Spending billions of dollars to carry coal to Newcastle

16:52' 09/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Though an agricultural country, each year Vietnam spends billions of US dollar to import materials to process animal feed. Since early June 2007, animal feed producing companies have been increasing the prices of animal feed by several thousands of dong per 25kg sack. This is the eighth time so far this year animal feed producers have raised the price of this product, afflicting husbandry breeders. Mr. Dao, the owner of a dairy cow farm in Cu Chi District, HCM City, said that the price of feed for cows had increased by more than 33%. While dairy cow breeders are relatively content thanks to the increase of milk prices, poultry breeders are distressed about the feed prices. Ms Hy, the owner of a chicken farm in the southern province of Dong Nai, said that so far this year the price for poultry feed had risen by VND25,500-VND33,000 per 25kg sack. However, it is still lower than the increase for pig feed, from VND40,000-50,000/sack. Increasing prices for feed have made breeders face losses. That’s why many poultry breeders have begun to work for big animal husbandry companies. “We have invested hundreds of million or even billions of dong in poultry farms so we want to be the boss, not to work for husbandry firms like this. But as feed prices are soaring like this, if we do it ourselves, we could lose all,” said Mr. Hung, the owner of a farm in Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province. Sending owls to Athens Many husbandry breeders said that they were trying to find the way out by mixing animal feed themselves. According to Dang Van Chu, a breeder in Vinh Cuu, Dong Nai Province, instead of buying 100% of mixed animal feed, he only buys part of concentrated animal feed from factories to mix with local materials like maize, mash, etc. Mr. Cu said that by doing this, the price for animal feed could be reduced by VND1,500 to 2,000/kg. “The biggest disadvantage of the local animal feed industry is its dependence on imported materials. When the prices of those materials rise in the world market, the prices of local products must increase as well,” said an animal feed producer. According to the Vietnam Animal Husbandry Agency, local sources of materials can satisfy 70% of the demand. Even materials that can be produced locally like maize are imported in quantities of 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes per year. Last year, Vietnam had to import more than $750 million worth of maize material to serve animal feed production. “This is very unreasonable. The reason is that we don’t attach importance to investing in this variety,” said Le Ba Lich, Chairman of the Animal Feed Association. According to Mr. Lich, the productivity of maize in Vietnam is quite low compared to that in other countries, just 3.6 tonnes per hectare. Though the country devotes more than 1.1 million ha of land to grow maize, Vietnam still has to import maize worth hundreds of millions of US dollars each year. One of the reasons, according to Mr. Lich, is the irrigation system in maize growing areas is not invested in properly. Vietnam also has to import around $400 million of soybeans and over $100 million of fish powder. “Vietnam is one of the leading exporters of seafood in the world. It has a coastline of more than 3,000km and a flotilla of thousands of boats, but it still has to import fish powder from Peru,” said Mr. Lich. He said that Vietnam could be completely self-sufficient in fish powder for the animal feed processing industry if fisheries paid more attention to this field. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Da Nang to open caravan tour on EWEC for businessmen

12:36' 09/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The Da Nang People’s Committee has decided to launch the caravan tour on the East West Economic Corridor (EWEC) route for businessmen, under the framework of the EWEC week. Tourists in Da Nang The committee has delegated its staff to investigate the EWEC, which will consider the issues relating to investment, trade and tourism, as well as to find out the difficulties, problems in entry-exit and transportation policies. The working team will suggest the solutions to settle the problems, in order to better serve the trade on the EWEC. The Da Nang authority has also requested its departments to discuss with Thai Mudahan provincial authority about the cooperation in the development of the Tien Sa port. The forum on investment, trade and tourism cooperation will take place under the framework of the EWEC week to be held in Da Nang onn August 27 – September 1, 2007. Especially, the Da Nang authority will cooperate with other local authorities to organise a caravan tour on EWEC, to be reserved for businessmen and delegates. The itinerary of the caravan tour will be Da Nang - Tien Sa – Hoi An – Chu Lai – Dung Quat – Da Nang – Hue – Quang Tri – Savanakhet – Mukdahan – Lao Bao – Da Nang. As planned, the caravan will depart in Da Nang on the morning of August 29 for Non Nuoc Stone Village, Hoi An ancient town, My Son Holy Site, Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, Dung Quat port and then return to Da Nang. On the morning of August 30, the caravan will visit Tien Sa port, the Champa Sculpture Museum, the Hoa Khanh Industrial Zone, and then leave Da Nang for Hue to visit Chan May port and Chan May Economic Zone, where they will visit mausoleums and attend the “Royal night”. On the morning of August 30, the caravan travellers will go to Quang Tri, visit the Lao Bao Free Trade Zone, and then head for Savanakhet, where they will visit several economic and cultural places. On the morning of September 1, the travelers will arrive in Thailand through the Mukdahan border gate, visit the Laos – Thailand friendship bridge and some places in Mukdakhan province. The travelers will return to Da Nang on the afternoon of September 2. In related news, in the first six months of the year, Da Nang welcomed 577,400 visitors, an increase of 34.7% over the same period of the last year, and nearly double the targeted growth rate for 2007 in a whole, at 17.6%. The number of foreign tourists increased by 23%, while domestic travelers increased by 39.4% in the first half of the year. According to Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the Da Nang Tourism Department, the number of travelers by land and sea increased sharply in recent times. Da Nang received 38 cruises in the last six months, which brought about 17,000 tourists, increasing by 2.1 times over the same period last year’s. Besides, the city received 11,000 caravan travelers from Thailand, Malaysia and Laos, double the figure of the same period of last year. The increase in the number of travelers has helped Da Nang get the turnover of VND298bil ($18.62mil) from tourism, fulfilling 59% of the yearly plan. A series of tourism projects and accommodation items have been put into operation recently. These include the road to Bai Bac on Son Tra peninsular, Hoang Anh Gia Lai Plaza Hotel, Riverside and the Queen hotels. The night bathing beach has been put into operation, creating a specific characteristic for the Da Nang sea. Especially, on Son Tra peninsula, the lighting system for the Tien Sa area has been completed, and the installation of the telecommunication system is being carried out. The project on water supply on the peninsula is expected to be operational in the third quarter of the year. However, according to Mai Duc Loc, Head of the Economics – Budget Committee under the People’s Council of Da Nang, the turnover from tourism remains modest compared to the potential of the city, while travelers do not make long stays in the city. Da Nang hopes to receive 332,000 tourists in the first half of the year, including 143,000 foreign tourists. Viet Nam Net

Master plan on fighting against dollarisation drawn

12:42' 09/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the project on heightening the convertibility of the local currency, VND, and combating with the dollarisation in the national economy. The project is expected to be completed in 2010, by that time, the convertibility of the local currency will be improved, while the dollarisation, which means the popular use of the dollar in transactions in Vietnamese territory, will be minimized. The aims of the project are to foster the external economy, attract foreign investment, and heighten Vietnam’s position on the international market. The reduction in the dollarisiation will help improve the efficiency of the monetary and exchange rate policies. By 2010, the convertibility of the VND will be fully implemented in Vietnam, which will pave the way for heightening the international convertibility of the VND in the future. The current transaction liberalization and the involvement of local currency, VND, in export activities will be achieved. From now to 2010, Vietnam will gradually reduce or remove the price quotations in dollars, not allow payments in dollars, and illegal foreign currency trading. The banking system will find out suitable ways to attract floating dollars on the black market into the banks. In order to undertake the project, the Government has asked the central bank to build up the policy on basic interest rates, which will be based on the market supply and demand. The central bank will ensure the harmonization between the exchange rate and interest rate policies to ensure the benefit of holding VND and foreign currencies. The State Bank of Vietnam will follow a flexible forex policy which allows the boosting of exports and attracts foreign investment. The forex policies will be renovated, according to which there will be more freedom in capital transactions and current transactions. In addition, a lot of tasks have been assigned, including 1. liberalizing currency transactions 2. removing the licensing to remit foreign currencies abroad for individuals and credit institutions 3. gradually raising the allowed proportion of mobilizing capital in VND by foreign banks 4. raising reserves in foreign currencies. A lot of measures will be implemented to carry out the project, of which the central bank will do step by step, remove many kinds of licenses in foreign currency management and trading, as well as the limitations in using foreign currencies. Other ministries, including the Ministries of Finance and Trade, will join forces with the State Bank of Vietnam to undertake the project. The Ministry of Finance has been assigned to develop the capital market in VND, while the Ministry of Trade will find out the solution to have the VND involved in export activities. The Ministry of Planning and Investment will consider enacting regulations allowing foreign investors to make investment capital in projects in Vietnam in VND. Besides, Vietnam may consider removing the regulations on balancing foreign currencies of different kinds in foreign invested enterprises. Assessing the current situation of the dollarisation and the convertibility of the VND, the central banks said that the VND is still not favoured in transactions and payment, and that the VND has no convertibility in the world. Meanwhile, the dollarisation is thought to be “relatively serious”. This explains why a big volume of foreign currencies is circulating on the black market and held by the public which is out of the control of the state bank. This has resulted in illegal dollar trading and illegal payment in foreign currencies. Viet Nam Net

Personal e-commerce in Vietnam – small ads

10:53' 09/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge – The most popular online transactions between consumers are product advertisements. After that, the deals are performed offline. Without online payments, the C2C (customer to customer) model in Vietnam is incomplete. According to statistics of the Ministry of Trade at trustvn.gov.vn, Vietnam has 87 websites providing the C2C trading model. 1001shoppings.com, chodientu.vn, aha.com.vn, vietco.com, sieuthihangchatluong.com are the most effective online markets according to a Trade Ministry appraisal (as of December 31, 2006). However, Deputy Director of the E-commerce Agency of the Trade Ministry, Tran Huu Linh, said that over half of the websites on the above-mentioned list were inactive. “Vietnam’s C2C operations are at a very beginning,” Mr Linh said. Mai Anh, Director of the Information Centre of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that in Vietnam there was a true model of C2C. “C2C is transactions between persons. In Vietnam I don’t see any system providing true person to person transactions,” he said. According to Mr Mai Anh, small-ad columns on online newspapers or some pages of online auction floors are considered C2C but they are not true C2C because they lack online payment services. Director of the electronic market (chodientu.vn) Nguyen Hoa Binh also agreed with Mr Mai Anh. “Most Internet users use online small ads to exchange and purchase goods but this form is unprofessional and incomplete C2C. In terms of business, this is not a good model because it doesn’t create trust, prestige and most importantly, it is difficult to collect money,” said Mr Binh. In this context, the introduction of eBay in Vietnam has made a start for official online business in Vietnam, and is believed will have positive influence on the development of e-commerce in Vietnam, particularly C2C. Experts have said that to exist, local online trading floors will have to work with eBay or join hands with each other. However, they said that eBay wouldn’t conquer the market soon because of the differences in trading habits. eBay can rule the European and American markets but in Asia, its success is not so assured. The clearest evidence is eBay operations in Japan, the Republic of Korea and China, where eBay can’t hold major market shares. “Foreign firms enter the Vietnamese market with a route map but they should remember that Vietnamese are using everything free of charge. It is a big issue to change their habits,” said the Director of chodientu.vn. The E-commerce Agency, as the state management agency in this field, said that it would issue timely policies for the operations of online transaction floors. “C2C is not the top priority. To develop the online economy, it is necessary to pay attention to models that bring about large value, such as B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to customer), Mr Tran Huu Linh said. “But in the next three years, e-commerce in Vietnam will generally develop many times more than the current level. The development of payment infrastructure, distribution service, delivery services will have large impacts, promoting the change of C2C model,” he said. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Touring Tien River in the south

19:23' 08/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The Tien River, a branch of the Mekong River in southern Vietnam, flows through an area enriched with alluvium, making the land of Tien Giang and Ben Tre, the two provinces that the river flows through, prime for growing thousands of hectares of tropical orchards. Lying not far from Ho Chi Minh City, the two provinces attract many visitors coming for eco-tourism, exploring specific features of the land along waterways in the south, and for the hospitality of the locals. Tourists wanting to discover this area can book a new tour offered by some Ho Chi Minh City tourism services. Joining this new tour, tourists can learn about the daily lives of the local people by visiting the traditional three-compartment houses and orchards of the locals, and exploring the surroundings on foot following small paths through the isles. Tourists can rest at a restaurant nestled in the green trees and bonsai gardens, and taste local fruits and specialties. A special lunch will be served with dishes of grilled or baked fresh fish. For those who want to catch the fish by themselves, there are many kinds of fishing supplies such as fishing rods, buckets or fishing tackle for them to choose from, or tourists can simply join the locals in bailing out water from the ditch and catching fish by hand. To tour the two provinces, tourists have a choice to go by boat or canoe, the main means of transport here, and pass through canals having green orchards on both sides. The floating market, a unique tourist attraction in the waterway lands of the south, is also a must-see. In Tien Giang, the Cai Be floating market originated from the establishment of a small town on the banks of the Tien River. The market serves not only as a trading place for the locals but also as an attractive destination. Reaching the Cai Be rivulet’s mouth, tourists can see dynamic trading activities along a large section of the river. Everyday, hundreds of boats and canoes, transporting many kinds of local fruits, anchor in this section to wait for traders. The area, at this time, is filled with sounds of transportation, laughter and voices creating the special charm of the waterways in the south. Coming to Tien Giang, tourists can visit landscapes such as the Thoi Son Tourism Area, the Rach Gam – Xoai Mut relics, Tan Phong Isle and more. In Ben Tre, tourists should not miss Minh, Bao and An Hoa isles, and Qui Islet. Among them, Qui Islet, despite having a small area, still reserves the rural beauty of the waterway lands with hospitable locals. It can be reached by canoe and will offer tourists a breath of fresh air. The tour to the two provinces from Ho Chi Minh City is a one-day tour by car. There are also homestay services for tourists who want to stay longer. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

TV series touches off teenagers’ creativity

17:38' 08/07/2007 (GMT+7)

A scene in Frank’s Diary VietNamNet Bridge – The first highly-interactive programme for teenagers on Vietnamese TV, Vang Anh’s Diary, has inspired a group of 10th graders to put their own Vang Anh’s Diary version on the Internet. Vang Anh’s Diary is a multi-episode TV show about a schoolgirl named Vang Anh and her daily interactions at home and school. At the end of each episode, she poses a dilemma for viewers to offer their own solutions. Since June, however, Hanoi teenagers have been talking about a similar series called Frank’s Diary made by 5 students majoring in Chinese at Foreign Language-Specialised High School. Unlike the pretty and talented Vang Anh, Frank in Frank’s Diary is a normal-looking school girl who wears glasses and brings up issues ranging from family conflicts and inferiority feelings of countryside students studying in the city to teenagers’ dieting to have skinny bodies. Most scenes were shot in class. One of the “producers”, said: “After shooting the first episode during breaks between class meetings, we received lots of support from teachers and classmates.” The first episode is about Frank’s encounter with a new classmate. At the end, the protagonist also provides viewers with different options to a question to choose from and give any suggestion to “producers”. Frank’s Diary is now playing in a yahoo blog. Hanoi teenagers have been sending the link to the blog through Yahoo Messenger. Only a few weeks after its debut, the film had attracted 1,500 visitors. “It’s a pity that they don’t have much chance to advertise it. Besides, students are all on summer vacation. Otherwise, there would be many more viewers,” said a classmate and a fan of Frank’s Diary. However, the group is planning to post the show on youtube.com and clips.vn to attract more watchers. The idea all started when Hong Hanh, who is in charge of recording, was presented with a mini camera. So along with Anh Tu, Phuong Anh, Quynh Huong and Quang Huy, Hong Hanh spent 2 days recording the first episode another 2 days doing technical touch-ups and posting it on the Internet. They’ve finished the first phase of episode 2 now and are looking for actors as well as scripts for future ones. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

PM Nguyen Tan Dung wraps up India visit

17:44' 08/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, his wife and entourage, arrived in Ha Noi on July 7, after wrapping a State-level visit to India that pundits lauded as a watershed moment in ties between the two Asian nations. The trip, made at the invitation of Indian PM Manmohan Singh from July 4, aimed to move the country's shared relationship to a strategic partnership. While in New Delhi PM Dung also paid a courtesy visit to Indian President Abdul Kalam and Indian National Congress Party (I) Chairwoman Sonia Gandhi. The Vietnamese government leader received Speaker of the Lok Sabha (House of the People) Shri Somnath Chatterjee, leader of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Shri L. K. Advani, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Prakash Karat and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India A.B Bardhan. During talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on July 6, both sides agreed to officially establish a strategic partnership and stressed that it would mark a breakthrough in the relations between Vietnam and India, for the sustainable development and prosperity of the two countries. Aside from the strategic partnership agreement, business and trade ties were high on the agenda for the leaders of two of the world's most rapidly expanding economies. During his stops-over in different states, PM Dung received leaders of leading Indian corporations in the areas of information technology, telecommunications, metallurgy, energy, petrochemistry and industrial pharmaceuticals. Key events on the trip were Vietnam-India Business Forums held by the Vietnam Chamber of Industry and Commerce's (VCCI) and Indian trade and investment promotion group. The forums proved to be a lucrative market for many as deals worth nearly 4.5 billion USD were signed between Vietnamese and Indian businesses. Of particular note were reached cooperative agreements between the VCCI and the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Vietnam Steel Corporation and its Indian partner, Tata group, and the Vietnam Chemical Corporation and Phillips Carbon Black. Vietnam-based Industrial and Irrigation Construction Corporation and Athena will work together on a hydroelectricity project, Vietnam's Sovico Company and its Indian partner Sun Group will cooperate in mining, petroleum and thermo-electricity, and the Quoc Anh Education Development Company have education deals in place with the SSM group. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Investors look past corporate tax cuts

19:53' 08/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - The government is planning to lower the corporate income tax rate in a bid to favour investors, but some observers have countered that greater investment incentives should also be taken into consideration. Truong Chi Trung, Vice Minister of Finance, said the plan to reduce corporate income tax (CIT) by 3 per cent down to 25 per cent, which would bring Vietnam in line with other countries in the region, was being carefully considered. Trung said that a number of companies had complained in recent years about the tax being too high, and expressed their belief that maintaining tax level at 28 per cent could adversely impact the business environment. “The CIT reduction plan, which is expected to become effective in 2008, could cause the state coffers to witness a dramatic drop in revenues,” said Nguyen Van Ninh, head of the General Department of Taxation under the Ministry of Finance. He estimated CIT collection would provide around VND30 trillion ($1.9 billion) to the state budget this year, around 3 per cent of the country’s GDP. “If the CIT reduction goes into effect, the state budget could lose around VND3 trillion ($190 million), equivalent to 10 per cent of total CIT revenues,” he said. “On the other side,” he added, “the business environment will become more and more attractive, resulting in increased investment”. Ninh said the CIT adjustment was planned within a comprehensive and long-term strategy on tax reshuffles until 2010, and set up in an effort to make the country’s tax system more attractive to investors. Martin Rama, a lead economist at the World Bank, said the CIT reduction was obviously a positive step forward to attract investors. “However,” he said, “more importantly, the government should pay special attention to other investment incentives in line with its WTO commitments.” Rama noted that there remained different standards for foreign and domestic investors, an obstacle that needed to be tackled quickly. He said Vietnam’s drive to create a favourable business environment was on the right track, resulting in numerous new firms entering the nation’s market. Ngo Thanh Tung, managing partner of the Vietnam International Law Firm, said the CIT rate was just one factor that foreign investors take into consideration before setting up in Vietnam. “Other important factors are comfort and ease of infrastructure and administrative procedures,” he highlighted, adding that the assurance of a highly-qualified labour force was a necessity. Tung commented that the adjusted CIT rate of 25 per cent was lower than that currently applied in China and other regional countries. “Now is the perfect time for Vietnam to attract foreign investors, but the government must pay due attention to a comprehensive package of reforms regarding not only taxes but also other factors so as to keep foreign investors. The immediate and urgent problem to be settled is the assurance of enough electricity for investors. “The macro-economic policies are favourable, but implementation at the grassroots levels remains cmbersome,” Tung said. He said apart from improvements to the investment environment, Vietnam needed to improve living conditions for investors, particularly the diversification of services like entertainment, shopping, healthcare as well as the minimisation of environmental pollution. (Source: Viet Nam Net)

Nobert Moss: the man who loves Vietnam

17:39' 08/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Dr. Moss at the opening ceremony of the first sports hospital of Vietnam. VietNamNet Bridge – The name of Dr. Nobert Moss has been known in Vietnam for the past 15 years through his participation in surgeries on famous Vietnamese football players like Hong Son, Minh Chien, Quoc Cuong. However, not many know that Dr. Moss had a personal photo exhibition on the life of Vietnamese people in Germany in 2006 and will have four more exhibitions on Vietnam this year. Untold stories Dr. Moss, 59, belongs to the generation of German youth who took to the streets to protest the Vietnam War before 1968. “I feel very close to Vietnam because of the connection of a generation of German youth who protested the war in Vietnam in the past,” he told Tuoi Tre newspaper at the inauguration ceremony of the first sports hospital of Vietnam in Hanoi in May 2007. The establishment of this VND52 billion (US$3.25 million) hospital is the great contribution of Dr. Moss. This German doctor has performed many operations on Vietnamese athletes. He has opened many training courses for Vietnamese doctors and invited German experts to come to Vietnam with his own money. He also brought to Vietnam a German architect to design the sports hospital. In the past 15 years, Dr. Moss has conducted operations on 142 Vietnamese patients, including many famous athletes. The surgery on football player Hong Son in 1996 attracted the special attention of Vietnamese fans because at that time Son was the hero of the Vietnamese national team, which won the silver medal at Tiger Cup 1996, and he returned home from the Tiger Cup 1996 on crutches. “I remember two things about the operations on Hong Son. The first operation in 1996 in Germany brought Son back to the football playing field but the second operation several years later could help him return to life only. That’s a tragedy!” Dr. Moss said. The German doctor still torments himself because he could not help Son more. Dr. Moss still remembers very clearly the case of another football player, Dang Thanh Phuong. This athlete came to Dr. Moss after the 22nd SEA Games with a crushed knee. It was very difficult to cure the knee completely to help the player return to football. However, the biggest difficulty was the money for the operation ($8,000). Dr. Moss decided to provide treatment for Phuong for over two weeks free of charge. He only received $1,100 for the artificial arthrosis. However, Dr. Moss doesn’t want to only perform operations on talented athletes of Vietnam. “I want to find an open way for the participation of all people. Everybody must be treated, regardless of whether they are rich or poor because there is a latent threat in the world that elite health services will only be for the very rich,” Dr. Moss said. The way of Dr. Moss is using his only money to provide short-term training for Vietnamese sports doctors or bring German experts to Vietnam. This amount of money is Dr. Moss’ savings from his 35 working years. “I have many health projects in Mexico, India, and Myanmar but Vietnam accounts for 50% of my projects and I have brought six Vietnamese doctors to St Joseph’s Hospital (Germany) where I’m the director to study.” Among those people are Dr. Le Quy Phuong, Director of the Vietnam Sports Hospital, Major-general Nguyen Tien Binh, Deputy Director of the Military Hospital. Transmitting his love for Vietnam People who know Dr. Moss are always surprised by his love for Vietnam, which is “imbued in my blood”, as he says. For him, “Contributing to build Vietnam is part of my life and I’m determined to do it with my Vietnamese friends.” This German doctor also worries that young Vietnamese people don’t understand Vietnamese history. Dr. Moss has collected more than 1,000 photos, which are called “The portraits of Vietnamese people”, the name of one of his photo exhibitions held by the Goethe Institute in Vietnam last November. These are photos of Vietnamese people taken by French soldiers from the 19th century to 1906. They were sent from Vietnam to France but then they drifted to Germany. Dr. Moss bought those photos to make a valuable collection. This collection has been recently displayed in Bonn, Germany to the surprise of audiences. The World Publishing House of Vietnam will issue a book of these photos. Last year, Dr. Moss bought over 40 war photos from a Vietnamese war photographer, Doan Cong Tinh, to prepare for four exhibitions on Vietnam through different periods in Bonn in the coming year. Dr. Vu Cong Lap, a close friend of Dr. Moss, couldn’t hide his admiration when he saw the exhibition house of Mr Moss in Germany and his timber house in Cologne, which are paved with iron wood imported from Vietnam so he can “live in the heart of Vietnam”. Dr. Moss sent his 18-year-old son named Johannes to Vietnam several years ago. Instead of living in luxurious hotels, the father hired a boat to take his son through slums along the Saigon River to help “Johannes understand how Vietnamese people still suffer hard lives and to love Vietnamese people”. “I have to pass on my love for Vietnam because when I go away, there must be someone who follows me,” he said. “My son is about to graduate from high school and his aspiration is to come to Vietnam to work for several years. He loves Vietnam very much,” he said, and smiled contently. (Source: Viet Nam Net)