Overseas Vietnamese enjoy motor vehicle tax breaks

Overseas Vietnamese who have signed a contract of one year or more to work at a State-owned agency have been granted import tax, special consumption tax, and value-added tax (VAT) exemptions on used cars they bring to Vietnam, under a new government decree.

To be eligible for the tax exemptions the motor cars must meet certain conditions and technological standards required under Vietnamese regulations such as having been registered for at least six months in the country where the overseas Vietnamese had been living or working and have at least 10,000 km on its odometer by the time it arrives in Vietnam.

After the work contract ends the car must be re-exported to its original location or if it is sold or leased in Vietnam, it is subject to taxes.

Hanoi students learn how to protect water resources

Over 1,600 students from six elementary schools in My Duc and Thanh Oai districts in Hanoi have finished a course on how protect water resources co-held by Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam and non-governmental organization Live and Learn.

The course is part of a “Mizuiku - I love clean water” project which began in March. In the first phase of the project, experts from Live and Learn taught students about natural water resources, the important role of water in human life, and the importance of protecting water resources.

The second phase of the project covered training courses for teachers and outdoor activities themed water protection.

Around 2,500 books and 500 education materials on water resources have been given to students and teachers at the six schools.

Nguyen Thi Kim Loan, headmistress of Do Dong Elementary School, said after taking part in the project, students have had better awareness of protecting the environment and water resources through simple things.

The project also included upgrade of infrastructure facilities and toilets as well as donation of water purifiers for several schools in the summer of 2015.

Takenobu Shiina, general manager of the Environmental Sustainability Strategy Department under the Corporate Communication Division of Suntory, said the project is expected to create positive effects on elementary students, the major human resource for protecting the environment in the future, as it has done in Japan.

HCMC collects road maintenance fee on motorbikes

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has sent a document instructing its divisions to work with trade unions, mobilize officials and civil servants to pay road maintenance fee on motorbikes this month.

Nine out of 24 districts in the city have implemented the toll collection since June. Other districts have completed listing the number of registered vehicles in their localities.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance had proposed the Government to halt collecting the toll on motorbikes from January 1, 2016 to wait for more reasonable and convenient collection measures.

The Hanoi Department of Transport has started collecting the fee from January 1, 2013 yielding VND55 billion (US$2.45 million) the same year, VND36 billion in 2014 and VND3.6 billion in the first six months 2015 accounting for 3 percent plan.

EU, Vietnam share experience on climate change response

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU delegation on September 14 co-hosted a seminar on the EU-Vietnam relationship and experience on climate change response.

The two sides have run a number of cooperative programs on climate change, renewal energy, and environmental protection.

During the two-day seminar, participants will update information about the EU, its role, function, and authority internationally, the EU-Vietnam Partnership Cooperative Agreement, and discuss EU countries’ experience in coping with climate change.

Storm Vam Co lashes Quang Nam-Quang Ngai

Tropical storm Vam Co made its landfall in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces in central Vietnam at about 9:00 pm on Monday, the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting reported.

After striking the mainland with winds of up to 60kph and gusts of 62-88kph, the storm downgraded to a tropical depression and then a low-pressure system.

The storm’s movements have brought torrential rains to the central region from Ha Tinh to Binh Dinh provinces, with rainfall ranging from 150 mm to over 300 mm, the center said.

Many areas in Quang Ngai and Quang Nam were submerged in floodwater while many trees were knocked down in Da Nang City, which borders Quang Nam, news website VnExpress reported.

Thousands of hectares of crops in Quang Nam may be ruined by floodwater, authorities warned.

There was no immediate reports of casualties or damage caused by the storm.

At 9:00 am on Tuesday, the low-pressure system will be located in southern Laos, with winds of less than 40kph.

From this evening until the end of Wednesday, torrential rains will occur in the central region from Quang Binh to Thua Thien-Hue provinces, in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, and in the area from Da Nang City to Quang Ngai Province, with rainfall ranging from 100-250 mm.

From Tuesday until Friday, heavy rains will happen in the central region from Thanh Hoa to Ha Tinh provinces, with rainfall of 100-300 mm, and in the northern delta, with rainfall of 50-100 mm.

Downpours will cause the water levels in many rivers in Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh to rise, and flashfloods and land subsidence may occur in low-lying and mountainous areas in these provinces, the center warned.

Because of the storm, about 200 passengers could not leave Quang Ngai’s Ly Son Island by boat on Monday afternoon, local authorities reported.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese airlines announced at midday on Monday the cancelation of 27 flights due to the foul weather.

Vietnam needs to have helicopter for donated organ transportation: Minister

Vietnamese Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said during a visit to the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi on September 12, the health sector should have helicopter and special vehicles for transporting donated organs.

Minister Tien visited two patients who had undergone heart and lung transplants in the hospital, in which the organs were donated by those suffering from brain death at Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and transported to the hospital via air.

Ms. Tien highly appreciated the transportation of donated organs via air, yet she supposed if there has been no flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, the transplant will face difficulty; accordingly, the health sector needs to have helicopter and special vehicles for transporting the organs.

The Health Minister also congratulated the success of the transplants of the hospital's staff. Additionally, she lauded the co-ordination of the Vietnam National Coordinating Center for Human Transplantation and the medical worker team of Cho Ray Hospital in maintaining organs of the brain-dead donor.

Speaking with medical teams in the hospital, Ms. Tien said that in October she will convene a meeting with hospitals over the coordinating organs. She also urged the Vietnam National Coordinating Center for Human Transplantation to liaise with the Association for Organ Donation to raise awareness to residents of organ donation.

The two centers should publicize the telephone numbers, standards for organ donation and issue card to donors. The two facilities should update the list of recipients and people who have agreed to donate organs.  There should have supports for the poor in transplant by calling for social contribution.

The health minister urged the Vietnam-Germany Hospital to conduct scientific research for the lungs and pancreas transplants and such transplants are expected to perform in the next time

The two patients who had heart and liver transplants are recovering very well at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital one week after the surgery, said the hospital.

Vietnamese in jail for stealing US$11,500 from US online payments

A court in central Vietnam on September 14 sentenced a man to 4 years in prison for using stolen IDs to appropriate US$11,502 from online payment transactions between US-based Square Company and a customer.

Duong Dinh Dat, 24, was also ordered to repay the total amount to the company.

According to the indictment, Dat in 2012 found a hackers' database of hacked email accounts which was spread online.

He accessed four accounts, one of which contained emails related to online payments made by Square Company to the account owner.

Duong Dinh Dat, 24, stands at a trial in Danang on September 14. Photo: Nguyen Tu

In Sep. 2012, Dat opened an account at Payoneer.com, another US financial services website that provides online money transfer.

In Feb. 2013, he used the stolen email ID to log in the owner's Square account and replaced the original bank account with his Payoneer one.

Between March 2013 and April 2014, he stole a total of US$11,502 which Square sent to its customer.

Da Nang hosts Asia Pacific Military Health Exchange

The Asia Pacific Military Health Exchange 2015 (APMHE-2015) is underway in the central city of Da Nang from September 14-18.

The event, themed “Global health cooperation”, is co-hosted by the US Army’s Medical Corps and its Vietnamese counterpart and is attended by 500 delegates from 24 countries and territories worldwide and the International Committee on Military Medicine.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Lieutenant General Le Chiem Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam’s People’s Army said the conference holds significant meaning in the context of complicated and unpredictable non-traditional security challenges.

APMHE-2015 will offer a chance for scientists and experts working in the medical sector in the Asia Pacific region to share experience in the field, thus promoting cooperation in military health in particular and healthcare more broadly.

It will also serve as a venue for participating countries and territories to discuss measures to bolster their connections in preventing disasters and diseases and providing humanitarian assistance, especially in areas related to global health security.

As many as 130 scientific reports will be presented at the event, focusing on external and internal medicine, infections, disease prevention, community healthcare, personel training traditional medicine and the application of advanced technology in healthcare.

The conference plays an important role in Vietnam’s foreign defence relations, adding that it will be part of activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic ties.

Director of the Military Medical Department Vu Quoc Binh said the country’s military medicine has continually attached importance to international cooperation and bolstering friendship, understanding and collaboration of countries in the region and the world.

Vietnam has set up ties in the military medicine with more than 30 countries and is an active member of the ASEAN Chief of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACMM) and the Experts’ Working Group on Military Medicine of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

Cuba, HCM City share agricultural development experience

Head of the Cuban Party Central Committee’s Agriculture-Food Department Santiago Perez shared the country’s policies on agricultural development at a working session with Vice Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong on September 13.

Perez said that several new policies put forward have produced positive results, including allocating unused land for farmers, centralising the decisive role of State-owned enterprises and providing credit to enterprises and farmers.

He also hoped to learn from Ho Chi Minh City’s experience in this field in order to further develop his country’s agricultural sector.

Responding in kind, Phong stated Ho Chi Minh City is moving to develop urban agriculture in a modern, effective and safe way.

Although agriculture currently accounts for only a small proportion of the city’s economic structure, agricultural structure transfer will surely help increase the added value of farm produce, he added.

On the occasion, the Cuban Party delegation also visited a hi-tech farming area and several efficient farms in the city.

RoK cuisine popularised among Vietnamese

“Beyond K-Food, On your Table”, the K-Food Fair 2015, has given cuisine aficionados in Vietnam a chance to taste traditional dishes from the Republic of Korea (RoK) during its organisation in Hanoi from September 11-13.

Visitors were offered RoK tea and beverages, confectionary, fresh agricultural products and other outstanding commodities such as Kimchi, a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings.

The fair included a B2B (business-to-business) exhibition which brought together 20 exporters and over 80 food import enterprises from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore in a direct dialogue on promoting RoK agricultural products in foreign countries.

In addition, visitors at the fair enjoyed stellar cooking performances by famous chefs from both countries, including Hoang Minh Nhat, champion of the 2 nd season of Master Chef Vietnam, and Shin Hyo Sub from the RoK.

RoK food exports to Vietnam have risen 6-12 percent in the last three years. Vietnamese people’s understanding of RoK food has also escalated 13 percent annually.

According to the organising board, the K-Food Fair 2015 is scheduled in Jakarta (Indonesia) in October and Chongquing (China) and Dubai (the United Arab Emirates) in November. Earlier, the fair was brought to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Shandong province (China).

Deputy PM: priority capital for disaster mitigation projects

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai requested capital to disaster mitigation projects be prioritised while chairing a teleconference in Hanoi on September 14.

The event was to review disaster prevention and control in the past eight months and lay out tasks for the future.

He called for more campaigns to raise public awareness of disaster mitigation with a focus on abnormal weather phenomena.

Localities were asked to re-examine disaster patterns to devise sound prevention solutions while continuing with the community-based disaster risk management scheme as approved by the Prime Minister.

The forecasting and progress of disaster control projects remain limited, the Deputy PM admitted.

In the face of the ongoing severe drought in the south central and Central Highlands regions, he urged authorities to appeal for water conservation and for farmers to switch to new crops.

Looking forward, he demanded the continuation of key disaster control and search-and-rescue tasks directed by the Prime Minister during a similar conference held early this year.

The enforcement of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control will be stepped up and forecasting capability will be improved.

All necessary resources will be put towards projects involving dyke reinforcement, evacuation, reserves safety and vessel shelter areas.

To brace for tropical storm Vamco, the third so far this year, he asked ministries, agencies and vulnerable localities to follow directions recently provided by the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

In March, rainfall occurred in the central region, there were unusually cold temperatures in Sa Pa, hot spells in the north and central region and the heaviest rain in Son La and Quang Ninh in late July.

The country has experienced 78 rainstorms with whirlwinds and lightning that has left 116 dead and missing, 112 injured, led to the collapse of 1,130 houses, blown away nearly 13,700 roofs and inundated more than 66,000 hectares of rice and crops, resulting in an economic loss of more than 5.4 trillion VND (245.4 million USD) so far this year.

Worsening soil salinity has also taken a toll on farmers’ livelihoods in the Mekong Delta, reported Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang.

According to the National Committee for Search and Rescue, more than 23,000 people and 400 pieces of equipment have been deployed for recovery efforts, with over 2,300 out of 8,200 individuals in high risk areas evacuated to safety.

Hoang Duc Giang, Director of the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, predicted 6-7 storms and tropical storms in the East Sea between now and the year’s end, 2-3 of which will enter Vietnam.

Due to the impacts of the El Nino weather phenomenon, the level of rain in the central region from September 2015 – February 2016 will be half of that recorded years ago, particularly in the central-central and southern regions during the rainy season from September – November.

Precipitation levels in the Central Highlands and southern regions and Binh Thuan province from September 2015 – February 2016 will be 20-50 percent lower than traditional levels.

Vice State President presents scholarships to underprivileged children

Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan awarded “Accompanying children to school” scholarships to 130 underprivileged children in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang on September 14.

The Vice President praised the province for their efforts to help underprivileged children go to school and asked the province to continue informing the Vietnam Children Fund of extraordinary cases in need of additional support.

The “Accompanying children to school” fund has awarded scholarships to 260 underprivileged children with excellent academic achievements in Hau Giang and Soc Trang provinces for the 2015-2016 school year.

Since 2012, the fund, launched by Vice President Doan, has presented scholarships to 9,120 children worth a combined 26 billion VND (1.18 million USD).

Since 1993, the Vietnam’s Children Fund has granted 35,000 scholarships to underprivileged children.

Phu Yen keen to develop mountainous areas

The central province of Phu Yen has invested more than 4.17 trillion VND (189.5 million USD) in developing local mountainous and ethnic minority areas over the past five years.

As a result, the traffic system has improved in rural areas with food security ensured for local residents and more than 90 percent of households in mountainous areas have access to stable power supply.

The locality has also developed nearly 20,000 hectares of sugar cane, 18,000 hectares of cassava and 4,000 hectares of rubber trees, meeting the demand of local processing factories.

As many as 2,645 ethnic minority and poor households have been provided with thousands of hectares of production and residential land.

Their access to water supply has been facilitated thanks to the construction of water stations or water wells.

Some 30 percent of ethnic minority labourers are expected to access to vocational training and the agricultural workforce rate is predicted to drop below 50 percent by 2019

Jobs have been created for 4,000 local labourers each year, contributing to reducing the impoverished household rate by 3-5 percent.

Infrastructure facilities have also been developed for local schools.

Nha Trang wants 60-story buildings along coast

Officials in the beach city of Nha Trang in south-central Vietnam have offered a suggestion to increase its building cap by 20 stories although the height of new skyscrapers there has already exceeded the current limit.

Authorities in Nha Trang, the capital city of Khanh Hoa Province, want the limit to be extended to 60 stories instead of 40 stories like the present.

According to the overall urban planning of Nha Trang till 2025 approved by the prime minister, structures in the coastal area west of Tran Phu and Pham Van Dong Streets are allowed to reach the maximum height of 40 stories.

In addition, the construction density in the area is required not to surpass 40 percent, with priority given to facilities for travel and service.

Recently, Nha Trang authorities have proposed that the Ministry of Construction and the central government permit them to increase the ‘ceiling’ by 20 stories.

Although the proposal has not been green-lighted, Nha Trang officials have given the go-ahead for the construction of many buildings higher than 40 stories.

Bui Dung, former head of the architects’ association of Khanh Hoa, said most buildings under construction west of Tran Phu Street violate regulations on height and density.

The Havana apartment and hotel project is 41 stories high while the Muong Thanh – Nha Trang Center, a condo and hotel development, has 45 stories.

The Muong Thanh – Khanh Hoa luxury apartment and hotel project, located at one end of the Tran Phu Bridge, is designed to have 48 stories.

Tropicana Nha Trang, an apartment, hotel and commercial center complex project, has two building blocks, each of which will reach the height of 50 stories.

More blatantly, the developer of the Phoenix project situated in Nha Trang Bay and to the east of Tran Phu and Pham Van Dong Streets was allowed to construct 40-65 stories even though the prime minister had capped the area at five stories.

The project has faced protests from the masses and its construction has been suspended.

The People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province said the 40-story cap on the height of buildings in Nha Trang is only applicable when the Nha Trang airport is operational.

The airport is about to be shut down and moved to Cam Ranh or Phan Thiet, around 50-200 kilometers south of Nha Trang.

So provincial authorities have tasked the Department of Construction with working with the Ministry of Construction and the central government on making adjustments to the height limit.

“It is acceptable to heighten the limit to 60 stories in the western areas of Nha Trang and Le Hong Phong Street,” Pham Van Chi, former deputy secretary of the Khanh Hoa Party Committee and former chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said.

“But it is not advisable to build 60-storey buildings along the coast of Nha Trang.”

The wall of high buildings has greatly limited the coastal space and the view of the Nha Trang beach, according to architect Nguyen Van Loc, former director of the Khanh Hoa Department of Construction.

“If the limit is extended by 20 stories, the beauty and value of the landscape of the Nha Trang beach will be downgraded,” Loc said.

“It is OK to build skyscrapers deep in the mainland of the city, but I won’t agree to the construction of 60-storey structures along the Nha Trang coast.

“Building skyscrapers along the coast means destroying the overall landscape.”

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri