Author: web Desk

The central province of Quang Tri has effectively raised funds from international organisations and foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to improve healthcare and education and develop livelihoods for local residents, address war aftermaths, and respond to climate change.

 

According to the provincial Department of External Affairs, the World Vision International (WVI) has provided Quang Tri with an additional 9.8 million USD to finance its child protection, health and nutrition projects in the districts of Hai Lang, Huong Hoa and Dakrong from 2023 – 2027. The sum raised the total funding offered by WVI to the province since 2000 to 46 million USD.

 

WVI has also granted dozens of millions of USD to help the province improve living standards for poor households and disadvantaged people, particularly children.

 

Last month, Plan International Vietnam, CARE International in Vietnam and the Centre for Research on Initiatives of Community Development jointly launched a 2022 – 2023 project to improve the quality of life of especially disadvantaged ethnic minority communities in the communes of Ta Long, Ta Rut (Dakrong district), and Huong Loc, Lia and Ba Tang (Huong Hoa district), aiming to benefit thousands of people, mostly those with disabilities, children and women.

 

Since 1996, Quang Tri has mobilised more than 146 million USD from international organisations, such as PeaceTrees Vietnam, Mines Advisory Group, Clear Path International, and Norwegian People’s Aid, to tackle post-war bomb and mine consequences.

 

Quang Tri, one of the main battlegrounds during the war against the US, is the most heavily contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Vietnam. Up to 82% of Quang Tri’s total area is contaminated by UXO during the 1960-70s. Wartime bombs and landmines have killed more than 3,430 local people and injured 5,100 others, 2021 data showed./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

The 2022 Yonex-Sunrise Vietnam Open badminton tournament will bring high-ranking international players and domestic athletes to Nguyen Du Gymnasium in Ho Chi Minh City.

 

It is one of the Badminton World Federation’s Super 100 Tour and will be organised from September 27 to October 2 with 200 participants.

 

Athletes will compete in five categories of men’s and women’s singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, for a total purse of 75,000 USD.

 

World No 17 Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan is seeded No 1 in the men’s singles. He is followed by No 41 Sai Praneeth from India and No 28 Kodai Naraoka of Japan.

 

In the women’s class, Aya Ohori is the leading athlete. The Japanese star is world No 26. Other seeds include No 30 Saina Nehwal of India and No 40 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia.

 

Nguyen Thuy Linh is the only host athlete in the top 10. She is No 6 and is expected to get a high result after winning the Yonex Belgian International title on September 17.

 

Domestic hopes

 

In addition to Linh, Vietnam sends a strong contingent of 54 players and coaches to the tournament.

 

Vietnamese legend Nguyen Tien Minh, former world No 5, will play Chinese Sun Fei Xiang in the first round of the men’s singles.

 

Minh is one of three domestic players starting from the main round.

 

National champion Le Duc Phat will meet Sholeh Aidil from Malaysia, while Nguyen Hai Dang gets a bye to the second round.

 

Linh will take charge of medal hopes in the female competition. She will first play unseeded teammate Pham Thi Dieu Ly in the first match.

 

Meanwhile, veteran Vu Thi Trang will face No 8 Ashmita Chaliha of India while her junior teammate Vu Thi Anh Thu, who made strong progress recently, will have a huge challenge as she is to play No 3 Wardani.

 

The individual winner will walk away with 5,625 USD, while the winning pair will receive 5,925 USD.

 

The Vietnam Open, which was first organised in 1996, returned to action after two years of being postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

In the last edition in 2019, Sourabh Verma of India and Zhang Yi Man of China won men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively.

 

The Korean pair won the men’s double gold; the women’s doubles title went to Indonesia. China took the mixed doubles./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) led by Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chairwoman of its Commission for Mass Mobilisation, paid a working visit to Poland from September 17-20.

 

During their stay, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Marshal of the Sejm (lower house) Ryszard Terlecki; held talks with Vice Chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance Andrzej Szejna; met with representatives of the Poland-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, and visited the Vietnamese Embassy.

 

During the working sessions, Hoai stressed that the visit aimed at boosting cooperation between the CPV and Poland’s political parties, thus contributing to deepening the two countries’ traditional friendship.

 

She affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to its ties with Poland, considering the country a priority partner in Central and Eastern Europe.

 

The Polish officials said that Poland considers Vietnam a priority partner in Southeast Asia, and emphasised that the promotion of the bilateral cooperation has achieved high consensus in the Polish Government and Parliament.

 

Poland treasures Vietnam’s role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and wants the two countries to become each other’s gateways to enter the EU and ASEAN markets, they stressed, affirming their country’s support for the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and its willingness to cooperate closely with Vietnam at regional and international multilateral forums.

 

They also appreciated the Vietnamese community in Poland, considering them as bridges helping promote the friendship between the two nations.

 

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation through the Party, State, National Assembly channels and people-to-people exchanges; and discussed several measures to enhance their ties in such fields as climate change response, digital transformation, green economy, education and training, and facilitate the operation of both nations’ enterprises./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on September 20.

 

– Since officially becoming the 149th member of the United Nations (UN) on September 20, 1977, Vietnam has always been a trustworthy partner and an active member of the organisation, with numerous important contributions to the implementations of its missions, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son has stated. In his article entitled “45 years of Vietnam-UN relationship: reliable partnership for peace, cooperation and development”, Son underlined that cooperation with the UN is always an important part of the Party and State’s foreign policies, showing the determination and aspiration of  the Vietnamese people to join hands with the world community for peace, national independence, democracy, cooperation and development. Read full story

 

– A delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) led by Bui Thi Minh Hoai, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Chairwoman of its Commission for Mass Mobilisation, paid a working visit to Poland from September 17-20.

 

During their stay, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Marshal of the Sejm (lower house) Ryszard Terlecki; held talks with Vice Chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance Andrzej Szejna; met with representatives of the Poland-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, and visited the Vietnamese Embassy. Read full story

 

– First Vice Chairman of the Russian State Duma and Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) Ivan Melnikov has expressed his delight at the stable development of the Russia-Vietnam relations, and pledged to continue to work for stronger partnership between the two parliaments as well as between the CPRF and the Communist Party of Vietnam.

 

Melnikov led a delegation of parliamentarians from the Russia’s State Duma (lower house) who are members of the CPRF to a meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi in Moscow on September 19. Read full story

 

– High-tech foreign investments will continue to propel Vietnam’s economic growth for years to come, Michael Kokalari, chief economist at investment fund VinaCapital, has said. Vietnam’s economic growth has been accelerating this year, and so the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and others have sharply revised up their GDP growth forecasts for the country, with an increasing number of economists now expecting it to exceed 8% this year. This has prompted investors to ask what is different in Vietnam and why. Read full story

 

– Nearly 100 delegates representing Vietnamese and Italian organisations and businesses attended the Vietnam-Italy trade promotion forum in Rome on September 19.

 

Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung highlighted the strong growth of the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership in all fields, especially economy. Read full story

 

– Vietnamese Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son has highlighted a need to ensure fairness in access to quality education, integration and equality at all school levels in the next period.

 

Addressing the Transformation Education Summit in New York on September 19, the first day of the High-Level Week of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Son said following two years of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the education sector needs to equip today and future generations with knowledge and skills to overcome challenges facing the world, thus contributing to fulfilling all UN Sustainable Development Goals. Read full story

 

– Tourist arrivals in the capital city of Hanoi was estimated at 1.48 million in September, down 15.5% month-on-month, reported the municipal Department of Tourism.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Southeast Asian nations need to more than double their annual investment on renewables to accelerate energy transition and to meet climate goals, according to a report released recently by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

 

The report said that in the long term, average annual investment of 210 billion USD was needed on renewable energy and energy efficiency and to support technologies and infrastructure in the period to 2050 to limit a global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

 

The investment is more than two and a half times the amount currently planned by Southeast Asian governments to reach their goals, IRENA said.

 

By investing more in renewables, IRENA said countries can reduce their energy costs and avoid as much as 1.5 trillion USD of costs related to health and environmental damage from fossil fuels up to 2050.

 

Southeast Asia is home to 25% of the world’s geothermal generation capacity, but the region also has major coal reserves. Indonesia, the region’s biggest economy, is the world’s top exporter of thermal coal.

 

Coal retirement, coupled with renewables and regional grid interconnection, is an indispensable step to aligning with net-zero targets, IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera said.

 

IRENA is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Malaysia’s average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is set to expand by 13 billion RM (2.85 billion USD) a year with the implementation of the Low Carbon Aspiration 2040 initiative, according to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

 

Speaking at a ceremony to unveil the initiative, the PM said the initiative under the National Energy Policy 2022-2040 is also expected to create 207,000 new jobs.

 

It will help the country achieve net zero gas house emissions (GHG) in 2050 in face of challenges posed by energy transition and climate change, he added.

 

The aspiration has nine targets to be achieved by 2040, among them shared mode of public transport of 50%, use of electric vehicles (EVs) of 38%, use of the B30 mixed fuel for heavy vehicles as an alternative fuel as well as energy savings of 11% for industry and commercial use and 10% for residential use.

 

The PM also affirmed that the government is confident that the initiative is capable of ensuring that the energy sector is always ready to face future challenges./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency