The Golden Bridge in Da Nang city (Photo: VNA) Da Nang (VNA) – The central coastal city of Da Nang will increase the level of scrutiny applied to budget tours in a bid to further develop sustainable tourism services. Although low-cost tours or the so-called “zero dong” tours have catered to an increasing number of tourists visiting the city in recent years, there is a growing concern about their impact on the local economy. Customers on such budget tours are forced to follow the agencies’ itinerary, often visiting tourist attractions, restaurants and shopping malls where payments are electronically transferred back to foreign countries, leaving little to no profit for Da Nang city. Beyond this, the demand for budget tours has sparked competition between travel companies and service industry businesses, eager to capitalise on the city’s popularity while avoiding paying taxes to local authorities. According to Ngo Quang Vinh, Director of the municipal … [Read more...] about Da Nang seeks to cut low-cost tours in favour of sustainable tourism
Sustainability
Photo exhibition on rural women’s contribution to sustainable development
“Mending fishing net” by Giang Son Dong from Bac Lieu Province won the first prize of “Rural women and sustainable development” photo contest. Photo: Courtesy of Australian Embassy in Vietnam Photos on display are top 40 photos shortlisted from more than 1,000 entries of the “Rural women and sustainable development” photo contest which was launched in March on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8) by UN Women with the support of the Australian and Canadian embassies. The photos give viewers a glimpse into the lives of rural women, the challenges they face, and the important contributions they make to Vietnam’s development across many areas, including technology, sustainable agriculture, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, entrepreneurship, leadership and decision making. Addressing the exhibition’s opening ceremony last week, Elisa Fernandez, head of the UN Women Vietnam office, said: “Even … [Read more...] about Photo exhibition on rural women’s contribution to sustainable development
Vietnam to work with IPU members in promoting peace, sustainable development
Vietnamese NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu (Source: VNA) Geneva (VNA) – The National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam pledges to be an active and responsible member of the Assembly of the International Parliamentary Union (IPU) and is willing to work with parliaments of countries to implement IPU resolutions and initiatives, thus contributing to building peace and sustainable development for the benefit of the people around the world. NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu made the statement at the 139th Assembly of the IPU on October 16 in Geneva, Switzerland, which brought together representatives from 178 member parliaments of the IPU under the theme “Parliamentary leadership in promoting peace and development in the age of innovation and technological change”. Luu, who led the Vietnamese delegation at the event, said that the Vietnamese NA is particularly interested in building mechanisms and policies for the development of science and … [Read more...] about Vietnam to work with IPU members in promoting peace, sustainable development
Synchronous measures taken to sustainably reduce poverty
The Government’s Resolution No. 30a/2008/NQ-CP sets a target of lifting 50% of the poor districts, 30% of the extremely disadvantaged communes in coastal and island areas, and 20-30% of the extremely disadvantaged communes, villages and hamlets in mountainous and ethnic areas, out of extreme difficulties. In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, the National Assembly (NA) has approved the National Target Programme for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in 2016-2020 with a total budget of more than VND48 trillion (US$2.06 billion), focusing resources mainly on needy localities via five projects, including Programme 30a; Programme 135; a project on supporting production development, livelihood diversification, and replication of poverty reduction models; a communication and information project; and a project on capacity building, monitoring and assessment aiming to reduce economic inequality between regions. In addition, constant attention has been paid by the Government, … [Read more...] about Synchronous measures taken to sustainably reduce poverty
Smarter farmer means more sustainable agriculture, says executive
The three-day International Rice Congress opened on Monday in Singapore with the participation of 1,500 thought-leaders, scientists, policymakers, agriculture experts, investors, and others from 40 nations. Viet Nam News caught up with Krysta Harden, senior vice president, external affairs, and chief sustainability officer, Corteva Agriscience, agriculture division of DowDuPont, platinum sponsor of the event, and asked her how to develop sustainable agriculture and how farmers can benefit from rice. What are the role and achievements of the 5th International Rice Congress? The congress has brought many different voices together from around the world. Great discussions are happening. Delegates have discussed sustainable farming and how we can make sure of a good rice crop, how rice is able to compete and stay on the farm. So we have researches, we have technologies and we can see some of the finest scientists in the world here. They are talking about what will happen to rice in the … [Read more...] about Smarter farmer means more sustainable agriculture, says executive