Month: February 2022

The 31st Vietnam International Trade Fair (VIETNAM EXPO) will take place from April 13-16 in Hanoi, expecting to draw nearly 350 businesses.

According to the Vinexad, the organiser of the event, the exhibition will cover 3,200 sq.m, with areas for national brands and export products; equipment and support industries; digital technology, e-commerce; and food and beverage.

The event drew 21,500 visitors in 2019 and 10,250 in 2021.

A representative from the Vinexad, the organising board has received registration from foreign businesses from many countries, including the Republic of Korea, Belarus, Russia, Japan, the US, Cuba, Malaysia, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

This year, the Republic of Korea will be the honorary guest and Belarus will be a special guest of the exhibition.

First held in 1991, the annual VIETNAM EXPO has become a prestigious event for Vietnamese firms to introduce their products and seek partnership./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February grew 2.06 percent year-on-year and 1.16 percent compared to the previous month, announced the municipal Statistics Office.

In the first two months of 2021, the capital’s CPI expanded 2.39 percent against the same period last year.

Compared to the previous month, price hikes were seen in most groups of goods, particularly transport (up 2.17 percent); food and restaurant services (2.02 percent); culture-entertainment-tourism (1.78 percent); and housing, electricity, water, fuel and construction materials (1.12 percent).

The group of household equipment and appliances alone saw its price remain unchanged.

In February, the city experienced higher petrol and oil prices; higher demand for food during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday; and the reopening of cinemas and relic and religious sites after a long hiatus due to COVID-19./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi is determined to successfully host the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), which is not merely a sport event but a chance for regional countries to promote their culture and tourism, said Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Pham Anh Tuan.

Speaking at an international press conference in Hanoi on February 28, which was held in both in-person and online formats with the participation of representatives from the embassies of ASEAN countries in Hanoi as well as domestic and foreign reporters, Tuan said that the regional sporting event provides a good chance for any host country to show its responsibility to the international community and its hospitality and wish to make contributions to the ASEAN development.

According to the Organising Board, the SEA Games 31 will take place from May 12-23. This is the second time that Vietnam has hosted the event.

At the conference, representatives from the Information-Communications Sub-Committee announced the SEA Games 31’s logo, official song, the main press centre and press facilities at competition venues along with services for the press, as well as the official website and fanpage of the event.

Meanwhile, the Medical Sub-Committee highlighted regulations on medical and doping checks as well as COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

Vice Director of the Vietnam Administration of Sport Le Thi Hoang Yen told participants about the accommodation and means of transport for athletes. She said that a Torch Relay ceremony will be held 31 days before the opening day, departing from northern Phu Tho province, going through 12 provinces and ending in Hanoi.

Reporters hoping to cover the SEA Games 31 can register from March 15 through a link on the event’s official website.

The Organising Board said that it will give best support to the press in getting visa to enter Vietnam with no limitation in the number of reporters/.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Challenges facing women in climate-resilient livelihood restoration after the COVID-19 pandemic drew the attention of delegates to a policy dialogue jointly held by the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) and the UN Women in Hanoi on February 28.

VWU Vice President Nguyen Thi Minh Huong pointed out gender stereotypes about the role, capacity and contribution of women in natural disaster combat and climate change response, stressing women have the capacity to create resources for natural disaster adaptation and mitigation.

Therefore, women should be empowered to meet their own needs, helping themselves, their families and communities cope with extreme weather events caused by climate change, she continued.

Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam Ann Mawe briefed the delegates on Sweden’s “feminist foreign policy,” and emphasised the responsibility of policy makers for forming a resilient community.

Elisa Fernandez Saenz, Country Representative of UN Women in Vietnam, said climate, environment and natural disaster policies and programmes should put women and girls at the centre of decision-making.

She also called for gender mainstreaming in policies and programmes on mitigation of natural disasters, climate and environment.

The dialogue forms part of the project “EmPower: Strengthening Human Rights and Gender Equality through Climate Actions and Disaster Risk Reduction”, which is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Seven former officials of Khanh Hoa province have been prosecuted for violating land management regulations under Clause 3 of Article 229 in the 2015 Penal Code.

They consist of Nguyen Chien Thang and Le Duc Vinh, former chairmen of the provincial People’s Committee; Dao Cong Thien, former vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee; Le Mong Diep and Vo Tan Thai, former directors of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Le Van De, former director of the Department of Construction; and Tran Van Hung, former head of the land management division at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

From 2012 to 2015, the suspects, who were then leaders of the provincial People’s Committee and the departments, illegally handed over land, changed land use purposes, and granted land use right certificates in connection with the Cuu Long Son Tu ecological and spiritual tourism project and the Vinh Trung villa project in Nha Trang city, according to the indictment issued by the provincial People’s Procuracy.

Khanh Hoa police started a criminal case on the law violations related to those projects on June 8, 2021 and later started legal proceedings and detained the above-mentioned former officials to serve the probe./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

International sport delegations and reporters attending the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31) will not be quarantined even if COVID-19 cases are found, the organising committee’s healthcare and anti-doping sub-committee said at a press conference on February 28.

The committee said only those who are tested positive for COVID-19 will be quarantined and monitored. The committee has prepared plans to ensure the safety for sport delegations, and appropriate responses will be done if any F0 case is detected, it said.

All reporters and sport delegations will have to comply with pandemic prevention and control regulations, including those on testing before entering Vietnam.

Regarding accommodations for athletes, a representative of the organising committee said that sport delegations will stay in hotels of four stars upwards.

Information related to the pandemic will be updated and announced two weeks before the opening day of the event.

Meanwhile, specific guidelines on COVID-19 prevention and control will be published by the sub-committee as soon as possible on the event’s official websites: www.seagames2021.com or https:// seagames31.webthethao.vn/.

The committee is also committed to fully meeting the needs of domestic and international reporters during the sporting event.

According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Pham Anh Tuan, at least 15-17 sports are expected to be broadcast live. Vietnam Television (VTV) will try to meet additional live TV requests from other countries./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang will pour 207.7 billion VND (9.1 million USD) into upgrading its power system this year in order to ensure a sufficient and stable supply for people’s production and daily activities, according to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade.

Accordingly, the province will upgrade and develop 87.2km of medium-voltage and 357km of low-voltage lines, along with 88 substations with a total capacity of over 8,552kVA.

The provincial People’s Committee also urged investors to quickly deploy approved wind power projects as well as supported them in site clearance in order to put the projects into operation this year as planned.

The power industry is requested to promptly implement projects that were yet completed last year, including 323km of medium-voltage and 832km of low-voltage, and transformer stations having a combined capacity of 124,000 kVA, with a total investment capital of more than 504 billion VND.

Over the past few years, great efforts have been made by the province to increase the electricity coverage. Now all local households have access to the power grids. Tien Giang saved 74 million KWh of electricity last year, exceeding its set target by 5.5 percent./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The northern province of Quang Ninh is set to ramp up digital transformation in all fields this year, firstly in health care, education, industry, tourism, transport, and logistics.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Van Thanh requested this process be sped up in 2022 while speaking at a recent teleconference looking into the plan on comprehensive digital transformation in Quang Ninh by 2025, with a vision to 2030.

Focuses should be identified for digital transformation, he stressed, asking departments, sectors, and localities to make strong moves in this regard.

Thanh pointed out the need to increase communications to change the mindset and actions of the entire political system, as well as local people and businesses. Besides, it is also necessary to include digital transformation targets and tasks in the resolutions, strategies, action plans, targets, and tasks on socio-economic development of all-level administrations and sectors.

In its overall plan on digital transformation, Quang Ninh is set to perform several tasks and solutions to achieve the targets on developing a digital administration, digital economy, and digital society as directed by the Government, ministries, central agencies, and the provincial Party Committee’s Standing Board.

In particular, it will work to have all the newly issued administrative procedures available at Level 4 – the highest level for online public services, all state agencies providing open data and equipped with sufficient and quality infrastructure for digital transformation, at least 50 percent of the businesses in local industrial parks applying digital technologies into their operations, 100 percent of the local residents benefiting from electronic identification, and each family having a digital address.

The province is also striving to raise the digital economy’s proportion in its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) to at least 20 percent.

It looks to complete eight important databases by the end of 2023, namely the ones on land; cadres, civil servants, and public employees; health care; education; planning; tourism; public investment; and transport.

Meanwhile, 100 percent of the dossiers, papers, and results of the administrative procedure settlement at the provincial, district, and communal levels will be digitalised from 2024. At least half of state agencies’ monitoring and examination activities will be carried out on the digital environment and their information systems by 2025.

Quang Ninh ranked fourth among the 63 provinces and cities nationwide in the 2020 Digital Transformation Index rankings, released last October, following Da Nang city and the provinces of Thua Thien-Hue and Bac Ninh.

According to Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunications Nguyen Huy Dung, digital transformation saw a remarkable progress last year, with awareness of this issue among State agencies, businesses, and people significantly improving.

Digital transformation has become a trend in the wake of COVID-19, Dung said, adding it is a new engine driving the country’s socio-economic development and facilitating pandemic response and economic recovery.

Digital technology has found its way into every governmental, economic and social activity, he noted.

Chairman of the Vietnam Software Association Nguyen Van Khoa said the national digital transformation and the journey towards a digital economy and digital society still have a long way to go. Every people and every business is increasingly aware of how digital technology and is making profound changes in all areas, particularly in the delivery of public administrative and healthcare services.

The Prime Minister of Vietnam approved the national digital transformation programme by 2025, with a vision to 2030 in June 2020.

This programme targets that by 2025, the digital economy will make up 20 percent of Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) and at least 10 percent of each sector. Vietnam also hopes to become one of the 50 best performers in the ICT Development Index and the Global Competitiveness Index, and among the 35 leading countries in the Global Innovation Index by that year./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency