Australian government funds crash helmet campaign

Hanoi (VNA) – The Government of Australia has agreed to grant 150,000 AUD (roughly 1.7 billion VND) to help Vietnam increase public awareness of simple measures to improve traffic safety, particularly among children, said an Australian diplomat.

The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam , Allaster Cox, announced the provision of this non-refundable aid on Jan. 8, while accompanying the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Harry Jenkins, on a visit to the Protec Helmet Factory in Hanoi ’s outlying Soc Son district.

Supplied through the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIPF), the money will be used to create advertisements and carry out a public information campaign to encourage the wearing of motorbike helmets by children, AIPF’s President and Protec General Director Greig Craft said.

Ambassador Cox said he hoped that the Government of Vietnam would update the current road safety regulations to make the wearing of helmets by child motorcycle passengers compulsory in Vietnam .

During the 2006-2007 fiscal year, the Australian Agency of International Development (AusAID) contributed 176,000 AUD (more than 2 billion VND) to the National Helmet Wearing Campaign, which was launched by AIPF and the Vietnam National Traffic Safety Committee.

Vietnam ’s mandatory helmet law became effective on Dec. 15, 2007. As a result, the wearing of crash helmets by adults has increased from 3 percent to 95 percent, and more than 1,000 lives were saved during the past year.

The Preventative Medicine Department revealed an average of 7,000 local child deaths as a result of accidents every year, with traffic accidents by far the biggest contributor to this statistic.

However, the rate of child motorbike passengers wearing crash helmets is estimated at just 39 percent, the department said.-

Vietnam’s legislative body active in parliamentary diplomacy

Da Nang (VNA) – The Vietnam National Assembly (NA) received 50 delegations from 21 countries and sent 43 delegations abroad to boost bilateral cooperation with legislative bodies in other countries in 2008.

The figures were reported at a seminar on parliamentary diplomacy, co-organised by the NA’s External Relations Committee and the European Commission, in central Da Nang city on Jan. 8-9.

In terms of multilateral cooperation, Vietnam has joined eight inter-parliamentary organisations. The Vietnamese legislative body has taken an active part in the organisations’ operation with useful initiatives and recommendations.

The NA’s efforts, together with governmental and people-to-people diplomatic activities, have assisted the country’s development and boosting the regional and international integration process.

The Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Anders B. Johnson, was among the speakers, talking on the origin, the development and the current situation of parliamentary diplomacy.

The representatives from the French National Assembly’s Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation Unit, Deniel Petit and Frederic Slam, shared France ’s experiences in inter-parliamentary cooperation.-

Unchecked growth puts steel industry in a bind

HA NOI — The domestic steel industry is caught in a legal and market tangle that has put production far ahead of demand, prompting a call to stop the licensing of new projects and to close sluggish firms.

As many as 32 unplanned projects have crowded the local industry, taking advantage of a legal loophole, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s latest review of the industry’s development plans from 2007 to 2015.

The projects are scattered nationwide, mostly in the provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Hai Duong and Ha Tinh and Hai Phong City. Among them, only two have begun working and three others are exected to start operations this year.

Le Duong Quang, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, says the glut in the industry is a result of fluctuating market prices for steel.

“Before 2007, low prices made it impossible for domestic steel-makers, including the Vietnam Steel Co-operation, to launch expansion plans. However, as prices began rising in both international and domestic markets after 2005 and the industry became lucrative, enterprises began pouring their money into it, breaking the Government’s development framework for the industry,” said Quang.

The ministry’s review also blames contradictory legal documents for causing the problem.

Based on the Investment Law, all metal producing projects whose investment is below VND1.5 trillion (US$88,236,000) (also known as Type B) are not subjected to the industry’s strategic plan and do not have to be licensed by the ministry.

However, the Construction Law and its guidelines ask all these Type-B metal-producing projects to get permissions from relevant planning authorities. As a result, 24 of these 32 additional projects are on the list of law-breakers.

Chronic shortcomings

Despite its rapid growth over the past two years, the ongoing problems in the steel industry reveal the fact that the lack of sustainable development as well as a supply-and-demand imbalance has become a chronic shortcoming of the industry.

The ministry’s report further points out that steel-making capacity is forcing the industry to depend on recycled steel as its main source of raw material.

Moreover, it is estimated that only 15 and 20 million tonnes of steel are needed by 2015 and 2020 respectively, signalling a surplus of supply over demand that leads to fierce and unhealthy competition in the market.

The ministry admits in the review that the problems have not only risen from laws, but also from its planning approach. —

Master-card fraudsters jailed

Ha Noi — The Ha Noi People’s Court sent each of two Malaysians to seven years jail yesterday for using fake master cards to defraud fashion shops in the capital city.

Tan Wei Hong, 26, and Cham Tack Choi, 23, paid their US$6,000 bill with the fake cards at the Louis Vuitton shop, Hoan Kiem District, in late December, 2007.

One of the shop’s staff realised the cards were fake and called the police.

Hong admitted that he had travelled to Viet Nam three times and used fake cards to pay bills totalling VND293 million ($17,200).

Choi said he made two visits and used six fake cards to pay bills totalling VND275 million ($16,000). —