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The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) received the donations on June 28 through the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK and the Vietnam Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs.
Both overseas Vietnamese communities have been active in their support for the plight of AO victims in Vietnam and have made efforts to ratchet up their efforts to back the later’s lawsuit against 37 US chemical companies at the US Court of Appeals.
According to the VAVA, around 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to the dioxin and over 3 million of them have suffered long-term and often severe health problems as a result of exposure to the noxious herbicide.
To date, Vietnam has yet to receive compensation from the US companies that include global giant Dow Chemicals, although Vietnam War veterans from New Zealand, Australia, US, Canada and the Republic of Korea have all received compensation packages.
Overseas Vietnamese communities in the UK and Denmark have raised 7,800 USD for Agent Orange/Dioxin (AO) victims in Vietnam.
The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) received the donations on June 28 through the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK and the Vietnam Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs.
Both overseas Vietnamese communities have been active in their support for the plight of AO victims in Vietnam and have made efforts to ratchet up their efforts to back the later’s lawsuit against 37 US chemical companies at the US Court of Appeals.
According to the VAVA, around 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to the dioxin and over 3 million of them have suffered long-term and often severe health problems as a result of exposure to the noxious herbicide.
To date, Vietnam has yet to receive compensation from the US companies that include global giant Dow Chemicals, although Vietnam War veterans from New Zealand, Australia, US, Canada and the Republic of Korea have all received compensation packages.
Funds raised for war invalids, soldiers’ families
The country’s war veterans have recently completed a nation-wide charity drive for war invalids and the families of soldiers killed in battle, according to an official from the Vietnam War Veterans Association.
Over 19.7 billion VND has been collected after the Vietnam Central Fatherland Front initiated the campaign as part of their 60th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day (July 27), said Tran Hanh, the association’s Secretary General.
War Veterans Associations at localities dotted throughout the country also built more than 1,600 houses, worth over 12.3 billion VND, upgraded a further 4.200 homes at a cost of almost 11.2 billion VND and presented over 3,600 saving books, worth 1,38 billion VND, to the disadvantaged.
The associations also worked on search and recovery operations that brought home close to 1,000 sets of remains of soldiers that died overseas, and pumped more than 3 trillion VND into upgrading military cemeteries nationwide.
RoK journalists discuss ways to boost ties
Journalists from Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) gathered in Ha Noi on June 28 to discuss their role in boosting economic cooperation between the two countries.
The talks marked the beginning of a drive initiated by the Journalists’ Associations of Vietnam and the RoK to promote activities in addition to programmes to exchange visits and share experiences between the two associations.
“In each development step of Vietnam-RoK ties, the press of the two countries have been playing an important role in boosting cooperation by creating an information bridge to help the two peoples better understand each other, particularly in the economic, cultural and social areas,” said Le Quoc Trung, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association.
Vice Chairman of the RoK Journalists’ Association Kwon Young Chul said media in the RoK is keen to promote Vietnam’s image in the country so that their public is up to date on investment opportunities in the country.
While in Vietnam, the 10-member delegation of the RoK Journalists’ Association visited the Vietnam News Agency and was received by General Director Nguyen Quoc Uy.
Project helps Vietnam improve diplomacy
A project supported by the UNDP and the Embassy of France has helped Vietnam improve on its multilateral development diplomacy (MDD).
After running for three years, the project, entitled “Strengthening capacities for multilateral development diplomacy,” has provided training for nearly 700 diplomats at various ministries, agencies and localities.
An information centre has also been set up at the Institute for International Relations that offers more than 300 book titles, magazines and CD-ROMs on MDD.
Ngo Duy Ngo, Deputy Director of the Institute, said since Vietnam was admitted to the World Trade Organisation and is now running for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2008-2009 term, the demand for multilateral diplomacy is high.
Ngo also said multilateral diplomacy will now be included as part of the institute’s compulsory curriculum for the 2007-2008 academic year which begins in September of this year.
US foundation funds hospital expansion
United States non-governmental organisation, East-Meets-West, has decided to grant 3.5 million USD to Da Nang hospital in order to open up two new departments.
The aid package, to be used to establish the Cancer and Tumours Department and the Tropical Medicine Department, was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, on June 27, who ordered Da Nang’s municipal administration to oversee the smooth implementation of the programme.
This deal is one of ten aid projects that the East-Meet-West Foundation has committed to Da Nang city for the 2006 fiscal year. The majority of the foundation’s schemes revolve around child health, education and the disadvantaged.
USAID helps promote private sector’s bird flu awareness
Key government ministries and departments joined private animal, pharmaceutical, and feed companies to promote the private sector’s bird flu awareness at an USAID-sponsored workshop in Ha Noi on June 28.
The event is part of a project funded by the US Agency for International Development to create a strategy for increased engagement of the private sector in bird flu awareness raising.
The project, implemented by the Australian Foundation for Peoples of Asia and the Pacific (AFAP) and Kenan Institute Asia, is entitled “Targeting Avian Influenza in Hoa Binh province and surrounding localities”.
The seven-month project, which will last until this August, draws the participation of 4,000 local paravets, poultry farmers and community members, as well as district level government staff. It was intended to strengthen capacity in poultry bio-security and detection, diagnosis, monitoring and control of bird flu.
The project takes an innovative dual approach to private sector engagement by facilitating the participation of ground level sales and marketing practitioners as well as senior executives.
“With the recent bird flu outbreaks in Vietnam, this workshop is timely, and we hope it will begin a very important dialogue between the public and private sectors in terms of enhanced cooperation in avian influenza awareness raising,” said Uma Menon, AFAP Vietnam Country Director.
Military corps signals development in Laos
The Vietnamese army’s Military Corps No. 15 has recently completed work on a number of development assistance projects in some of Laos’s impoverished provinces.
The military unit built an irrigation complex in Sekong province, a transport project in Bolikhamsay province and established a coffee plantation in Salavan.
The corps has also offered to aid Atopeu province by undertaking planning tasks for villages, setting up rubber and cashew plantations and building a 10,000 tonne-per-year rubber processing plant.
Atopeu’s new rubber plantation will cover an area of over 7,000 ha in the Phuvong, Samakkhisay and Saysetha districts and are expected to greatly reduce poverty in the areas.
Vietnamese workers favoured in Brunei
Brunei’s demand for Vietnamese workers has seen a sharp increase recently, the Brunei Times said.
According to the paper, Vietnamese workers have strong experience and are therefore better than other foreign employees at adapting to working conditions in Brunei.
Low labour costs seem to be another decisive factor leading to a growth of interest in Vietnamese workers.
The paper cited director of Blia Future labour supply company, Sharon Chen, as saying that as much as 80 percent of the company’s clients have decided to withdraw their orders for Filipino workers, who ask for the minimum monthly salary of 600 USD to shift to labour contracts with Vietnamese workers demanding around 300 USD per month.
We have not received any complaints from Brunei employers about Vietnamese workers so far, Chen confirmed.
Foreigners enroll in HCM City college
Sixty-seven foreign students - a record - have registered to take an entrance examination for the Vietnamese ethnology department of Ho Chi Minh City’s Social Science and Humanities College, a record, according to sources from the college.
Of the 67, two are from the US, 12 from Turkey, one from Turkmenistan, and the rest from the Republic of Korea. The exam will be organised next week.
The main test involves the Vietnamese language.
Centre in HCM City to bring smiles to children
A treatment centre designed to provide free surgery for children with facial deformities is to be established in Ho Chi Minh City.
An agreement to this effect was signed between Operation Smile Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh City Dental-Maxillo-Facial Hospital on June 27.
The centre will also organise training courses for surgeons and medical workers from southern provinces and cities.
The establishment of the facility is part of worldwide activities to mark 25 years of Operation Smile, a US-based non-profit organisation that provides free surgery in 25 countries for children and young adults born with facial deformities.
Last month, Operation Smile Vietnam and its partners raised more than 80,000 USD through the auctioning of art works in HCM City. The sum will be used to cover free surgery for some 400 children with facial deformities across the country.
Operation Smile first came to Vietnam in 1989, and has since then helped 20,000 poor children living in remote areas and trained many local doctors in medical techniques.
Over 160,000 houses built for ethnic minorities
More than 160,000 houses have been built for ethnic minority people across Vietnam during the first-half of this year as part of a bid to support socio-economic development for ethnic groups-inhabited regions.
The information was revealed at a meeting held in central Quang Nam Province on June 27 to review works relating to ethnic groups in southern provinces over the past six months.
During this period, local authorities also constructed more than 3,200 running water systems and provided close to 17,000 ha of land to more than 61,000 households.
(Source: VNA)
Hanoi, Bac Can to jointly promote tourism
Hanoi and the northern province of Bac Can signed on Wednesday a co-operation agreement in tourism and industrial development in the 2007-10 period.
The two sides will jointly organise tourism promotions and seek investment in tourism projects. Their businesses will also co-operate to build a trading centre in Bac Can. (Source: ND)
HCM City to destroy dilapidated apartments
The HCM City People's Committee instructed the construction department on Tuesday to renovate 125 old apartment blocks that are in danger of collapse.
Committee and department officials also discussed a programme to build 30,000 apartments for families whose houses have been acquired for public projects. (Source: LD)
Divorce on the rise; spousal abuse blamed
There has been a rise in divorces in recent years, a survey by the Committee for Population, Family and Children has found.
The number of cases jumped from 22,000 in 1994 to 53,000-55,000 in 2005. Domestic violence accounted for 60% of the splits. (Source: TN)
Children's art exhibition opens in capital
Around 100 pictures and paintings created by children from difficult circumstances are currently on display in Hanoi.
The exhibition, open between June 26 to 30, was jointly organised by Viet Nam's Committee for Family, Population and Children and Nhi Dong and Hoa Mi magazines.
Short play writing contest launched
A contest to write short plays on current issues like family planning, gender equality and the prevention of domestic violence was launched on Tuesday in Hanoi.
Co-organisers of the competition are the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Committee for Family, Population and Children. Prize include 14 awards for short plays and 16 for propaganda paintings. The deadline for submissions is September 30.
L'Hôspital Francais de Hanoi donates blood
Doctors, nurses and staff at the L'Hôspital Francais de Hanoi have given blood to support this year's national blood donation campaign.
The hospital organised the two-day collection recently and their efforts have been recognised by the National Institution of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.
The Institution said blood donations from offices and agencies in the city were crucial for ensuring sufficient blood supply for patients at hospitals in the north of Vietnam.
South Korea funds district construction
Construction has been announced of a new general hospital in Quang Nam Province's Nui Thanh District under the sponsorship of the South Korean Government.
The hospital, at an estimated cost of US$30mil, will be built on an area of 20 ha with 500 beds. It is expected to come into operation in late 2009.
(Source: Viet Nam News)
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