Netherlands offers Hanoi 30,000 tulips

The Dutch government has decided to offer 30,000 tulips to Hanoi to decorate the city for its 1,000th anniversary celebrations in 2010, confirmed the Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam, Jozep Wileem Scheffes.

The ambbasador revealed this at a reception for Nguyen The Thao, Chairman of the Hanoi City People’s Committee to celebrate the start of his new mission in Vietnam.

Mr. Scheffes said he was impressed with the achievements Vietnam has made in recent years and hoped the two countries will develop their links in economics and trade with a focus on transferring agricultural processing technologies to ensure food safety and other areas of potential.

The Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Nguyen The Thao, congratulated the ambassador on his new mission and expressed his sincere thanks to the Dutch government for its offer of 30,000 tulips to decorate the capital city on the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Hanoi will always create the best possible conditions for Dutch businesses to invest in the capital city, said Mr. Thao.

A/H1N1 cases hit 5,164

Vietnam on September 15 reported 262 more cases of A/H1N1, raising the total number of super flu patients in the country to 5,164 as of 5pm the same day.

Of the total, six people have died, and 4,501 others have been discharged from hospital, according to the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Health and Environment Department.

Since the first case of infection was confirmed in May, the number of A/H1N1 cases has increased daily in 50 provinces and cities throughout the country.

With the beginning of the new school year, more and more students have tested positive for the disease.

The Health Ministry has warned students and teachers to take care of their health against the A/H1N1 virus.

Vietnam celebrates Int’l Ozone Layer Protection Day

A ceremony was held in Hanoi on September 16 by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) to celebrate International Ozone Layer Protection Day.

According to a resolution by the UN Security Council on December 19, 1994, September 16 was designated "International Ozone Layer Protection Day".

The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1987, was approved and implemented by all 196 countries. It is also supported by big corporations and consumers all over the world.

To put the protocol into action, from January 2010, all member countries will have to get rid of all substances that deplete the ozone layer like chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), cut down on the emission of hydro chlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) and completely eliminate it by 2030.

MONRE Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Duc said that Vietnam has fully implemented the Montreal Protocol since its approval in 1994.  He added that the country will prohibit the import of harmful substances such as CFCs from January 1, 2010.

“However, the amount of HCFC, which is mostly used in cooling, air-conditioning and seafood processing, is still very high at about 3,000 tonnes and is forecast to increase in the future,” Duc said.

It was estimated by foreign and domestic experts that Vietnam needs about US$20 million to completely stop the use of HCFCs in the next 15 to 20 years.

Although it is a big task for MONRE, the ministry is determined to complete it. The Department of Meteorology and Climate Change is now working with the World Bank to collect information about the quantities and areas where HCFCs are used in Vietnam. They expect to find sponsors to help carry out the project scheduled for 2011.

MONRE will propose to the Government a number of measures to ensure that Vietnam meets the Montreal Protocol’s deadlines for elimination of HCFCs.

Coach tours attract more visitors to China

Since early August, coach tours have attracted a large number of visitors to China thanks to their cheap prices, according to a representative of the Saigontourist Travel Agency.

Saigontourist said that they preferred going to Kunming and Nanning, which lie next to the Vietnamese-Chinese border.

Due to the economic crisis, visitors often make a choice of neighboring countries to minimise their expenditure. Tours of China and Cambodia now attract more customers than tours of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Doan Thanh Tra, head of Saigontourist’s Marketing Department said that tours of China accounted for 35 percent of the company’s total revenue from overseas tours. Currently, Saigontourist has developed a diverse range of tours of China, such as traditional tours and special tours of Beijing for older people.

Vietnam Airlines offers an airfare discount of 60-70 percent

Vietnam Airlines has offered an airfare discount of 60-70 percent on all flights from October 1, 2009 to January 3, 2010, said Nguyen Thi Minh Yen, director of the Vietnam Airlines (VNA) office in the Southern region on September 16.

The promotional programme aims to stimulate domestic tourism and attract overseas visitors to Vietnam during the tourism season from November to March, she said.

The tickets must be booked from October 1-20 through its website or ticket booking agencies.

This is the largest promotional programme ever held by VNA so far. 

VND340 billion raised for the Fund for the Poor

The organising committee for the “Day for the Poor” programme has received donations worth VND340 billion from various organisations and individuals nationwide and overseas.

The committee will use the money to build hundreds of thousands of houses. By late August this year, it had recognised the efforts made by the country’s 17 provinces and cities in upgrading houses for the poor people.

According to Huynh Ngoc Dam, head of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, all cities and provinces will join in the “Day for the Poor” progamme and prepare well for the “Month for the Poor” event to be held from October 17-November 18. They plan to provide 500 new houses for the poor.

2009 Vietnam Personnel Day to be held in Hanoi

The Vietnam Educational Consultants Organisation, the Vietnam Personnel Forum and the Chief Human Resource Officer Club on September 16 held a press conference about 2009 Vietnam Personnel Day.

The event will be held at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi on October 31. This is an open forum to discuss the country’s personnel problems and will become an annual event for leaders and employees working in personnel.

At least 500 people including business people and chief human resource officers from many domestic and foreign enterprises will take part in the conference.

Vietnam’s beer consumption second in Southeast Asia

An average Vietnamese consumed 22 litres of beer in 2008, standing just behind the Thais in Southeast Asia , according to the Vietnam Association of Beer, Alcohol and Beverages.

The information was unveiled on September 15 by Nguyen Van Hung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Beer, Alcohol and Beverages.

In a report on Vietnam’s food and drink in the first quarter of the year, the Business Monitor International Ltd. (BMI), a global business consultancy company, pointed out that in Vietnam beer sales will remain the primary driver for the drink industry as it accounted for almost 97.9 percent of alcoholic drinks sales in 2008.

The BMI forecast that beer sales is likely to experience the strongest growth of 48.6 percent during the 2008-2013 period due to the high levels of investment from local players and expansion-oriented multinationals.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), beer, alcohol and soft drinks industry make up 21 per cent of the total production value of the country’s food and drink sector and 4.56 per cent of the nation’s industrial production value. It has grow at an average annual rate of 20 percent.

MoIT said that during 2005-2008, the sector’s production costs reached VND27.2 trillion or US$1.53 billion (55.8 percent for beer, 36.7 percent for soft beverages and 6.06 percent for alcohol and spirits).

Many of the world’s big beer and alcoholic and beverages corporations over the past years have invested in Vietnam, including Carlsberg, Heineken, Tiger and San Miguel. US brewery giant Anheuser-Busch confirmed that it was to unveil its flagship Budweiser beer brand in the Vietnamese market.

VOV inaugurates US bureau

Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) officially inaugurated its overseas bureau in Washington, DC, on September 16 in the presence of officials from the US Department of State and ASEAN missions, reporters from US and international media groups, and representatives of the Vietnamese overseas community.

On addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese ambassador to the US Le Cong Phung stressed that the event is of great significance, marking a new level of growth for the Vietnamese media system and VOV in particular.

Mr Phung added that VOV new bureau in the US will help to boost ties of cooperation between both countries.

Meanwhile, VOV Director-General Vu Van Hien said that international integration is an inevitable part of each country’s development and the press needs to be part of that process.

VOV now has seven bureaux overseas in France, Russia, Thailand, China, Japan, Egypt and the US, providing its audience with more up-to-date news about daily eventsin different regions and the world.

These bureaux also help to promote Vietnam’s image to international friends and contribute to national construction and development.

Dengue fever on rise in Hanoi

The number of dengue fever cases has risen sharply in northern Vietnam, especially in Hanoi, with 500-700 cases reported each week, a 10- to 12-fold rise year on year, said Nguyen Huy Nga, Head of the Health Ministry’s Preventive Health and Environment Department.

At present, there are more than 57,000 patients, an annual increase of approximately 13 percent, 44 of whom have died, down 10 percent from last year, he added.

Hanoi, which declared itself free of the epidemic for many years, has been hit hard by the mosquito-caused disease due to a surge in construction activity and population density, Mr Nga told VNA.

The ministry is continuing to spray chemicals to kill the mosquitoes and mosquito larva, and increase public awareness to prevent and control dengue fever and clean up the environment.

Dengue is spreading in many countries worldwide but there is currently no inoculation for the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

Vietnam’s efforts in tobacco control praised

Co-President of the Global Smoke-free Partnership, E. Ulysses Dorotheo, praised Vietnam’s efforts in tobacco control at a seminar held in Hanoi on September 15- 16.

The seminar, entitled “For a Tobacco-free Vietnam”, was co-organised by the Health Ministry and the American Cancer Society for the media to exchange experiences in communications works on smoking.

Dorotheo also expressed his fine impression about the warnings of smoking dangers on tobacco packaging in Vietnam, which are printed in large letters.

However, Vietnam is one of countries in the world with the highest rate of male smokers (56 percent).

Ly Ngoc Kinh, Head of the Treatment Department under the Health Ministry, said that the number of deaths from smoking-related diseases was estimated at about 30,000-40,000 a year in Vietnam. In addition, the money spent to buy tobacco and treat diseases related to smoking constitutes an economic burden on individuals, families, and the society as a whole.

In 2007 only, Vietnamese people spent as much as VND14 trillion (US$784 million) on tobacco and over VND1 trillion (US$56 million) on treating tobacco-related diseases.

The Vietnamese Government has committed to campaign against the evils of tobacco and was the 47th among 160 countries to ratify the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. On August 21, 2008, the Prime Minister approved the plan to implement this convention.

The WHO also expressed its concern that in recent years, while the number of smokers has fallen in developed countries, it has increased in developing ones, especially among the poor and low-income earners.

Mobifone pledges to help children with birth defects

Mobifone has pledged initial support of US$50,000 to Operation Smile Vietnam for surgeries on 200 children born with facial deformities.

A bilateral cooperation agreement was signed in Hanoi on September 15 between VMS-Mobifone and Operation Smile, a non-profit organisation to provide free surgeries to children with maxillo-facial deformities in developing countries, including Vietnam.

In addition, both sides will set up a system to seek out patients in need of the surgery. Via this information channel, they plan to raise awareness of the importance of community care among the general population.

Right after signing, Mobifone launched a message service to raise funds for the cause. Donors can send their message with content “smile” or “nu cuoi” to 9250 at charge of VND10.000 per message. All money raised will go to Operation Smile for upcoming surgeries for Vietnamese children.

Concert to raise funds for disabled children

A charity concert will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 20 to raise funds for disabled Vietnamese children.

The proceeds from the “For children’s smiles” programme, co-organised by the Voice of Vietnam (VOV), the Vietnam International Bank (VIB) and Operation Smile Vietnam (OSV), will be used to provide free surgery to children with facial deformities and cleft palates.

The gala night will include reports on OSV’s activities, discussions with disabled children and surgeons as well as performances by famous Vietnamese singers such as Dan Truong, My Tam and Minh Quan.

OSV, a non-governmental organisation has operated in Vietnam since 1989 and so far has performed free operations on more than 12,000 children born with facial deformities.

With this programme, OSV hopes to provide free surgery for 4,000 Vietnamese children this year.