HCM CITY — The cultural sector in HCM City should focus on developing resources, infrastructure and arts activities from now to 2030, experts have said at a recent workshop held in the city. The city’s Department of Culture and Sports is focusing on a long-term project to develop film, performing arts, fine arts, photography, exhibitions, advertising, cultural tourism and fashion. It aims to increase gross regional domestic product (GRDP), create jobs involved in producing diverse high-quality cultural activities, and meet residents’ cultural needs. Another goal is to burnish the city's image by creating signature cultural products and turning HCM City into the cultural centre of the country and region. Speaking at a workshop held recently by the department, Nguyễn Thị Hậu, general secretary of the city's Association of Historical Sciences, said the project should target “high culture”, saying that a big city should have such activities. “It means a high level in art quality, infrastructure and human resources. The project should focus on signature performing arts forms of HCM City and the South like tài tử music, cải lương (reformed opera) and drama,” she added. Except for the film sector, which has private investment, other sectors have not received sufficient investment to meet the people’s cultural needs. Trần Hoàng Ngân, director of the HCM City Development Research Institute, pointed out that many theatres are in poor condition and theatrical works are not widely advertised. Lâm Nhân, deputy principal of the HCM City University of Culture, said: “The city should build cultural policies to promote the development of performing arts programmes.” For the film sector, scripts highlighting national cultural identity should be encouraged, he added. Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Liêm, director of the HCM City Conservatory of Music, said that cultural authorities should meet with artists "to learn about their needs and seek solutions and policies to help them …
Shopee’s 2nd annual coding contest set to kick off
The 2021 Shopee Code League starts on March 6. — Photo courtesy of Shopee Vietnam HCM CITY — E-commerce platform Shopee has unveiled the second edition of the code-from-home Shopee Code League as part of long-term efforts to prepare workforces for the future, following on from a successful debut last year that attracted 21,000 participants from across the region. Trần Tuấn Anh, managing director of Shopee Vietnam, said: “With Shopee Code League, we want to bring tech communities and enthusiasts together to learn new skills, solve problems and share knowledge with one another. We believe this will help local workforces anticipate and seize more opportunities in the digital economy.” It is a three-week coding event with three coding contests open to students and professionals regardless of age and background. The event covers data analytics, data science and programming, with the contests designed by the company’s own tech experts. During the competition, the company and its training partners will hold more than 70 free training workshops on programming languages, data analytics, data science, and algorithms to upskill and facilitate knowledge sharing among participants. This year the event is supported by more partners as Shopee collaborates more deeply with local organisations and tech communities to nurture the local workforce. In Việt Nam, it is supported by CoderSchool and TopCV. The competition will feature two categories, open and student. In each, the top 15 points winners will get attractive cash prizes and job opportunities in a full-time or internship role with Shopee. — VNS …
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Google, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix can pay tax online
Foreign service providers including Google, Facebook, YouTube and Netflix will have to pay taxes in Việt Nam. — Photo doanhnhan.vn HÀ NỘI — Tech giants like Google, Facebook, YouTube and Netflix will have to pay taxes in Việt Nam and they can do it online. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has proposed to allow foreign service providers such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Netflix to pay taxes online through the web portal of the General Department of Taxation. The collection of tax from those companies was one of the important parts in the draft circular guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration and the Government's Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, which were approved by the MoF recently. Overseas suppliers who have no permanent establishment but conduct e-commerce or digital-based business activities and derive income from individuals and organisations in Việt Nam shall still be treated as permanent entities in the country. They shall be obliged to make online tax registrations and declarations on the General Department of Taxation’s official portal, and be allowed to open more than one bank account for making tax payments but have one email only to receive tax notifications. The draft circular also stipulates the obligation of banks and payment intermediary service companies to define transaction accounts of foreign suppliers who have no permanent establishment in Việt Nam to withhold taxes. According to insiders, Google, Facebook, YouTube, Netflix and the e-commerce platform Alibaba are currently operating and making huge profits in Việt Nam with turnover of up to billions of US dollars. Previously, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) estimated that Facebook's advertising revenue in Việt Nam in 2018 was about $1 billion but they did not pay tax. A representative of MIC said: "If the full amount of tax incurred by foreign service providers in Việt Nam is collected, the …
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