Vietnam joins int’l tourism fair in Britain

Vietnam joins int’l tourism fair in Britain

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 20:33 (GMT+7)

Vietnam’s 21 travel and tourism companies are attending the World Travel Market 2009 (WTM) fair that opened in London, the UK on November 9. 

Nguyen Thanh Vuong, deputy director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT)’s travel market department said that Vietnam’s participation in the four-day event aims to promote the country’s image to potential markets, seek new partners and contracts and introduce Vietnam’s preferential policies on investment in the tourism sector. 

The WTM 2009 is expected to attract 50,000 visitors and companies from about 200 countries and regions worldwide.

Source: VOV

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PetroVietnam to explore oil and gas in Cambodia

PetroVietnam to explore oil and gas in Cambodia

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 20:33 (GMT+7)

PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP), a member of the state-owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, will sign with the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) a contract to explore and exploit oil and gas at Block XV in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake area in Phnompenh on November 12.

Exploration is in 7 years under the contract for oil and gas exploitation, which will expire in 30 and 35 years, respectively.

Block XV covering 6,900 square kilometers is PVEP’s 55^th oil and gas project and 17^th project under its direct control.   

The contract will be managed by PVEP-Mekong, a branch of PVEP, which are also deploying oil and gas projects in Laos and Myanmar.

Source: VOV

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Chile to open agricultural office in Vietnam

Chile to open agricultural office in Vietnam

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 23:15 (GMT+7)

Chile will open an agricultural office in Vietnam next year, after setting up four similar ones in China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) as part of Chile’s strategy to boost exports of food and forestry products to the Asian region.

This was announced by Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Marigen Hornkohl, at a recent seminar on opportunities to export food to Asia.

Last year, Chile’s agro-forestry exports to Asia, mainly China, Japan and the RoK, increased sharply to US$2.9 billion from US$1.8 billion in 2006.

Its products included meat, milk, wine, fruit, vegetables and forestry products.

Source: VOV

 

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Vietnam confirms 40th death from A/H1N1 flu

Vietnam confirms 40th death from A/H1N1 flu

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 20:33 (GMT+7)

Health authorities on November 10 confirmed one more fatal case A/H1N1 flu, bringing the total death toll to 40.

The victim was a 17-year-old girl from Dong Anh district, Hanoi. She showed signs of fever, cough and pain in the chest and was sent to the district hospital on November 5, then transferred to the higher-level hospital of Thanh Nhan and later on to the national hospital for communicable and tropical diseases as her condition worsened.

At the hospital, she tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu virus and was treated with Tamiflu and antibiotics. Despite intensive treatment, the girl died on November 7.

By the end of November 10, Vietnam has reported 10,791 H1N1 cases of the super-flu and has already discharged 10,549 of them.

Source: VOV

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Health authorities seek advice on alcohol abuse

Health authorities seek advice on alcohol abuse

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 20:33 (GMT+7)

The conference dubbed “Sharing world experiences in the fight against alcohol abuse” was attended by representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Health Policy Programme of Thailand and the University of Massey, New Zealand.

During the workshop, participants discussed and exchanged national experiences in pricing and taxing alcoholic products, advertisement regulations, policies on reducing and relocating the alcohol distribution outlets, regulations on the age of persons to be qualified for using alcohol, etc.

At present, alcohol consumption in the world is on the rise and has become more prevalent among youths.

Normally, people start using alcohol at the age of 24 but at 15 in some Western countries.

New Zealand participants brought up their experience in reducing the fatality rate due to alcohol (from 44 percent in 1990 to 26 percent in 2001) by conducting random and more flexible breath-tests for drivers and accelerating communication programmes on the dangers of drink driving through the mass media.

Meanwhile, Thai representatives suggested a measure that has already been taken in Vietnam, calling on people to not use alcohol during community events such as funerals, weddings or other types of festivities.

Source: VNA/VOVNews

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Budget deficit to be set at 6.2pct of GDP

Budget deficit to be set at 6.2pct of GDP

QĐND – Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 23:15 (GMT+7)

The National Assembly on November 11 approved a resolution, setting State budget overspending for 2010 at 6.2 percent of the country’s GDP.

The legislature approved the government’s solutions to realize the budget estimates for 2010 and proposals made by the NA Committee for Finance and Budgetary Affairs.

It asked the government to implement its flexible fiscal policy under strict scrutiny, practise thrift and improve spending efficiency while tightening tax management and combating tax evasion.  

It allowed the government to mobilise VND56 trillion from bond sales (equivalent to last year’s figure) for development projects, examine funding for national target programmes and continue to give the self-financed mandate to State organisations, especially those in the healthcare and education sectors.

The NA also proposed that the government review the implementation of its financial tasks in 2006-2010 and plans for the next five and 10 years until 2020.

Source: VOV

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