In good company

16:29' 29/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - If you’re looking to do a bit of team building a company retreat is the perfect challenge, discovers Duong Kieu Whether your staff is stressed out or is in need of a bit of bonding, you might be interested in new packages now available for company retreats with a focus on team building. Company retreats, also referred to as professional development seminars, are growing in popularity in Vietnam. Looking to capitalise on this growing demand, numerous travel agencies in Ho Chi Minh City have created team building packages. An itinerary will be devised incorporating games or services based on the requirements of each client that, whether indoors or outdoors, will energise the group, illuminate the issues at hand, and provide a welcome break from their sedentary jobs! “Our clients are mainly colleagues, loyal customer teams, directors or marketing agents with potential strategic clients, who usually combine internal meetings or business events with games to help them all relax and get to know each other,” says Minh Phuong, the marketing director of Vietmark travel agency. “We are tired of merely going sight seeing. What is interesting is heading out into nature then sharing the highs and lows with our colleagues and bosses,” says Huynh Nguyet Thu from SV technology after a successful teambuilding trip. Depending on the clients’ time, budget and trip’s main purpose, the agencies brainstorm the most suitable package. “Games could be indoor or outdoor but most prefer outdoor activities,” says Phuong. Such team building trips usually revolve around physical activities but more intellectual challenges are also used. The games help people work together. Office positions are left behind. Hidden talents are encouraged to emerge. “I really found it such fun and so encouraging to do this. On the trip there was no distance between us – juniors and seniors were side by side. We were all in the same boat, fighting, yelling and living life together!” says Le Tran Huong Lan, from Atlas Copco. “I was a little bit worried when I first heard the games explained but it was a great experience to have with my colleagues.” “We have to survey suitable places to organise each specific game package, in which we aim not to harm the environment and protect participants by providing medical support and rescue boats,” says Phuong. “I would never have believed that I could swim across a sea like I have just done on tour, which, I think, is down to being able to explore myself and realise everyone’ else’s strengths,” says Thu. Recommended Companies Vietmark, 166D Tran Hung Dao, D1, Ho Chi Minh CIty 08 404 3939 Lua Viet, 677 Tran Hung Dao D1, Ho Chi Minh CIty 08 923 2148 Saigon Tourist, 49 Le Thanh Ton, D1, Ho Chi Minh City 08 829 8914 (Source: VIR)

Legislators vote on leaders, members of NA bodies

16:21' 29/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly deputies on July 28 voted on the posts of heads, deputy heads and members of the NA Council of Ethnic Minorities and other NA Committees and the Secretariat in charge of NA sessions. Ksor Phuoc was elected as Chairman of the Council of Ethnic Minorities and Nguyen Van Thuan was voted as Chairman of the Law Committee. Le Thi Thu Ba was elected to the post of Chairwoman of the Judicial Committee, while Ha Van Hien was voted as Chairman of the Economic Committee. Phung Quoc Hien was elected as Chairman of the Financial and Budgetary Committee and Le Quang Binh was voted for the position of Chairman of the Defence and Security Committee. Dao Trong Thi was elected as Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children and Truong Thi Mai was voted to the post of Chairwoman of the Committee for Social Affairs. Dang Vu Minh was elected as Chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment, while Nguyen Van Son, Chairman of the Committee for External Affairs, and Tran Dinh Dan, Head of the Secretariat in charge of NA sessions. As scheduled, the legislature will hold a plenary session on July 30 to hear reports presented by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the number of Deputy Prime Ministers, the establishment and dissolving of ministries and ministerial-level agencies. (Source: VNA, Viet Nam Net)

Golf investors to the rounds of Long An

16:27' 29/07/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - Scores of investors are clubbing together to take a swing at winning golf projects in Long An province. Nguyen Huu Tuan, deputy director of the Long An Department for Planning and Investment, said nine investors were looking at golf and tourism blueprints for the Mekong Delta province. “We are happy to receive many projects in this field because these are highly benefitable,” Tuan said. However, Tuan said it was unclear whether the province had sufficient room to accommodate all the projects. While most of the projects would be located on the outskirts of the province, most of them each require 150 to 200 hectares. Tuan also voiced some environmental concerns. “Therefore, we need guidance from the Ministry of Planning and Investment about this,” Tuan said. Four of the projects come from South Korea, Hyoil, DM Lee, Genuwin D&C and the Viet-Han Join Stock Company while the rest are backed by domestic investors. Hyoil is the only firm which has been granted an investment licence. The company will build a $58 million, 36-hole golf course and resort in Thu Thua district’s My Phu commune. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 2010, with the entire 280ha complex slated for completion in 2015. DM Lee company is also processing procedures to build a golf course, villas, hotel and restaurants on a 300ha site in Can Giuoc district, while Genuwin D&C has signed an agreement with the local People’s Committee to build a golf course complex on 337ha in Thu Thua district. Meanwhile, Phu Quang New Residential Area Join Stock Company wants to build a residential area in Phuoc Lai district. The province is the ninth most successful in attracting FDI projects with 132 projects worth $1,134 million having arrived up to last month. (Source: VIR)

Western bride helps protect Vietnamese nature

16:19' 29/07/2007 (GMT+7)

Bettina and her mother back in Germany are playing traditional Vietnamese instruments VietNamNet Bridge – People in Na Hang district in the northern province of Tuyen Quang are all familiar with Bettina, a Vietnamese painter’s wife, who has worked to protect wildlife for 10 years. Ten years ago, from her home province of Baden Wuntemberg in Germany, Bettina first came to Vietnam to take part in a project to protect snub-nosed monkeys endemic to Tuyen Quang. At first, the sight of a blond girl was rather strange and unfamiliar to local residents. But Bettina was determined to learn Vietnamese in order to meet and mobilise local people to protect forests. Her efforts paid off. Local residents said they began to realise what was happening: a foreigner came from far away just to protect their own forests which they themselves had been destroying by felling trees and killing wildlife. To forestry officials in particular, she was like a sister who used to accompany them on their forest surveillance tours and never failed to tell local residents not to kill wild animals in an imperfect Vietnamese accent wherever she went. “If I didn’t know something, I asked. If I didn’t hear things clearly, I asked again. I spoke to people, and if they didn’t understand me, I explained until they understood,” said Bettina about her efforts to communicate with Vietnamese people in Vietnamese. So when Bettina recently returned to Na Hang, Tuyen Quang with a team from the University of Forestry to work on an agricultural support project she had persuaded Schmitz Stiftung Organisation to sponsor, she was instantly recognised and warmly welcomed. Since her first trip to Vietnam, Bettina has taken part in other wildlife protection activities. Protection seems to run in her blood. Once on her way from Tuyen Quang to Hanoi, Bettina happened to see a wild cat being sold on the road. She immediately called the Tuyen Quang Forestry Department’s head and told him to send somebody to pick it up. Yet, life in Vietnam means more than just wildlife to Bettina. Married to painter Tuan Anh, who won the first prize at the 2003 Vietnamese Art contest, she is also part of a Vietnamese family and fulfils the role of a Vietnamese wife, doing her share of cooking meals for her in-laws during Tet. “My heart belongs to Vietnam,” she said, smiling, and taking out a traditional two-chord fiddle to play a song. (Source: Tien Phong, Viet Nam Net)