"My companies and I have made some meaningful and practical community activities with a view to supporting the homeland to overcome the difficulties." What were your biggest concerns when looking back at a turbulent 2020? The past 13 months has been a journey fraught with challenges for most businesses, including our companies. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the world, including the United States. Meanwhile, Vietnam is continuing its fight against the pandemic as well as recovering from the natural disasters like saline intrusion, floods, and landslides. Thus, my companies and I have made some meaningful and practical community activities with a view to supporting the homeland to overcome the difficulties. When the US declared states of emergency in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it witnessed a severe scarcity in medical equipment especially face masks. At that time, CWS donated 40,000 N95 face masks to the US. The company also ordered 80,000 cloth face masks and 1.5 million surgical face masks from Vietnam to give the American people. In mid-April 2020, CWS donated $100,000 to the COVID-19 Prevention Fund by the Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco. In November the company granted an additional $120,000 to the Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco to support the residents of the flood-hit central region. At the event, the Vietnam American Business Association (VABA), where I am chairman, also granted $51,000 to the central region. As of present, the total sum CWS, VWS, and VABA have donated to Vietnam amounts to $171,000. VWS also gifted VND200 million ($8,700) to the Standing Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front to support the fight against COVID-19, as well as drought and salinity in the south of Vietnam. Despite these moderate contributions to help residents in the central region, these grants reflect the warm hearts of Vietnamese people living in the US as well as the children living far away …
David bisbals
Czech diplomat writes on Vietnam’s fourth industrial revolution strategy
Illustrative image (Source: baoquocte.vn) Prague (VNA) – The development of the digital economy in Vietnam will create new opportunities for Czech companies operating in this field in the Southeast Asian nation, particularly in cyber security or digital banking, according to Czech diplomat David Jarkulisch . The diplomat at the Czech Embassy in Hanoi recently wrote an article on Vietnam’s newly-approved strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, posted on the Czech Foreign Ministry’s website mzv.cz. He said that Vietnam's new strategy has relatively ambitious goals. It aims to transform the current growth model mainly based on the use of cheap labour and targets the digital economy contributing to 30 percent of the GDP by 2030. In addition to the rapid introduction of new technologies and the digitization of the economy, it also expects the overall competitiveness of the economy to grow and Vietnam's position in international comparisons to improve significantly. Within ten years, Vietnam may be among the top 40 countries in the Global Innovation Index, the top 30 countries in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) and the top 50 countries in E-Government Development Index (EGDI). As part of the strategy, the Vietnamese government has also identified 99 priority technologies, which it will focus on supporting, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, quantum technology, bioinformatics, aerospace technology, remote sensing technology, research and development of high-resolution screens, or advanced 3D printing technology. However, Vietnam is not at the very beginning in the development of the digital economy. Already during the last five years, the country has managed to prepare a relatively good starting position and create the basic preconditions for further growth. In addition, the growth rate of the digital economy accelerated significantly with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total value of the …
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First bike race through Sa Pa’s remote mountainous region set for Friday kick-off
A mountain bike through the remote mountainous region surrounding Sa Pa District in the northern province of Lao Cai will commence on Friday. The three-day 'Vietnam Mountain Bike Marathon' race promises a truly pioneering ride against a backdrop of the highest peaks in Indochina and Hoang Lien National Park deep in the far north, organizer Topas Travel said in a press release on Wednesday. According to the organizer, racers will be the first to tackle these trails through rice terraces and ethnic minority villages. The route covers large parts of very remote mountains, meaning competitors will have access to landscapes that typically remain out of reach. The first day includes a 50km journey north of Sa Pa to an area populated largely by the Hmong ethnicity, while the second day features a 68km ride to a southern locale inhabited by the Tay and Red Dao people. The race then will conclude with a shorter stage around Sa Pa Town through Black Hmong villages. “We have spent countless hours as a team out in the mountains seeking out great trails for people to race on,” David Lloyd, one of the event’s directors said. “The result is a hard, but extremely beautiful race that was born from our collective passion for Vietnam and riding bikes,” he added. “We are now very excited to welcome international riders and show them what Vietnam has to offer.” Participants from 22 countries have signed up for the race. Among them is a group of Vietnamese sponsored by Cube Vietnam. "Cube is very happy to be supporting a team of Vietnamese riders in this race,” Christina Lin, representative of Cube Vietnam, said in the press release. “We want to not only support young cyclists …
