUR.1 certificate of origin (C/O) reached about 7.71 billion USD./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency