Wireless communications centre to open in HCM City

Hanoi (VNA) – A wireless communications development centre is to be built in Ho Chi Minh City under a 54 million EUR contract recently signed by the British company Harvey Nash and the French telecoms firm Alcatel Lucent.

According to Harvey Nash, the centre, which will be connected with Alcatel’s software research and development centre in Germany centre in Germany , will provide wireless telecom solutions that meet international standards. It is expected to create more than 200 jobs.

Harvey Nash’s Global Managing Director Paul Smith said the company’s decision to establish such a centre was based on the intellectual competence of the young generation of Vietnamese in the IT and telecoms sectors.

He also said he believed that the project would help promote Vietnam as a centre for advanced software research and development.

Harvey Nash has been operating in Vietnam since 2000 and has built up a list of blue-chip clients, including Honda, Vielife, Reliance Globalcom, The Discovery Channel and most recently, Prudential.-

UK’s Vietnamese community supports kids at home

– On November 16, the Vietnamese community in London , England donated 20,000 GBP (30,000 USD) to the “Lucky House” charity programme in support of Vietnamese orphans and disabled children.

Addressing the function, the programme Swiss founder Aline Rebeaud said that the contributions made by overseas Vietnamese in places she has visited, such as the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, gave her the strength to continue providing assistance to disadvantaged Vietnamese children.

On the same evening, the event’s organising board auctioned four paintings by disabled members of “Lucky House”, raising almost 3,000 GBP (approximately 4,500 USD).

All of the proceeds will be used to fund the building of a “ Lucky Village ” in Vietnam , Rebeaud added.

The “ Lucky Village ” is specially-designed for wheelchair users. The project is to commence in early 2009 and is expected to provide housing for around 120 wheelchair users.-

Denmark helps Vietnam develop event management skills

Hanoi (VNA) – The Danish Embassy, in conjunction with the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music are to host a Music Management training course from December 1-12 in a bid to help Vietnamese art managers to further their management skills in art development.

The course is part of the Vietnam – Denmark Development Cooperation in Culture Programme 2006 – 2010, according to a statement made by the Danish Embassy in Vietnam on November 17.

Participants in the course will receive an introduction to creative business design, planning and a host of decision-making tools necessary for event management. They will also become familiar with a range of analytical methodologies, the development of business plans, marketing and financial management, and tools for the quantitative evaluation of events.

The training course will feature course input from teachers and coordinators from the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark (RAMA) Denmark’s support to cultural development in Vietnam is based on strategy set out in the Danish Strategy for Development Cooperation 2006-2010 with Vietnam.

The strategy is aimed at promoting increased creativity, people’s access and participation as well as diversity in the Vietnamese society.-

More Vietnamese students turn to US colleges

– The number of Vietnamese students pursuing their studies in the US has grown rapidly during 2008 to 8,769 students.

This figure was revealed in an annual report entitled “Open Doors 2008”, announced annually by the US Institute of International Education (IIE) and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) under the US Department of State, in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 17.

The number of Vietnamese students enrolled in US educational facilities increased by over 45 percent compared to the 2006-2007 school year. According to the IIE, this ranks Vietnam first out of 20 countries in terms of its student growth rate in the US , and 13 th in the total number of students currently studying in the country.

According to the US Embassy in Vietnam , between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008, the US Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam granted visas to more than 9,000 students, 70 percent of which were for students enrolled at community colleges during 2008.

IIE-Vietnam’s Director Mark A. Ashwill said that Vietnamese students’ demand for tertiary and post-graduate education in the US has increased both substantially and rapidly in recent times, paying testament to the key role played by educational cooperation between the US and Vietnam.-

More aid for storm and flood-hit people

The Prime Minister decided on Nov. 17 to provide 85 billion VND (5 million USD) and 3,700 tonnes of rice from national reserves for storm and flood-hit central provinces.

The money is aimed to help stablise affected people’s life, recover farming production, restore the infrastructure system and prevent epidemics, while the rice is expected to timely aid those in hunger.

On the same day, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Corporation (Petro Vietnam ) said it had decided to donate 2 billion VND (110,000 USD) to help flood victims in the capital city of Hanoi.

The flood triggered by prolonged rain in late October in northern and central Vietnam killed 82 people and destroyed 180,400 houses and 245,000 ha of winter crops. The total damage is estimated to reach more than 6 trillion VND (360 million USD).-

HCM City’s education system connected to internet

More than 1,900 universities, colleges, schools and kindergartens in Ho Chi Minh City will be provided with preferential internet services by t he Military Telecommunication Corporation (Viettel).

This is part of a contract signed on Nov. 17 between Viettel and the City’s Department of Education and Training, which itself will also be provided with the services together with twenty four district-level education departments.

Viettel is implementing a national plan to connect all schools to the internet, which is part of efforts by the Ministry of Education and Training to promote IT application in education in the 2008-2012 period.-

Da Nang starts on 34-storey building

Work began on Nov. 15 on a futuristic tower that will house the offices of the Da Nang administration when it is completed in 2011.

The 34-storey Da Nang Administration on Tran Phu Street is coming up on a 65,234 sq. m site and has been designed by the Republic of Korea ’s Mooyoung Architect&Engineering Co.

The 166.8-metre tall tower will have parking space for 250 automobiles and 1,200 motorbikes.

To cost more than 1.12 trillion VND (73.89 million USD), it will house the People’s Committee and People’s Council and other public departments and agencies.-

Vietnam studies Germany’s public management models

Berlin (VNA) – A delegation of the Ho Chi Minh National Political and Administrative Academy (NPA) paid a visit to Germany from November 12-18 to study its management structures and policies and to seek opportunities for cooperation.

The delegation, led by NPA Director Le Huu Nghia, visited Germany’s leading universities in the field of administrative management, namely the University of Potsdam (UoP) and the University of Administrative Sciences Speyer.

While meeting with the NPA delegation, the Director of UoP’s Potsdam Centre for Policy and Management (PCPM) , Werner Jann, proposed that the two sides cooperate in public management training, post-graduate and doctorate studies, the exchange of teachers and the organisation of short-term training courses.

UoP President Sabine Kunst said that her university has enjoyed established relations with Vietnamese partners for years, with their cooperation focusing on teacher training. She affirmed that UoP would relish establishing a long-term relationship with its Vietnamese partners in training and research activities.

NPA Director Nghia spoke highly of the proposals made by the German partners, saying that the NPA is going to send its officials to Germany to study state administration and management along with working with German partners in conducting scientific research, organising scientific seminars regarding issues of mutual concern and exchanging lecturing staff.-

Investors move to foster agricultural growth

Hanoi (VNA) – Measures to harmonise the cooperation and assistance policies of donors and foreign investors in Vietnam ’s agricultural and rural development were tabled for discussion at the annual meeting of the International Support Group (ISG) in Hanoi on Nov. 18.

Opening the event, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said that Vietnam would like to consult donors and foreign investors on its policies regarding the development of human resources in rural areas, farmland management, and food security for remote regions and areas inhabited by ethnic minorities.

The minister praised past recommendations as well as the exchange of information during previous meetings. “ Vietnam has achieved good results and obtained useful information from many international organisations at previous consultancy conferences,” he said.

While reiterating Vietnam ’s main priority on agricultural and rural development, Minister Phat pointed out the challenges this sector has faced this year, including unfavourable weather conditions, outbreaks of cattle and poultry diseases and high production costs.

The minister assured the participants that, in spite of these difficulties, Vietnam ’s agricultural sector hopes to post a growth rate of 3.6 percent for 2008, compared with 3.4 percent last year.

The Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam , Rolf Bergman, who co-chaired this year’s meeting, said that policies addressing cooperation with Vietnam would be adjusted to meet changes in its developmental requirements in the years to come.

With regard to agriculture, cooperation projects will focus on grassroots mechanisms for democracy practice, environmental protection, and along with reducing environmentally-friendly production.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agricultural sector has received massive support from donor countries, international organisations and individuals. Between January and October, the agricultural sector benefitted from 30 official development assistance (ODA) programmes and projects worth a total of 313 million USD.-

State President heads to Venezuela

State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his entourage left Hanoi on Nov. 18 to pay an official visit to Venezuela from Nov. 19-20 and to attend the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic leaders’ meeting in Lima , Peru on Nov. 22 and 23.

The visits are being made at the invitations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez.

President Triet’s visit to Venezuela marks the first time a Vietnamese head of state has paid an official visit to the South American country.

The President will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Director of the Presidential Office Nguyen Van Chien, Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, and Minister of Information and Communications Le Doan Hop.

Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Bui Xuan Khu, Deputy Minister of Finance Pham Sy Danh, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Viet Thang, and other officials make up the rest of the delegation.-