Day: August 18, 2022

The following is a list of selected news summaries last night by the Vietnam News Agency.

– Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has called for work to be accelerated to perfect the Party and political systems, socio-economic management, and the fight against corruption and negative behaviours. Chairing the 22nd meeting of the central steering committee for corruption and behaviour prevention and control in Hanoi on August 17, Trong also requested the submission of regulations regarding power control to the Politburo for approval towards fighting corruption in inspection, supervision, Party discipline enforcement, audit, investigation, prosecution, trial and enforcement of judgments, law-building, use and management of public finances and assets, and press and media activities. Read full story

– President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said that Vietnam wants to cooperate with Israel in fields of its strength such as innovation, sci-tech and renewable energy. During a reception for former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak in Hanoi on August 17, Phuc said as a partner with friendship and comprehensive partnership, including in national defence-security, Israel has become an important partner of Vietnam. Read full story

– The National Assembly Standing Committee on August 17 gave opinions on examining the draft Law on Implementation of Democracy at Grassroots Levels. Speaking at the event, Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Legal Affairs Hoang Thanh Tung said following feedback, the draft law now has 7 chapters and 79 articles, up 5 articles from the version submitted at the NA’s third meeting. Read full story

– Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai has requested workers’ rights and interests be guaranteed during the disbursement of a housing rental assistance package for those hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read full story

– Lang Son authorities will create favourable conditions for Belarusian businesses to invest in the northern border province, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Ho Tien Thieu told Belarusian Ambassador to Vietnam Uladzimir Baravikou during their working session on August 17. Read full story

– The 18th Saigon International Autotech & Accessories Show (Saigon Autotech & Accessories) will be held from October 27-30 in both face-to-face and virtual formats.

It will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre by Asia Trade Fair and Business Promotion JSC (ATFA) with the support of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam Association for Supporting Industries (VASI). Read full story

– The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has decided to extend time limit of investigation on applying anti-dumping measures on table and chair products originating from Malaysia and China by six months.

Accordingly, the investigation will end on March 1, 2023. Read full story

– The Vietnam International Dental Exhibition and Congress 2022 – VIDEC 2022 themed “Dentistry in the New Era” kicked off in Hanoi on August 17, bringing together 200 domestic and international delegates. Read full story

– Dutch online travel agency Booking.com has included Da Lat resort city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, often referred to as “City of Love”, among the world’s six places for the summer’s binge-worthy dating shows.Read full story./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar paid an official visit to Thailand from August 16-18 to co-chair the 9th Meeting of the Thailand – India Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation with Don Pramudwinai, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

An announcement of India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that the meeting discussed wide ranging issues of mutual interest and reviewed the progress made in various areas, including political, defence-security, economic-commercial, connectivity, cultural, tourism and people-to-people ties.

The ministers welcomed ongoing activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations. The sides exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest and reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral multi-dimensional partnership.

The ministers also signed Agreed Minutes of the 9th meeting, which guide the further course of bilateral relations.

Both ministers also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on health and medical research cooperation between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Thai Department of Medical Sciences (DMS); and a MoU for cooperation and collaboration on broadcasting between India’s Prasar Bharti and the Thai Public Broadcasting Service./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An international seminar on trend of investment in Vietnam in the new normal context took place in Seoul on August 18, with over 150 Korean investors and enterprises in different areas taking part.

The event was co-hosted by the Vietnam Viglacera Corporation, the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and the Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Vietnam – RoK diplomatic ties.

It was one of the first investment promotion seminars held in the RoK following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tung stressed the country as the biggest FDI partner to Vietnam with nearly 10,000 projects worth 80 billion USD. Two-way trade hit 78.1 billion USD in 2021 and is likely to reach 90 billion USD.

The Embassy commits to standing side by side with Korean firms in business operations in Vietnam, stays ready to connect with and realise business opportunities in the country, he said.

Participants at the event heard reports on the trend of investment in Vietnam the in new normal, Vietnam’s investment policy, and Vietnamese economy and foreign currency market.

Deputy Director of Viglacera Real Estate Company Nguyen Thi Thu Huong briefed participants on industrial properties developed by Viglacera Corporation and answered questions raised by Korean investors./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A sudden increase in the number of patients has caused overloading and a shortage of equipment, medical supplies and chemicals at some central hospitals.

Associate Professor, Doctor Dao Xuan Co, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, said one of the reasons for this is the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the drug supply of enterprises.

Many businesses do not have drugs and medical supplies to participate in the bidding or witness poor revenue due to low prices, he reported to the Ministry of Health’s inspection team on August 16.

In 2022, there were 77 out of 1,690 drugs that contractors failed to supply in sufficient quantities under the orders, affecting the hospital’s stock of drugs while waiting for the bidding results, Co said.

The hospital also recommended the Government and the Ministry of Health issue policies and accelerate the implementation of national and local centralised bidding.

Centralised bidding will increase competitiveness with lower prices, reduce manpower, time and costs of organising the bidding at hospitals as well as better handle problems in the bidding process.

On August 16, the inspection team of the Ministry of Health, led by Associate Professor, Dr. Luong Ngoc Khue, visited the hospital to find solutions and remove difficulties for the hospital.

“All efforts and solutions are aimed at the satisfaction of patients and medical staff,” said the Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment.

“The lack of medical supplies has affected treatment, service quality, patient and medical staff satisfaction,” Associate Professor, Doctor Pham Tuan Canh, Director of the Central Otolaryngology Hospital, told the inspection team.

The hospital has to transfer patients to other hospitals due to a lack of medical supplies and equipment such as CT and MRI scanners, he said.

The hospital currently has to apply old methods and techniques to treat patients.

He also proposed the Government and the Ministry of Health accelerate national centralised bidding for all lists of drugs, equipment and medical supplies and soon issue documents on bidding so that hospitals have a basis to implement the process.

After examining and listening to reports from two hospitals, Khue said the problem is bidding activities at hospitals. There are regulations that must be revised and adjusted.

The purchase and supply of medical equipment have been greatly affected after the COVID-19 pandemic due to the oil crisis and supply chain disruption, while the bidding regulations and bidding process are still inadequate.

He said many medical staff and suppliers were afraid that they may commit wrongdoings after a series of cases in the health sector.

Although facing difficulties due to a lack of equipment and medical supplies, doctors have made every effort to ensure medical examination and treatment quality, and explain the difficulties to patients, he added.

The two hospitals were suggested to report their issues to the Ministry of Health./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

There will be 8-10 storms and tropical depressions in the East Sea from now to February 2023, of which from three to five storms are likely to directly affect Vietnam’s mainland, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

From October-November, the central and southern regions are forecast to experience higher-than-average rainfall. The southern region may also suffer unseasonal rains in the first months of 2023.

The whole nation is warned to maintain their watch against dangerous weather phenomena such as thunderstorms, whirlwinds, and hails. This year, the northern region is predicted to be hit by early cold waves, with the temperature in the first months of winter likely to be lower than the average of many previous years.

From September-December, two or three heavy floods may hit the central and Central Highlands regions.

People are advised to keep a close watch on weather forecasts and warnings of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, and seriously follow local authorities’ disaster response measures./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese office of the international child-focused agency World Vision on August 18 held a workshop in Hanoi to kick off its Against Child Exploitation (ACE) project in the country.

Funded by the US Department of Labour, the 2.4 million USD project aims to strengthen the capacity of the Vietnamese Government to address Worse Forms of Child Labour (WFCL), including Online Sexual Exploitation of Children (OSEC), and violations of acceptable working conditions.

It is set to run in Dien Bien, Da Nang and Quang Nam from November 2021 to September 2024.

To achieve its aim, five main groups of interventions have been designed, including awareness raising to increase community knowledge on services available services for children engaged in WFCL; capacity building activities for members of child protection committees, social workers and service providers; community engagement activities; and partnership promotions to detect, remove, and respond to OSEC.

Rafiq Mangi, ACE Project Deputy Director at World Vision Vietnam, said the project contributes to Vietnam’s commitment to ending child labour in line with the Durban Call to Action.

In the past few years, Vietnam has made significant strides in the fight against child labour by developing a strong legal framework aligned with international labour standards and carrying out a number of programmes and projects to counter the issue nationally and locally. However, it still persists in the country, especially in the informal sector of the economy

According to the 2018 Vietnam National Child Labour Survey, 1,031,944 children aged 5 to 17 were engaged in child labour, of which 20.1% worked 40 hours per week or more and 50.4% were involved in hazardous work./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council, had a meeting with the Economic Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security on August 18.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, the President offered congratulations on the 77th anniversary of the Traditional Day of the People’s Public Security Force (August 19).

He highly valued the economic security force’s timely detection and effective settlement of complex issues emerging during the international economic integration process, as well as its firm safeguarding of the country’s independence and self-reliance during economic development, thus helping stamp out threats to national security and protect economic development policies in many important areas.

The force has obtained numerous achievements in the crime fight while coordinating with ministries, sectors, and localities to protect economic resources for national development. Those contributions indicate that the safeguarding of economic security has greatly helped with macro-economic, political and social stability, and created a favourable and safe environment for Vietnam’s socio-economic development and international economic integration, the State leader affirmed.

Amid negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world economic downturn, political tensions, trade wars among superpowers, and hostile forces’ sabotage plots, the force needs to keep placing itself under the Party’s absolute and all-round leadership to protect national security and economic security, he noted.

President Phuc asked the force to push ahead with advising the Party and State about economic security protection; overhaul relevant mechanisms, policies, and laws; proactively detect, prevent, and deal with shortcomings in the implementation of economic development policies; and propose timely solutions to threats to economic security.

The force was also asked to stay alert and ready to respond to every circumstance, maintain information exchange with other countries’ authorities to effectively settle external and internal threats to economic security, and step up engaging people of all social strata and entrepreneurs in the safeguarding of economic security and national security./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Mexico has risen from the fourth in 2021 to become the 3rd largest tra fish export market of Vietnam, only after China and the US.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), in the first seven months of this year, tra fish exports to Mexico grew by 73%, reaching 73.5 million USD and accounting for 4.5% of Vietnam’s total turnover. Over 90% of tra fish shipped to the market were frozen fillets.

In July alone, the country spent more than 11 million USD on the Vietnamese product, doubling that of the same period last year.

Le Hang, Deputy Director of the VASEP Training and Trade Promotion Center, said with the advantage of competitive prices, plus preferential tax benefits under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Vietnamese seafood remains a good choice for Mexican importers.

In the first half of this year, 30 Vietnamese seafood enterprises exported tra fish to Mexico. Many processing enterprises in the Mekong Delta localities of Dong Thap, An Giang, Ben Tre, Can Tho and Vinh Long are also increasing their shipments to the market.

VASEP forecast that tra fish exports will rake in some 125 million USD from Mexico in 2022, up 80% year on year.

Source: Vietnam News Agency