Vietnam Dailys

The Government has urged ministries and local authorities to set up a database for child adoptions and make a list of children living in social care centres to shore up protection of adopted children, particularly in cases with foreign adoptive parents.

The request includes action by the Ministry of Justice to work with authorities to monitor and protect Vietnamese adopted children abroad.

The ministry will be required to advise on finding families for children with disabilities and serious diseases in an effort to lift adoption rates in cities with high numbers of orphans. Cases of child abuse such as sexual exploitation and child labour will be punished according to current law.

The Government has asked the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs to profile children with disadvantaged circumstances in social care centres to relocate them to new homes. The Ministry of Public Security will be responsible for verifying the origin of abandoned children for adoption.

Under the request, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be responsible for guiding procedures on children adopted through foreign-based offices and protecting adopted children abroad.

The Law on Child Adoption was issued in 2010. Viet Nam is also a member of the Lahay Convention of Child Protection and International Co-operation in Child Protection.

Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung argued that as a result, science and technology would play a vital role in improving the situation. He said that scientists should take responsibility for doing research repairing and improving the quality of agricultural production, building rural areas and improving farmers' living conditions.— VNA/VNS Photo
HA NOI (VNS)— Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung has stressed that agriculture is Viet Nam's key economic sector and, therefore, boosting production in this field will help the country achieve international economic integration.


Chairman Hung made the statement in Ha Noi on Saturday at a national conference which was held to review the use of science-technology in agricultural development based on a resolution by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.

The NA Chairman, who is Head of the Steering Committee reviewing the resolution's five-year implementation, said that the meeting offered a good chance for participants, including researchers, to share their experiences and contribute to science-technology development, serving the nation's task of building agricultural and rural areas more effectively.

The conference also featured important recommendations on raising the income of farmers through the utilisation of newly-developed technology.

The country's agricultural economic sector had not yet proved its required effectiveness, Hung said, citing the low competitive edge of agricultural products as an example.

He argued that as a result, science and technology would play a vital role in improving the situation. He said that scientists should take responsibility for doing research repairing and improving the quality of agricultural production, building rural areas and improving farmers' living conditions.

Since 2008, the State has spent more than VND2.1 trillion (US$98.7) implementing projects to build laboratories. Technological improvement has already helped to increase productivity and quality while lowering prices, making Vietnamese products become more competitive on the world market. — VNS

Maritime cooperation is expected to be discussed when Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera meets his Vietnamese counterpart Phung Quang Thanh in Hanoi Monday, Kyodo News reported.

The meeting comes amid China’s growing activities in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and territorial disputes with Vietnam and its dispute with Japan in the East China Sea.

Onodera is also expected to express Tokyo’s support for Vietnam’s possible participation in UN peacekeeping operations and visit Vietnamese naval facilities, the Japanese news agency said quoting the country's Defense Ministry.

Onodera’s Vietnam visit is part of a five-day trip starting Sunday that will also take him to Thailand, where he will meet with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who also serves as defense minister.

He will explain Tokyo's defense policy and strengthen cooperation in antipiracy operations with Thailand.

On August 9 Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh led a high-ranking military delegation to attend the second Vietnam – Japan dialogue on defense policy.

The two sides agreed to support each other in researching and managing their seas and take part in international forums on establishing rules and codes of conduct at sea in accordance with international laws, Vietnam News Agency reported.

They emphasized the need to resolve disputes and differences over maritime sovereignty issues through peaceful measures to avoid armed conflict.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Vietnam – Japan diplomatic relations.

Foreign direct investment in Vietnam has exceeded the country's full-year target of US$13-14 billion, data compiled by news website Saigon Times showed.

The Foreign Investment Agency had tallied $12.63 billion as of late last month.

In the last week alone, investment has risen with at least an additional of $1.7 billion, to exceed $14.3 billion in total.

The latest funds included $170 million for three Japanese projects in the Ho Chi Minh City, a $100 million infusion in tire manufacturing by South Korea’s Kumho Asiana in the southern province of Binh Duong, and a $1.5 billion investment in a high-tech complex by South Korea’s LG Electronics in the northern city of Hai Phong.

The total investment marks the second straight year that Vietnam has achieved its FDI target after missing it the two previous years.

Despite growing FDI, analysts said the country’s business environment was less competitive compared to other Southeast Asia countries.

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In a recent interview broadcast on Vietnam Television, Minister of Investment and Planning Bui Quang Vinh said the country was losing to its neighbors like Indonesia and Thailand in attracting foreign investment.

He said Vietnam would face problems in the coming years if it continues to try to attract high-tech projects without upgrading its poor infrastructure and streamlining its complicated formalities.

A South African protester holds a sign and a fake rhino horn during a demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in Pretoria in 2011, calling on the government to stop poachers from killing rhinos for their horns. An international research has confirmed that rhino horn consumers are wealthy and use the horn mostly to confirm their social status within Vietnamese society.


PHOTO: AFP

New international research appears to confirm the widely-held belief that regardless of what people say about “health benefits,” the desire of wealthy urban Vietnamese to show off is the strongest driver of the rhino poaching crisis that has bedeviled both South Africa and Vietnam.
The research, funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA), surveyed 720 people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City this year and showed that rhino horn consumers are wealthy and use the horn mostly to confirm their social status within Vietnamese society.

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While their reasons for purchasing and consuming rhino horn are linked to an underlying belief in its medicinal properties, the dominant current trend is to use the dead animal to enhance social standing, according to the survey.

“Research reveals that typical users of rhino horn are successful, well-educated men, over the age of 40 who live in Vietnam’s main urban centers,” Jo Shaw, WWF-SA’s rhino co-ordinator, said in a statement accompanying the release of the research findings on September 17.

“They value their luxury lifestyle, which is often based around meeting peer group pressures and tend to view animals as commodities to serve functional and income-generating purposes rather than feeling an emotional connection,” Shaw said.

Independent conservationists have endorsed the research, saying it is the first comprehensive survey into the use of rhino horn in Vietnam.

“There is nothing new in the report that we do not know already,” said Douglas Hendrie, an American technical advisor for Education for Nature-Vietnam, one of Vietnam's few locally based conservation groups.

“But this is important to have it independently verified through a scientific survey. A very good thing for everybody,” he told Vietweek.

In Vietnam, several lawmakers have even been more forthright, publicly accusing rich businessmen of using rhino horns to cement good ties with government authorities.

“Nowadays, bribes for officials are disguised in the form of not only gifts, luxury vacations and cars, but also rhino horns, bear bile, or tiger bone paste,” said Le Nhu Tien, an outspoken lawmaker who has been vocal on the issue since last year.

It’s glorious to be rich... except for rhinos

Perhaps one of the most significant findings of the research is that the number of potential buyers and consumers of rhino horn could triple that of those who are currently buying and using it.

Of 720 people surveyed, five percent admitted to buying or consuming rhino horn. But among those not currently using rhino horn, 16 percent are “intenders”, individuals who said they wanted to buy or consume rhino horn in the future.

With the increase of wealth in Vietnam’s upper-middle class, this group will soon become rhino horn consumers, WWF-SA said in the statement.

“This is definitely one of the most depressing results from the survey,” Naomi Doak, coordinator of the Southeast Asia-Greater Mekong Program at the international wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC, told Vietweek.

International debacle

On the day the research was released, a 29-year-old Vietnamese national was arrested trying to smuggle five rhino horns out of Kenya, according to news site AllAfrica. The man was in transit from Maputo, Mozambique en-route to Hong Kong via Doha, Qatar, it said.

Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Muya told Capital FM News that Le Manh Cuong was found in possession of the five pieces of rhino horns weighing 20.1kgs packed in a hand-drawn suitcase stuffed with mattress cuttings to disguise the contraband.

South Africa, home to more than 20,000 rhinos, or about 90 percent of all rhinos in Africa, lost 668 of them to poachers last year. At least 635 have been poached so far this year.

International conservation groups have identified Vietnam and China as the world’s two major consumers of rhino horns, charges the two countries have bristled at.

South Africa and Vietnam have signed a pact on biodiversity management to curb the rampant illegal trade in rhino horns.

Conservationists are looking to make the most of the findings of the WWF-SA research to beef up the combination of enhanced law enforcement and demand-reduction campaigns to shift attitudes and behaviors against the trend in rhino horn use within the growing middle-class in Vietnam.

South Africa and Swaziland are the only two countries in the world to legalize rhino hunting. "Personal" hunting trophies can also be legally exported, but only the hunters in whose name the hunting and export permits are issued can legally possess them.

However, according to figures released by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), 657 rhino horns were legally imported from South Africa into Vietnam as hunting trophies between 2003 and 2010.

But the figure recorded by Vietnamese authorities is only 170, meaning that the remaining horns, whose value for the purpose of import taxes has been estimated at US$2 million, were not declared.

Vietnamese were second only to US hunters in terms of the number of rhino hunts undertaken in South Africa in 2007-09.

Conservation groups have urged South Africa to stop the trophy hunts to curb the supply side, but opponents of the ban say hunting played a key conservation role.

It is only through the profits from regulated trophy hunting that farmers started stocking, breeding and conserving rhinos, they say.

But Allan Thornton, president of the Environmental Investigation Agency, an environmental group based in Washington and London, said the “powerful” commercial hunting industry in South Africa has failed to ensure “even modest” self regulation which “led to the eruption of illegal export of rhino horn from South Africa to Vietnam.

“[That] has directly led to the poaching crisis the country and other rhino range states are currently experiencing.”

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has acknowledged Vietnam’s efforts in introducing trade policies, in line with WTO rules and regulations, since it joined the organisation in January 2007.

 All 27 members of the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB) on September 17 spoke highly of the achievements Vietnam has made since its accession, considering Vietnam a success story.
In an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, who is leading a Vietnamese delegation to the Trade Policy Review in Geneva, said the TPRB delegates were impressed by Vietnam’s trade policy developments.
They proposed Vietnam continue finalising its legal system, accelerating administrative reform, especially investment and export procedures, strengthening the enforcement of intellectual property rights, and speeding up the restructuring of State-owned enterprises.
Some asked Vietnam to further open up its market for a number of services and timely inform the WTO of changes in its trade policies.
The review is initiated by the WTO to assess trade policies of its members, helping them perfect their policies in conformity with WTO rules and regulations.
This is the first time Vietnam has presented its report to the WTO  after it joined the world’s largest trade body six years ago.
If its trade value in proportion to global trade remains stable, the second review will take place in another six years time. If the proportion increases, the timing for review will be shortened to four or even two years.
Vietnam worked closely with the WTO Secretariat to complete a 183-page report on the country’s trade policies. It also answered more than 500 questions after the report was transferred to WTO members.
According to Khanh, Vietnam hopes to learn from experts’ recommendations to finalise its legal system and improve its business environment.
“This is also a chance for Vietnam to promote its image globally, showing how we are serious about fulfilling WTO commitments,” said Khanh.

Vietnam has recently reported several criminal cases related to counterfeit credit cards and the situation may well get worse in the future.

Criminals are now using more sophisticated methods, thanks to advances in technology, making them much harder to catch.
Not only Vietnamese criminals but also foreigners, now use electronic devices to steal personal information about credit card holders and make counterfeit cards to steal money from ATMs.
Recently, police detected three Bulgarians who used fake ATM cards to withdraw over VND100 million (USD4,727).
Between 2011 and 2012, the Department of High-tech Crime Prevention (C50), under the Ministry of Public Security, detected more than 10 cases of such crimes. Many of the culprits were Malaysian and Chinese people who came to Vietnam to make counterfeit credit cards and passports to use for purchases of expensive goods like smartphones, laptops and even diamonds in HCM City, Hanoi and Danang City.

Three Malaysian criminals  the bar
All of the detected offenders have been tried and jailed for asset appropriation.
Banking experts said that credit card-related crimes tend to move from Europe to Asian countries like Vietnam after European countries succeeded in applying high-tech measures.
In order to deal with the situation, the State Bank of Vietnam has requested that card-payment agencies intensify their security systems and that they should be trained in skills that help them recognise false cards.

Many households in the Old Quarter of Hanoi are finding it hard to sell their houses after a preservation plan was approved.

Previously many people who lived in the outskirts had great demand to own a French-designed old and small tenement house in streets like Hang Bo, Hang Bac, Lan Ong and Hang Thiec. However, at the time many homeowners didn't really want to sell their houses.
Now, while many want to sell their houses, buyers have changed their minds as the preservation plan suggested that around 70% of population in the Old Quarter would have to move to other living places in the next eight years.
Recently, prices of houses in the Old Quarter have decreased by as much as 60% while demand drops.
Phung Van Hung, an official from a real estate floor in Hanoi’s Nguyen Khoai Street said, “Over the past two years, dozens of households in the Old Quarter have offered to sell their houses, only one transaction was conducted with selling price reduced by 30% from initial offer.”
Meanwhile, owners of large private houses in the areas still offer exaggerated prices of up to tens of billions VND. They, however, find it hard to sell even though they are willing to pay large commissions to realtors. The situation is contrary to the trend of several years ago when a lot of companies and people with major sources of capital wanted to buy large houses in the Old Quarter for the construction of offices or hotels.
An official from Han Kiem District’s land management office said, “People should not try to sell their houses in the Old Quarter, but be ready to move and hand over their old houses to relevant authorities in good time.”

Petrolimex’s pre-tax profit of VND388 billion (USD18.47 billion) in its fuel trading in the first half of this year has drawn some scepticism but, a firm official stood by the figure.
 
Petrolimex’s pre-tax profit of VND388 billion in its fuel trading in the first half of this year has drawn some scepticism

According to Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex)’s financial report, total profits in the first six months of this year were VND898.32 billion (USD42.76 million) including VND388 billion from fuel trading.
Deputy Director of Petrolimex, Tran Ngoc Nam, said Petrolimex clearly explained the reasons for the high profits on its website, adding that it earned only an average VND94 per litre of fuel, as it is currently stipulated that fuel wholesalers enjoy a maximal profit of VND300 per litre, according to a circular by the Ministry of Finance.
“The profits show that Petrolimex earned the maximal profit in a certain time during the first half and also suffered from losses at other times. However, it does not mean that the whole business period should be considered a loss. I think that there is no contradiction in Petrolimex’s fuel trading profit,” Nam said.
“I am very disappointed at the way some newspapers have commented on our financial reports. Anyone who does business wants to have profits. If not, the government could turn the petroleum businesses into a public-service," he added.
He also noted that, “We are so tired of this issue. The Ministry of Industry and Trade initially brought it up as an issue, but it was thereafter turned into a public relations issue as the media picked up on it."
He went on to say that petroleum companies have never been allowed to decide retail fuel prices. In the first quarter of 2010, they were permitted to do so in line with Decree 84, but after that due to the global market’s price changes, they were not.
The Petrolimex official also said that, with a large market share, his firm has to continuously import petroleum to ensure the 30-day storage and they do not have a right to select the import time.
Meanwhile, for many other companies are allowed to change their import time, for example, they do not import the fuel when the global price is too high and, import more when the price is lower. This will help to generate profits for them and they can give higher commissions to agents. However, it is not the case for Petrolimex.

A tropical depression on September 17 strengthened into a storm which is moving towards the central coast of Vietnam, according to national weather experts.

At 7.00am, the storm was sweeping across the Hoang Sa archipelago, carrying maximum sustained winds of 70kmh.

The storm is forecast to travel west at a speed of 5-10kmh and affect the central coastal region in the next 24-48 hours.

It will cause rough seas in the waters off the coasts from Quang Binh to Binh Dinh and bring heavy rains to provinces stretching from Nghe An to Khanh Hoa on September 18.

Provincial border guard forces have informed fishing vessels of the storm’s track and instructed them to travel to nearby storm shelters.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English has said the New Zealand government will continue providing official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam at a steady level.

 During talks with Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh in Hanoi on September 17, Bill English, who is also Finance Minister, affirmed that New Zealand considers Vietnam one of its important partners within ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region.
He said he is satisfied with the progress of New Zealand-funded ODA projects in Vietnam.
For his part, Ninh reiterated Vietnam’s consistent policy of attaching importance to cooperation with countries in South Pacific, including New Zealand.
He thanked New Zealand for providing ODA to Vietnam and voiced Vietnam’s support for New Zealand’s new ASEAN strategy announced by Prime Minister John Kerry in July 2013.
Vietnam will work closely with New Zealand and other relevant countries to end current negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement as soon as possible.
Ninh and English shared the view that the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and New Zealand has developed vigorously in all areas, spanning politics, security, national defence, economics, trade, investment, and education.
They agreed to effectively implement the 2013-2016 Plan of Action and the double tax avoidance agreement signed during Governor General Jerry Mateparae’s Vietnam visit in August 2013, aiming to raise two-way trade to US$1 billion by 2015.
They also agreed to increase the exchange of delegations, and strengthen cooperation in security, national defence, and other potential areas such as agriculture, the processing industry, energy, wood and mineral exploitation, milk and beverage production, legislation, education-training, tourism, labour, and people-to-people exchanges.
Both sides will carry out joint activities to successfully celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2015.
The two Deputy PMs exchanged regional and international issues of mutual concern, and agreed to cooperate closely at regional and international forums, including the East Asia Summit (EAS), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC), and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), as well as within the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
Bill English met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and is scheduled to work with Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung and central bank governor Nguyen Van Binh on September 17.

The government has asked the Ministries of Finance and Health to explain why they have allowed infant formulas to be sold at many times their import prices.

It has demanded a report by September 15 following a Vietnam Television feature which quoted customs data to say imported formulas retail for VND400,000-900,000 (US$19-42.7) a can, or up to 10 times their import prices.

Its website said that in January 2011 the health ministry had defined formula products as those with a protein content of at least 34 percent, turning many imported formulas for children under six into food supplements, whose prices are not regulated.


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Economist Ngo Tri Long had criticized this, saying that in many countries formulas only contain 13-17 percent protein.

Le Van Giang, deputy chief of the Vietnam Food Administration, told Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper last week that since 2011 prices of so-called nutritional supplement for babies have been increasing at least a couple times a year.

Two foreigners being pulled over by the traffic police on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street in the popular tourist destination of Mui Ne. The recent ban in tourist areas on renting motorbikes to foreigners without local driver’s licenses has renewed the call to make it easier for them to drive legally. PHOTO: QUE HA

As several provinces have banned renting motorbikes to foreigners without local driver’s licenses, people are once again calling on Vietnam to make it easier for them to drive legally


During his two-week stay in Nha Trang last November, Gololobov Andrey wanted to travel around the coastal town by motorbike.
Despite not having a Vietnamese driver’s license, the 42-year-old Russian tourist had no problem renting a motorbike.

But Andrey died when he lost control of the bike and collided with a wall on Tran Phu Street after crashing into the plastic stools outside a café. Witnesses said he was traveling at around a hundred kilometers an hour – double the speed limit.

Following a rash of accidents involving foreigners nationwide, authorities in Khanh Hoa Province (home to Nha Trang) have forbidden local shops from renting motorbikes to foreigners without Vietnamese driver’s licenses.

The decision was made following a recent directive handed down by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

Meanwhile, the traffic police in several tourist areas like Mui Ne and Phu Quoc Island too are cracking down on foreign drivers.

The move aims to protect foreigners in Vietnam, where roughly 30 people die from traffic accidents every day.

In the first half of this year, more than 5,500 traffic accidents nationwide killed 4,913 people and injured 3,465 others, an increase of 193 cases and 255 fatalities over last year.

Enforcing the Traffic Law for foreign drivers, however, is controversial, with experts and insiders concerned that it will negatively impact tourism and frustrate the expat community, which has long been critical of how difficult it is to obtain a Vietnamese driver’s license.

According to the VNAT directive issued on August 21, foreign tourists renting motorbikes has become more common, and the demand has created a bustling market of motorbike rental shops in tourist destinations and big cities.

“Hiring a motorbike is considered an adventurous and interesting way to tour the country, but driving amid Vietnam’s complicated traffic poses serious risks,” according to the directive.

At a recent consular meeting in Moscow on July 9, Russian representatives urged their Vietnamese counterparts not to let Russian tourists rent motorbikes if they do not have local driver’s licenses.

Foreign privilege

Typically, traffic police in Vietnam are reluctant to pull over foreigners due to language barriers, allowing many violators to get away scot-free.

Captain Truong Quang Phuoc of Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District said the number of foreigners violating the Traffic Law and causing accidents is on the rise of late.

“The most common violation is drinking and driving. Other violations include not wearing a helmet and carrying too many passengers,” he said.

Alex, a British expat living in HCMC, explained what happened when he was pulled over: “When I got off the bike, the police officer saw that I was a foreigner and told me to continue.”

In many cases, foreign drivers found to be at fault in fatal accidents receive far more lenient punishment than locals.

Taiwanese expat Chen Chang Hao was convicted of “violating regulations on controlling road means of transport” for driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a local man in Binh Duong Province, killing him, in May 2012.

Hao was eligible to receive up to three years in prison, in addition to paying a fine of up to VND50 million. However, on August 14, the HCMC People’s Court decided to fine him just VND30 million (US$1,410), sparing him jail time or even probation.

In 2011, the same court expelled Makhov Vladimir Vladimirovich from Vietnam for traffic violations that caused the death of a local man.

The court said Vladimirovich was taking his wife from the Thuy Si Resort in Phan Thiet Town in the central province of Binh Thuan to Mui Ne Town by car, although he did not have a Vietnamese driver’s license. On his way, he crashed into a street vendor, who later succumbed to critical injuries.

Tough talk

Although there are no official nationwide statistics, several localities have reported an increase in traffic accidents caused by foreigners. They had already taken measures to tackle the issue before the recent VNAT directive.

In May, Binh Thuan authorities promised to clamp down on shops that rent motorbikes to foreigners without driver’s licenses following 20 road accidents involving tourists in Mui Ne during the previous three months.

Lieutenant Colonel Dang Tran Duong, chief of Phan Thiet’s traffic police, said the increasing number of foreign tourists driving on local roads constitutes a threat to public safety.

At a meeting on traffic safety in August, Bui Tuyet Minh, director of Kien Giang Police Department also warned about the increase of foreigners driving recklessly on Phu Quoc Island, which is a UNESCO-recognized World Biosphere Reserve and one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations.

“Local authorities in Phu Quoc will not hesitate to pull over foreign drivers in order to avoid regretful cases,” she said, adding that common violations include driving in the wrong lane and drunk driving.

Unfeasible requirements

Meanwhile, many people said that in addition to cracking down on foreigners without driver’s licenses and the shops that rent motorbikes to them, relevant authorities should simplify the procedures for them to drive legally.

According to regulations, only foreigners who have lived in Vietnam for at least three months can apply for a driver’s license. Since there is no test available in English or any other foreign language, applicants must be relatively fluent in Vietnamese.

Nguyen Van Dung, head of Nha Trang’s traffic police, said most foreigners to rent motorbikes are tourists who are in Vietnam for a less than a month and therefore cannot satisfy the three-month residency requirement.

Nguyen Van Dan, deputy director of the Khanh Hoa Department of Transport, said the language barrier is the biggest problem.

Local media reports on the ban against renting motorbikes to foreigners without driver’s licenses have attracted a number of comments online.

Paul Simos, who has written a book he sells online that instructs foreigners in Vietnam how to obtain a local driver’s license, said there should be a quick practical test for the issuance of short term licenses.

“This way they will be in the system and legal,” he said.

“Why is it so easy to rent a motorbike without a license? Enforcement should begin with the motorbike rental shops,” wrote another netizen.

Pham Huu Nam said it is necessary to enforce the Traffic Law thoroughly for both local and foreign drivers.

“However, there should be easier requirements to allow foreigners to obtain a local license,” he said, adding that the driver’s license exam in Vietnam should be available in the languages commonly spoken by tourists.

However, Melvyn Jones, who said he visits Vietnam every year, pointed out that if foreigners were to obtain Vietnamese driver’s licenses, it would not reduce the amount of accidents.

“Both Vietnamese and tourists can drive like lunatics. What is needed is more training and law enforcement.”

Vietnam should raise the bar and formally recognize same-sex marriages, rather than merely lifting the ban on such unions, says one local lawmaker.

In a meeting Tuesday to collect opinions from the National Assembly’s Standing Committee about the draft amendment to the 2000 Marriage and Family Law, Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong said the current ban on same-sex marriages will be replaced by a provision that the government will simply refuse to recognize such marriages.

The National Assembly, Vietnam’s legislature, is expected to debate and vote on the draft amendment to the Marriage and Family Law this October.

“The government thinks that the law can disapprove of homosexual marriages but not intervene in [homosexuals’] rights to live with their chosen partners or abide by their sexual orientation,” said Cuong.

“It is necessary to respect their rights of cohabitation, as well as agreements they may make regarding their personal lives.”

He said same-sex marriage is a sensitive issue, so its recognition should be considered and carried out carefully.

The chairman of the National Assembly Law Committee Phan Trung Ly, however, called the draft amendment to the current marriage law “incomplete.”

“I think we should recognize same-sex marriages, rather than just removing the ban on them,” Ly said, adding, “The law must be precise, and mustn’t include a partial provision like this.”

Vietnam’s Marriage and Family Law established in 2000 banned same-sex marriages. A decree effective since 2001 says that homosexual couples who get married may be fined VND100,000-500,000 (US$ 4.70-23.50).

Last February the Ministry of Justice proposed a draft decree that would double the fine.

The draft was due to take effect July 1, but was scrapped in April amid public criticism which called for the fines to be eliminated and same-sex marriage to be legalized.

At a July 26 press conference, Duong Dang Hue, director of the Civil and Economic Department under Ministry of Justice said the formal recognition of same-sex marriages would contradict traditional Vietnamese culture.

The Netherlands became the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in 2001. Since then, such marriages have become legal in 14 countries on four continents and in parts of Mexico and the US. England and Wales will allow them starting next year.

So far, no Asian countries recognize such unions.

Statistics released in May by the Institute for Studies of Society, Economics and Environment (iSEE), a nonprofit organization working for the rights of minority groups, showed Vietnam has approximately 1.65 million people who identify as LGBT (Lesbian – Gay – Bisexual – Transgender).

A government official was killed and four others were injured by a local man who allegedly shot them at their office on Wednesday, allegedly over land compensation disputes in Thai Binh Province.

The alleged culprit was later identified as Dang Ngoc Viet, 42, a daily wage laborer in Thai Binh Town.

Viet entered the office at around 2 p.m., spraying lead bullets from a Chinese-made revolver that struck two officials and three civil servants of the Thai Binh Town Land Development Center, said Nguyen Hai Truong, spokesman for the Thai Binh Town People’s Committee.

All the victims were rushed to Thai Binh General Hospital. Victims with critical injuries were later transferred to the Hanoi’s Viet Duc Hospital where the center’s deputy director, Vu Ngoc Dung, 51, died from a head wound.

Civil servants Nguyen Thanh Duong, Vu Cong Cuong, Bui Duc Xuan also suffered head wounds. Another deputy director of the center, Pham Thi Lan Anh, sustained minor injuries.

Thai Binh Town People’s Committee held a press conference at 6 p.m. to discuss the incident that same day.

“After committing the crime, Viet ran to the gate and fled on a motorbike. He is still at large,” said Truong,

According to witnesses, Viet immediately sought out the center’s director. After being told the official was absent, he asked those present to identify the center’s deputy director, Dung, before opening fire.

Colonel Nguyen Dinh Chung, deputy director of Thanh Binh Town police, said the crime was likely the result of disputes over site clearance compensation for Viet’s field, not personal conflicts.

Viet refused the center’s offer for another land plot and demanded cash compensation.

However, a local official wishing to remain anonymous said town authorities had accepted his demand and that tensions had eased.

Since then, Viet never complained, he claimed.

A source told Vietweek that Viet had quarreled with his neighbor before driving his motorbike to the Thai Binh Town People’s Committee.

A police source told Vietweek that Viet later committed suicide at a pagoda in Thai Binh Province’s Kien Xuong District, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Land disputes are common in Vietnam, where all land is owned by the state and usage rights are not always clear or protected. More than 70 percent of all public complaints lodged with authorities nationwide concern land.

Japanese investment in Ho Chi Minh City topped US$1.27 billion with the licensing of three projects worth $170 million Tuesday, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported.

The three include Unika Group and Hiep Phuoc Corporation, which will set up US$31-million operation to provide services and infrastructure for Japanese SMEs in Vietnam.

Suruga Seiki Co., Ltd’s Saigon Precision, which makes components for machinery, automation systems, and robots, increased its investment by $129 million to $219 million.

Automobile parts manufacturer Nidec Tosok Akiba Co., Ltd increased its investment by $10 million to $38.25 million.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the city People’s Committee, said around 105 Japanese companies are operating in HCMC.

Five international airports in Vietnam are set to cut landing fees and ground handling costs by half to attract foreign airlines, Thoi bao Kinh te Sai Gon (Saigon Times) Online reported Tuesday.



This is expected to benefit Phu Bai near Hue, Cam Ranh near Nha Trang, Lien Khuong in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, Can Tho, and Phu Quoc.

The discounts are likely to be offered for three years, the newspaper quoted Vo Huy Cuong, deputy chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), as saying at a meeting in Ho Chi Minh City.

Besides, international airlines will be allowed to fly into all Vietnamese airports, except Hanoi, Da Nang, and HCMC, without restrictions, according to the report.

Lai Xuan Thanh, head of the CAAV, told the newspaper that among the five airports, only Cam Ranh and Can Tho have international flights, with Russian and South Korean carriers flying to the former, and Taiwanese carriers to the latter.

Airlines do not want to fly to these destinations because ground services there fail to meet their requirements, Thanh said.


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But he promised they would be improved, as would tourism services. Once the two sectors do well, the five airports would see an increase in the number of passengers, he said.



Three domestic airlines and 51 foreign ones currently fly on international routes from and to Vietnam, which has 21 airports.

Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to elevate their 40-year-old relationship into a strategic partnership.
This was confirmed in a joint statement following talks between Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and his visiting Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday.



The two sides have agreed to promote political ties through regular exchanges, economic, agricultural, legal, and cultural ties as well as cooperation in defense and security, health, and education and training.


They will also strengthen ties in banking and finance, communication, IT, transport, tourism, and urban management and development.

During their talks, the two leaders supported the establishment of friendship associations in their countries to promote exchanges between the two peoples.

They hailed the continuing development of their security and defense ties on the basis of the 2009 Defense Cooperation Agreement and the 2006 Transnational Crime Prevention Cooperation Agreement which was extended in 2012.

Dung said Singapore has always been one of Vietnam’s top investors and trade partners.

Bilateral trade last year surpassed US$9 billion and Singapore’s investment in Vietnam exceeds $28 billion.

Lee promised to promote Singaporean investment in Vietnam and also acknowledged Vietnam’s request to enable export of agricultural and seafood produce and garments to Singapore.

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The two PMs appreciated the efficient functioning of the four Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks around the country, with the joint statement calling them symbols of the mutually beneficial relationship between the two nations, and expressed hope for similar success for the fifth VSIP to be built in Quang Ngai Province.

Lee also met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on Wednesday and President Truong Tan Sang and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung a day later.

He is set to accompany Dung to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Quang Ngai IP today.

This is Lee’s fourth visit to Vietnam.

President Truong Tan Sang has amnestied 15,446 prisoners, including 16 foreigners, on the occasion of National Day (September 2).

They include four were convicted on national security-related charges. Duong Duc Phong and Hoang Hung Quyen had been convicted of espionage, and Y Kon Nie and Y Huong Nie were jailed for “sabotaging national solidarity policies.”

The 16 foreigners include five Chinese, four Cambodians, two Taiwanese and Malaysians each, and one American, Belgian, and Australian each.

Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General Le Quy Vuong said the Penal Code does not have any provisions on political crimes, only about “infringement of national security” offences, when he was asked by Reuters about the amnesty for political prisoners at a press conference Thursday.

Prisons across the country will release the amnestied prisoners Friday.

Last year more than 10,000 prisoners were amnestied for National Day.

The national shooting team gained another gold medal in Indonesia on November 14, bringing to three the total gold medals they have won at the 26th SEA Games so far.

In the men’s 10-metre pistol event, Vietnamese shooter Hoang Xuan Vinh placed first with 675.3 points, 0.1 point above his Thai rival. Tran Quoc Cuong also earned a bronze for Vietnam in the same event.
The Vietnamese national shooting team is aiming to win five gold medals at the Games this year.

State President Truong Tan Sang has sent a letter to children nationwide wishing them a joyous Mid-Autumn festival.


The State leader expressed his warm feelings towards children nationwide, overseas Vietnamese kids and foreign ones living in Vietnam.

“Looking back at the past year, I am so happy that you all have made great efforts in studying while actively joining in social activities, doing what you can to help friends living in remote and poor areas,” President Sang wrote in the letter.

He affirmed that the Party, State, families and all society always pay special attention to the children.

The President expressed his hope that the children will bear in mind late President Ho Chi Minh's teachings and improve themselves in order to contribute to building the country in the future.

He also asked Party committees and authorities at all levels as well as social organisations and parents to give children a joyful Mid-Autumn festival in line with tradition, as part of efforts to better the care, education and protection for children.

Vietnamese people celebrate the festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month when the moon is in full swing. this year, the full moon festival falls on September 19.

Vietnam aims to record US$30 billion from border trade by 2020, according to a development plan approved recently by the Prime Minister.



A truck carries goods from Laos to Viet Nam through the Lao Bao International Border Gate in the central province of Quangr Tri.
Under the plan, the country may fetch as much as $14 billion in export earnings, with imports valued at as much as $16 billion.
By 2030, border trade is forecast to reach $50 billion. Approximately $22 billion will come from exports.
A number of selected border economic zones (EZs) will be provided with State assistance to develop in line with the nation's five-year socio-economic development plan.
The country is now home to 28 border EZs, which span a total area of 600,000ha.
These zones have experienced strong growth in the past few years, achieving a trade value of $5.44 billion in 2010, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Cross-border trade now accounts for 15 per cent, 85 per cent and 75 per cent of the country's total import-export turnover with China, Laos and Cambodia, respectively.
Despite changes in some neighbouring countries' border trading policies, border trade has still increased remarkably and contributes significant amounts to the State budget, said Minister Bui Quang Vinh.
To date, Vietnam's border EZs have attracted 70 foreign-invested projects totally capitalised at over $700 million.

UN experts will give "overwhelming" confirmation that chemical weapons were used in Syria, UN leader Ban Ki-moon predicted Friday, as he blasted President Bashar al-Assad as a war criminal.


Ban did not say that Assad's forces carried out a suspected chemical arms attack near Damascus investigated by UN experts. But he said the Syrian leader has "committed many crimes against humanity."

A UN team is expected to send its report on the August 21 attack to Ban on Monday. The UN leader stressed that he still does not have the report.

But he predicted: "I believe the report will be an overwhelming report that the chemical weapons were used."

Ban also gave a UN estimate that 1,400 people were killed in the August 21 attack at Ghouta, east of Damascus, which led to western threats of a military strike on Assad's forces.

UN inspectors were in Syria to investigate the general use of chemical weapons in the country's 30-month-old conflict when the suspected sarin gas attack took place.

Talks to continue

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov will prolong discussions on putting Syria's chemical arms under international control in Geneva into Saturday, Russian state television announced late on Friday.

The French presidency also announced on Friday that US, French and British foreign ministers will meet in Paris this coming Monday for more talks.

The United States, Britain and France blame Assad for the attack. The Syrian government, backed by Russia, says opposition rebels used the banned gas.

UN investigation leader Ake Sellstrom is expected to send his report to Ban on Monday. Sellstrom is not allowed to say in the report who carried out the attack.

Diplomats say however that details, such as the type of chemical and missile involved, could indicate who carried out the attack.

Growing humanitarian crisis

In his new outspoken attack, Ban said that Assad must face "accountability" as part of any political solution to end the conflict.

"What happened is that he has committed many crimes against humanity. Therefore, I'm sure that there will be surely the process of accountability when everything is over," he said.

Ban said last year that Assad had "lost all humanity".

His latest comments came after a UN inquiry said Wednesday that government forces had committed "widespread" killings and torture of civilians.

But Ban stressed that the top priority must be "to help the fighting stop and dialogue, talking begin."

In parallel to Ban's comments, the UN humanitarian chief raised concerns about access to areas around Damascus where hundreds of thousands of people are trapped by the fighting.

"People are unable to leave sealed-off government or opposition-held areas, sometimes for months on end, and have run short of water, food, power and medicines," said Valerie Amos.

"I am extremely worried by reports that more than 500,000 people remain trapped in rural Damascus."

Amos said the UN has taken $50 million from its emergency finances to bolster the depleted fund to get supplies to people inside Syria and help the more than two million people who have fled to neighboring countries.

The 2013 YxineFF international online short film festival will open in Ho Chi Minh City on September 21.



 A scene in the film "Dawn" which won the 2012 YxineFF.
The annual film fest, organised by Yxine.com - a forum for cinema lovers, aims to inspire the cinematic passion of young filmmakers all over the world.

This year’s festival theme will be ‘Choice,’ and as such online film fans will have the chance to enjoy short films in many genres; including cartoons, psychological thrillers, action movies and documentaries, according to head of the YxineFF film selection board Marcus Vu Manh Cuong.

Nguyen Trong Khoi’s Khong Co Gi Quy (Even Just for One Day) is scheduled to be screened at HCM City ’s Megastar Paragon to open the festival on September 21.

ZAG Village , a non-profit educational organisation, will work alongside the YxineFF, offering its own short film screenings and exchanges with film-making teams.

Earlier, the group held its first public screening, themed “Best Films of 2013” at HCM City-based Orient Cafe on August 31.

All exhibited films are available to view on the website www.yxineff.com. Audiences can vote for their favourite films, leave comments, and communicate with the filmmakers.

YxineFF was founded in 2010 with the slogan “Sharing-Love-Cinema”. This year there will be four competitive categories: international competition, local competition, panorama and in-focus.

The festival’s winners will be honoured at a ceremony in December this year.

Nearly 1,000 residents in the north central province of Thanh Hoa submitted a petition to the media that demands a local firm compensate them for having illegally buried tons of toxic pesticides, which they say have seriously affected their health and farming activities.

The residents of Cam Van and Cam Tan Communes in Cam Thuy District and Yen Lam Commune in Yen Dinh District wrote in a letter sent to online newspaper VietNamNet and other newspapers they are ready to take the case to court.

But it is not clear how the disgruntled residents will proceed with the lawsuit.

Vietnam neither allows class-action suits nor enables non-affected parties to file public interest lawsuits. The laws prevent public interest groups like environmental groups from intervening on behalf of affected people.

According to the residents, since the military-owned Nicotex Thanh Thai Joint Stock Company was stationed in the Cam Van Commune in 1999, the environment surrounding their plant has become acutely polluted.

The stench of pesticides have spread through the air and leaked into the soil and water, they said.

Over the last 15 years, the number of residents in the affected communes to die of cancer and other diseases has been increasing.

Several women have given birth to babies with deformities or disabilities and some young women have become infertile.

Fish, cattle and fowl raised in the communes have died, according to the residents.

The residents said they had repeatedly called on local authorities to investigate the company’s operations, and authorities had inspected the company many times but the conclusion was always the same: authorities said the company’s pollution indexes were within the range of permissibility.

On August 25, hundreds of residents in Cam Van and Yen Lam communes flocked to a road linking the communes to prevent a truck from exiting the company, suspecting that is was en route to unload expired pesticides.

Four days later, the company confessed at a meeting with local authorities that it had buried 350 kilograms of pesticides, but the residents insisted that the amount of buried chemicals was higher.

On August 29 local authorities ordered the company to quickly excavate illegally buried pesticides and transport them to another location to be treated.

As the company did not give an exact date when they planned to this, later that same day, residents stormed into the company’s grounds with hoes, shovels and crowbars to dig up the soil.

After a few hours of digging, they discovered dozens of drums containing chemicals, packaging, bottles, and jars that appeared to have been buried underground for a long time. Many of the containers were rusty and smelly.

On September 2, local residents unearthed 21 drums with a total capacity of around 220 liters containing chemicals and pesticides from a nearby dumping ground.

Following the discovery, local authorities suspended the company from operating for one month pending an investigation.

The Thanh Hoa Province People’s Committee, the local government, on September 7 ordered the company to “sincerely report” on the locations it had buried pesticides and the amount of chemicals buried.

A Ho Chi Minh City court has sentenced a woman to death for attempting to smuggle around three kilograms of heroin from Vietnam into Cambodia.



Nguyen Thi Thanh, 51, was tried along with 22-year-old Dhinh Thi Mai Thuy, who received a life sentence after being convicted of the same crime.

According to the indictment, Thuy came to Cambodia in 2011 where she lived with an Angolan man named Kingsley Chibueze Odioneye.

An African friend of Odioneye named Smitking asked Thuy to join a transnational drug smuggling ring and she accepted.

She also asked her friend Thanh, who was traveling in Cambodia, to join the ring.

In mid October last year, Thuy agreed to transport a batch of heroin from HCMC to Phnom Penh for US$350. She then hired Thanh to do the job for $250.

On October 27, Thanh arrived at Mien Dong Bus Station in HCMC to receive a bag from a woman and planned to take a bus departing from Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1, to Cambodia, as directed by Thuy via mobile phone.

When she was waiting for the bus, a group of narcotics police seized her and the bag containing two packs of white powder, later identified as heroin, weighing more than 2.9 kilograms.

According to HCMC People’s Court, Thuy escaped being sentenced to death because she has a two-month-old baby. Under Vietnamese laws, women who have children under three years old are not eligible for the death penalty.

Vietnam has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. According to its Penal Code, those convicted of smuggling 100 grams of heroin or cocaine or 300 grams of other narcotics may be sentenced to death.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will visit Vietnam next year at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart, Phung Quang Thanh.

The US Department of Defense's website said Hagel
accepted Thanh’s invitation during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM), Southeast Asia’s most important annual defense ministers' conference, in Brunei Wednesday.
Hagel expressed his commitment to growing the bilateral defense relationship with Vietnam and working on issues like maritime security, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief, and recovering the remains of US personnel missing in action, according to Pentagon press secretary George Little.

Hagel also conveyed his commitment to the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation, Little said.

The two leaders noted the importance of peacefully resolving disputes in the East Sea, internationally known as the South China Sea, and welcomed steps to develop an ASEAN Code of Conduct to guide that process, he added.

Vietnam News Agency quoted Thanh as saying Vietnam valued its relationship, including defense ties, with the US.

He hailed the recent visit to the US by President Truong Tan Sang for opening up a new framework for bilateral cooperation as the two countries established a “comprehensive partnership” and hoped the two countries would strengthen the relationship.

Vietnam would continue to implement the Memorandum of Understanding for Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation with a focus on remedying war consequences, he said.
It would help the US with MIA issues, he promised, and urged the US to join hands to remedy war legacies, such as providing information about Vietnamese MIA.
On the sidelines of the ADMM+, Thanh also held bilateral discussions with the defense ministers of Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia.

Contrary to previous reports, the Vietnamese government has yet to ink a deal with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to advise it on economics and trade, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported Thursday.

It quoted a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Economic Affairs as saying that the ministry and Blair’s office are still in the midst of negociations.
On September 9 The Telegraph reported that a deal between Blair and the Vietnamese government had been solidified after he flew to Hanoi on two separate occasions in 2012 and 2013 for talks with PM Nguyen Tan Dung.

It said on the first visit last October, he offered to advise the Vietnamese government on issues including reforming the economy, attracting more foreign investment and adapting to climate change.

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In March this year, he flew to Hanoi for a second time, pledging to continue supporting the relationship between Vietnam and the EU, including providing advice on public-private partnerships (PPPs), which he championed in Britain while prime minister, according to the report.

Previously, Blair contracted with the Peruvian government to provide advise on public sector reform, it reported.

The deals are part of an expansionary phase for Blair’s Government Advisory Practice, which earns him millions of British pounds advising governments including those of Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Colombia.

About 2.45 million workers in rural areas will be provided with vocational training courses under a national target programme on employment and vocational training in the 2013-2015 period.

Illustrative photo

Of the trainees, about 115,300 disadvantaged people are either poor or disabled, social policy beneficiaries and those belonging to ethnic minority groups.
Duong Duc Lan, Deputy Head of the Vocational Training Department under the Ministry of Lanour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), says that priority will be given to improving vocational training and generating jobs for rural workers. By 2015, about 70% of local trainees will be employed, and about 1.8 million rural workers are expected to pass vocational exams of national standards, he adds.
The VND6,959-billion programme will focus on building vocational training models in districts, compiling textbooks and documents, improving teaching tools and facilities, and raising the capacity of vocational trainers and managers.
MoLISA Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Hoa, who is also Head of the national target programme, emphasizes the need to boost information dissemination and consultancy among rural workers. It is essential to build district-level vocational training centres and merge small-scale vocational training units into bigger ones to operate more efficiently, he suggests.
Le Quang Trung, Deputy Head of the MoLISA’s Employment Department, says he is optimistic about the effective implementation of the programme as around 10,000 students have already graduated from vocational training colleges and nearly 8,000 trainers at current vocational training centres have met requirements for professional skill standards.
By July 2013, there were as many as 1,375 vocational training units operating with more than 11,000 official and over 8,000 unofficial trainers. More than 11,200 lecturers are also invited from universities and colleges to train at these units.
Over the past two years, over 10,000 rural workers have been trained. Most local officers and managers in charge of labour, invalids and social affairs have also been trained.
The State budget will allocate VND5,779 billion for the 2013-2015 national target programme on employment and vocational training, while the remaining amount of VND1,180 billion will be mobilized from local budgets, international aid, and other social capital sources.

The Tuan Chau Group (TCG) and US-based ISC Corporation yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a project to build a US$7.5 billion entertainment and hotel complex in the Van Don economic zone.

Tourists visit Van Don Island in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh, which is pondering the opportunity for a US$7.5 billion entertainment and hotel complex.

According to the MoU, the two sides will make a feasibility study for a project to build the high-grade complex, which will also include casinos, in a 2,000ha area on Van Don island in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh.
The signing followed a fact finding tour of Van Don island on Wednesday with leading officials of the ISC Corporation – a group of world-class investors – and the TCG.
Quang Ninh authorities, ISC Corporation and the partners have also established a working group, teaming up experts from both sides to conduct studies and surveys, and design co-operation mechanisms and a road map to implement the project.
As per Decision 677 of the Quang Ninh's People's Committee, the province is calling for investment in multiple large-scale projects in infrastructure, traffic, tourism, trade and agriculture.

The Tuan Chau Group (TCG) and US-based ISC Corporation yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a project to build a US$7.5 billion entertainment and hotel complex in the Van Don economic zone.— Photo danviet

In addition, the province is seeking investors for three golf courses, including a 27-hole course combined with a five-star hotel and a villa area covering 300ha in Van Don District. The other two will be located in Ha Long City, occupying 190ha and 75.3ha respectively.
Some other multi-million-dollar tourism projects are Quang Ninh Airport and an international exhibition centre in Mong Cai and Hon Gai tourist port.
The provincial government and the Institute for Tourism Development Research are also making a development plan for tourism from now to 2020, with a vision to 2030, which is set for completion in the next few months.
According to the Quang Ninh Department of Planning and Investment, the province attracts about 50 investors annually on average, mostly from South Korea, Canada, China, Japan, the US, and the Middle East.
To date, there are 93 foreign invested projects in the province with a total registered capital of more than $4 billion.
Last year alone, despite the global economic woes, Quang Ninh's FDI totalled more than $410 million and by the end of the second quarter of this year, it had attracted nearly $77 million from four new projects.
Under the province's master plan on socio-economic development to 2020 with a vision to 2030, Quang Ninh plans to become a major international maritime trade centre.

Abbott Nutrition Vietnam announced it has destroyed all batches of imported milk for children suspected of containing the Clostridium Botulinum germ that may cause muscle paralysis.

 In early August the company recalled a number of Similac Gain Plus Eye – Q batches imported into Vietnam from New Zealand for fear these batches may contain Clostridium Botulinum.
After careful examinations, the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries confirmed these products remain safe with children.
The Vietnam Food Administration also revoked requests for milk recalls and allowed the company to circulate this kind of milk to customers.
However, Abbott Nutrition Vietnam destroyed all the recalled batches for safety reasons, using environmentally friendly technologies.
In a report to the Vietnam Food Administration, the Vietnam-based Abbott office said the company had completed the culling of the recalled batches under the close supervision of relevant agencies.
Meanwhile, Danone Vietnam – the sole importer and distributor of another milk brand Dumex – has committed to destroying a batch of Dumex Gold for children aged 6 to 12 months, suspected of containing Clostridium Botulinum.
The batch is being stored at Song Than II Industrial Park in Binh Duong province.
The company is working with insurance agencies on necessary procedures for the culling scheduled to be completed before December 31.

After 17 months of construction, the Saigon 2 Bridge that links District 2 and Binh Thanh District in Ho Chi Minh City was completed yesterday. The bridge will be opened for traffic in early November, significantly contributing to easing traffic congestion.


The bridge is 987.3 meters long and 23.5 meters wide, with four lanes for cars and two lanes for motorbikes. It runs parallel with the existing Saigon Bridge.

According to its technical design, the bridge has a life expectancy of 100 years and can survive earthquakes of 5.1-5.5 degrees on the Richter scale.

The bridge has been built under the BT (Build-Transfer) form with a total cost of nearly VND1.5 trillion (US$70.75 million).
Through the effort of nearly 600 engineers and workers, the construction of the bridge has been completed about five months ahead of schedule. The new bridge is expected to be put into operation on November 2, 2013.

One of the city’s key traffic infrastructure projects, the new bridge will relieve overload on the existing Saigon Bridge, help reduce traffic jams, and enhance traffic volume in the city’s northeast entrance area, the city Transport Department said.

The department expects to use the new bridge for vehicles traveling from the city’s downtown to Thu Duc District, while using the existing Saigon Bridge for vehicles moving in the opposite direction.

Five Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, are targeting a double-digit growth rate of international visitors annually by 2015 under the theme "Five Countries – One Destination", according to Hoang Tuan Anh, Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism.

In the press conference to announce the joint statement of the first Meeting of ACMECS Tourism Ministers organised on Wednesday in HCM City, Tuan Anh, the meeting's chairman, said the five countries aimed to attract 50 million foreign investors and 10 intra-regional million visitors by 2015.
"In the meeting, the ministers emphasised that the growth rate of intra-regional visitors should be higher than that of international visitors," Tuan Anh said.
He said a common visa scheme would also be carried out among the five countries of ACMECS, which stands for the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy. The ACMECS organisation was founded in 2003 to bridge the economic gap among the countries and promote prosperity in the sub-region in a sustainable manner.
"Currently, Cambodia and Thailand have already piloted this scheme. The others, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, will further study and propose to their Government in order to implement the scheme soon," he said.
Ministers from the five countries agreed to set up a new tourism corridor along Bagan, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Siem Reap, Da Nang and Hue.
In their first meeting, the ministers were pleased about the performance of the ACMECS tourism in 2012 when the member countries welcomed more than 37 million international visitors, including 6 million intra-regional visitors, an increase of nearly 18 per cent year-on-year.
The ministers also reviewed ACMECS tourism cooperation outlined by the Vientiane Declaration of the fifth ACMECS Summit and ACMECS Plan of Action 2013-15.
They said results had been achieved in major areas, including joint tourism promotion and marketing; travel facilitation; human resources development and safety and security ensurance for tourist; cross-sector and local cooperation; public-private partnership; and cooperation with development partners.
Working with its development partners, the five countries' transportation infrastructure along the East West Economic Corridor has become more favourable for travelling by land.
According to a statement, road conditions and procedures at the pair of borders and gates between ACMECS countries has also improved.
Air travel between major tourist destinations of the ACMECS countries has become relatively convenient with the operations of the national airlines of Vietnam, Thailand and other countries.
The local provinces of central Vietnam, central Laos and northeast Thailand have gathered yearly and many cooperation frameworks have been established between the localities of the countries.
According to the joint statement, from 2013 onward, ACMECS tourism ministries will collaborate with tourism associations, travel operators, hotels, restaurants and airlines to grant tourism awards including the as Airline of the Year, Outbound Tour Operator of the Year, Inbound Tour Operator of the Year, Five Star Hotel of the Year and Resort of the Year.
This is the first meeting of the ACMECS tourism ministers. The second will be held in Myanmar in 2015.