US finds Vietnamese bed springs sold for lower prices

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the preliminary decision on the anti-dumping investigation on bed springs imported from China , South Africa and Vietnam , according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Ngo Van Thoan, Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in the US , said that according to DOC, producers and exporters from the three countries had sold bed springs to the US market at prices lower than normal.

The DOC found the dumping bands were from 118.17-234.51 percent for China , 121.39 percent for South Africa and 116. 31 percent for Vietnam .

On the basis of these preliminary findings, the DOC will instruct US customs to collect deposits.

The preliminary dumping bands for South Africa and Vietnam were decided on the basis of adverse facts available because exporters from the two countries cannot meet DOC’s demand for information.

DOC is expected to issue its final decision on this lawsuit in October 2008.-

International rice institution assists Vietnam’s farmers

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) will help transfer farming technology, provide expertise and train farmers as part of a deal signed with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The commitments were made by the IRRI during a working session with a MARD delegation in the Philippines late July.

Director of the Agricultural and Fisheries Promotion Centre and head of the MARD delegation, Tong Gia Khiem, said the two sides had also agreed to work together for the celebrations of the 50 th founding anniversary of the IRRI in Vietnam . The celebrations are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2010.

The IRRI has also helped the country set up a website “Vietnam Rice Knowledge Bank” with its address in Vietnamese as www.caylua.vn .

The site was launched on August 5 after two years’ development with technical assistance from IRRI and the Japanese Government’s funding channeled through the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The website has 12 major themes, ranging from rice production to rice biology, farming techniques, irrigation, nutrition management, epidemics control, harvest and post-harvest technology, seedling nursery technology and rice products.

The wording is reportedly easy to understand, enabling farmers to learn about rice farming directly from the site.

MARD Deputy Minister Dao Xuan Hoc said scientists have created a number of rice strains and advanced technology in recent years and contributed considerably to improving the quality of rice production.

He admitted that the transfer of technology to farmers, however, was still slow and unsystematic.

“The new website ‘Vietnam Rice Knowledge Bank’ is expected to provide broader and deeper knowledge for farmers,” Hoc said.

As the second biggest rice exporter in the world after Thailand , Vietnam plays an important role in the global food market.

The country produces some 34 million tonnes of rice a year, including 8 million tonnes of rice equivalent to 4 million tonnes of husked paddies for export.-

VPBank to sell more stakes to Singaporean partner

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has allowed the Vietnam Bank for Non-state Enterprises (VPBank) to sell an additional 5 percent stake to its strategic Singaporean partner, the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC).

Approval from the SBV Governor will help the OCBC, the third largest financial group in Singapore , increase its stake in VPBank from 10 percent to 15 percent.

Since March 2006 after the OCBC became a strategic partner of VPBank, the two sides have inked a number of cooperation agreements, including the OCBC’s commitment to spend 8.2 million USD on training personnel in three years for VPBank.

The cooperation between the two banks is aimed at making VPBank the leading retail bank in Vietnam .

VPBank has a charter capital of 2 trillion VND and boasts a network of 140 branches and transaction offices throughout the country.

Last month, t he SBV permitted the Southern Bank to sell an additional 5 percent stake to the United Overseas Bank (UOB), helping the Singaporean investor raise its stake in the Ho Chi Minh City-based bank to 15 percent.

The SBV has also given the green light for the Southeast Asia commercial joint stock bank (SeABank) to sell a 15 percent stake to the Societe General SA and the Export-Import Bank (Eximbank) to sell 25 percent of its shares to four foreign partners.

The four partners to buy shares include the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the VOF Investment Limited-British Virgin Islands, the Mirae Asset Exim Investment Limited (MAE) of the Republic of Korea’s Mirae Asset, and the Mirae Asset Maps Opportunity Vietnam Equity Balanced Fund 1 (OVEBF).-

Hunger rate cut by half in July

Despite harsh weather causing a heavy loss of food crops, especially rice, in nine provinces, Vietnam has managed to reduce the hunger rate by 57.3 percent in July as compared to the previous month.

The General Statistics Office reports that the number of famine-hit families fell to 43,700, affecting 198,700 people in July. The figure accounted for 0.38 percent of farmer families or 0.39 percent of the agricultural population nationwide.

Northeastern, northern central and Central Highlands regions were hardest hit by hunger.

The fall in hunger rates was largely attributed to relief aid efforts. It is reported that over 30,000 tonnes of food and 10 billion VND in relief aid has been sent to the target population so far this year. In July alone, 3,600 tonnes of food and 90 million VND in relief aid were distributed.

July witnessed cyclones and landslides hitting nine cities and provinces, causing losses of almost 600 hectares of food crops, especially rice.

Damages were estimated at over 16 billion VND.-

Disadvantaged students get assistance

Two hundred and forty students, all children of Agent Orange victims, in the southern provinces of Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, An Giang, Dong Thap, Kien Giang and Ca Mau and Ho Chi Minh City each received a scholarship of 2 million VND.

The Vuon Len (Outreach) Scholarships, instituted by the Youth newspaper and the Red Cross with donations from the paper’s readers and businesses, aim to ease the difficulties of these students, organisers said.

The students also took part in a two-day trip to HCM City ’s Dam Sen Cultural Park.-

Problems arise from flood control

Construction on hundreds of flood control projects has blocked city sewers, which has worsened flooding during times of heavy rain, Ho Chi Minh City officials have said.

Nguyen Ngoc Cong, deputy director of the city management centre on controlling floods, said construction and installation of drainage systems was preventing the flow of water in some sewers.

For example, digging on Tran Quoc Thao Street where the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal project is taking place has caused unprecedented flooding on nearby streets.

During heavy rains last week, 54 areas, including District 1, were flooded under 0.1-1.6 metres of water.

The city said more drainage works were expected on an additional 81 streets.

Le Toan, deputy director of the Department of Transport and Communication, has urged contractors to speed up construction on the projects and has asked project management boards to unclog the stream flow of canals, tributaries, and drainage systems.

The city has also urged local residents to not throw garbage on streets or in sewers.

Nguyen Hong Tien, a senior official at the Ministry of Construction, said despite the current problems the drainage projects would ultimately solve the city’s flooding problems.

The city is currently working on four large projects funded with Official Development Assistance from foreign donors.

The works, with a total investment of 800 million USD, include the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal drainage project and the Hang Bang irrigation canal drainage project, both of which are expected to be completed by 2010.-

Seminar emphasises newborn screening tests in treating congenital defects

A national seminar in Hanoi on August 4 has underlined newborn screening tests as an effective tool to treat congenital metabolism disorders.

At present, around 500 types of congenital metabolism errors have been identified and one out of every 1,500 children is born with the disorder. However, the issue is still new in Vietnam and the mortality rate among affected children is high due to late detection, the seminar said.

Only 24 provinces and cities nationwide have implemented newborn screening programmes and the tests only cover congenital thyroid failure and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency.

According to a survey conducted by the National Hospital of Paediatrics in 2005, the rate of congenital metabolism disorder among hospitalised children stood at 11.9 percent.

The seminar, jointly held by the National Hospital of Paediatrics and the US Mead Johnson Company, aimed to figure out the rate of children affected by inborn metabolism disorders through screening high-risk groups and improve local doctors’ ability to diagnose and treat the disorders.-

Three killed at quarry in Thanh Hoa province

Three people were killed and five others injured at a quarry using explosives in Dong Hung commune, Dong Son district, northern Thanh Hoa province, on August 4.

All victims are workers of the Tan Thanh Ltd, Co. based in Dong Son district’s Nhoi town.

The injured have been under intensive care at the province’s General Hospital . One of them was reportedly in a critical situation with brain trauma.

Functional agencies are investigating the cause of the accident.-

Workshop targets better policies for the disabled

A training workshop was launched in Hanoi on August 5 to improve government officials’ capacity in mapping out suitable policies for the disabled in the national development.

During the four-day course, learners will be provided with the knowledge of the convention on the disabled, Vietnam’s policies and programmes on the disabled, a plan to build a law on the disabled, as well as the world trend in policies regarding the issue.

They will also visit families of disabled persons and survey the disable’s accessibility to public places in the city.

The workshop is part of a larger project that is implemented in Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar and Vietnam . It is jointly held by the National Coordinating Committee on Disability of Vietnam (NCCD) and Japan ’s Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development (FASID) with funding from the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF).

The project will also include another training workshop in Thailand , a seminar in Vietnam and a concluding conference in Indonesia.-

Vietnamese, Swiss universities establish cooperation

Two agreements on tertiary education cooperation between Vietnamese and Swiss universities were signed in Hanoi on August 5 in the witness of visiting Swiss President Pascal Couchepin and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Under the agreements, the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technologies and the Hanoi National University will cooperate with the Lausanne University and the Geneva University , respectively, in exchanging lecturers and students, granting scholarships, conducting research activities and organising conferences and seminars.

Earlier, President Couchepin, who is on a Vietnam visit from August 3-6, visited the Ministry of Education and Training and met with Minister Nhan on the two countries’ cooperation in education.

After the meeting, Deputy PM Nhan revealed to the press that the two countries will intensify cooperation in training lecturers for tertiary schools in finance-banking and tourism as well as in scientific and technological research.

The Deputy PM said the two countries over the past 12 years have cooperated in training personnel for environmental protection and financial-banking sectors, and masters of business administration.

According to a report on Vietnam-Switzerland education cooperation, some 150 Vietnamese students and trainees are attending training courses at Swiss universities.

Before, during a talks between Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey and Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung in Davos , Switzerland , in January 2007, Switzerland also affirmed its priority on assistance to Vietnam ’s education system.-