Day: February 5, 2023

The capital city of Hanoi’s labour market has seen positive developments after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, presenting a ‘golden opportunity’ for the sustainable development and expansion of the social insurance system.

Statistics from the Hanoi Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (DoLISA) revealed that only 31 companies in the city had to cut working hours or terminate contracts with their employees, which total more than 13,000.

The department said that this was only a fraction compared to figures in other key labour markets.

Meanwhile, last year also saw approximately 203,000 people finding new employment, an increase of 13% compared to 2021.

The growth in the labour market also translated to a rise in the number of people signing up for social insurance.

Phan Van Men, Director of Hanoi Social Insurance, told Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper: “There are 104,236 businesses of nearly two million people participating in social insurance, an increase of 9,613 businesses and nearly 48,000 people on the system, compared to 2022.

“Voluntary social insurance policy also has 75,000 more freelance workers, which will help with their pension when they retire. This is significant growth compared to the previous year.”

The capital city’s labour market usually sees fluctuations after the Tet holiday when people switch jobs or decide not to return.

However, this year saw nearly 98% of employees return to work after the holiday, which also means that they continue to be included and protected in the social insurance system.

Higher recruitment demands are also observed after the Tet holiday.

It is estimated that 162,000 jobs will be created in the capital city this year, which is considered a potential pool for social insurance.

Nguyen Thi Trang, a resident in Hanoi’s Phu Xuyen district said: “Having gone through the hardship of the COVID-19 pandemic, I truly understand the importance of a safety net. This is why since the beginning of 2023, I’ve been saving every month to join social insurance.”

Hanoi Social Insurance has set the goal to expand insurance coverage to at least 43% of the current workforce. At least 2% of freelancers and farmers are also expected to participate in social insurance by the end of this year.

Working with the Hanoi Tax Department, authorities will strengthen the inspection of employers to ensure that all workers who are employed under labour contracts are participating in compulsory social insurance.

The capital city’s Federation of Labour has also held talks with workers to better understand their needs and support their long-term participation in social insurance.

Meanwhile, trade unions at all levels will implement support policies for their members and labourers who are affected by decreasing working hours or had their contracts terminated.

These programmes will provide them with financial support during difficult times, while also minimising cases in which they leave the social insurance system.

Maintaining the number of people participating in social insurance is also included in the socio-economic development plans of localities.

Pham Thi Hoa, Vice Cairwoman of the Ha Dong District People’s Committee, said: “Implementing social insurance policies is one of the criteria in evaluating task completion of departments and businesses in the district.

“Ha Dong authorities will not accept bidding packages from companies and agencies that owe or do not submit social insurance payments for their employees.

“On the other hand, businesses and wards who have implemented policies and see an increase in social insurance participants will receive rewards and recognition.”

In Hanoi’s Dan Phuong district, the local People’s Committee also plans to hold talks with people to address current bottlenecks, aiming for stable operations in businesses and more opportunities for people to be employed and enjoy social insurance./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Russia is an important tourism market of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and had always been a leading source of tourists of Vietnam before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Doan Van Viet has said.

He made the remarks at the 2nd ASEAN-Russia Tourism Ministers Meeting, which was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, within the framework of the 2023 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2023).

The upgrade of the meeting between ASEAN and Russia from the Tourism Consultation to the Ministers Meeting from 2022 is a solid foundation to further foster cooperation between the two sides in the coming time, Viet noted.

The deputy minister said that the Tourism Work Plan for the 2022-2024 period, which was approved by the first ASEAN-Russia Tourism Ministers’ Meeting, paved the way for cooperation activities on promoting, training human resources as well as ensuring safe tourism and connection between the two sides. Therefore, to effectively implement the plan, it is necessary for the two sides to enhance linkages and regular exchanges from working groups to reach consensus on priority activities and find suitable resources for the implementation of joint projects and activities, he said.

According to the official, in the future, it is essential to strengthen collaboration activities to promote digital advertising to the Russian market, spread the image of ASEAN tourism in Russia, and continuing to organise Russian language training courses for tourism workers and tour guides of the ASEAN region.

He also suggested intensifying engagement in tourism activities of ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular in 2023, such as the Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) in Hanoi and the International Travel Expo in Ho Chi Minh City.

The second ASEAN-Russia Tourism Ministers Meeting was chaired by Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno and Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vladimir Ilyichev.

At the event, the two sides noted that Southeast Asia is still a favourite destination for Russian tourists despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wished to increase the number of visitors between ASEAN and Russia in the post-pandemic period, contributing to speeding up tourism recovery of both sides.

The meeting emphasised the importance of promoting sustainable and inclusive tourism between ASEAN and Russia under the ASEAN-Russia Tourism Work Plan for 2022-2024; welcomed the activities identified in the recently adopted ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Development Framework.

Delegates highlighted a number of tourism-related outcomes achieved at the 17th East Asia Summit (EAS) on November 13, 2022, as well as the role of tourism as one of the major contributors to economic growth, employment, social welfare and livelihoods of local communities. Specifically, the two sides will focus on implementing the EAS Leaders’ Declaration on Economic Growth Through Tourism Recovery, adopted at the 16th EAS on October 27, 2021, and exploring the possibility of starting a dialogue on tourism between relevant agencies.

The meeting discussed measures to strengthen efforts to carry out programmes and activities under the ASEAN-Russia Tourism Work Plan for 2022-2024, with greater emphasis on ensuring safety and comfort for tourists as well as facilitating the movement of tourist flows between Russia and ASEAN countries.

The event reaffirmed its commitment to implementing the agreed activities and tasked the ASEAN National Tourism Authorities and senior Russian officials with promoting the implementation of the work plan and enhancing cooperation between the two sides.

Participants agreed that the global tourism outlook will be positive in 2023 and the following years, and affirmed that digitalisation is one of the strategic priorities of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2023./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A number of localities in the northern midland and Red River Delta regions have completed the preparation of water resources for the 2022-2023 winter-spring rice crop, according to the Department of Water Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Apart from Ha Nam province, where the work has been done, other localities in the regions like Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Phu Tho, Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen and Hanoi are also almost ready for the cultivation of the winter-spring rice crop.

As of 4pm on February 4, the area of land provided with water reached 427,134 ha, making up 85.7% of the total area, the department reported.

The department has asked the Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development in cities and provinces to direct relevant units to ensure the irrigation work.

Vietnam’s rice export is forecast to continue reaping successes this year as the world’s rice prices remain high at least in the short term as global economic and political uncertainties have resulted in a high demand for rice reserves, according to experts.

According to the Vietnam Food Association, by the middle of last month, Vietnam earned nearly 115 million USD from exporting more than 226,000 tonnes of rice, an increase of over 41% in terms of both volume and value compared to the same period last year.

The country exported ST24 and ST25 rice to the Middle East region with a record-high price of 1,000 USD per tonne, doubling the price of normal white rice.

Vietnamese rice further penetrated demanding markets like Japan and the EU.

According to experts, more than 80% of rice varieties in Vietnam are fragrant high-quality rice, which is an important factor that helps increase Vietnamese rice’s value and accessibility to markets.

This year’s rice prices are forecast to return its peak in 2019 thanks to periodical factors and increasing demand for rice reserves in countries, including such populous nations as China and India.

Last year, Vietnam exported nearly 7.2 million tonnes of rice, gaining 3.49 billion USD./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam needs at least two to three more undersea cable routes in the next five years to meet growing demand, said General Secretary of the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) Vu The Binh.

Currently, four undersea cable routes that Vietnamese carriers exploit, including AAG, APG, AAE-1, and IA are experiencing issues, seriously affecting internet connection traffic from Vietnam.

This is the first time such incidents have happened at the same time, and even more unfortunately, during the Lunar New Year holidays.

The military-run provider Viettel has devised re-routing plans to regulate traffic on the remaining sea cable and land cables, and buy additional emergency capacity to ensure the best service quality for customers.

Stressing that this was an unfortunate ‘force majeure’, a representative from Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) said the provider was actively deploying measures to ensure international internet connections to its consumers, including sharing data loads between still available international lines, working with Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube, as well as optimising traffic on different cables.

Thanks to these efforts, platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube can still be accessed normally, while financial, banking, and insurance transactions can still be conducted.

Mobile data connections are also ensured, according to the VNPT representative.

However, it stressed that with breakages occurring on four out of five undersea cables, internet access would suffer, especially in ‘peak hours’ with activities that demand large data like online games or watching movies, etc.

Major domestic service providers are actively working with submarine cable systems and ship operators to determine the cause of the issues, the location of the incident and the repair plan, in the shortest time possible.

Other smaller providers like CMC and NetNam are also making moves to mitigate the incident’s consequences like pushing more traffic onto land cables via China and Cambodia.

Binh told VietNamNet online newspaper that with this situation, the network operators only had the option to compensate through land channels.

However, this plan could be delayed as China was also celebrating the Lunar New Year holiday, he noted. Most networks were frozen during the Tet holiday, therefore, it also affected the response progress of Vietnamese carriers.

In addition, the scenario that almost all undersea cable channels have problems was a very rare thing, Binh said, adding the carriers could have also taken it into account but were less prepared for this situation.

Landline cables were most likely not able to be upgraded quickly due to equipment limitations, he added.

“We believe that the intermittent situation and reduced quality of local international internet access would persist for the next few weeks,” he said.

With the breakdown of undersea cables becoming more and more common, the need to add new cables was urgent, noted Binh.

Viettel and VNPT had announced their plans that they would exploit more cable routes to Quy Nhon this year.

In addition, in terms of Vietnam’s internet in general, besides the need for more sea cables, it was also necessary to diversify land cable channels, especially through the West and Southwest, he said.

This was not only to meet the needs of internet users, but also to meet the safety level of Vietnam’s communication with the world, said the VIA general secretary./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency