Oxy fuel cutting defects

HCM City eyes 10 percent growth in export in 2021

February 24, 2021 by en.vietnamplus.vn

Shrimps processed for export (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City ’s Department of Industry and Trade has set the target to export 48.19 billion USD worth of products in 2021, a year-on-year surge of 10 percent.

Under its development plan for 2021 recently submitted to the municipal People’s Committee, the sector said import revenue is estimated at 56.47 billion USD for the whole year, up 11 percent against the previous year.

Besides, it eyed to reel in more than 835.68 trillion VND (36.29 billion USD) from retail sales and services revenues in the year, up 10 percent year-on-year.

The department said it will carry out necessary measures in a comprehensive fashion to branch out industry and trade, contributing to promoting economic recovery of the southern hub.

Earlier, HCM City set a goal of boosting the export of its key products this year and beyond via trade promotion activities and assistance to enterprises.

Head of the statistics office Huynh Van Hung said COVID-19 has been largely brought under control around Vietnam, resulting in the production sector exhibiting signs of recovery. Local enterprises, however, continue to face difficulties as many major trading nations are yet to open their markets.

He noted that enterprises are in need of diverse and long-term support relating to information on importers of materials and fuel, new markets and partners, and domestic consumption stimulus measures.

According to Nguyen Phuong Dong, Director of the municipal Department of Industry and Trade, despite facing myriad challenges, last year the city still saw five goods post export turnover in excess of 1 billion USD: computers-electronic products and components, with 17.8 billion USD; garment-textile 4.3 billion USD; footwear 2.2 billion USD; machinery-equipment-spare parts 2.2 billion USD; and other goods 6.9 billion USD. Together their export value accounted for 83.5 percent of the city’s total.

Key export markets remained China, the US, and Japan. China imported 10.5 billion USD worth of goods from HCM City last year, up 23.7 percent year-on-year. Exports to the US and Japan, meanwhile, stood at 6.7 billion USD and 2.8 billion USD, down 0.2 and 16 percent, respectively, year-on-year./.

VNA

Quang Ninh to spend 500 billion VND buying COVID-19 vaccines

February 25, 2021 by en.qdnd.vn

Local authorities announced the information during a meeting between the cabinet, the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, and localities on February 24.

Quang Ninh recently issued a resolution stipulating urgent tasks and solutions in the COVID-19 fight.

It will cut 10 percent from regular spending and increase budget contingency to a maximum of 4 percent per total budget spending in order to provide the resources to fight COVID-19 and other diseases and respond to natural disasters and emergencies.

As of February 24, Quang Ninh had reported 61 COVID-19 cases.

Local departments, agencies, and localities have been urged to remain vigilant and take measures seriously, synchronously, and effectively to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

At a meeting on February 23, the standing board of the provincial Party Committee decided to provide 4 billion VND to the neighbouring province of Hai Duong, which is now grappling with COVID-19 clusters.

Source: VNA

Prolonged pandemic issues cloud recovery

February 24, 2021 by www.vir.com.vn

Dinh Quang Hinh, analyst at VNDIRECT Securities JSC, noted that the local economy’s recovery “will slow down”, especially in the next two months. According to Hinh, the tourism industry may still be the most affected by the new COVID-19 wave.

Reports from travel and airline businesses showed that many travellers cancelled flights and hotel reservations, and postponed their plans. In addition, the blockade in some localities such as Hai Duong province and the closure of a number of non-essential services in other cities and provinces may reduce the growth rate of several service sub-sectors, especially accommodation, catering, tourism, and entertainment.

1532 p2 prolonged pandemic issues cloud recovery

At a cocentrated quarantine area. Photo: VNA

Unfeasible policies

Facing the serious impact of COVID-19 on the economy, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham The Anh, chief economist of the Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), said that the country could not pursue macro policies in the same way other countries would do, for example through large-scale monetary easing, due to limited financial resources after years of deficits, coupled with constraints to inflation and exchange rate targets.

Vietnam was one of the few countries in the world with positive economic growth in 2020. But this year, according to Anh’s observation, “the policy space is no longer wide” to support economic growth and social security.

Last year, the State Bank of Vietnam lowered interest rates three times and supported commercial banks with a VND250-trillion package ($10.87 billion), which is still being deployed. In addition, pandemic prevention and social backup subsidies to ease the impacts of the crisis are also putting great pressure on the budget balance.

In 2021, monetary policy, particularly interest rate tools, will see a significantly reduced effectiveness, according to the VEPR’s chief economist.

Anh also warned about an asset bubble that is forming in the stock and real estate markets. Last year, property market saw significant growth, mainly because real estate represented a haven for investors’ idle money.

When price increases on asset markets are large enough to create a wealth effect, consumption increases on non-essential goods could lead to a spillover of increased prices from the asset to the consumer market and, albeit slowly, manifest a rise in prices as the loosening policy is pursued for a long enough time.

The latest VEPR report from February 9 also identifies that the top priority at this time is ensuring social security, keeping macroeconomic stability, and reducing the burden for businesses. Policies to support these also need to continue to be implemented with a higher concentration and more substance, aiming for the right audience and their actual needs.

As such, the report suggested that financial burdens for businesses like loan interests and land rents should be frozen or suspended for the time being, in addition to considering cutting trade union fees to support businesses.

According to the VEPR, the group of businesses that was not affected by the disease or had seen an effective transformation should be encouraged with credit, the right institutional environment, and sectoral policy. These policies should be driven in a way that stimulates demand and assists consumers to pay for products and services, instead of directly sponsoring the company.

“We believe that tax extensions and reductions, if any, should only be applied to VAT instead of corporate income tax (CIT),” Anh said, further explaining that the reduction of CIT only supports a small number of businesses that is either not affected or even benefits from the pandemic. The CIT reduction also risks creating deeper inequality in the business environment, adversely affecting the economic recovery.

Cautious optimism

This year will be the first of the new leadership of the Party and government and is expected to see many new steps, policies, and specific actions for the socioeconomic development. International developments such as the new US president and possibly more predictable policies could make the international environment less uncertain.

However, the continued competition between the United States and China does not protect from new risks that could appear. In this context, the chief economist of VEPR said that supply-side policies could be the most useful for Vietnam to reinforce fundamental elements of the economy.

“Macroeconomic stability, particularly inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates, need to be kept stable, which is essential to prepare for the post-pandemic recovery period. The Vietnamese economy is currently in a difficult time, while the return of a tightened monetary policy could lead to further difficulties for businesses,” Anh said.

At this point, even with the pandemic in the country fully controlled, many export-oriented sectors could face long-term difficulties as COVID-19 remains present throughout the world. Anh found that accelerating public investment, especially for key national projects, is a must to support economic growth.

“The division of multiple bidding packages and a more scattered implementation in many localities could create better spread,” he suggested.

At the same time, a reduction of the recurrent spending from the state budget by at least 10 per cent could be done to devote resources and overcome the consequences caused by the pandemic.

According to experts, many shortcomings in operating economic policies have been revealed, so efforts to improve administrative procedures and the business environment should continue to be maintained.

The diversification of import-export markets also needs more attention to avoid heavy dependence on several major economic partners. Despite delays, Vietnam could step-by-step build up fiscal buffers to prevent further economic shocks in the coming years.

On the bright side, Vietnam’s industrial production seems to expand in the first months of the new year. According to the General Statistics Office, although the industrial production index in January decreased by 3.2 per cent compared to the previous month, it increased by 22.2 per cent over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the purchasing managers’ index in January decreased slightly to 51.3 from 51.7 points in December but remained above the 50 points level.

Optimistic but cautious, VNDIRECT’s Hinh expected that the manufacturing sector will be less affected by this COVID-19 surge as the global economy could recover stronger in the coming months, thanks to vaccines and more incoming orders for products made in Vietnam.

More time will be needed to observe and quantify the potential impact on the economic outlook, but Vietnam’s macroeconomic foundation may continue to be strengthened backed by current account and trade surpluses, rising foreign exchange reserves, and decreasing inflationary pressure.

At last week’s government meeting on deploying key tasks and activities against COVID-19 after Lunar New Year, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc encouraged the public to use the Bluezone app and implement the 5K principles, as well as ensure safety and prevent disease transmission in schools, markets and supermarkets, hospitals, and business establishments, especially those with large numbers of people.

“We need to be fully determined, more and stronger than ever before. We must be determined to organise the effective implementation of the resolution of the 13th National Party Congress in each and every locality,” the prime minister said, emphasising the success in the past five years, especially in 2020, when the power and will of the Party were convincingly demonstrated.

He stated that focus must lie on directing and handling the five major balances in national development in the next five years.

Firstly, there must be a balance between opening up, innovating, and promoting socioeconomic development while strengthening and enhancing the leadership of the Party and a stable development between market laws and socialist orientation, as well as between state, market, and society, between economic growth and human development, between social progress and environmental protection, and between independence and integration.

Secondly, it is necessary is to balance rapid economic development with socially equitable progress, including preserving the environment and protecting the national cultural identity. “For example, like with our pandemic prevention efforts, development must be associated with the lives of the people and balanced and harmonious, letting no person and no locality fall behind, and possibly lose development opportunities,” the PM emphasised.

Thirdly, there must be a balance between internal and external forces, between domestic and foreign economies, between internal and foreign trade, between building an independent and autonomous economy with openness and international economic integration.

Fourthly, short-term priorities must be weighed against long-term goals. “We must not be subjective and avoid pursuing unsustainable short-term goals,” PM Phuc noted, suggesting that ministries and agencies maintain and firmly believe in the ideals and principles of building a socialist-oriented market economy.

Fifthly, national financial resources, public debt, and many other macroeconomic figures must be kept in balance. “Today, we have a good system of macro indicators, but we must ensure it is getting stronger and let next year be even better than last year,” said the prime minister.

By Van Nguyen

New Zealand and Vietnam boost agricultural cooperation

February 24, 2021 by dtinews.vn

New Zealand and Vietnam today signed an Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement at an dialogue held virtually by New Zealand Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, Ray Smith, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Le Quoc Doanh.

At the dialogue.

At the dialogue, the two sides voiced their commitment to the two countries’ deepening agriculture and trade relationship. Smith and Doanh affirmed that the Strategic Partnership, which was jointly announced by Prime Ministers in July last year, has created a solid foundation for increasing bilateral agricultural cooperation and connections between the two countries.

Speaking at the dialogue, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, Mr Ray Smith, emphasized that this is a valuable opportunity to consider what both sides can do together as they build resilience and vitality back into their agriculture economies following COVID-19.

The Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement will enable both sides to advance their key agricultural interests in enhancing bilateral trade, reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, promoting food safety, utilising agriculture research and technology, and in rural development.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vice Minister Le Quoc Doanh of MARD said: “Agriculture is critical to the economic wellbeing of our countries. Both nations are strong agriculture producers and exporters, with complementary products. The establishment of the New Zealand – Viet Nam Agricultural Dialogue and the signing of the Agriculture Cooperation Arrangement today will boost our connections, cooperation and two-way trade, in line with what our two Prime Ministers highlighted during last years’ Strategic Partnership dialogue.”

The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries is already supporting agriculture cooperation with MARD with activities in plant health, veterinary epidemiology and electronic certification. These activities complement New Zealand’s ongoing development programme, which has a number of agriculture projects including the premium fruit development project in Tien Giang, the rural dam safety project in Central Viet Nam, and the safe vegetables project in Binh Dinh.

Ray Smith, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries said that New Zealand has developed one of the most efficient agriculture sectors in the world, with a reputation for cutting edge research and technology, robust and safe agricultural practices, and delicious and high-quality products. He expressed his hope that the newly signed cooperation arrangement will help build value and expand investment opportunities between the two countries: “We recognise that increased trade is not just about exporting more products, it’s about an exchange of knowledge, expertise, technology, services, and investment. This two-way exchange benefits both of us.”

He added, “We also look forward to doing more to assist MARD’s greenhouse gas inventory capability through the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.”

The two leaders confirmed their shared commitment to finalising new fruit access for each other this year so consumers can enjoy New Zealand strawberries and squash in Viet Nam and Viet Nam’s limes and pomelos in New Zealand.

Viet Nam is New Zealands’s 14th largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at NZD$ 2 billion, at year end September 2020. While COVID-19 has posed some challenges, Viet Nam remains a promising market for New Zealand and vice versa due to robust demand for key agricultural products.

COVID-19 under sound control nationwide: health minister

February 24, 2021 by en.nhandan.org.vn

>>> First batch of AstraZeneca vaccine arrives in Vietnam this morning

>>> Prime Minister orders quick vaccination for people

>>> Hai Duong conducts large-scale testing for COVID-19 from Feb 24

>>> Students in 52 provinces, cities come back to school

Speaking at a meeting between the permanent cabinet members and the standing members of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on February 24, the minister said localities around the country have performed well in implementing prevention and control measures.

As of the morning of February 24, Vietnam had 2,403 COVID-19 infections, with 1,760 recoveries. Ten localities hit by the latest outbreak have now gone many days without new cases, he noted.

In Hai Duong, the pandemic is now under sound control with faster testing and contact tracing.

He said that SARS-CoV-2 variants found in cases in Vietnam include the 20C variant, which was contracted by a Japanese patient found dead in Hanoi earlier this month and another recent case in the capital. This variant is mostly found in the Republic of Korea, India, and Taiwan (China), but not Japan. Its infection speed is not high, while its strength is yet to be determined.

The SARS-CoV-2 variant found in Hai Duong originated from the UK and South Africa, while that in Quang Ninh was also detected in the UK.

The minister asked localities to continue applying preventive measures against the pandemic in line with the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 05, while paying greater attention to supervising medical facilities and patients exhibiting fevers and coughs as well as foreign experts and people entering the country from abroad.

The first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrives in Vietnam on February 24, 2021. (Photo: NDO)

At the meeting, local authorities of Quang Ninh announced that the northern province will spend at least VND500 billion (US$21.7 million) on purchasing COVID-19 vaccines, targeting mass vaccinations as soon as possible.

Quang Ninh recently issued a resolution stipulating urgent tasks and solutions in the COVID-19 fight.

It will cut 10% from regular spending and increase budget contingency to a maximum of 4% per total budget spending in order to provide the resources to fight COVID-19 and other diseases and respond to natural disasters and emergencies.

At a meeting on February 23, the standing board of the provincial Party Committee decided to provide VND4 billion to the neighbouring province of Hai Duong, which is now grappling with COVID-19 clusters.

* The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai will remove social distancing order at the stroke of February 25 in four localities reporting no new COVID-19 cases in the last 14 days, according to its announcement issued on February 24.

They include Ayun Pa township and the districts of Ia Pa, Phu Thien and Krong Pa.

Students of the province are set to return to school on March 1 while socio-economic activities will resume in the new circumstance.

Gia Lai had logged no COVID-19 infections as of 5 pm on February 24, marking two weeks without new cases.

* Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are planning to reopen schools on March 1, according to the Ministry of Education and Training, after a two-week delay to the scheduled resumption when Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday end mid-February.

A health worker sprays disinfectants at a high school in HCM City’s District 10. (Photo: NDO)

Hanoi could reopen schools on March 2 if the COVID-19 situation is under control (March 2 will be the date marking 14 days of local infections), according to municipal authorities.

The HCM City People’s Committee on February 24 approved the Department of Education and Training’s proposal to reopen schools on March 1 since the recent COVID-19 outbreak has been well controlled.

To prepare for the reopening, the administration has called for disinfecting schools and adopting preventive measures. This week the department will ensure these tasks are undertaken at all schools.

As of February 24, the city has gone through 13 days without any new community transmissions of the coronavirus.

Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Health has developed an emergency plan for COVID-19 outbreaks under three scenarios of fewer than 100, 200 and 500 positive cases. The plan is being made because of pandemic developments including new variants and outbreaks globally.

To date, 51 provinces and cities nationwide have already reopened schools.

Miracle for youngest child in Vietnam with artificial thighbone replacement

February 23, 2021 by en.nhandan.org.vn

Motionless, painful with bone cancer

On the afternoon of February 22, doctors at the Centre for Joint Surgery and Sports Medicine, under the Hanoi-based Tam Anh General Hospital successfully performed the surgery to replace the entire thighbone for the child patient to treat her bone cancer.

Q.A, 11, from Ho Chi Minh City, had suffered a dull pain in right thigh which increased over the past year. Her family sent her to the HCMC Children’s Hospital where she was diagnosed with femoral cancer and transferred to HCMC Cancer Hospital for continued treatment.

However, after three chemotherapy sessions, she did not get better, while there were signs that the tumour continued to grow, leading to an invasion, breaking the thighbone and causing the child to have the entire right leg cast. At the same time, she still had to endure motionlessness and nagging pain, while continuing to receive further treatment to prepare for next surgeries to remove the tumour.

Her family tried their best to take Q.A to Hanoi for further treatment in the hope of keeping her right leg. At the Centre for Joint Surgery and Sports Medicine, Professor, Dr. Tran Trung Dung, in charge of the centre’s expertise, said that bone cancer in children is a dangerous disease with very high malignancy properties, which not only puts patients at risk of disability but even risks their lives.

In the case of Q.A, the tumour had overgrown along the femoral body, leading to fracture. Therefore, the only solution is to remove the entire thigh bone with the tumour. But if there is no alternative to the defective position of the bone, the risk of having to amputate her leg to save her life is very high. As the child is still too young and the family yearns to put a lot of faith in the preservation of her legs, doctors at the centre have found the most suitable solution for her.

The giant tumour that destroyed almost the entire right thighbone of the patient.

Daring decision to replace artificial bone for the young patient

With their experience of having successfully replaced artificial bones for a number of cases in Vietnam, specialists gathered to seek solutions in this case. Finally, the decision was made to remove the entire cancerous femur and then replace this removed bone with an artificial thighbone made of titanium alloy material. However, this is the youngest child patient in Vietnam to this case, so doctors must consider many factors.

Experts have to carefully measure and calculate how they can replace the artificial bone that is almost identical to the child’s bone to help Q.A be able to recover and walk normally as before. Just a small mistake in the design and the child may experience complications such as dislocation or stiffness right after the surgery.

To solve the remaining difficult part of this problem, Professor, Dr. Tran Trung Dung said: “We have to scan a 3D model of the entire two legs of Q.A before the surgery to simulate the parameters of the femoral bone that needs to be replaced. At the same time, we also calculate whether the muscle tendon around the remaining bone is enough to ensure the child’s leg works or not. We planned to use positioning robots throughout the operation to ensure the surgical steps are of the highest accuracy.”

Undergoing a pre-operative chemical treatment and a major surgery that lasted nearly three hours, doctors finally removed the damaged thigh bone and the giant tumour measuring 28x10cm, weighing nearly three kilograms, while successfully replacing artificial femur with artificial hip and knee joints.

Dr. Dung said this artificial thigh bone is designed for 3D printing with super durable, light titanium alloy ordered in accordance with the anatomical design parameters provided by surgeons. This artificial femur is designed in the form of a removable module, so when the child grows up, the doctor can lengthen the surgical leg to match the healthy leg.

The 3D printed titanium alloy artificial thighbone made in line with the anatomical parameters of the patient.

In addition, thanks to the positioning support of the Artis Pheno robot and surgeons’ expertise, the function, length and shape of the two legs of the patient after surgery are similar.

“If the postoperative progress is favourable, after only two days, the patient will be able to sit up and practice walking with support equipment,” Dr. Dung informed.

The surgery at Tam Anh General Hospital is the 3rd complete replacement of the thighbone in Vietnam and the 2nd case of replacing the entire thighbone due to cancer. More specifically, in research in the world medicine documents, this is a femoral replacement surgery for the youngest patient in Vietnam and the 2nd youngest in the world, after a similar surgery on a ten-year-old patient in in Egypt in 2010.

Over the past year, Professor, Dr. Tran Trung Dung and experts at his centre have been very successful in many complicated surgeries, such as replacing one side artificial pelvis, replacing eight finger joints at the same time and replacing complicated shoulder, elbow, hip, and knee joints.

This team is also the same as the first two artificial thigh replacement surgeries in Vietnam. Fortunately, the first thigh bone replacement due to cancer on a 25-year-old girl was a success, and now after nearly two years since the surgery, she is still healthy and is currently working as a medical secretary for the surgical team that saved her leg at Tam Anh Hospital.