Day: October 15, 2022

Vietnam has been seeking ways to further promote green agriculture development as the demand for products that are safe for health and the environment is forecast to rise strongly.

 

 

 

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Vietnam’s agriculture sector has recorded strong and comprehensive development, and great achievements in recent years, with the food output increasing rapidly in both quantity and quality, ensuring the needs of domestic consumption and export.

 

 

 

To effectively address challenges related to the shrinking of cultivation land, the increasing demand of food, the excessive use of inorganic fertilizers and chemical pesticides in agricultural production, and post-harvest losses, a series of solutions have been proposed.

 

Agriculture needs to have harmony in each production link, towards ensuring sustainable growth goals, protecting the environment, and adapting to climate change, Hoan said.

 

 

 

Bui Ba Bong, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agricultural sector sets a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – one of the important criteria for protecting the environment.

 

 

 

To that end, attention must be paid to ensuring green agricultural materials for production, he said.

 

 

 

He also underlined the significance of building mechanisms and policies on green agriculture, towards further promoting the development of agricultural production models meeting organic standards, and ecological agriculture models in order to produce quality and safe products.

 

 

 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved an action plan to implement the National Strategy on Green Growth from 2021-2030.

 

 

 

Under the plan, the ministry will work to develop the agricultural sector in an ecological, organic, circular and low-carbon direction to improve growth quality, added value, competitiveness and sustainable development, while reducing pollution in agricultural production and in rural areas, and promoting energy efficiency towards carbon neutralisation by 2050.

 

 

 

It will strive to increase the use of organic fertilisers to 30% of all those consumed, along with 30% of pesticides and at least 30% of farm areas using water-saving systems.

 

 

 

The agricultural sector will also take measures to encourage green consumption.

 

 

 

It will mobilise social resources, especially those from businesses, while calling for financial support and technology transfer through international cooperation activities, in order to ensure resources for green growth./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Xuan Sang has signed a decision approving a project to build a merchant fleet capable of handling a fifth of the country’s imports and exports by 2030.

 

 

 

The main goal of the project is to build a fleet of container ships for the Asia-Pacific region to gain operational experience and set a foundation for long-distance routes.

 

In addition, Vietnamese maritime authorities will improve their management capacity, create a clear and transparent legal framework, promote science and technology application, and reform administrative procedures to support enterprises.

 

 

 

The project also aims to double the volume of import and export cargo transported through domestic seaports by Vietnamese ships to 10% by 2026 and 20% by 2030.

 

 

 

A report by the Vietnam Maritime Administration (VinaMarine) shows that along with an average annual growth of 12% import-export from 2016-2021, the cargo throughput of the country’s seaports saw a stable increase in the period. In the first seven months of this year, the throughput growth slowed but still showed a year-on-year rise of 2%, reaching about 63 million tonnes.

 

 

 

The country’s ports in recent years have been developed and are now able to accommodate the world’s largest ships. The country’s merchant fleet ranks third among ASEAN nations and 28th in the world./.

 

 

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

The Vietnam Coast Guard has exerted great efforts to strengthen international cooperation in the fight against violations and crimes at sea, and actively expanded international cooperation with countries having strong law enforcement forces at sea and partners.

 

 

 

The improvement of international cooperation efficiency has helped the force better perform its tasks, contributing to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for the building and protection of the Fatherland.

 

 

 

The force signed cooperation agreements with its counterparts in many countries in the region, including Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia (2019), enabling the implementation of many joint activities, including those to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

 

 

 

Along with strengthening cooperation with regional countries, the force has expanded its partnership to other countries with strong law enforcement forces at sea, including the US, Japan, India, and the Republic of Korea, mobilising their support in equipment and training activities, thus improving its capacity.

 

 

 

Notably, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Coast Guard jointly held a training course for Vietnamese coast guards in Phu Quoc from August 15-17, aiming to to improve their maritime law enforcement capacity for the Vietnam Coast Guard and enhance exchanges, cooperation and mutual understanding between the two countries in general, and the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Japan Coast Guard in particular.

 

 

 

Visits and exchanges between the Vietnam Coast Guard with their Indian and Japanese partners have helped enhance the prestige of the force in the region and the world.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the force has shown positive and responsible engagement in multilateral mechanisms and forums, including the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), the Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies Meeting (HACGAM), the Southeast Asia Maritime Law Enforcement Initiative (SEAMLEI), the Coast Guard Global Summit (CGGS), and activities within the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

 

 

 

In the time to come, the force will continue to promote partnerships with its counterparts in other countries, especially those in the region, neighbouring countries and traditional partners, spreading a message of cooperation, development and integration./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

100 outstanding Vietnamese farmers in 2022 were  honoured at a ceremony at Hanoi Opera House on October 14 on the occasion of the 92nd founding  anniversary of the Vietnam Farmers’ Union (VFU).

 

 

 

Among the 100 honoured, there are 15 ethnic minority people. All the honourees are farmers with outstanding achievements in production and business, promoting linkages, developing cooperatives, and building new-style rural areas. They have had many inventions and initiatives in startup and digital transformation, and also been important factors in promoting emulation movements in production and business.

 

 

 

Addressing the event, President Nguyen Xuan Phuc spotlighted the significance of the event and praised the honourees, saying that they are dynamic and creative examples with prominent achievements in production and business; effectively using capital, labour and land resources; and boldly apply science and  technology to production.

 

 

 

They are really typical representatives for 3.6 million good farmers working in many industries nationwide,  importantly contributing to restructuring agriculture and building new-style rural areas, he stressed.

 

 

 

President Phuc also highly valued the VFU for coordinating with the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to successfully organise the “Proud of Vietnamese Farmers” programme and award the title of “outstanding Vietnamese farmer”.

 

 

 

He said the VFU needs to mobilise and effectively use all resources from all economic sectors at home and abroad in order to further promote more rapid and sustainable agriculture development, striving to realise the goal of building a prosperous agriculture, rich farmers, and civilised and modern countryside.

 

 

 

Attention should be paid to taking practical and effective support measures to help farmers strengthen linkages and re-organise production in the direction of large-scale commodity production towards increasing the value and quality of farm produce and meeting the demand of domestic and international markets, he said./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Nearly 200 films from 68 countries and territories will feature at the sixth Hanoi International Film Festival (HANIFF VI) next month, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has revealed.

 

 

 

With the theme “Cinema – Humanity, Adaptation and Development”, the festival will be held by the culture ministry’s Cinema Department, to honour excellent international and Vietnamese cinematographic works with high artistic value, rich in humanity and creativity in cinematic language.

 

 

 

It also encourages new Vietnamese and world talent in film acting and producing.

 

 

 

This is an opportunity to boost the domestic film industry and its integration into the world market while simultaneously promoting the image of Vietnam as a safe, friendly, peaceful, hospitable, integrated and developing country, the culture ministry said in a statement.

 

 

 

It added that UNESCO had recognised Hanoi as a city for peace and creativity, and the event helps enhance the country’s position and brand in artistic creation with a vision of sustainable socio-cultural development.

 

 

 

Two ceremonies will be held on November 8 and 12 to mark the opening and closing of the event. Awards will also be presented on the closing night ceremony at the Friendship Palace at 91 Tran Hung Dao street.

 

 

 

The two ceremonies will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television (VTV).

 

 

 

The festival organising committee has set up a council to select qualified films to be shown at the five-day festival, which starts on November 8.

 

 

 

More than 190 long and short films have been chosen from over 400 films submitted to participation from 68 countries and territories.

 

 

 

The council conducted final evaluation activities on the candidates in mid-September and is expected to select works from different categories for the contest, including 10-12 foreign films for the long film category and about 40 others for the short film category.

 

 

 

In the short film category, the council is expected to select 30 features, documentaries and animations from around the world and ten from Vietnam.

 

 

 

The category of world panorama will feature 70-80 films, including 56 long and 21 short productions, which will be shown during the festival. The contemporary feature category will have 43 films, 22 short and 21 feature films.

 

 

 

For the national cinematic category, nine films from the Republic of Korea will be presented.

 

 

 

Activities such as film screening and the film project market will be held at Daewoo Hotel, as well as two seminars with themes about RoK cinema spotlight and film production, distribution and dissemination to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

An exhibition highlighting Hanoi historical monuments and cultural heritages will be held during the festival.

 

 

 

There will also be an outdoor movie screening area and a movie star exchange programme on November 9, 10 and 11 in the centre of Hanoi.

 

 

 

Sightseeing tours through some attractive destinations around Hanoi and Bac Ninh city will be offered to guests and participants on November 11.

 

 

 

It is reported that the organising board has worked with cinema chains such as the National Cinema Centre, BHD Cineplex, CJ CGV and Galaxy to coordinate preparing and promoting the filming programmes two weeks before the opening ceremony.

 

 

 

Speaking at a meeting of the organising board held recently, Ly Phuong Dung, deputy director of the Cinema Department, said that along with difficulties related to copyright issues, it was really hard to invite foreign films to the festival due to impacts after the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

The organising board is looking forward to receiving support from mass media before, during and after the event to spread its reputation “wider and deeper”, she said./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on October 15 chaired a dialogue on the promotion of gender equality and the role that women play in socio-economic development.

 

 

 

The hybrid event, held on the threshold of the Vietnamese Women’s Day (October 20), drew leaders of central agencies and representatives of 62 cities and provinces nationwide, as well as more than 5,000 outstanding women from across the country.

 

 

 

Addressing the dialogue, PM Chinh extended congratulations to women and girls across the nation on Vietnamese Women’s Day.

 

 

 

He affirmed that over all historical periods, women always play a special role in and make great contributions to the national construction, defence and development.

 

 

 

The Party and State always pay great attention to ensuring gender equality and promoting women’s progress with many policies related to training, caring for women’s health and supporting them in employment and startup, he said.

 

 

 

With these policies, Vietnam has created a favourable environment and conditions for women to affirm their role and position and make more contributions to families, community and the entire society, said the Government leader.

 

 

 

However, he underscored that there is still much to do to make life better for women, and give them more chances to devote to society and country, ensuring that no one is left behind.

 

 

 

He noted that since the beginning of this year, he had some meetings and dialogues with people of all strata inside and outside the country to seek practical measures to deal with their current and future difficulties.

 

He said he hopes through this dialogue, participants will find solutions to realise gender equality goals and promote women’s progress.

 

 

 

At the event, he answered many questions raised by delegates regarding women and economic development; women and social welfare and gender equality issues; and women and the future generations.

 

 

 

He also clarified matters related to the support for women’s startup and measures to help their products join “One Commune, One Product” (OCOP) Programme, as well as the legal corridor to minimise usury and speed up sustainable poverty reduction, the encouragement of women to engage in scientific research activities, and the protection of women and girls in cyberspace, the building of safe environment for children, among others.

 

 

 

He directed ministries, sectors and localities to settle particular issues to ensure the progress of women in all fields, and backing the women’s union at all levels to operate effectively.

 

 

 

He suggested the organisation of more dialogues with women at all levels to deal with relevant issues in the decentralisation principle.

 

 

 

According to President of the Vietnamese Women’s Union Ha Thi Nga, women are taking 30.26% of total seats at the 15th National Assembly.

 

 

 

The ratio of wage earners is 48.3%, while 26.5% of total enterprises of the country are led by women, bringing Vietnam to the ninth position among 58 countries reviewed at the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2020 in term of the number of women in leadership roles and labour force participation, and the second among Southeast Asian nations.

 

 

 

On this occasion, PM Chinh presented awards to 10 outstanding women who showed excellent performance in implementing the Government’s projects on encouraging and supporting women in engaging in a number of social issues related to women in the 2017-2027 period, and assisting women’s startups in the 2017-2025 period./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City route has ranked fourth among the busiest domestic air routes in the world in 2022, according to Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Dinh Viet Thang.

 

 

 

Statistics from OAG – the world’s leading provider of digital flight information, intelligence and analytics for airports, airlines and travel tech companies, show that the number of seats for this route sold between October 2021 and September 2022 amounted to over 8.5 million.

 

 

 

Jeju-Seoul in the Republic of Korea ranked first, followed by Sapporo New Chitose Apt – Tokyo and Fukuoka – Tokyo in Japan.

 

 

 

Thang said this is the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the  Hanoi-HCM City route has been named among the top busiest domestic air routes in the world. It ranked sixth in 2019.

 

 

 

Regarding the domestic air transport market, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced in June this year that Vietnam was the fastest recovering in the world among 25 top countries.

 

 

 

Following the direction of the Government and the Ministry of Transport, the CAAV has created the most favourable conditions for airlines to resume post-pandemic operations, Thang said.

 

 

 

Data from the authority shows that in the first nine months of 2022, the number of inbound/outbound flights reached 351,000, up 117.8% over the same period last year. The number of transit flights totaled 127,000, up 59.1% year-on-year.

 

 

 

The number of passengers through 22 airports nationwide in the period reached 75 million, an increase of 162.4% over the same period in 2021, including 6.7 million foreign visitors and 68.3 million domestic passengers, up 1,797.2% and 141.2% year-on-year, respectively./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pledge efforts to promote a nuclear-free Southeast Asia, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, said at a recent meeting of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the United Nations General Assembly on October 14 in New York.

 

 

 

Speaking on behalf of the association, Giang said ASEAN has recently adopted an action programme for 2023-2027 to achieve this goal, affirming that the group supports international efforts towards a world free of nuclear weapons.

 

 

 

ASEAN attaches importance to multilateralism in disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, including the central role of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in the global mechanism for promoting disarmament, non-proliferation and use of nuclear weapons for peaceful purposes, he stressed.

 

 

 

The bloc calls on countries to continue to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), he said.

 

 

 

The Vietnamese diplomat said ASEAN countries uphold the importance of nuclear weapon-free zones and support their contributions to the non-proliferation and disarmament mechanism, stressing that states possessing nuclear weapons should vow not to threaten and use nuclear weapons against countries located in these zones.

 

 

 

He also highlighted ASEAN’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including specific cooperation activities in recent times.

 

 

 

The ambassador emphasised ASEAN’s commitment to the First Committee’s operations to completely eliminate this type of weapon.

 

 

 

The First Committee is one of the six main committees of the UN General Assembly whose function is to review and discuss disarmament, threats and challenges to international peace and security; and propose appropriate solutions. The committee’s meeting opened on October 10 and is expected to last until early November./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency