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Viettel on the way to becoming a world leading defense industry group

February 28, 2021 by en.qdnd.vn

The 12th National Party Congress determined: “Promoting the development of the defense and security industry for both military and civilian purposes; increasing resources, creating modern material and technical foundations for the development of the People’s Army and the People’s Public Security Forces, meeting the requirements of protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.”

While inheriting that point of view, the political draft report at the 13th National Party Congress also gives new points: “Building and developing a modern dual-use defense and security industry, both satisfying the requirements of the task of protecting the Fatherland and making an important contribution to national socio-economic development.”

To clarify the new points in the political report at the 13th National Party Congress, reporters of the People’s Army Online Newspaper had an interview with Major General Hoang Son, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy General Director of Military Industry – Telecoms Group (Viettel).

Researching and developing high level technologies for national defense

Reporter: Mr. Deputy General Director, documents of the 13th National Party Congress mention the need to develop a number of key science and technology branches to solve urgent issues and apply scientific and technological advances to both economic and defense sectors. What do you think about this policy and what will Viettel do to successfully realize it?

Major General Hoang Son: The new contents articulated in the documents of the 13th National Party Congress on the issues are the developments of the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress. These developments have reflected the flexibility and creativity of the Party in response to the new situation.

Regarding its development strategy, Viettel has so far established business, trade and investment ties with more than 120 partners from 35 countries. Thanks to our widespread business network, we can easily access advanced technologies, seek potential suppliers, build a network of experts and partners, and find high quality human resources. These advantages can help us save time and money when we conduct projects on researching, developing and producing high-quality and high-level technological products.

Over the past years, under the leadership and direction of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Defense, as well as Viettel Group’s leaders’ direction, engineers and workers of the Hi-tech Equipment and Weaponry Research and Production Division have researched and produced a number of high-quality defense products. After being commissioned, all Viettel-made equipment and weaponry systems are highly appreciated by military units. Feedback from the users say that Viettel-made equipment and weaponry systems are reliable and convenient for operation, and in accordance with combat conditions in Vietnam. This result has encouraged Viettel’s staff to research and develop more hi-tech defense products on one hand, and built up the confidence of military officers and soldiers in using equipment and weapons produced by Viettel on the other hand.

Reporter: Can you elaborate on the results of Viettel’s implementation of the Party Resolution on development of the defense industry?

Major General Hoang Son: Firstly, Viettel has made the Party, Government, and the Ministry of National Defense more confident that the Vietnamese are able to gradually research and produce hi-tech military equipment and weapons, contributing to protecting the country from afar. The “Made by Viettel” weapons being equipped in the military are the clearest evidence for that argument.

Secondly, in doing so, Viettel has created a new way in the development of hi-tech industry: instead of relying mainly on the State budget, it is possible to mobilize resources from enterprises. Facts also show that instead of waiting for directions and assignments from higher-level authorities, Viettel actively draws up tasks, mechanisms and policies for itself and proposes the higher-level authorities to approve them; instead of relying on technology transfer from foreign partners, Viettel itself invests in research, development and production of hi-tech products. In fact, it is exactly the way that large industrial groups in countries like the US, Russia, China, Israel, and European countries operate .

Thirdly, over the past years, Viettel has researched, developed and produced hi-tech military equipment and weaponry systems for the military, facilitating the modernization process of several military corps and services and contributing to improving national defense capabilities and combat abilities of the Vietnam People’s Army. The group’s efforts have also helped save the national defense budget.

Fourthly, Viettel has gradually built up modern and synchronous research and production infrastructure and strong resources for the development of hi-tech defense industry and national industry.

Fifthly, the group’s branch of hi-tech industry has gradually become a major part of its production and business plans, while significantly contributing to the State budget and the Ministry of Defense’s budget.

Building firm industrial structure

Reporter: What will Viettel do in the future to develop itself as a large group with technologies for civilian and defense purposes?

Major General Hoang Son: According to its future strategy, Viettel aims to become one of the world’s leading defense industry companies. To meet this end, it will continue to develop and produce new generations of military equipment, and smarter, more accurate and more reliable weapons based on the application of core technologies of Industry 4.0, particularly AI, big data and IoT.

Viettel will also develop technologies that can manufacture products for both civilian and military use. Further, it strives to conquer core technologies and have exclusive patents as well as to build a strong industrial infrastructure with modern lab systems and synchronous, professional and well-organized production facilities to meet dual-use production. It will also support the formation of the domestic support industry system.

Another focus of the group is to continuously develop high-quality human resources with specialized experts, highly-qualified engineers and skilled workers. The group’s investment in training personnel will help it successfully realize its development strategy on one hand, and contribute to the development of a well-trained workforce for the national defense industry and the domestic labor market as a whole.

Reporter: What policy does Viettel have to develop its workforce?

Major General Hoang Son: Viettel always focuses on building the capacity of its cadres and officers. It frequently organizes internal training and retraining courses for its staff and creates favorable conditions for young talented people to take higher responsibilities and get more work experience.

Over the past years, the group has pursued several policies to attract excellent personnel, to give privileges to talented, dedicated staff, and to support workers in need. Additionally, it tries to build a good working environment, and creates more career opportunities for young people.

Reporter: Can you name some major contributions of the group to the modernization of the military as well as to national socio-economic development?

Major General Hoang Son: The group has reached all production and business targets over the past years. It has grown fast in both production and business scales as well as in both revenue and profit, contributing 37 trillion dongs to the State’s budget.

In recent times, the group has contributed importantly to national digital transformation, digital government projects, smart city models, digital economy building and digital society building. Viettel also leads in applying Big Data and advanced technologies of Industry 4.0 as well as innovating modern management models and providing technological solutions and services for other enterprises.

Its overseas investment activities have been another success of Viettel over the past years. It gains annual growth in revenue and profit. Take 2020 as an example, while the revenues of its overseas investment projects grew by 19%, the profit increased 25%. Last year, the group brought home some US$ 333 million from the foreign markets it invests in.

To realize its commitment to the Party and State, since the beginning of 2021, it has tested 5G networks with Viettel-made equipment in a number of places in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Reporter: Thank you.

Translated by Thu Nguyen

One year on, Vietnamese medicine matures alongside successful COVID-19 fight

February 28, 2021 by en.nhandan.org.vn

>>> The health sector reforms strongly and comprehensively to better serve the people

>>> Third wave of coronavirus in Vietnam likely to end by late March

From the first cases of COVID-19 infections being detected, under the direction of the Party, the Government and the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, the health sector has actively coordinated with the relevant ministries, agencies and localities in carrying out drastic, vigorous, prompt and effective epidemic prevention and control measures. The sector has proactively advised and built fully and in detail documents and professional instructions, while always preparing adequate human resources, equipment, drugs, materials and chemicals to ensure the work is effective. Outbreaks were quickly zoned and handled in a timely manner, leading to the number of infections totalling a very small number compared to the population size.

The health sector perseveres with its policy of isolating close contacts and taking samples from them to immediately remove pathogens from the community and prevent the spread of infection. Vietnam’s quarantine mechanism is designed in detail to ensure that all infected, suspected infected and close contacts are isolated. In addition to requiring everyone to be centrally isolated for at least 14 days upon entry into the country, from the very beginning, the four-ring quarantine mechanism has been implemented, helping cut off and effectively prevent outbreaks in a relatively short space of time.

The pandemic control has also shown the growth of Vietnam’s testing system. As of February 2021, Vietnam had carried out COVID19 testing on more than 2.2 million samples in 96 confirmed units. Such testing capacity can completely respond to epidemic outbreaks on a large scale.

In terms of treatment, the division of subjects for effective treatment has been strictly maintained, helping prevent too many positive cases from flocking to major hospitals. COVID-19 infected cases found in any locality are treated by local physicians. The Ministry of Health also continuously updates treatment regimens and establishes remote examination and treatment systems with leading experts supporting the lower levels, along with rapid response mobile teams. To date, many district health facilities have received and treated COVID-19 patients, helping many recover from the deadly disease.

Precision in logistics is also an important factor helping Vietnam defeat the pandemic. The health sector has coordinated with the concerned ministries, agencies and localities to proactively prepare the necessary logistics, including all medical equipment, consumables, biological products, face masks and protective equipment to form a solid premise for the epidemic response. A lot of domestically produced equipment has been donated to other countries in the spirit of a joint effort to fight COVID-19.

From February 2020, when the first COVID-19 infections appeared in Vietnam, experts from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology successfully cultured and isolated the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their labs. Vietnam became one of four countries in the world at that time able to do this. It helped identify “the enemy” while at the same time was a prerequisite for the research and development of testing products as well as vaccines for disease prevention.

Notably, up to now, Vietnam has four manufacturers participating in the research and production of COVID-19 vaccines, of which three have developed official products (one having been put into Phase 2 of clinical trials with two others in preparation for Phase 1). It is expected that in early 2022, Vietnam will have an official home-grown COVID-19 vaccine to put into use, helping it hold the initiative in the fight against COVID-19.

Over the past year, the “four onsite” anti-epidemic motto (on-site command, on-site forces, on-site equipment and materials, and on-site logistics) has always been focussed upon and achieved good results. In addition to the National Steering Committee, there are 63 Steering Committees for the prevention and fight against COVID-19 at provincial and municipal levels, while district, commune, and ward levels have mobilised all departments, branches and units concerned to participate in the fight to ensure the comprehensive implementation of epidemic prevention measures proposed by Steering Committees and suitable for local conditions. On the other hand, the community-based COVID-19 response model is also a unique one. Tens of thousands of such groups have been established in localities across the nation and have brought into full play the combined strength of local government and the consciousness of the people in quickly stopping outbreaks.

“Unprecedented” solutions deployed by the health sector in response to the COVID-19 epidemic have brought about great results. Hundreds of physicians, leading experts at the top national institutes and hospitals, such as National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Bach Mai Hospital, National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital, have been sent to hot spots in Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Dien Bien and Hai Duong. Some medical centres, even sports complexes, have been turned into field hospitals to receive COVID-19 patients for treatment. Continuous nationwide online medical conferences with the participation of leading experts from across the country have been organised, providing timely professional support to lower level doctors and promptly helping many critically-ill COVID-19 patients recover.

The battle against COVID-19 will continue, but with the health sector’s maturity and its accumulated anti-epidemic experience, we can once again believe that victory belongs to Vietnam.

Leaving big cities: A transitory fad or a consistent trend?

February 28, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Leaving big cities: A transitory fad or a consistent trend?

By Nguyen Minh Hoa

Living closer to nature or in the countryside is now a way of life – PHOTO: THANH HOA

Titles such as “Farewell to Moscow,” “Departing Seoul,” or “Goodbye Kuala Lumpur” have made the headlines in the international press these days, suggesting a phenomenon in which many people left metropolises for the countryside. In Vietnam, a similar fact has also happened when residents departed HCMC and Hanoi to live in rural areas. Most of them did so because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, will they return to their cities after the pandemic is over?

The industrial revolution which broke out in Europe and North America at the beginning of the 17th century also triggered the mass exodus from villages to cities which were huge industrial hubs. Ever since, such a move, be it fast or slow, has never halted. The world is now home to truly “megacities” that may house up to 40% of the national population with Seoul being a single example. In Europe, the urban population rate of over 70% is now the established norm.

Yet big cities have been facing with mounting pressures, such as high unemployment rates, unstable income, expensive living costs, environmental pollution, and traffic jams and accidents. According to sociologists, each urbanite has to shoulder from 20 to 30 extremely high risks every day—food poisoning, drug overdose, traffic and pit accidents, fires, building collapses, dog bites, and terrorism, to name but a few.

It was perhaps these piling pressures that started the big homecoming trend at the end of the 20th century. Last year, Covid-19 helped this trend swiftly gather momentum both in scale and pace.

Previously, homecoming or returning to the countryside involved mostly the elderly or the retired. Nowadays, returnees are also a considerable number of young people, which makes it more hectic. Rendered jobless by the global pandemic, hundreds of millions of people have to endure social distancing, constrain themselves in tiny apartments, confront permanent risks and be beset with problems on children’s safety. All these headaches have prompted many to find the countryside as an escape.

By returning to the countryside, urbanites are able to comply with social distancing regulations while enjoying fresh air and safe food, and maintaining better social relations. What’s more, they can do what they previously couldn’t in a city. That is, they can plant vegetables, raise animals or grow their favorite flowers. That is, all family members can sit together around a table for dinner, sip a cup of coffee and watch sunrise in the morning, read favorite books, and pay a visit to their rural neighbors, or a field, a brook or a hill. What a wonderful life!

Of the people who have returned to the countryside as a way to escape the pandemic, many will come back to cities when the pandemic is over. Yet some will remain in line with a new trend called “ecological lifestyle.” In developed countries, not only in the Western world but also in some Asian nations like Japan and South Korea, the concept of urban villages has resurfaced. Coming on stream are small towns whose population is a couple of ten thousands of or several thousands of residents. In these green towns, residents practice hi-tech agriculture, reinstate tradition values, reduce processed food, opt for folk songs and folk dances, and live in harmony with one another and with nature. This life is appealing to even young people in developed countries. It is the “leaving cities for villages” phenomenon in this time of epidemic that has contributed significantly to the restoration of the trio of farmers, agriculture and rural areas, an immense value of humankind which has been so far ignored in many places.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us to come to realize the real value of agriculture and rural areas as a firm foundation for not only a nation but also humans as a whole. When attacked by the coronavirus, people have realized that countries relying on industries, commerce and services are the most vulnerable. Agriculture-based nations seem to have been less affected. Otherwise, their recovery pace is also quicker.

Currently, in the midst of Covid-19, several countries, such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, have proceeded with plans to develop “landless” agriculture. In Vietnam, despite the economic losses inflicted by the coronavirus, the economy still posted a positive growth rate, at 2.9% which was among the highest in the world. In the case of Vietnam, agriculture was one of the few sectors which contributed remarkably by earning US$45 billion worth of farm exports. Although this absolute figure might be lower than in some others industries, its socio-economic significance was enormous because agriculture is largely a “renewable” economic sector.

During the time spent in Denmark and Sweden, the author of this article was passionately briefed by local scientists, urbanists and architects on this category of economy. Their classic example was the concept of “one human life cycle – three plant life cycles.” The average lifespan of a human lasts 70 years. If this person grows the first tree at 10 years old, he or she will be able to grow three plant life cycles which can be used for constructions. Reversely, if a building is erected using cement, steel and sand, it will contribute to the destruction of hills, mountains and mines, which will never be seen again once they disappear. Meanwhile, if somebody fells a tree to be used as material and grows three more trees, he or she will get three similar trees in 10 or 15 years.

Likewise, land, orchards and fish ponds will be there if you know how to treasure them. Once exploited reasonably, they will generate properties and assets.

It is not by chance that the Covid-19 pandemic is an opportunity, albeit an irritating one, which offers humankind a chance to look back at themselves, and restructure mindset and rearrange economic foundation for the sake of sustainability and flexibility. In this process, the restoration of the “agricultural trio” plays the central role.

Hopes for “homecoming” is by no means a transitory fad when people are trying to seek a safe haven during a deadly pandemic. Yet it is a way to develop sustainably a diverse economy capable of withstanding any fluctuation caused by the weather, natural calamities or epidemics.