2 initiatives that canada has taken to improve air quality

Illustrative image (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - As tourism continues to revive, the hotel and tourism industry is suffering from challenges in recruiting qualified human resources post pandemic, industry players warned. Speaking at a seminar on August 9 in HCM City, Dr Nguyen Anh Tuan, director of the Institute for Tourism Development Research, said there was a lack of high-quality staff in the industry. Vu The Binh, chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association , said that human resources were a weak point for the industry even before the pandemic. “Efficient, hard-working, and resourceful human resources are the backbone of any successful business. It is even more so in the case of the hotel industry.” Successful hotel operations are sustained by customer-oriented and hard-working employees who have adequate competencies, he added. A large number of hotels and resorts stopped operation during the two-year pandemic, and coming back could prove challenging, he … [Read more...] about High-quality human resources key to sustainable tourism industry

Some students might not be able to attend their dream university due to increases in tuition fees. (Photo: nld.com.vn) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Sudden increases in university school fees have brought challenges to both parents and students. Even though the Ministry of Education and Training ( MoET ) has written a proposal to keep the tuition fee unchanged between the 2021 and 2022 school years, many universities have announced multiple price hikes. HCM City University of Law is one of the schools with the highest tuition fees next school year. According to the school's announcement, the lowest tuition fee for Course 47 applied from the academic year 2022-23 to 2025-26 for general programmes of law, international commercial law and business administration is 151 million VND (6,455 USD). The tuition fee for remaining general majors range from 179 million VND to 205 million VND per course. For high-quality programmes of administration and law, a student would have to spend … [Read more...] about Universities increase school fees despite MoET’s proposal

Great opportunities Vietnam has climbed up the value chain over the years, becoming a key electronics manufacturing hub, attracting stable foreign direct investment with its sound macro fundamentals, preferential tax incentives and an abundance of relatively cheap and productive labor. Electronics, a major driving force of Vietnam’s export growth Vietnamese enterprises are increasingly integrating into the global production chain, as confirmed by international organizations, including the World Bank and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) in their reports. For decades an apparel and footwear exporter with a low value added, Vietnam has gradually become an important production center in the technology industry, according to HSBC. Ngo Dang Khoa, HSBC Vietnam’s Country Head of Markets and Securities, said Vietnam has become a production center of electronics and cell phone components, helping it lure an increasing number of foreign … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s star rises in global supply chains

Tourists in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been working with domestic ministries, agencies and foreign partners to facilitate travel of Vietnamese and foreign citizens, said Spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang . At the ministry’s regular press conference in Hanoi on August 11, Hang said amid the complicated and uncertain developments of the COVID-19 pandemic with new, more virulent and transmissible variants as well as the emergence of new epidemics like monkeypox, several countries are yet to open their doors and continue limiting travel, some of which are major tourism markets of Vietnam. As the global economy continues to struggle from the pandemic, international tourism has not yet fully recovered, and Vietnam is not an exception. Following the Prime Minister’s directions to accelerate the tourism recovery in the new situation, Hang said Vietnam has promoted the mutual recognition of 'vaccine passports' and the … [Read more...] about Vietnam facilitates travel of Vietnamese, foreign citizens

The head of the European Space Agency (ESA) has warned economic damage from heatwaves and drought could dwarf Europe's energy crisis as he called for urgent action to tackle climate change. Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters successive heatwaves along with wildfires, shrinking rivers and rising land temperatures as measured from space left no doubt about the toll on agriculture and other industries from climate change. "Today, we are very concerned about the energy crisis, and rightly so. But this crisis is very small compared to the impact of climate change, which is of a much bigger magnitude and really has to be tackled extremely fast," he said. He was speaking in an interview as heatwaves and floods generate concerns over extreme weather across the globe. More than 57,200 hectares have been swallowed by wildfire in France this year, nearly six times the full-year average. In Spain, a prolonged dry spell made July the hottest month since at least 1961. … [Read more...] about Climate risks dwarf Europe’s energy crisis, space chief warns

Over the past time, in the spirit of “forgetting the past, looking to the future,” Vietnam and the U.S. have taken various effective and practical measures to heal the wounds of war. However, experts have evaluated that those efforts are not enough as around 3 million Vietnamese people are still being affected by AO/dioxin, and next generations of the Vietnamese people are being affected by the consequences of the disaster. In recent article posted on usip.org, Dr. Andrew Wells-Dang, who leads the Vietnam War Legacies and Reconciliation Initiative at United States Institute of Peace (USIP), evaluated that AO and other toxic chemicals that the U.S. sprayed over Southern Vietnam have left long-term and severe consequences on the Vietnamese people. From 1961 to 1971, the U.S. troops sprayed 80 million liters of AO, which contained about 400 kg of dioxin, over more than 3 million hectares of forest in South Vietnam. More than 4,8 million people were directly exposed to toxic chemicals, … [Read more...] about Overcoming war legacy by practical deeds

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, as assigned by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and U.N. Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis, signed the document. The Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development Cooperation 2022 - 2026 guides and steers the Government of Vietnam and the U.N.’s collaboration on accelerating progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the joint commitment to deliver sustainable development for all. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dung said that the CF will be implemented at a time when Vietnam has strengthened its post-pandemic economic recovery, responded to climate change and transitioned to a green, circular economy. The Government has also been making efforts to improve institutions and policies in order to mobilize resources from all economic sectors to develop the country. “Together with other development partners, the U.N. plays an important role in supporting Vietnam in its … [Read more...] about Vietnam, U.N. sign strategic framework for sustainable development cooperation

The strategic framework signing ceremony in Hanoi on August 11 (Photo: Ministry of Planning and Investment) Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, as assigned by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis signed the document. The Strategic Framework for Sustainable Development Cooperation 2022 - 2026 guides and steers the Government of Vietnam and the UN’s collaboration on accelerating progress to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It highlights the joint commitment to deliver sustainable development for all. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dung said that the CF will be implemented at a time when Vietnam has strengthened its post-pandemic economic recovery, responded to climate change and transitioned to a green, circular economy. The Government has also been making efforts to improve institutions and policies in order to mobilize resources from all economic sectors to develop the country. … [Read more...] about Vietnam, UN sign strategic framework for sustainable development cooperation

A conference to review first-half operations and set out second-half tasks Significant contributions Despite numerous difficulties and challenges, the industry and trade sector yielded positive results in the first half of the year, making significant contributions to the country’s socioeconomic development, Minister Dien said. Nguyen Thuy Hien, deputy director of the Planning Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, highlighted bright spots related to the industry and trade sector’s growth goals in the first half of the year. Accordingly, the added value of the industrial sector increased by 8.48 percent compared to a year ago. Total export-import turnover reached an estimated US$371.3 billion, with exports increasing by 17.3 percent to more than US$186 billion. In particular, the export growth rate of the domestic sector (19.5 percent) overtook that of the FDI sector (16.6 percent), reflecting intensified efforts of domestic businesses to restore trade, … [Read more...] about Production back to pre-pandemic level

Generating power from sunlight bouncing off the ground, working at night, even helping to grow strawberries: solar panel technology is evolving fast as costs plummet for a key segment of the world's energy transition. The International Energy Agency says solar will have to scale up significantly this decade to meet the Paris climate target of limiting temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The good news is that costs have fallen dramatically. In a report on solutions earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said solar unit costs had dropped 85 percent between 2010 and 2019, while wind fell 55 percent. "There's some claim that it's the cheapest way humans have ever been able to make electricity at scale," said Gregory Nemet, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a lead author on that report. Experts hope the high fossil fuel prices and fears over energy security caused by Russia's attack on Ukraine will … [Read more...] about Cheaper, changing and crucial: the rise of solar power