Vietnam News Agency aims to become strong media group

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) will focus its investment on key information products, improve the quality of its human resources and strengthen management capacity in a bid to become a strong national media group, the agency leader said on its 63 rd founding anniversary.

“With the motto ‘solidarity, stability and development’, in the future, the VNA will continue maintain its role as the only national news agency of the country and an important and reliable strategic information centre of the Party and the State,” said Managing Deputy General Director Tran Mai Huong at a ceremony in Hanoi on September 15.

He went on to say that the VNA must diversify its types and contents of information to cater to the demand of both local and foreign audience.

On this occasion, many organisations and individuals of the VNA were honoured by the State for their good performance, including the Labour Order, second class, conferred to the International Cooperation Centre and the Labour Order, third class, to Deputy General Director Ha Minh Hue.

As part of the ceremony, the VNA presented the 2008 VNA Press Awards to outstanding works by its correspondents.-

Mekong landslides escalate in danger

Mekong Delta (VNA) – Landslides in the Mekong River Delta are becoming a severe problem, according to officials at the Central Committee for Flood and Storm Control (CCFSC).

CCFSC said that this year landslides frequently occurred in the Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap, An Giang, and Vinh Long as well as Can Tho City.

In An Giang, hundreds of hectares of land have fallen into rivers, 40 hectares from Vinh Hoa Commune alone. The flow of Van Nao and Hau Rivers have driven hundreds of households off their land.

Landslides have also occurred in Dong Thap Province . Nearly 100km of riverbank in 39 communes, wards and towns has tumbled into the river. Hong Ngu District is the worst hit with five landslides from May and has lost hundreds of meters of road.

There are eight serious erosion spots in Can Tho, mainly in the section of the river from Can Tho City to Tan Quoi Commune.

The water has eaten away 7.2 metres of land off of the right bank of Hau River . Two serious landfalls have occurred at a section of the bank on the Can Tho River in Phong Dien District, one of four outlying districts of Can Tho City, causing numerous houses to collapse.

Vinh Long has 56 serious erosion spots with a total area of about 76 km with 1,500 households.

Landslides of increasing severity are occurring in several other locations, including Tan Hoa Commune in the Vinh Long township; from Ca Loc rivulet mouth to My An rivulet mouth in the district Mang Thit; and Tra On town in Tra On district.-

Maritime sectors fall short of workers

Hanoi (VNA ) – Vietnam was currently short 70 percent of skilled workers in sea law and management, a seminar in Hanoi heard on Saturday.

The seminar aimed to seek solutions to improve human resources training for the maritime sector to effectively tap into the country’s potential.

“Sectors facing severe human resource shortages include logistics in maritime economic development, sea management and laws,” said Dr Nguyen Van Cu, deputy head of the Vietnam Sea and Island General Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The number of skilled workers in sea law and management, including coastal management and management over coastal planning and use of islands, meets only 20-30 percent of demand, he said.

Many experts attributed the shortfall to the failure of training to meet the real demands of the work force.

Improving training quality and boosting co-operation between relevant ministries, universities and agencies were essential to help ease the shortage, said Nguyen Manh Hien, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

Universities only train a limited number of officials for the maritime sector. The Vietnam Water Resources University , for example, trains annually between 70-100 graduates in the fields of marine and coastal management.

Meanwhile, the training of the hydrometeorology work force has been mainly carried out by Hanoi and HCM City universities of science.

According to Dr Le Duc Toan, the maritime sector will face a shortage of more than 800 officers by 2010.-

Health Ministry launches HIV/AIDS website for youth

Hanoi (VNA) – An HIV/AIDS website for Vietnamese youth was officially launched on Sept. 15.

The website www.hoanhiptim.vn aims to provide latest information on the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS pandemic, basic knowledge on reproductive healthcare and gender issues to people aged between 15-24, especially high-risk and vulnerable groups, drug addicts and migrating youth.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony in Hanoi, Deputy Head of the Health Ministry’s General Department of Population and Family Planning Nguyen Van Tan said that the dissemination of information on HIV/AIDS prevention and control among young people is the most effective way when there is neither vaccine nor an effective treatment method for AIDS.

The launching of the website meets young people’s increasing demand for information through the Internet, he noted.

The website is part of a HIV/AIDS prevention and control project for young people which is jointly implemented by the General Department and the Asian Development Bank.-

Two Turkish forced to leave Vietnam on robbery charges

HCM City (VNA)- Mehnet Zafer, 37, and Oruch Hakki, 27, from Turkey , were forced to leave Vietnam on September 15 and banned from any other entries after being arrested by police for snatching a local’s wallet.

The decisions were made by immigration police in Ho Chi Minh City where the two Turkish men committed their crimes in late July.

Municipal investigation police reported that on July 27, the two Turkish guys got to a coal shop on the Huynh Man Dat Avenue by a motorbike, where Mehnet Zafer entered into the shop while Oruch Hakki was waiting outside with their motorbike engine still operating.

Zafer asked for 1.5 kg of coal and paid with a 500,000 VND banknote, the biggest value in the Vietnamese currency. He had pillaged the wallet which contained 8.7 million VND in the hand of the shop owner named Tran Ngoc Thu while she was paying balances.

Zafer attempted to run away with his accomplice waiting outside on the operating motorbike. He however was caught by surrounding people after calls for help from the shop owner and handed over to local police.

Later on, Kakki was also arrested by police.–

Accidents cause most child deaths

HCM City (VNA) – Accidents cause 75 percent of the deaths of children over one year old in Vietnam , according to the Vietnam Multi-Centre Injury Survey held by the United Nations.

Every year, about 27,000 children die of accidents nationwide. Drowning and traffic accidents are most common, followed by food poisoning, injuries from sharp objects and burns.

Last year, traffic accidents accounted for 40 percent of child fatalities in HCM City , and 15 percent in Hanoi .

Meanwhile, about 10 children drown in Vietnam every day. In 2006, 51.2 percent of the 7,198 child deaths were drowning related. Most of the cases are reported from the Mekong and Red River deltas with the peak being during the summer holidays.

The number of children affected by family violence also rose, from 665 reported cases in 2005 to 800 cases in 2007.

According to HCM City ’s Paediatric Hospital No.1, children are rushed to the hospital every summer break, with 40 cases of snake bites, 50 cases of bee stings and 20 cases of drowning this summer alone.

Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa, a doctor at the General Medical Department, said that 60 percent of chemical poisoning cases treated in the hospital were children under five.

Parental carelessness and unsafe living conditions are cited as the main cases injuries.

Health experts advise parents to pay more attention to their children, especially during summer breaks, to decrease child mortality. Parents should also teach their children about dangerous animals to avoid.

Experts also recommend schoolchildren be taught how to avoid accidents and how to swim.

They also said health workers should be taught first aid and ways to prevent accidents and that classes should be set up for parents and commune officials to learn emergency aid.-

Germany helps Ben Tre province build rural bridges

Ben Tre (VNA) – The Mekong Deltat province of Ben Tre has finished the construction of 121 out of 137 rural bridges planned to be built with aid from the German government and Schmitz Fund.

The remaining 16 bridges will be completed later this month.

The Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and a private fund, named Schmitz, had committed to providing 348,390 EUR for the project to build 137 bridges in the canal-inter twined province in 2007-2008.

The ferro-concrete bridges designed to be 25 metres long, 1,2 metres wide are mainly built for remote and underprivileged areas.

Earlier, the Schmitz Fund had helped Ben Tre build 30 rural bridges with a total length of 384 m, worth more than 1 billion VND in total.

In response to the Ben Tre authorities’ appeal, governmental and non-governmental organisations and businesses at home and abroad have granted more than 50 billion VND to help it build 682 rural bridges with total length of more than 13 km.-

NA studies experiences from Netherlands

Hanoi (VNA) – A Vietnamese National Assembly delegation led by Vice Chairman Huynh Ngoc Son made a working visit to the Netherlands from Sept. 10-12.

The delegation had working sessions with the Netherlands ’ Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Security and Defence to exchange experiences in performing legislative and oversight functions of parliamentary agencies.

The delegation was received by Gerdi Verbeet, President of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands , who appreciated the recent developments in cooperation between the two countries and parliaments.

The visit was a vivid manifestation of the bilateral relationship, that marks its 35th anniversary this year, Gerdi Verbeet stressed.

Vice Chairman Son briefed his host of the progresses in Vietnam-Netherlands trade ties. He praised the results of Dutch investment projects in Vietnam and expressed his hope to see more effective projects from the European country.

The two sides expressed delights to see the bilateral parliamentary relations developing, which they wished to be boosted in coming time, particularly with more Vietnam visits by Dutch parliamentary agencies.

During the visit, the Vietnamese delegation also visited several economic establishments, including the Damen shipyard, one of the world’s leading shipbuilding groups that has been fruitfully investing in Vietnam.-

Hanoi delegation visits Vientiane for stronger cooperation

Hanoi (VNA) – A delegation of Hanoi, led by Pham Quang Nghi, Politburo member of the Party Central Committee and Secretary of Hanoi Party Committee, on Sept. 15 began a three-day working visit to the Vientiane capital of Laos to promote the two capital cities’ friendship and cooperation.

The Hanoi officials on the same day held talks with a high-level delegation of Vientiane , led by Sombath Yialiheu, member of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Secretary of Vientiane’s Party Committee.

The two sides reviewed the two cities’ cooperation over the recent past and agreed on a cooperative programme for the near future.

Vientiane ’s leader highly appreciated Hanoi ’s cooperation and assistance projects, particularly those involving rural development and personnel training for Vientiane .

Hanoi Party Committee Secretary Nghi affirmed that Hanoi will always give top priority to Vientiane in particular and Laos in general in its policy to promote friendship and cooperation with foreign countries.

The two sides agreed to promote the exchange of delegations at different levels in the time to come.

Hanoi will continue to train politicians and managing officials for Vientiane , send experts to help Vientiane in urban planning and encourage Hanoi businesses to invest in Vientiane and other localities in Laos .

The two sides also agreed to share experiences in preparation for the celebration of Thang Long-Hanoi’s 1,000 founding anniversary and Vientiane ’s 450 th anniversary, both in 2010.

Hanoi officials announced a 2 million-USD aid project for Vientiane to build an administrative officials training school.-

Vietnam proposes more support for child victims of armed conflicts

Geneva (VNA) – Vietnam suggests more international resources for humanitarian programmes for children affected by armed conflicts in order to help them integrate into the community.

The statement was made by Vu Anh Quang, Vice Head of the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations in Geneva , at the closing session of the open debate on “Children and Armed Conflicts” held by the UN Council of Human Rights in Geneva , Switzerland .

Quang emphasised the necessity of having an overall preventive access to children affected by armed conflicts while calling for concerted efforts to prevent conflicts and build legally-based and democratic states in line with sustainable development.

The Vietnamese representative also expressed that the UN should strengthen and create conditions for the exchange of information on the child protection between concerned parties.

As Chair of the UN Security Council in July, Vietnam proposed and hosted a debate on protection of children in armed conflicts, he added.-