Ailing woman seeks help for children facing leukaemia

Xi will be the first national leader to shake Putin's hand since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him on Friday over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia since its invasion. Russia is presenting Xi's trip, his first since securing an unprecedented third term this month, as evidence that it has a powerful friend prepared to stand with it against a hostile West that it accuses of trying to isolate and defeat Moscow. "We can feel the geopolitical landscape in the outside world undergoing drastic changes," Putin said in an article in China's People's Daily published on the Kremlin website, adding that he had high hopes for the visit from his "good old friend." For Xi, the visit is a diplomatic tightrope. China has released a 12-point proposal to solve the Ukraine crisis, but at the same time strengthened ties with Moscow. China has repeatedly dismissed Western accusations that it is planning to arm Russia but says it wants a closer … [Read more...] about China’s Xi arrives in Russia to meet Putin over Ukraine war

Attending the event were Major General Le Quang Dao, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard; Comrade Ho Thi Hoang Yen, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ben Tre Provincial Party Committee; Tran Ngoc Tam, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ben Tre Province. At the event, Deputy Political Commissar of the Vietnam Coast Guard Command Major General Tran Van Xuan reviewed the coordination in conducting the “Coast guard stand by fishermen” program over the past time. Organized for the first time in March 2017, the program has obtained practical achievements in disseminating the Party’s guidelines and State’s policies to people; supporting fishermen in fishing at sea, contributing to firmly safeguarding national sovereignty over sea and islands; assisting localities in socio-economic and cultural development, poverty reduction, new-style rural area building, and living standard improvement. Over … [Read more...] about Coast guard force and Ben Tre province sign coordination agreement

This has been the busiest year ever for traders like Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh in the southern province of Tien Giang. She has been scrambling to find top quality fruits grown in the Mekong Delta to sell to Chinese buyers. "In previous years we only bought limited quantities of durian, jackfruit and mango to sell domestically, but this year we have been raising prices continuously to get enough for exports." Thanh Mai, a trader in the Central Highlands, has been struggling to meet her increasing export quota. She now pays farmers double last year’s prices: VND20,000 for a kilogram of taro, and VND14,000 for yam. Export companies are also busy. Van Xuan Phat Exports and Imports ships thousands of tons of durian to China every month, while major exporter Vina T&T has secured a contract for 22,500 tons of the fruit. In Dong Nai and Binh Phuoc Provinces, companies are preparing to export 500,000-600,000 tons of durian to China. Vietnamese rice is also imported by China … [Read more...] about Agricultural exports to newly opened China surge

Enterprises in the beverage industry need stable policies in terms of taxes and fees to return to pre-pandemic growth. — Photo plo.vn Enterprises urge careful consideration to be given to the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to impose a special consumption tax on sugary drinks to ensure harmonisation of benefits between the State, consumers and producers. Nguyen Quoc Viet, deputy director of the Viet Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research, said production and business remain difficult. To ensure macro-economic stability, it is necessary to maintain policies which energise enterprises and promote domestic consumption. Policy changes, if any, should be studied carefully to ensure benefits harmonisation. Viet said that it was not a good time to change taxes as it might further burden enterprises and consumers, especially when efforts are being made to recover growth. He added that the adjustments might cause instability in the institutional and legal environment and have … [Read more...] about Careful consideration of special consumption tax on sugary drinks urged

How can 5G and digital transformation impact the performance of industries such as manufacturing, logistics, agriculture and e-commerce over the coming years? Denis Brunetti, president of Ericsson in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos As a critical digital national infrastructure, 5G has the potential to significantly transform society, industries, and the economy, as well as benefiting the environment. In the past, developing economies depended on traditional inputs to fuel growth, such as low-cost labour and natural resources. Moving forward, the new economy will increasingly depend on more sustainable inputs, such as science, technology and innovation, whereby data will become the new oil that creates as much as drives a more inclusive and sustainable socioeconomic development, securing broader range prosperity for all. Through 5G, the introduction of Industry 4.0 will be accelerated across thousands of factory floors in Vietnam, enabling robots, digital twin … [Read more...] about Going digital and green in partnership with Ericsson

Workers weigh and package dried shrimp, a Ca Mau Province's OCOP. —VNA/VNS Photo Huynh Anh The Government has introduced a new set of criteria for rating products enrolling in the One Commune One Product (OCOP) Programme. Dao Duc Huan, head of the OCOP Management Department, Central Coordination Office for New-style Rural Development (CCO), said the new set was laid down to replace the old set issued in 2019, which has begun to show cracks after four years being in place. As the old set had overlooked a wide range of products specified in Decision No.490, the new one has fixed the cracks by expanding its scope to cover the missing pieces. It has also altered old scoring rules by assigning a maximum score of 40 points to the "community strength" category, 25 points to "marketing capabilities", and 35 points to "product quality". Huan said the new set had encouraged the involvement of women and ethnic minorities in the production of OCOPs by giving extra points to affirmative … [Read more...] about New criteria for OCOPs

Representatives of three clam breeding co-operatives in Tra Vinh province receive Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification for their bivalve molluscs. (Photo: VNA) Tra Vinh (VNS/VNA) - Three clam farming cooperative s in the Mekong Delta of Tra Vinh with a total area of 433ha have been awarded the Aquaculture Stewardship Council quality certification. They are the Thanh Cong Cooperative in Cau Ngang district’s My Long Nam commune, Tien Thanh Clam Cooperative in Chau Thanh district’s Long Hoa commune and Long Thanh Agriculture Cooperative also in Long Hoa. The province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the International Collaborating Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries Sustainability (ICAFIS) held a ceremony to hand over the certificates to the cooperatives last week. Also at the ceremony, the Ben Tre Seafood Joint Stock Company and the Hung Truong Phat Aquamarine Product Joint Stock Company in Ben Tre province and the Lenger Seafoods Vietnam … [Read more...] about Tra Vinh clam breeding cooperatives receive ASC certificate

Members of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association reported a 25% drop in sales to 53,544 units. Truong Hai Auto Corporation, the biggest seller by volume, saw sales fall by a third to 7,208 vehicles. TC Group, which makes Hyundai cars, reported a 23% decline to 8,963 units, while VinFast saw sales plummet by 76% to 774 units. Amid the falling demand, carmakers have been offering discounts and subsidizing registration fees. Both the domestic industry and importers have asked the government to cut registration fees by half. Vo Quoc Binh, CEO of used car distributor Binh Minh, said the auto market would face great challenges this year without government support. "Lowering the registration fees can help boost sales but demand will not recover if bank loan interests remain high." … [Read more...] about Inflation, high interest rates put the brakes on auto sales