Music website launches fund for AO victims

A music website on June 18 launched a fund to call for support for Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam .

The launching was to mark the first anniversary of the “Chorus for Justice” programme, initiated by the www.nhacso.net of the FPT Online, under which, more than 15,000 people were online at 15:00 on June 17 last year to jointly sing to voice their support for AO victims.

The “Chorus for justice – Joining hands in easing AO pains” fund will assist
AO victims by calling for donations from organisations and individuals and encouraging them to send messages via telephones to individually contribute 15,000 VND to the fund.

All the proceeds will be handed over to the Vietnam Association for Victims of AO/dioxin every three months.

RoK businessman honoured for charitable work

President and CEO of the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s SK Telecom company Kim Shin Bae on June 18 was presented with the Friendship Medal for his contributions to Vietnam’s charitable and social activities.

SK Telecom has coorganised with Operation Smile Vietnam to provide free facial surgeries for Vietnamese children for over the past 13 years.

Over 2,700 children with facial deformities have so far been received free operations.

Kim and his company have also contributed to the information technology programme for Vietnam young talents, SK Telecom library and other social activities.

City looks to fill 50,000 summer jobs

HCM City-based businesses need to fill at least 50,000 jobs for seasonal demand for the summer, an increase of 20 percent over the same period last year, an employment agency has said.

Recruiters are interviewing candidates for summer jobs in marketing, sales, discount goods delivery, market research, education counseling and financial services.

City agencies in co-operation with youth unions at universities and colleges are organising 10 jobs centres, student support centres and labour supply centres where students can be matched for jobs.

To attract workers, many companies have been offering wages 20-30 percent higher than last year and other incentives for positions that will last from one to three months.

Student-business exchanges are also being held where recruiters have pledged to employ senior students who have performed well and have potential for development during internships.

Thousands of applications this summer have poured into the city’s job centres, where some 3,500 seasonal jobs have been offered to students with a monthly pay of 1.5-2.5 million VND (94-156 USD).

Young Union to teach business skills

he HCM City Communist Youth’s Union central committee will organise 5,000 training classes to provide skills to start businesses to 200,000 young people around the country.

Thirty classes will be reserved for physically disabled people who want to establish their own businesses.

The union plans to spend 120 billion VND (7.5 million USD) for the project which will last from now to 2011.

Police told to boost road safety after rise in traffic accidents

The Ministry of Public Security on June 18 asked the police to tighten traffic order and safety nationwide after 21 provinces reported an increase in traffic accidents.

According to the Road and Railway Transport Police Department, there have been nearly 7,000 accidents so far this year. And 21 localities, including Quang Nam , Tien Giang, Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Ben Tre, Bac Giang, Quang Binh, Binh Duong, Da Nang and Can Tho have had the highest number of accidents, deaths and injuries.

In a directive released on June 18, Lt Gen Tran Dai Quang, deputy minister of Public Security, asked the police to ensure more patrols, punish violators of traffic rules, especially those vehicles which have fake number plates.

For waterway transport, police should focus on penalising violators who do not have driving licences, take to task those ships that do not have lifebelts and pursue overloaded ships.

Police in the 21 provinces with the highest number of accidents, deaths and injuries should ask local people’s committees to take drastic measures to reduce the number of accidents. Those responsible for serious accidents must be prosecuted. The reasons behind the fatalities must be made clear so as concrete solutions can be sought.

It is equally important to penalise drivers who do not wear helmets when riding motorbikes, and those driving three-wheel and four-wheel self-made vehicles.

Strict punishments also should be given to those violating transport rules.

The directive added that anyone found to be corrupt in the police force should also be punished.

More than 780,000 employed in six months

More than 780,000 jobs were filled in the first six months of this year, among them 43,000 are overseas workers, according to the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The ministry says employment has been generated through local socio-economic development programs and the growth of foreign investment.

The establishment of industrial and processing zones, where businesses develop production and attract labourers, is also seen as a contributing factor alongside other government programs including loans provided from the National Fund for Job Promotion and job fairs held throughout provinces and cities.

Deputy Minister of MOLISA Dam Huu Dac says employment remains a social hot issue because labour supply surpasses demand.

Dac said that while labour quality has been improved there are still a large number of untrained workers as well as a lack of skillful labourers to work in industrial and hi-tech parks and to work abroad.

In order to provide jobs for 1.7 million people this year, the most important solution is developing the labour market, the deputy minister said.

Localities and businesses should implement tasks of forecasting and synthesizing labour demands, proposing ways to ensure a balance of job supply and demand, he said.

MOLISA has pledged to speed up the national employment budget’s spending of about 1,600 billion VND and focus on projects that will create jobs for many people.

Vocational training will also be a key ministry concern in order to raise labour quality and two job service centres at important northern and central economic areas will also be put into operation.

Japanese NGO presents wheelchairs to Vietnamese disabled

Japanese non-government organisation Volunteers Group to Send Wheelchairs to Overseas Children presented 80 wheelchairs to the disabled in northern Hai Duong province on June 19.

The wheelchairs, collected from social organisations and parents of disabled children in Japan, are one lot of 172 wheelchairs the NGO has recently donated to Vietnam.

Additionally, the Send Wheelchairs to Overseas Children group delivered more than 100 wheelchairs to disabled children in Hanoi and Hai Phong city in 2006.
Hiroshi Manabi, Counsellor of the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, said the gift showed Japanese people’s willingness to tighten the fine relations with Vietnamese people.

EC doubles budget for social policy reform

The European Commission (EC) will double its budget for Vietnam to 20 million Euro (31 million USD) to support the country in implementing social policy reform.

The Ambassador and Head of the EC Delegation in Vietnam, Sean Doyle, signed the financing agreement with Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh in Hanoi on June 19.

The EC’s grant is part of 88.5 million Euro contributed by the EC and several European Union member countries to finance the 230-million Euro World Bank’s Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC6).

The bank’s sixth PRSC aims to support Vietnamese government’s policy reform agenda through budget support and policy dialogue and has a strong focus on social inclusion, health and education to foster growth and reduce poverty in Vietnam.

The commission says that by supporting the PRSC it is delivering on its commitments to the Hanoi Core Statement on Aid Effectiveness Agenda and contributes to a fruitful dialogue and coordination between the donor community and the Vietnamese Government on the broad policy reform agenda.

Gov’t directions on socio-economic issues

Hanoi – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on June 18 agreed to let the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment receive France ’s expert services for implementing a project on land management in Da Nang , Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City .

The project which studies the feasibility of the improvement and modernisation of land management system in the three cities has received a non-refundable aid of 600,000 Euros from the France ’s FASEP foundation.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem approved the extension of a non-refundable aid agreement worth 610,000 USD of Denmark until the end of Sept 30 for the project on “raising the percentage of people washing hand with soap and preventing diseases related to excrement and water in 2007 and 2008”.

The Deputy PM also agreed to extend the implementation duration for a project on developing the Quang Nam-Da Nang rural power grid, second phase.

The project is financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) to the end of June 2009

Cambodian King to visit Vietnam

Hanoi – Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June 24-26.

The visit will be made at the invitation of State President Nguyen Minh Triet, announced the Foreign Ministry in a statement issued in Hanoi on June 19.