Day: December 18, 2022

The management and use of resettlement housing projects in Hanoi must be improved through the coordination of various state agencies, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

Currently, there are 199 resettlement housing projects in Hanoi that were completed and put into use, with 146 buildings under the management of the Hanoi Housing Development and Management Company, 20 buildings under the Hanoi Housing Development Investment Corporation and 30 buildings under the Management Board of Housing and Office Projects.

Up to now, only 113 out of 199 resettlement apartment buildings have established management boards, with the slow handing over of maintenance funds, building related documents, community areas and equipment systems from investors to the building management boards.

Meanwhile, in many apartment buildings, management boards were established but did not take over the management and services operation, or do not outsource businesses to manage and operate the buildings.

Notably, the maintenance and repair, especially for elevators and fire prevention systems, have not met requirements, causing frustration for residents and potentially danger.

Another problem is that many areas being used for business purposes are done so illegally or are sub-leased improperly so the municipal People’s Committee has had to issue many decisions of forcibly removing violators.

Faced with the above limitations and inadequacies, the Hanoi People’s Committee requested the relevant offices to promptly implement necessary management solutions in accordance with the law to rectify the situation.

In particular, it is necessary to promptly settle disputes and disagreements and prevent complicated lawsuits causing public disorder.

Recently, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee Duong Duc Tuan requested the Department of Construction to co-ordinate with the Department of Finance to review, issue, amend and supplement regulations on the management and use of resettlement housing funds to ensure efficient and effective management and use.

The director of the construction department was assigned to approve an economic and technical report on the maintenance and repair of six State-owned housing projects, while the director of the planning and investment department was authorised to approve the selection of contractors for maintenance and repair of State-owned buildings.

Meanwhile, the finance department was asked to co-operate with the construction department and relevant agencies to draw out a revenue and expenditure mechanism for the areas of business purposes in resettlement apartment buildings.

The construction department has to strengthen inspection of the management, use, and signing of contracts to purchase resettlement apartments that were approved by the municipal People’s Committee.

The committee’s leaders emphasised that in order to prevent violations, the police would investigate, prosecute and bring to court those who commit serious violations in the management and use of resettlement apartments and the service business areas in the resettlement apartment buildings.

For businesses that were assigned to manage, operate and use resettlement housing projects, the city required good performance of maintenance, repair and renovation activities to ensure the essential living needs for people, as well as urgently lease the service areas via auctions./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Solutions to preserve and promote Champa cultural values in Thua Thien-Hue were the focus of a scientific workshop held recently in the central province.

Participants at the event also discussed issues related to Champa culture – an important factor in Hue’s cultural identity and typical values of Cham culture in history.

Phan Tien Dung, Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue Association of Historical Sciences, said currently, the Champa era relics in the province are thousands of years old, eroded by the impact of nature and wars. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritise resources to preserve the remains.

Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the provincial Department of Culture and Sports, underlined the need to digitalise and well preserve documents and artifacts to promote the values of Champa cultural heritages. Localities should make plans to protect artifacts, he said.

Thua Thien-Hue expects investment from the government to build a Champa Museum, or a centre dedicated to Champa culture to promote the development of tourism and services around these cultural artifacts.

Thua Thien Hue was a part of the Champa Kingdom for nearly 12 centuries – from the 2nd to the 14th century. It is a place where cultural heritages were formed. From 1306, Chau O and Chau Ly became parts of Dai Viet. The presence of Vietnamese in this area allowed Dai Viet culture to have a great impact on the southern region. As the Vietnamese moved into this new land, they recognised the cultural significance of what they inherited and promoted the cultural achievements left by the Champa people.

There are 44 artifacts related to the Champa culture in the province. They include 17 temples and towers; three fortresses and many works such as tombs, steles and ancient wells. In particular, there are three places that were recognised as national relics, namely Lieu Coc twin towers in Huong Xuan ward, Huong Tra township; Phu Dien tower in Phu Dien commune, Phu Vang district, and Thanh Loi (Loi fortress) in Hue city./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

In 2022, despite many difficulties, Vietnam has managed to keep the macro-economic stability, with high economic growth, controlled inflation and ensured major balances, as well as political stability and protected security and national sovereignty, and enhanced external relations, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at the 5th Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi on December 17.

The success of Vietnam in the year was thanks to the sound leadership of the Party, the effective management of the State, and the engagement of the whole political system as well as the business community, all people and the support of international friends, the PM underscored.

Along with reviewing the country’s socio-economic achievements and lessons in 2022, the PM also highlighted major management viewpoints and orientations in the time to come.

The PM said that development must base on the foundation of building socialist democracy, the construction of a rule-of-law socialist State and the socialist-oriented market economy.

In this process, the people must be placed at the centre, and become the subject, the target and motivation for development, he added, stressing the significance of three breakthrough tasks of developing strategic infrastructure, completing institutions and improving human resources.

In addition, the Government leader also underlined the effectiveness of Vietnam’s external policies, which have resulted in many achievements so far.

The PM held that 2023 will continue to see complicated and unpredictable developments in the world, with more difficulties inside the country.

He asked ministries, sectors and localities to continue to drastically implement directions of the Party, National Assembly, Government and the PM regarding socio-economic development, while giving active and timely policy response. Ministries and sectors must consider matters of the people and businesses as their own, he stressed.

In 2023, the Government will continue to apply firm, flexible and effective monetary policies in close and harmonised association with fiscal policies and other policies, ensuring the overall effectiveness to meet the demand of the reality.

He said that the foreign exchange rate and interest rates will be managed to suit the real situation and conditions, while monetary policy tools will be optimised to ensure the supply of credit capital to the economy, with a focus on prioritised areas. Meanwhile, inflation control and economic growth will be balanced, along with a strong liquidity and suitable credit growth as well as the removal of bottlenecks for the capital flows in the economy, he said.

Together with suitable and effective fiscal policies and stronger efforts in State budget collection, the Government will continue to speed up the reform of administrative procedures regarding taxation, offer tax support policies and tighten the management of finance and State budget, he said.

The PM added that ensuring major balances of the economy and healthy, stable and sustainable development of all kinds of markets, especially the corporate bond, securities, and real estate markets will also be a focus of the Government.

Meanwhile, more efforts will be made to ensure social welfare, fight corruption and maintain political stability and social order as well as security and defence, while external relations and international integration activities will also be strengthened, he said.

PM Chinh also stressed the need to continue perfecting institutions and policies and promoting the growth of digital, green and circular economy in line with climate change response, and enhancing the effectiveness of planning activities and human resources training.

The PM also took this occasion to thank countries, international organisations, foreign experts and scientists for supporting Vietnam over the past years, and expressed his hope that they will continue to give more ideas and make specific actions to help Vietnam develop stronger in the spirit of trust and efficiency.

The 5th Vietnam Business Forum drew the participation of more than 1,000 delegates who are leaders of central and local agencies, ministries and sectors, and representatives of international organisations, embassies and general consulates of other countries in Vietnam, as well as leaders of businesses, associations, universities, research institutes, and domestic and international experts./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

An art exchange programme was held in Vientiane on December 17 to celebrate the success of the 12th National Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) for the 2022-2027 tenure.

Addressing the event, jointly organised by the HCYU in Laos and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union (LPRYU) Central Committee, Secretary of the HCYU Committee in Laos Tran Dai Thang said the art exchange programme was a meaningful event, contributing to promoting the spirit of pioneering, voluntariness and creativity as well showing the determination of union members and young people in implementing the Resolution of the Congress.

Nouanthong Souvanvixay, Deputy Secretary of the LPRYU Central Committee, affirmed that the LPRYU Central Committee and the HCYU Central Committee has long-standing cooperative relations under the direction of the two Parties in line with the policies of the two States and the wishes of their people.

The relationship has brought about great benefits to the youth of the two countries, reflected in the exchange of professional experience in youth-related affairs and deploying green summer volunteer movements to help local residents, he said.

The programme featured 15 performances praising the love for the homeland and the solidarity between the two countries. They were performed by Vietnamese youth union members in Laos and Lao students from the Lao National School of Arts.

Other activities held to celebrate the success of the congress include the organisation of a photo exhibition on the Vietnam-Laos relationship and hand over gifts to disadvantaged children from Nguyen Du Lao-Vietnamese bilingual language school in Vientiane as well as Vietnamese and Lao workers at Vietnam Rubber JSC in Champasak province./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Indonesia’s well-known scholar Prof. Aleksius Jemadu has said that Indonesia and Vietnam have a lot of potential to strengthen relations in economy, trade, and investment, and jointly promote and maintain regional stability thanks to their traditional relationship and shared view on issues.

Talking with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s resident reporters in Jakarta ahead of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s state visit to Indonesia from December 21-23, Prof. Aleksius said that it is “a very important visit”, considering the fact that Vietnam and Indonesia need to work together in order to ensure regional stability in Southeast Asia, when countries try to recover from the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The relationship between the two countries is growing in terms of our trade and also investment,” he said, adding that “Indonesia is the largest market in ASEAN. And I believe that Vietnam is going to benefit also from the growth in Indonesia.”

He said that Indonesia, and Vietnam had more or less the same history of colonial rule in the past during national construction and defence and that he really appreciated the Vietnamese people who have a strong sense of nationalism. It’s very important in this competitive world, to have people with a strong sense of nationalism, to stick to the principles in the relations with other countries, the scholar stressed.

“I think Vietnam has inspired Southeast Asia, how to work hard, how to use your own principles in dealing with great powers. And the dynamic of Vietnam economy is also very impressive. And I think it is a source of inspiration for the rest of region,” he said.

The professor said that Indonesia and Vietnam are two important members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). So the two countries are middle powers. They play a very important role in maintaining ASEAN’s centrality and keeping the stability of the region.

Prof. Aleksius said that the meeting in Jakarta between President Joko Widodo and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc will be about Indonesia’s chairmanship in ASEAN 2023 and ways to promote activities for the benefits of all Southeast Asian countries, particularly Vietnam and Indonesia.

The two countries can boost cooperation to step up the transformation of digital economy, digitalised economy for small and medium enterprises, green and renewable energy development, and climate change adaptation.

According to the scholar, in the declaration produced by G20 in Bali, there are a lot of things that developed countries will share with developing nations, in the digitalised economy, in the health sector, and also in green transition to green energy. Indonesia may share those new development within G20 with Vietnam.

“In these issues, no single country can work alone, they need to work together in order to solve their problems,” he said.

The two countries also need to increase people-to-people interactions through tourism activities and the exchange of students and lecturers, the scholar suggested.

Prof. Aleksius affirmed that as two close neighbours and strategic partners, Indonesia and Vietnam have many areas where they can cooperate. He also highly appreciated that Vietnam wants to build a good relationship with Indonesia, because this relationship can promote trust and bring benefits to both sides./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Amid the fourth Industrial Revolution, information and communications has had an important position and played an increasingly significant role as one of the driving forces for the country’s development and innovation in the digital era, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Speaking at the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC)’s conference in Hanoi on December 18 to review the ministry’s performance in 2022 and launch tasks for 2023, the Government leader highlighted the important contributions of the sector in the overall achievements of the country in 2022.

However, there were still a number of shortcomings that the MIC needs to fix in the time to come, including a lack of breakthrough changes in the  mindset, awareness and efficiency of digital transformation.

The PM said that 2023 is an important year for the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period, during which digital transformation will continue to be one of the major tasks in the country’s industrialisation and modernisation process.

PM Chinh asked the MIC to focus on completing institutions regarding communications and digital transformation, striving to finish the provision of telecommunications services to all corners of the country, especially remote, mountainous, island and border areas. The MIC should coordinate with the Vietnam Electricity (EVN) group in the work, he said.

The leader also requested the ministry to coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to build and regularly update the national database, while focusing on developing the digital infrastructure system with the commercialisation of 5G services, and turning the postal system into an important infrastructure system of the country and the national digital economy.

At the same time, it should pay greater attention to the development of the digital economy to better serve people and businesses, while applying stronger measures to protect people and children on the cyberspace, and minimising fake and toxic information on social networks, he said.

According to a MIC report, this year, the sector has shown strong performance, with total revenue of nearly 3.9 quadrillion VND (165.2 billion USD), up 12.7% year on year.

Domestic telecommunications firms have provided services for 2,152 out of 2,418 remote hamlets and villages across the country, raising their coverage ratio to 99.73%.

The digital economy has contributed 14.26% to the country’s GDP, according to the report.

At the same time, 90% of wrongful and toxic information on the trans-border social networks has been removed.

In 2023, the MIC expects the total revenue from the postal sector will reach 63.76 trillion VND (2.7 billion USD), while total telecommunications revenue will hit 21 billion USD. Total revenue of the digital economy is hoped to reach 30 billion USD, with a growth rate between 20-25%. The sector expects to contribute1.3 billion USD to the State budget.

At the conference, on behalf of the Party and State, PM Chinh presented a first-class Labour Order to the MIC./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency