Pop singer to represent Vietnam at Asian concert

09:09' 14/08/2007 (GMT+7)

Lam Truong (the third from the top on the left row) appears on the festival’s poster VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese singer Lam Truong will perform alongside other well-known Asian singers at the 2007 Asia Song Festival to be held at Seoul stadium in the Republic of Korea on September 22. According to organisers, tickets for the festival, which is considered one of the greatest musical events of the year on the continent, can be downloaded free from the festival’s official website that will be launched some time this September. Lam Truong is the only singer from Vietnam that will be present at the event alongside such names as Lee Hyori, Super Junior and SG Wannabe from the Republic of Korea; famous boy band F4 and Cheung Amei from Taiwan; as well as others from China, Hong Kong and Thailand. According to Sin Hyeon-taek, Chairman of the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, the purpose of the event is to help contribute to Asian cultural exchanges. (Source: KBS, Dan Tri)

We must take care of each investor: Planning and Investment Minister

09:26' 14/08/2007 (GMT+7)

Minister Vo Hong Phuc VietNamNet Bridge – At least 40 projects worth tens of billions of USD are coming to Vietnam. Vietnam has been preparing to welcome these new sources of investment. Talking to the press, Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said: “In the past one year, especially since Vietnam has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), many big economic groups in the world have come to Vietnam with very large projects. Among them are new investors from the Middle East, such as Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, who have expressed the determination to invest billions of USD into Vietnam. We expect that in the coming time those investors will become strategic investment partners of Vietnam. I think this is a rare opportunity for the country and we need to quickly grasp this opportunity. One of the moves proving the government’s determination to attract this source of investment is that the Prime Minister has instructed ministries, agencies and provinces to quickly carry out solutions to further draw foreign investment. Could we ‘digest’ this amount of capital when administrative formalities are still stuck, infrastructure is overloaded and human resources are facing a shortage? Administrative formalities in investment management have been decentralised to localities but in fact, some localities still cause investors problems. To solve this problem, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has set up special task forces to assist provinces, especially with some large-scale projects. The Ministry will join hands with localities to speed up those projects. This method has been applied for projects of Japan’s Matsushita group and recently Taiwan’s Foxconn. The Ministry is determined to do its best to help those groups invest in Vietnam as quickly as possible. I think that investment promotion in this situation dictates that we have to follow each investor and each project to support them, not to call for investment in general. Investors complain that sources of manpower to build enterprises in the fields of hi-tech and high-grade service zones are in short supply. We have asked the Prime Minister to permit, in some cases, investors to bring workers to Vietnam to build specific works. The new sources of investment aim at hi-tech and service projects so what do we have to do to welcome this source of capital? Recently foreign investors have shifted their capital sources to industrial projects with high contents of technology instead of cheap labour as in the past. Among them are hi-tech groups like Compaq, Foxconn, Intel and Matsushita. We must have specific measures to attract this source of capital. Representatives of those groups highly praise the young human resources of Vietnam, who have been trained. However, Vietnam needs to improve the contingent of vocational training teachers. Human resource training will be the key to attracting investment in hi-tech industries. Some provinces are racing to attract foreign investment at any cost, accepting even projects that can cause pollution. Do we accept this situation? I think selecting investment projects is very important. We don’t attract investment at any cost. We have to refuse projects that negatively impact the environment. Competition to attract investment, in my opinion, is a good trend but all provinces must have the same policy on land, taxes, etc. We can’t let each province have its own policy. (Source: Tuoi Tre)

Nature experience in Ninh Thuan

12:35' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Ninh Thuan Festival 2007, organized by the central province of Ninh Thuan, will take place from August 15-21. Vinh Hy Bay view from the boat. Many festivities and new tours have been planned, and to mark the occasion HCMC-based Vietravel tour operator has launched a three-day and two-night tour to the province. The first tour will start tomorrow, the second on August 10, and the last tour is scheduled for August 17. Travelers on the final tour will have more chances to join many activities of the festival such as the food culture and red wine festival, the traditional dragon boat racing, and the beauty contest for sheep. Other activities include all-terrain vehicle racing, the national volley ball contest, walking for disabled children, Cau Ngu festival (a traditional festival of fishermen), arrow shooting contest and folk music show. By arrangement with HCMC-based Vietravel tour operator, tourists can visit Ca Na Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches in the Central region, Bau Truc traditional pottery village, Po Klong Garai Temple of Cham people, and Vinh Hy Bay, a virginal bay of the province. Around 42 kilometers from Phan Rang Town in the northeastern part of Ninh Thuan Province, the bay is surrounded by white sand banks and a chain of stones. There are no hotels or guest houses, just some canvas for tourists, but the bay is a good place for swimming, fishing and browsing the coral reef. Seeing the landscape of multi-shaped mountains, exploring the colorful coral by glass bottom boat and enjoying the sea winds will make the trip worthwhile. Fisherman in the fishing villages will display their fishing skills for tourists and guests can learn how fishermen make salted and dried fish. They may also try their own hand at fishing and any caught fish can be grilled on the boat for visitors. The more adventurous could climb the mountain wall, or take part in a number of activities there. Po Klong Garai Temple, around 9km northwest of Phan Rang Town, and Bau Truc traditional pottery village, about 10km south of the town, are the last attractions of the tour. At Po Klong Garai Temple, visitors will hear about the religious beliefs of Cham ethnic people, and Bau Truc, one of the oldest pottery villages in Southeast Asia is a place for visitors to learn about the talent of Cham people in pottery making. The tour costs VND1.68mil per tourist. For further information, contact the company at 190 Pasteur Street, District 3, HCMC, tel: (08) 822 8898. (Source: SGT, Viet Nam Net)

How many storeys will the $500mil Keangnam hotel have?

17:10' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The $500mil hotel, a work to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long’s establishment, has not been kicked off yet because it remains unclear how many storeys the hotel can have. Hanoi to have one more five-star hotel Cau Giay District in Hanoi South Korea’s Keangnam group should have started the construction of the five-star hotel in the Cau Giay new urban area in Hanoi on July 29 (on the same day, the ground breaking ceremony for the $65mil five-star hotel Crown Plaza on Le Duc Tho Road in Tu Liem district took place). Keangnam group was one of the two best candidates for the project to build the $500mil five-star hotel on X2 position on Pham Hung Road (near the National Convention Centre). The licence was finally granted to Japan’s Riviera. Hanoi authorities, wanting to keep both potential investors, decided to allocate another land plot to Keangnam to develop the five-star hotel on the E6 land plot in Cau Giay new urban area. Several months ago, when granting the licence to develop the five-star hotel, Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Quoc Trieu asked the investor to implement the project soon. However, the project could not be kicked off as soon as previously planned as state management authorities still have not said how many storeys the hotel could have. According to Ha Jong Seuk, Chief Representative of Keangnam in Vietnam, as the management authorities did not show the land site map for the project, Keangnam had to build different construction designs to be submitted to the Ministry of Construction and Hanoi authorities for approval. Initially, Keangnam suggested an 80-storey hotel, but the Hanoi People’s Committee said that the buildings in the complex must be less than 60 storeys. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Construction said that the construction of high-rise buildings should be encouraged in the new urban areas. Deputy Minister of Construction Tran Ngoc Chinh said that the urbanisation pace in Hanoi had been quickening, construction demand, increasing, while the land fund was limited. The five-star hotel complex is expected to be located in the Cau Giay new urban area, and at the intersections of many key transport routes; therefore, a complex with modern architecture and with the height of 47-70 storeys would be fine. Currently, the Hanoi People’s Committee is still consulting relevant ministries and branches and has not made a final decision on the number of storeys of the complex. And for the time being, the project still cannot be kicked off. (Source: DTCK, Viet Nam Net)

Brief biography of 22 ministers

17:19' 03/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – On August 2, the National Assembly approved the appointment of five Deputy Prime Ministers and 22 Ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies. Of the 22 ministers and cabinet members, ten are appointed for the first time and 12 have assumed key posts at ministries and ministerial level agencies. New Government has five Deputy Prime Ministers Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and members of the new government. Here are the brief biographies of the 22 cabinet members: 1/ Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh Born in 1949 Native land: Vinh Phuc Province Education: Bachelor of Military Sciences Mr. Thanh is a member of the Party Central Committee, a Politburo member, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Defence. 2/ Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh Born in 1949 Native land: Kien Giang Province Education: Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Politics Mr. Hong Anh is a member of Party Central Committee and the Politburo, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Public Security. 3/ Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem Born in 1944 Native land: Hanoi Education: Doctor of Metallurgy Mr. Khiem is a member of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo and Deputy Prime Minister. In June 2006, the National Assembly approved the appointment of Mr. Khiem as Foreign Minister. He is deputy of the 10th, 11th and 12th National Assembly. Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan 4/ Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan Born in 1950 Native land: Hai Duong Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Tuan is a member of the Central Party Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. 5/ Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong Born in 1953 Native land: Vinh Phuc Province Education: Associate Professor, Doctor of Law Mr. Cuong is a member of Party Central Committee and deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is currently Deputy Minister of Justice. 6/ Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc Born in 1945 Native land: Ha Tinh Province Education: Bachelor Mr. Phuc is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Planning and Investment. Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh 7/ Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh Born in 1955 Native land: Nam Dinh Province Education: Master of Finance – Budgetary, Business Administration Mr. Ninh is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Finance. 8/ Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang Born in 1953 Native land: Hai Phong City Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Hoang is a member of Party Central Committee. He is now Secretary of the Party Committee of the northern province of Lang Son. 9/ Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat Born in 1956 Native land: Nam Dinh Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Phat is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is now Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung 10/ Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung Born in 1950 Native land: Da Nang City Education: Metallurgy Engineer Mr. Dung is a member of Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. He is now the Minister of Transport. 11/ Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan Born in 1949 Native land: Hai Duong Mr. Quan is a member of Party Central Committee and is now the Minister of Construction. 12/ Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen Born in 1950 Native land: Ha Tay Province Education: Doctor of Economics, Master of Geology Mr. Nguyen is a member of Party Central Committee. He is now Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment. Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop 13/ Minister of Information and Communication Le Doan Hop Born in 1951 Native Land: Nghe An Province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Hop is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Culture and Information. 14/ Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan Born in 1954 Native land: Ben Tre Province Education: Master of Finance – Credit Ms. Ngan is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 12th National Assembly. She is currently Deputy Minister of Trade. 15/ Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh Born in 1952 Native land: Da Nang City Education: Engineer of Aviation Measurement, Bachelor of Law Mr. Tuan Anh is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism. Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong 16/ Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong Born in 1948 Native land: Hanoi Mr. Phong is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Minister of Science and Technology. 17/ Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan Born in 1952 Native land: Tra Vinh Province Education: Professor, Doctor of Cybernetics. Mr. Nhan is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Minister of Education and Training. Mr. Nhan is also appointed to be the new Deputy Prime Minister. 18/ Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu Born in 1951 Native land: Bac Ninh Province Education: Bachelor of Health, Doctor of Sociology Mr. Trieu is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee. Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau 19/ Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu Born in 1951 Native land: Lao Cai Province Education: Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Politics Mr. Phu is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Central Organisation Committee. 20/ Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau Born in 1957 Native land: An Giang province Education: Doctor of Economics Mr. Giau is a member of the Party Central Committee. He is now Secretary of the Party Committee of Ninh Thuan Province. 21/ Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen Born in 1950 Native land: Ben Tre Province Education: Bachelor of Law Mr. Truyen is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 10th and 12th National Assembly. He is now Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate. Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc 22/ Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc Born in 1954 Native land: Quang Nam Province Education: Bachelor of Economics Mr. Phuc is a member of the Party Central Committee, deputy of the 11th National Assembly. He is now Deputy Director of the Government Office. (Source: National Assembly’s website)

Spam email in Vietnam

17:54' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Advertising email marketing services on a website of Vietnam. VietNamNet Bridge - Spam mail delivery service has been professionalised in Vietnam. In Hanoi, tens of companies publicly announce they provide this service to clients. Those companies are ready to help their clients to send spam emails to a million mailboxes a day. They also sell mail delivery software products and lists of millions of e-mail addresses of Vietnamese people and even the software to make forged websites to illegally collect e-mail addresses at very cheap prices. If one makes the mistake of registering his email addresses on some email lists to receive news at some websites, he will need 5-10 minutes or more each morning to delete spam emails. Complaints from offices about spam email, especially those in Vietnamese language, are becoming more and more common. Spam email delivery: from free to professional service “Our company now has a promotional programme: providing free of charge a software product to send advertising e-mails to 10,000 email addresses every day. This software can deliver advertising e-mails very fast, with high rate of success. We also have professional e-mail delivery software which is much better!” A young man named T advertised the above services of his company, which is based in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, and specialises in services related to advertising via email, to VietNamNet reporters. At the website of this company, services offered by this firm include selling email address lists, sending advertising emails of large number, selling professional spam email delivery software. This website advertises that their software can send from 30-50 million spam emails a month. The price of such software, according to the young man, is less than VND500,000 (US$30). By searching on Google, VietNamNet reporters found tens of other companies with addresses and telephone numbers which stated they provided spam email delivery solutions which are ‘very professional’. VietNamNet reporters called the phone number on one of the websites and a young girl confirmed that it was the number of a limited liability company in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi. When the reporters said that they wanted to advertise a personal website, the girl confirmed: “The most effective means is sending e-mails”. According to her, some male students who presented websites to their girlfriends paid several hundreds of thousand dong to send spam mails to advertise those websites. “We have around 10,000 email addresses. They are classified to serve different requests of customers. Our professional email delivery software can send emails with 100% success, which are not hindered by Vietnamese Internet service providers. The price for this service is only VND400,000 ($25),” the girl said. Solutions to collect email addresses As a new advertising service, many companies are offering solutions to collect email addresses without paying attention to the owners of email addresses. A limited liability company advertises that it sells software to search for email addresses for VND500,000. This software can search email addresses by key words, for example email addresses with @hn.vnn.vn. This company is also ready to search for email addresses in narrower fields, for VND100/email address. Many illegal software products have been commercialised by IT companies to collect email addresses. These software products are installed on the homepages of websites, which ask visitors to register their email addresses to receive news or become members. They then automatically classify email addresses into different groups based on the information that email address owners provide. Most websites and forums don’t commit to keep the email addresses of their members secret so many people accidentally provide their email addresses for spammers when they participate in online forums. Who knows? So I’m not scared Playing the role of an employee of a private company, a VietNamNet reporter met with the salesman of spam email delivery software of an IT company in Hanoi. The reporter said that his newly established company wanted to advertise their operations through email but the company wanted to be sure that email advertising solutions that it bought were legal. “What law? What rule is there about it? Nobody in Vietnam bans you from sending advertising emails. Moreover, our software allows you to add any email address to the sender status so nobody can know that you are the spammer,” the salesman said. Who suffers? Internet users, of course! In 2005, one of the Internet service providers in Vietnam was named on the list of senders of huge numbers of spam emails. Companies that use services of this ISP could not send emails abroad because their mails were barred. Thus, the user is the sufferer. “Recently, the number of spam mails in Vietnamese has boomed, causing many troubles and losses for our company. Sometimes the network of our company is blocked and we can’t send emails because of spam mails,” said Viet, the deputy director of a company in Hanoi. Spam mails not only inconvenience users but also affect the operations of many organisations since their networks are jammed by spam emails. Not only users but also ISPs and Internet resources are affected by spam emails. This worry has become a fact as spam email delivery services are offered on many websites. Vietnamese Internet users are waiting for measures from management agencies to control spam emails. Viet Nam Net

Having babies: effective way to avoid imprisonment

17:50' 30/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Nguyen Thi Thoan and Do Thi Bao VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Thi Thoan from the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai publicly deals drugs but she is not arrested because she is always pregnant. There are many female drug traders who are sentenced but not in prison because they are busy having children like Thoan. Arrested so I must have baby Many female offenders use motherhood for a legal defence. In many cases, they have been sentenced but for some reason they are allowed to be out on bail. When the verdicts take effect and they must go to jail, legal agencies can’t send them to prison because those female offenders are pregnant. To avoid going to jail, many female offenders have children without stopping and nobody can touch them. Though there are no official statistics about this subject of female offenders, the number is quite large. In Lao Cai province, there are around 50 women of this kind, all of who are drug traders. The most ‘famous’ case is Nguyen Thi Thoan, a primary teacher in Lao Cai province, who publicly deals drugs but police can’t arrest her because she is always pregnant. Every time police invite doctors to examine Thoan, she is always pregnant at around 4-5 months and police, thus, must wait for three years. But when her verdict comes into effect, Thoan continues to be pregnant. This woman has stated: “If you arrest me, I’ll have more babies.” Lai Chau province has Do Thi Bao, a drug criminal who is also a ‘child delivery machine’. Notably, though she is not married she continuously has babies. In HCM City, there is also a female drug trader who has delivered 7-8 children to avoid being arrested. Another case, a female offender named Dieu Thi Huong, who can’t have children, has adopted abandoned children to dodge the law. How to deal with them? Some legal experts said that this problem results from a gap in the law. According to Article 88 of the Penal Action Code, women who are pregnant or have small babies of less than 36 months are not put in prison except for the cases in which their out-on-bail can hinder investigation. This is a humanity policy of the Vietnamese state for pregnant women and those who are nurturing small babies of less than 36 months, but this policy has been abused by offenders. According to Article 55 of the Penal Code, the prescription for a verdict is five years for those who are sentenced to three years in jail or less, ten years for those who are sentenced to 3-15 years in jail, 15 years for those who are sentenced to 15-30 years in jail. Under documents guiding the implementation of the Penal Code, the prescription of a verdict is applied for verdicts that are effective but are not implemented due to being forgotten or being lost. In case the verdict is temporarily canceled for some reasons, after this time the defenders must perform the verdict. However, offenders who are sentenced to less than three years in prison and are ill or have babies can enjoy sentence cancellations many times. If the time of cancellation is equal to the prescription of their verdict and during this period they don’t commit a new offence they will be exempted from imprisonment. This is the gap that has been abused by offenders. According to Phan Tanh, vice presiding judge of the HCM City People’s Court, this situation has stirred discontentment in the public but there is no way to deal with it because ‘that’s the law’. Viet Nam Net

M Dung nominates government personnel

08:59' 01/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung proposed a list of five Deputy Prime Ministers and 22 ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies on the afternoon of July 31. The five nominated deputy PMs include the three current deputy PMs. They are Politburo members Nguyen Sinh Hung, who was born in 1946 and is Permanent Deputy PM; Truong Vinh Trong, who was born in 1942 and is Deputy PM in charge of home affairs and Deputy Permanent Head of the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption; and Pham Gia Khiem, who was born in 1944 and is Deputy PM and Foreign Minister. The two others are Party Central Committee members Nguyen Thien Nhan, who was born in 1953 and Minister of Education and Training, and Hoang Trung Hai, who was born in 1959 and Minister of Industry. He also proposed Pham Gia Khiem as Deputy PM and Foreign Minister and Nguyen Thien Nhan as Deputy PM and Minister of Education and Training for a time. Hoang Trung Hai, 48, has become the youngest to be nominated as Deputy PM of the Vietnamese Government in its 12th tenure. The list of 22 ministers and ministerial level agencies 1/ Minister of Defence Phung Quang Thanh (who is currently Minister of Defence) 2/ Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh (who is currently Minister of Public Security) 3/ Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem (who is currently Minister of Foreign Affairs) 4/ Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh (who is currently General Director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism) 5/ Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen (who is currently Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment) 6/ Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang (who is currently Secretary of the Party Committee of the northern mountainous province of Lang Son) 7/ Minister of Information and Communications Le Doan Hop (who is currently Minister of Culture and Information) 8/ Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan (who is currently Deputy Minister of Home Affairs) 9/ Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong (who is currently Deputy Minister of Justice) 10/ Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh (who is currently Minister of Finance) 11/ Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat (who is currently Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development) 12/ Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung (who is currently Minister of Transport) 13/ Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan (who is currently Minister of Construction) 14/ Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc (who is currently Minister of Planning and Investment) 15/ Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (who is currently Deputy Minister of Trade) 16/ Minister of Science and Technology Hoang Van Phong (who is currently Minister of Science and Technology) 17/ Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan (who is currently Minister of Education and Training) 18/ Minister of Public Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu (who is currently Chairman of the Ha Noi People’s Committee) 19/ Chairman of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Giang Seo Phu (who is currently Deputy Director of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Organisation) 20/ Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam Nguyen Van Giau (who is currently Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam) 21/ Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate Tran Van Truyen (who is currently Inspector General of the Government Inspectorate) 22/ Director of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc (who is currently Permanent Deputy Director of the Government Office) After discussing in groups, the NA deputies will vote for the list of five Deputy PMs and 22 ministers and heads of ministerial level agencies on August 2 with the result to be announced later that day. (Source: VNA, Viet Nam Net)

Taiwan rejects Vietnam’s tea imports?

17:28' 01/08/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Asked to make comments about the news that Taiwan rejected tea imports from Vietnam due to discovery of pesticide residues, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association Tran Van Gia said that he has not received any official announcement about that from the Taiwanese side. Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) on July 27 reported that the Food Sanitation Bureau (FSB) under the Taiwanese Department of Health (DOH) has discovered pesticide residues in a batch of green tea imported from Vietnam. Taiwanese authorities have decided to return 21 tonnes of o long (black dragon) tea imported on July 10, which contained the higher-than-allowed level of pesticide. CNA quoted Cheng Hui-wen, Director General of FSB as saying that the batch of green tea discovered on July 27 contained the residues of dicofol with the concentration of 0.15 ppm. Prior to that, a batch of 21 tonnes of o long tea was discovered to contain dicofol 0.09 ppm. On June 28, FSB decided to take compulsory examination on tea imports from Vietnam. Also on July 27, the online network in Spain language of CNA reported that a Taiwanese senator, Lai Shin-yuan, called on Taiwanese authority to prohibit importing tea of all kinds from Vietnam, and to consider the import resumption only when pesticide residues is solved. Prior to that, Hsieh Ting-hung, Deputy Director General of FSB, said that Vietnam’s o long tea, "mainly being planted by Taiwanese farmers in Vietnam", account for 73% of the total Taiwan’s tea imports. Mr Hsieh Ting-hung said that from 2005 to May 2007, FSB regularly examined tea imports from Vietnam and did not discover any violation of food safety rules. Mr Cheng Hui-wen said that Taiwanese authorities have informed Vietnam about the problem, and ask to tighten control over the use of pesticide in farm produce for export. The official has also threatened to take tougher measures if Taiwan discovers more imports that contain prohibited substances. Also according to Mr Cheng, DOH announced that from 2008, all kinds of packed food, including tea, must show the origin of product on the package. Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Tea Association on July 28 said that the association had not received any information from the Taiwanese authorities about the quality of tea imports from Vietnam. Mr Gia said that if the association receives the official announcement from the Taiwanese side, it would check the quality of tea exports. Meanwhile, Mr Gia has also mentioned the possibility that the bad news were spread in order to force the import price down. According to Tran Van Gia, every year Vietnam exports 500 tonnes of o long tea to Taiwan, while Taiwan needs 20,000 tonnes a year. There are 20 Taiwanese-invested tea companies in Vietnam among a total of 40 foreign-invested tea firms in the country. Taiwanese farmers also come to plant o long tea in Vietnam.. (Source: Tin Tuc, Viet Nam Net)

Labour quality – thorny problem for Vietnam

16:48' 31/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Job seekers at an employment fair in HCM City. VietNamNet Bridge – In its official reports, Vietnam always confirms that it has abundant human resources that can meet the requirements of economic-social development in the future. However, the quality of Vietnam’s human resources is now a thorny problem. Lack of high-grade labour By the end of 2006, Vietnam had a total of 45.3 million workers, three-fourths of whom were rural labourers. According to Nguyen Dai Dong, Head of the Labour and Employment Agency under the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the human resources can’t satisfy the needs of the labour market. The official said that just 32% of the labourers were trained and 14.4% had short-term vocational training certificates. The report on the labour market made by the MoLISA says: “Vietnam seriously lacks qualified technical workers and qualified service labour for the finance and banking, tourism sectors so Vietnam has to hire foreign labourers. Meanwhile, labourers for export are under-skilled.” As the need for highly-skilled manpower is increasing along with the growth of the economy in recent years, labour quality has become a hot topic at many forums. At a conference held by the MoLISA early this year, commenting about the information that Thailand was forecast to bring its workers to Vietnam in the next 8-10 years, Minister Nguyen Thi Hang expressed her worry that Vietnamese labourers could lose their home. “We may have to export unskilled workers and import skilled ones,” Ms Hang said. The low quality of workers also leads to difficulties in labour exports. On the other hand, low quality also makes salaries for high-class workers soar since employers don’t have many choices. The annual survey on investment costs by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), which was published in late May 2007, showed that salaries of mid-level employees had increased suddenly, especially in HCM City. “While the average salary increase level for mid-level staffs in other countries is 7%, it is 40% in Vietnam. This is considered the least competitive factor of Vietnam in drawing foreign investment,” JETRO’s report says. According to some labour experts, the fields that are in serious shortage of human resources are information technology, finance, auditing, law and industrial sectors. Many labourers are not fluent enough in foreign languages though this situation is being improved thanks to the increasing flow of foreigners coming to the country and the number of Vietnamese people trained abroad returning. What solutions? To solve the problem, the Government and the MoLISA are working on large-scale vocational training programmes. According to Mr. Nguyen Dai Dong, the MoLISA has submitted to the Government a programme with solutions to develop the labour market: developing the source of supply of labour, developing the need for labour, promoting transactions on the labour market, reforming the salary-wage system, perfecting the labour market institution, and the most important solution – developing vocational training. At the conference on vocational training, job and labour export held in May 2007, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung expressed his concern that Vietnam ranked 77th in the world in labour productivity and had around 10 million unemployed people. National programme on employment to 2010 Most recently, the Prime Minister approved the national programme on employment to 2010, under which Vietnam will spend around VND6 trillion (US$375 million) on vocational training in the next four years. Specifically, from 2006 to 2010, this programme will create jobs for 2-2.2 million people, modernise 30-40 employment service centres and complete the information system on the labour market, and train 75,000 employees of employment related agencies from the local to central levels. The programme includes three major projects: borrowing capital to create jobs, exporting manpower, and developing the labour market. Relating to labour export, this programme aims to send 40,000 to 50,000 workers abroad. Those people will be trained vocationally by state funding. Of the VND6 trillion for this ambitious programme, more than VND4.8 trillion will come from the state budget, VND560 billion from local budgets, VND500 billion from the community and around VND30 billion from the international community. The Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs is the head of the steering board of this programme. (Source: TBKTSG, Viet Nam Net)

ASEAN be more united: Vietnamese diplomat

09:09' 31/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – A Vietnamese senior official urged the ASEAN to bolster solidarity and unity while raising its cooperation efficiency in order to achieve regional integrity and a regional community. Addressing the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM-40), Deputy Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung stressed that ASEAN needs to be more active and dynamic in its relations with other counterparts while improving cooperation with dialogue partners. The group needs to uphold its leading role in the regional cooperation process to which it was the initiator, including ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit (EAS), and ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), and should work as a driving force behind other regional integration process in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. In his speech, Deputy FM Phung emphasised the extreme importance of narrowing the development gap in the course of establishing the ASEAN Community. He highlighted the results of the second IAI Development and Cooperation Forum in Hanoi and said these outcomes have contributed to building a new strategy to address the development disparity and better the implementation of the Initiative on ASEAN Integration (IAI) in the future. Deputy FM Phung called on all ASEAN member countries, dialogue partners, regional and international organisations and private sectors to take active part in the group's endeavours to narrow the development gap within the bloc. (Source: VNA, VIet Nam Net)

Vietnam tops Asian hairdressing contest

16:33' 31/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Bui Duc Thinh’s moment of victory VietNamNet Bridge – Defeating seven other contestants, Vietnamese hair designer Bui Duc Thinh won the highest prize at the 2007 Asian Hairdressing-Davines contest held on July 29 at the HCM City Opera House. Bui Duc Thinh recorded the highest score, 36.83. Finishing second was Vietnamese Japanese candidate Dung My Tran with a total score of 34.85. These two winners will represent Asia at the upcoming final of World Style Contest 2007 to be held this October in Barcelona, Spain. Bui Duc Thinh is 21 years of age and comes from the northern city of Hai Phong. “I think my understanding of the current worldwide trends in everyday-style hair designs helped me to acquit myself well,” said the winner. (Source: Tuoi Tre, Viet Nam Net)

The $500mil hotel to change hands?

17:05' 31/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The Kanagawa-Vietnam Economic Exchange Association has sent a letter to the Hanoi People’s Committee, announcing its intention of setting up a company in Singapore in charge of running the project on the five-star hotel on the X2 position on Pham Hung road, which Riviera and CSK Finance got the investment rights for in March 2007. A design by Riviera (File photo) When asked to comment about the decision, the Hanoi Planning and Investment Department said that the establishment of a company in Singapore, named SPC, would change the investment legal entity, the investment country and other factors which were accepted by Hanoi authorities in Decision No 1051 dated March 20, 2007. The change of the investor (Singaporean instead of Japanese) does not come in line with the Hanoi authority’s policy regarding the Japanese investor, and thus may raise a complicated lawsuit. According to the department, the construction of a five-star hotel on X2 position (Pham Hung Road, near the national convention centre – a very advantageous position) is an important work to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi. Hanoi authorities chose Riviera and CSK Finance as the project investors out of a lot of other candidates based on the strategic relationship between Vietnam and Japan and the commitments the investors made to the city authorities. Any changes to the project must be approved by the Hanoi People’s Committee in writing. However, the Hanoi People’s Committee, in Document No 3670 dated July 9, 2007, stated that the letter sent by the Kanagawa association was not legal enough to be considered for approval. The letter on the change of investor was signed by Kouhei Suzuki on behalf of the Kanagawa- Vietnam association. Meanwhile, in a communiqué dated December 12, 2006, Riviera and CSK Finance, the official investors of the five-star hotel project, only authorised the association to deal with the Hanoi People’s Committee and relevant agencies to promote investment procedures. The document did not state that the association could act on behalf of them in issues relating to the content of the project. While waiting for the Hanoi People’s Committee to make a final decision, in order to ensure the planned construction pace (construction begins in September 2007 is to be completed in the second quarter of 2010 at the latest), Riviera and CSK Finance still have to fulfill their commitments from before. According to the Hanoi Planning and Investment Department, the project implementation of Riviera and CSK Finance has been going slowly since they got the right to run this project. The investors asked for a delay in presenting the document of guaranteeing the project’s implementation, which should be seen as a break of commitment. Under the city’s regulations, investors must complete the procedures for getting the investment certificate in the second quarter of 2007. However, the work has not been done yet. The investors have asked for a delay in submitting necessary documents for getting the investment certificate to August 3, 2007 instead of July 30, and the ground breaking ceremony will also be delayed to September 20, 2007. If Riviera and CSK Finance still delay the showing of the guarantee for the project’s implementation, it is likely that the city authorities will consider revoking the decision on choosing the two groups as the investors. If so, there will be two scenarios. First, Hanoi will ask the Japanese Embassy to introduce another Japanese investor who can run the project with the same conditions stipulated for the two previously chosen investors. Second, Hanoi will organise public bidding to select investors for the project. To date, the only sum of money Riviera and CSK Finance have paid to Hanoi authorities since they were chosen as the project investors was $3mil in non-refundable aid for the city. Meanwhile, the investors will have to pay the remaining 2.5mil ($5.5mil of non-refundable aid in total) right after they get the investment certificate for the hotel project on the X2 position. As committed, the investors also have the responsibility of paying the sum of $50mil to the Hanoi Treasury as a guarantee for implementing the project (10% of the suggested total investment capital of the project). Moreover, within 30 days after the investors sign the contract on leasing land, investors have to pay the whole sum of money for leasing land for 50 years (the unit price is VND140,000/sq m/year). The hotel projected to be built on X2 position on Pham Hung Road has the total space area of 4ha, and investment capital of $500mil, 18 storeys and 550 5-star hotel rooms. The transfer of investment projects is not prohibited under current law; it is stipulated in provisions 65 and 66 of Decree 108 dated in 2006, guiding the implementation of the 2005 Investment Law. However, the Government has not promulgated detailed regulations on the conditions and procedures for projects using land. Viet Nam Net