World cup

Editor’s note: Aban Marker Kabraji is regional director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Asia and director of the IUCN Regional Hub for Asia - Oceania.  Known for its beautiful beaches and coral reefs, Trat Province, on the eastern coast of Thailand, is struggling with a very real problem. Like other coastal areas in the country, the province is being polluted by the daily dumping of waste into the ocean. While there is no shortage of environmental management efforts in Trat, dealing with waste, particularly plastic pollution, remains a big struggle. For long-time village chief Natsini Intaraprasert of the Mairood sub-district, home to one of the province’s giant landfills, waste is the “most challenging problem to manage.” Trat’s waste and plastic woes are not unique, with plastic pollution topping the list of problems affecting the world’s oceans. Every year, the world produces over 300 million tons of plastic, half … [Read more...] about ​Solving the plastics crisis in Vietnam, Asia

Containers loaded with scrap from around the world are increasingly converging on Vietnam after China began banning the importation of such items An increasingly larger quantity of imported scrap has overloaded several seaports in Ho Chi Minh City, which has become an ‘alternative destination’ for the waste dumping after China ceased buying it earlier this year. Within the first two weeks of May alone, 7,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of overseas scrap paper and plastic were unloaded at the Cat Lai Terminal, 2,000 more TEUs against the beginning of the month. (1 TEU = a 39-cubic-meter container) Located in District 2, Cat Lai is one of the key and modern international shipping terminals in southern Vietnam. The growing presence of plastic and paper scrap imports has been choking the port and become highly detrimental to the business of the facility, as well as shipping firms and companies in need of importation or exportation, said Nguyen Nang Toan, director of the … [Read more...] about ​Scrap imports choke Ho Chi Minh City ports

The will be two flights between Hanoi and the Chinese destinations each day, boosting tourism ties between Vietnam and China. Photo for illustration The flights are also expected to help Vietnam attract more tourists from third countries as Shenzhen and Guangzhou are home to many foreign workers, businesses and investors. In 2017, Vietnam welcomed 4 million Chinese tourists, some 30 percent of the nearly 13 million foreigner visitors to the Southeast Asian country. China has been an important tourism market of Vietnam in recent years. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Vietnamese have picked China as their top destination. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, 3.1 million Vietnamese traveled to China in 2016. Source: VNA … [Read more...] about Hanoi-Shenzhen, Guangzhou flights launched

According to Standing Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem, Ho Chi Minh City has a wide range of cultural heritages and is looking to outline a rational master plan to protect their value during local socio-economic development. At the workshop “Heritage Preservation & Economic Development” He spoke highly of the workshop, saying it offered opportunities for experts and businesses to exchange experience and discuss measures to raise public awareness of the potential of cultural heritage preservation. Besides, it is expected to help companies operating in tourism, real estate and culture to seek long-term cooperation in the city. Italian General Consul Dante Brandi, for his part, laid stress on the significance of heritage preservation during the economic development process, especially as Ho Chi Minh City is targeting to become a smart urban area in 2025. Together with the city’s interest and local firms’ … [Read more...] about Workshop seeks to preserve cultural heritages during development

The five-year, $21.7 million USAID Trade Facilitation Program aims to support the Government of Vietnam to adopt and implement a risk management approach to customs and specialized inspection agencies, which will strengthen the implementation of the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement of which both Vietnam and the United States are members. Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel J. Kritenbrink at the launching ceremony The USAID Trade Facilitation Program will work with the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC), under the Ministry of Finance to strengthen the role and capacity of Vietnam's National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) and their associated working groups to improve the efficiency of specialized inspections and customs-to-business partnerships. The USAID Trade Facilitation Program will be implemented until 2023 and will support the standardization of policies and procedures for … [Read more...] about The United States supports Vietnam in improving customs procedures