Vietnamese authorities, representative agencies in Russia and national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines have worked together with Russian agencies to bring nearly 300 Vietnamese citizens home on July 8-9.

The passengers included children, with many of them being under two years old, the elderly, the ill, pregnant women, workers with expired labour contracts, stranded tourists and students who finished their studies.

The Vietnamese Embassy had closely worked with local authorities to help the citizens travel from Vladivostok, Ekaterinburg, Saint Petersburg and other localities to Moscow airport. It also sent staff to the airport to assist them.

Strict security and safety measures were enforced during the flight to protect passengers’ health and prevent the spread of the disease.

Immediately after the flight landed at Can Tho International Airport, all passengers and crew members were given health check and quarantined in line with regulations.

Under the Prime Minister’s direction, domestic authorities and Vietnam’s overseas representative offices will arrange more flights to take Vietnamese citizens home, depending on the citizens’ need and the country’s quarantine capacity.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The police in the northern province of Dien Bien in collaboration with other forces have raided a drug trafficking ring involving three suspects and 54 bricks of heroin (nearly 19 kg).

In late July 7, the police arrested a man who was illegally trading the heroin in Tin Toc village, Muong Tung commune, Muong Cha district of Dien Bien.

Expanding the case, the police then seized two other men, along with one automobile, one motorbike and six cell phones.

According to the police, one month ago, they discovered the trans-provincial and trans-national drug trafficking ring with a large amount of heroin traded from Laos to Dien Bien through Lai Chau and Lao Cai before being sold to a third country.

The case is under further investigation.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Drug Crime Investigation Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security recently announced that it, together with relevant agencies, had busted three major drug trafficking rings.

On June 20, the agencies arrested Do Tuan Bao, born in 1984 and residing in HCM City, confiscating 10,000 synthetic drug pills.

They also captured Vo QuocHoa, 27, from Can Tho, and seized 45kg of crystal meth, 8,000 drug pills and another 8kg of synthetic drug at his residence.

After further investigation, the forces arrested three ringleaders, all of them staying in HCM City.

The police found 300g of crystal meth, 200 drug pills, a CZ 75 pistol and five bullets when searching the residence of Nguyen Van Phuong in Binh Tan district.

In late June, in Hanoi, the police caught red handed three men trafficking drugs, seizing 54 bricks of heroin and related documents. They are all from the northwestern mountainous province of Dien Bien.

The police arrested two more men afterward, including the ringleader.

On June 30, relevant agencies apprehended Nong Van Hai from Cao Bang province into custody. They seized two guns, seven bullets and other exhibits at his place.

The third drug ring was busted the same day in HCM City. The police arrested Tran ThanhPhong, seizing 0.5kg of crystal meth.

Five other people were caught as the police seized additional 5.5kg of meth, six guns, 23 bullets, one grenade, an electric baton, four swords, three cars and other exhibits.

The cases are under further investigation.

According to the police, as COVID-19 has been brought under control in Vietnam and social distancing measures lifted, drug trafficking activities may likely be on the rise. Relevant agencies will enhance efforts to bust trafficking cases and not to let Vietnam become a drug hub.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The HCM City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs would take whatever measures are needed in the second half of the year to safeguard workers’ incomes and jobs, which have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Le Minh Tan, its director, has promised.

More than 327,000 workers in the city were laid off in the first half, he said. Tourism and other services were the hardest hit with some 4,400 enterprises being affected and 100,000-120,000 workers laid off.

To protect workers’ rights, the department has set up working groups to support businesses and ensure employees are treated in accordance with legal provisions, he said.

“Enterprises that lay off workers must notify them 45 days in advance.”

In addition, companies must have additional support policies for more vulnerable employees such as seniors and pregnant women, he added.

“Of the nearly 2,800 PouYuen workers in Binh Tan district who have been laid off, 745 want to stay in the city. We will look for businesses in the same industry to find jobs for those workers.”

The department is working with eight companies in Go Vap district to recruit 2,222 workers who had been laid off by Hue Phong Footwear JSC in the district, he said.

The department has learnt that a Taiwanese furniture company in Cu Chi would lay off around 800 jobs soon, and is looking for wood manufacturing enterprises seeking to hire workers, he said.

It would also send workers in need of vocational training to vocational centres, he said.

According to city authorities, 90 percent of 8,400 enterprises facing difficulties are eligible for the 62 trillion VND (2.7 billion USD) support package of the Government and Resolution 2 of the City People’s Council. The businesses that receive the funding from these two programmes should keep their workers.

The Government has allowed businesses to suspend paying social insurance premiums for their workers, trade union funds and others until the end of the year if they retain them.

According to a survey by the HCM City Statistics Office, nearly 14,000 out of the city’s 16,300 enterprises were affected by the pandemic in the first half, with around 8,400 enterprises suspending operations and thus laying off a large number of employees.

If the pandemic continues in the second half, another 4,800-5,000 enterprises in the services, industrial and construction sectors will be affected and 160,000-180,000 more workers could lose their jobs.

Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc recently approved the relief package worth over 62 trillion VND to benefit around 20 million people nation-wide with a focus on workers who lost jobs and incomes and businesses affected by the pandemic.

Under Resolution 42, as of the end of June, HCM City provided financial support worth a total of 560 billion VND to more than 510,000 out of a total of 542,000 people affected by the pandemic.

In March, HCM City authorities approved a support package targeting 600,000 workers and teachers at private pre-schools who lost their jobs and poor families.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

More farmers in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau are seeing much higher profits by using advanced farming techniques to breed shrimp.

Under high-tech farming models which use super-intensive farming, the beds of shrimp breeding ponds are covered with plastic sheets and anti-sunlight nets are hung above. The models are also equipped with oxygen-generating facilities.

Besides shrimp breeding ponds, other ponds filter water which is released into shrimp breeding ponds or used for treatment of waste water.

High-tech shrimp farming has a success rate of 90 percent and offers far higher profit than traditional shrimp breeding in mud ponds, according to farmers.

Bui TheVuong began using advanced farming techniques to breed shrimp on a 7ha farming area in Long Dien district’s An Ngai commune last year.

In the 7ha area, he uses 1.5ha for shrimp breeding ponds and the rest for ponds to filter water and to treat waste water.

High-tech shrimp farming can produce three shrimp crops a year, up nearly two times against traditional farming models, Vuong said.

The death rate of shrimp bred in high-tech shrimp farming is significantly lower compared to traditional farming models.

He has bred five shrimp crops under the model and earns about 1.2-1.4 billion VND (51,000-60,400 USD) each crop.

Similarly, Le Quang Hung, one of salt farmers in Ba Ria city’s Ward 12, is applying high-tech shrimp farming.

He switched from salt making to black-tiger shrimp breeding in 2005, and then later switched completely to breeding shrimp.

In 2018, he invested 1 billion VND (43,000 USD) in high-tech shrimp farming for his 1.5ha. He built two ponds for breeding shrimp and three ponds for treating water, and bought oxygen-generating facilities, plastic sheets and anti-sunlight nets for shrimp ponds.

He now breeds three shrimp crops a year with an output of more than 16 tonnes of shrimp a year, earning a profit of nearly 1 billion VND a year.

The province has about 352ha of shrimp bred under high-tech shrimp farming, up nearly 100ha against a year ago, according to the province’s Fisheries Sub-department.

Under high-tech shrimp farming, shrimp can be bred at a density of 250-500 shrimps per sq.m. Water used for breeding shrimp is closely managed and is not affected by weather conditions, so shrimp can be bred year round.

Nguyen HuuThi, head of the sub-department’s Aquaculture Management Division, said the high-tech shrimp farming models in the province have had positive results and helped shrimp breeders cope with climate change.

High-tech shrimp farming has also improved production efficiency since shrimp are bred at a high density, he said.

To encourage more farmers to apply high-tech farming, the division is organising courses on advanced farming techniques to help farmers make the switch from traditional shrimp farming.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Results of a study into mediation at the grassroots level by the Justice Initiatives Facilitation Fund (JIFF) were discussed in Hanoi on July 8.

The event was co-held by the Vietnam Judicial Support Association for the Poor (VIJUSAP), Oxfam in Vietnam, and JIFF.

In an address, VIJUSAP President Dr Ta Thi Minh Ly said mediation at the grassroots level holds a great importance, as this is the first step in handling differences of opinion and legal violations, and serves as a cornerstone for stability and solidarity in the community and in socio-economic development.

It also helps protect citizens’ legitimate rights and benefits, especially those of the disadvantaged.

However, Ly noted, the study also found that access to mediation at the grassroots level remains limited, as people only pay attention to the issue when conflicts and disputes occur.

Local customs can also create conditions unfavourable for mediation.

She pointed out that there is a lack of constant communication, personnel, and documents on the issue, among other concerns.

During the discussion, delegates analysed bottlenecks in policies and legal regulations and put forward recommendations to improve mediation at the grassroots level.

Vietnam needs to amend legal regulations on the issue and review the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and social organisations in the establishment of mediation groups, they said.

Pham QuangTu, Deputy Country Director of Oxfam Vietnam, said the participation of many stakeholders, especially women, is significant in raising the efficiency of mediation at the grassroots level.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Vietnam’s labour export activities are showing signs of recovery from COVID-19.

Vietnamese labourers who have been working in Malaysia have been told they can return to work, but not until the end of August.

And moves are being made to allow workers to return to both the Republic of Korea and Taiwan (China) in the near future.

The Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) has said the Malaysian Government officially announced to end the valid restricted movement order.

In a recent meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc assigned the ministry make arrangements to send labourers to countries which are safe and in need of workers.

Nguyen GiaLiem, the department’s deputy director, said the three markets received more than 90 percent of the total of Vietnamese labourers in foreign countries.

Employers in the RoK and Taiwan wanted Vietnamese labourers to come back to resume their production as soon as possible. The Human Resource Development Services of Korea last month organised the Korean language proficiency tests in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, showing that this market would be soon re-openned.

Liem said the labour demand in Japan was also very high, especially in sectors of agriculture, taking care of the elderly and food processing. The two countries have been under negotiations to resume their labour market hopefully by the end of this month or the beginning of August.

Pham Do Nhat Tan, vice chairman of Vietnam Association of Manpower Supply (VAMAS), said the labour export market has seen signs of recovery. It was expected that Japan would soon re-open. Local firms operating in the sector should prepare workers to meet the demand as soon as the country resumes the market.

In addition, the Government should negotiate with Japan to have flexible solutions to bring workers to safe areas without COVID-19, he said.

In mid-June, Hoang Long CMS Company brought 29 workers to Taiwan following an order of Kymco Group for its electronic motorbike assembly factory.

NghiemQuoc Hung, the company’s chairman cum general director, said labourers were provided with accommodation and isolated for 14 days before starting work.

Vu ThanhHai, director of international investment and service company, Interserco, also said they have started to complete procedures for labourers to move to Taiwan this month. Workers in production sectors would be given priorities. Some Taiwanese companies have already arranged quarantine areas for Vietnamese labourers.

Vietnam aims to send 130,000 labourers to work overseas this year. However, the country has so far only sent 33,500 people to foreign markets in the first half of the year due to the pandemic, reducing 40 percent from the same period last year. In May only, local businesses sent just 126 workers abroad.

In the last six months, more than 5,000 Vietnamese labourers in overseas markets returned home because of COVID-19.

Source: Vietnam News Agency