Patronisation noun meaning

On the occasion, ILO Director in Vietnam, Dr Chang-Hee Lee granted an interview to Nhan Dan (People) Television to share his viewpoint on the decision and suggested ways to best implement this convention when it comes into effect.

Question: What is the meaning of Vietnam’s ratifying Convention 105?

ILO Director in Vietnam, Dr Chang-Hee Lee: It means many good things for Vietnam. By ratifying Convention 105 on Abolition of Forced Labour, Vietnam send a strong signal to international community and trade partners that Vietnam is committed to universal principles of the ILO, particularly those related to Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work of the ILO.

By ratifying Convention 105, Vietnam has ratified 7 out of 8 ILO core conventions under the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. This is a great progress. You may know that new generation of FTA requires party to FTA to full respect the ILO Declaration. By ratifying Convention 105, Vietnam has gained favourable conditions for its international trade by fulfilling its obligations under CPTPP and EVFTA.

But more importantly, I would like to say that ratification of Convention 105 helps to fully realize principles of 2013 Constitution which provide constitutional protection of human and labour rights, and domestic laws including 2019 Labour Code.

All in all, ratification of Convention 105 shows Vietnam is becoming a leader not only in successfully fighting against COVID 19 but also in ensuring Decent Work for all by modernizing its social and labour standards in line with ILS.

Can you explain, in a simple way, what forced labour is?

As defined at Article 2 Convention No.29 of the ILO on forced or compulsory labour: forced labour means all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace (in other words, threat) of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. There are three factors in deciding certain type of work or service can be regarded as forced labour.

– First, a person performs a work or service for others;

– Second, this person does not offer himself/herself to perform the work or service voluntarily;

– Third, this person performs such work or service under a threat of a penalty.

ILO’s press release states that the non-use of forced labour in the goods production or services is also considered as the “laissez-passer” for Vietnamese enterprises to access global markets. Can you elaborate this point?

Let me first give you some numbers. According to ILO global estimates, there are 24.9 million victims of forced labour throughout the world, out of which 16 million people are exploited in the private sector such as domestic work, construction or agriculture. Also ILO estimates show forced labour in the private economy generates globally US$ 150 billion in illegal profits.

However, in most of the countries around the world today, the import of products made by forced labour are prohibited by laws. People of developed countries have developed a habit of boycotting products related to forced labour. In particular, now that CPTPP is in force and EVFTA would come into force very soon, Vietnam’s labour practice, including forced labour, will come under much stronger scrutiny of its trade partners under CPTPP and EVFTA.

Therefore, the prevention and combating the use of forced labour in enterprises helps enterprises avoid the risks of their products being rejected or boycotted by importing countries.

That is why we say the non-use of forced labour in the goods production or services can be the “laissez-passer” for Vietnamese goods and services to get access to global markets.

What will Vietnam need to prepare to best implement this convention when it comes into effect?

We are at the moment discussing with the government on what to be done in coming months and years.

I believe that first, there should be joint efforts for raising the public awareness on forced labour, for both female and male workers and employers and business associations. In this respect, the communication and advocacy is a key and your roles as journalists are important.

There is also a need for building capacity of line ministries, trade unions and employers for effective implementation and monitoring of Convention 105.

The ratification of Convention 105 creates an obligation of the Government to report to the ILO about the implementation of Convention 105. For this, ILO plans to help to building capacity for the government to monitor the progress, report the implementation of the Convention 105 to ILO’s supervisory machinery that the Committee of Experts on Application of Conventions and Recommendation.

The government report will be closely reviewed not only in the ILO process but also by Vietnam’s trade partners under CPTPP and EVFTA.

Goods unloading at Dinh Vu port in Hai Phong

Although there had been policies since 2014 to facilitate reducing the market share of road transport while increasing that of air, rail road, and inland waterway transport, the structural shift has not been very successful, said the Ministry of Transport.

Freight ship unloading at Tan Cang – Hiep Phuoc port (Photo: SGGP)

Inadequate infrastructure, especially the lack of connecting roads to inland ports, also cause imbalance in market shares. Many modern gateway ports have not been utilized effectively due to congestions on existing connecting roads.

Minh Duy – Translated by Thao Nhien

Dang Thanh Huyen actively uses all of these sources. She is the author of the colourful Vietnamese history artbook Việt sử diễn họa (Vietnam History Through Drawings), is the artist behind the historical animation series Hào khí ngàn năm (Thousand years of pride), which aired on Vietnam Television (VTV), and is the co-administrator of “Đại Việt cổ phong” (The Great Viet ancient customs), a Facebook group on historical research.

PUBLISHED WORK: Dang Thanh Huyen and her first book, ‘Việt sử diễn họa’. Photo Dang Thanh Huyen

After the 2,000 episodes of Hào khí ngàn năm finished airing on VTV1 and VTV3 in 2018, most have since appeared in some shape or form on YouTube channels, where they always collect tens of thousands of views.

It was the first project Huyen participated in after graduating from university, creating a foundation of her passion for Vietnamese historical clothing and history. She also co-manages the “Đại Việt cổ phong” Facebook community of over 130,000 members.

The young woman studied land management, as her parents wanted her to have a stable occupation.

“I’ve loved drawing since the seventh grade and have never stopped,” she said. “I’m always drawing and drawing, despite my parents’ disapproval.”

DETAILED DESIGN: The background and characters in the series on the Tran Dynasty. Photo Dang Thanh Huyen

She found a job in the arts industry that both pleased her parents and gave her a livelihood. It led to her drawing the background art for Hào khí ngàn năm, specifically those on Sy Nhiep, Duong Thanh, and Duong Dinh Nghe (well-known figures during the northern dominated period) and some prominent emperors of the Ly and Tran dynasties.

Her role was to draw landscapes, interiors, battleships, and armour, among other things. It required meticulous research on the architecture and decorative items of the Ly and Tran dynasties, like curved roofs of palaces, which are different from those of the Le and Nguyen dynasties.

She feels fortunate to know what she wants to do in life.

“If you don’t know what you want to do, then I can’t really give you any advice, but I think you should keep doing what you already do well instead of daydreaming about something else,” she said. “Keep improving and following what you’re good at, and stay patient and be willing to learn.”

Nguyen Duc Loc, founder of Y Van Hien, a project on traditional clothing and a clothing designer for historical movies and music videos, is excited about how young people are taking more of an interest in historical costumes.

“The more research I do the more I find clothing to be the quintessence of our entire country,” he said. “Vietnamese people have our own unique aesthetic.”

To gain a holistic understanding of her subject when writing Việt sử diễn họa, Huyen shied away from being overly creative and instead tried to remain true to the history of each period. The book covers the original establishment of the nation until the fall of feudalism.

An illustrated timeline of Vietnam’s history by Huyen.

She conducted research and pored over historical documents like Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư (Complete Annals of Đại Việt), An Nam truyện (Tales of An Nam), Việt Nam sử lược (Precise History of Vietnam), while also reading research papers and works translated from Chinese she found via the Facebook group.

At times during her research, Huyen came upon inaccurate illustrations of certain periods, which helped her reflect on the subject matter and dig a little deeper.

When she researched and began drawing, she recognised that Vietnamese culture is very much different from Chinese. For instance, Chinese collars are higher and tighter to keep out the cold, and Chinese men during the Qing dynasty often shaved the front half of their head and braided the back, while upper class men in Vietnam just let their hair grow or shaved it all.

“To encourage young people to be more enthusiastic about studying Vietnamese values, researchers, institutions, and the media need to point out our national identities and cultural values,” said Ly Tung Hieu, cultural researcher and professor of cultural studies at the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Huyen finished the book in just over a year, and also draws historical characters to post on Facebook.

She also shares short historical stories and illustrations on her Facebook page “Comet Withouse”. Her latest project takes a look at the jewellery and outfits of the Nguyen Dynasty, as her passion for art and history lives on.

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Messages about innovation begin with awareness and attempts to overcome challenges so as to turn Vietnam into a developed country by 2045. This was emphasized by Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung at the “CEO Forum 2019”.

VietNamNet would like to present the full text of his speech.

Each business has its own approach to innovation. Photo: TD

Innovation always has to start with awareness and thinking. To better understand innovation, I like to see it from a number of different perspectives.

Japanese have talked about society5.0. The society 1.0 is hunting, nomadism. Society 2.0 is agriculture and sedentary farming. Society 3.0 is an industrial society. Society 4.0 is an information society. Society 5.0 is a smart society. Now everything is Smart. Innovation in enterprises can be understood in the following sense: using technology, mainly digital technology, to automate and make smart the entire production and business process of the enterprise, from management to production and sales. With this approach, the most important keyword is: Be smarter and continue to be smarter in all activities, and the most important tool to help with this process is technology, especially digital technology, 4.0 technology.

A revolution happens and then the future will not lie on the extended line of the past. Innovation happens to be right at the moment. Old infrastructure, old ways of doing things, old knowledge, old products, old business models are no longer suitable. We need new infrastructure, new ways of doing things, new knowledge, new products, new business models. For a lot of things, it is simply do the opposite. Previously, it was finding every way to avoid mistakes, now it is to make and learn from mistakes faster. In the past, it used to be to study first and work later, now it is to do first and then study. Previously, it was having works first and then recruiting suitable employees, now it is finding the right person first and then thinking about what to do.

Because the work is new, it is necessary to have people who share the same thing – the passion of discovery. Previously, the power of businesses was in the number of employees, but now the power is to have few employees who react quickly and move quickly. With this approach, the most important thing for CEOs is to find a new approach in all business activities of their company.

A successful company often collapses when new technologies emerge. And the process of collapse is usually as follows. Step 1, breakthrough technologies are developed first by successful companies. Step 2, the marketing team researches critical customers’ responses to the new technology, and receives no support, as the old products are still good and familiar to users. Step 3, successful companies turn to promoting the development of retention technologies, improving old products, enhancing efficiency, and increasing sales and profits. Step 4, newly formed companies rely on breakthrough, new technology and explore new markets, new customers, often lower-tier ones, by trial and making mistakes, and from there, new applications, influential new products are formed. Step 5, newly-formed companies will move into high-end markets. Step 6, successful companies join too late to keep their basic clients and the changeover occurs.

Thus, innovation often creates opportunities for new companies with breakthrough new technologies. With this perspective, large and successful companies have fatal defects, and create opportunities for new companies, small companies to rise and go from new markets to overthrow existing traditional markets.

So, is there any way for big, successful companies to handle this situation? Basically, there are three approaches as follows. First, promote emerging technologies and markets so that they become big enough, fast enough to contribute to company growth. Second, wait until the new market becomes clear and the new technology becomes clearer and join when the market is big enough and becomes attractive enough. Third, assign the responsibility of commercializing breakthrough technologies to new components, which are small enough so that their business performance depends only on new technology, new markets. But this new component must be driven by new processes and new value systems in order to be able to solve new problems.

Studies show that the third approach is more promising. The first way is difficult to succeed because new technology, new market does not create an explosion in a short time. The second way is too late. With this perspective, big and successful companies still have the opportunity to continue to exist and develop, but must be divided from one organization into two independent organizations with two different operating ways, two different cultures. And this is not easy.

Innovation requires change, but it is the mechanisms, processes, and value systems through which a company creates value and its success is the enemy of change. An organization’s capacity consists of three elements: Resources, Processes and Value Systems. All of these factors, when the company is large and successful, are sustained. Therefore, it is the capabilities of an organization that determine its defects. And the CEO’s job is to resolve this contradiction when innovation is required. CEOs have the following three options. First, acquire a company whose processes and values are similar to the new mission. Second, try to change the existing processes and values of the existing organization. Third, create an independent component and then develop new processes and new value systems to meet the new requirements. With this point of view, successful big companies face a huge challenge when it comes to innovation.

What will innovation look like from a digital economy perspective?

Digital economy includes economic activities that use digital information and digital knowledge as the main production factor; use the Internet and information networks as space for operation; and use ICT, that is, telecommunications and IT, to increase labor productivity, and to optimize the economy. In simple terms, the economy is related to digital technology. Digital economics is a long evolutionary process. It is the process of digital transformation on the national level. At different levels, every field, every business, every individual can use digital technology to better do their jobs, or even make breakthroughs to change the quality of their work.

The fastest way to accelerate the digital economy is to use digital technology to change the way we are manufacturing, working. Using cameras to reduce guardians, that’s digital economy. Automatic watering when the soil dries, that’s digital economy. Using electronic documents instead of paper is also digitizing the economy.

Who will do this? Digital technology businesses. Therefore, it is necessary to start digital technology and develop Vietnamese digital technology enterprises. Using digital technology to solve Vietnamese problems, and from the cradle of Vietnam, these technology businesses will go global. Technology is born to solve problems, where there is a problem, there is technology, there is a solution. Problems are everywhere, maybe in our daily work, and each of us can start a technology start-up to solve our problems.

Digital technology will create new business models, new challenge or replace old business models. For example, Uber is challenging taxi firms. Fintech challenges traditional banks. Mobile money will solve the problem of non-cash payments for 100% of people, but it challenges banks. Will the government dare to accept these new business models. If they do but are the last to accept, it is not of much value.

That is why many people say that digital transformation is more of a policy revolution than a technology revolution. The first is adopting new business models, new technologies that fundamentally change industries. Often creation destroys the old. If we accept the new, new technology of the world will come, talents from all over the world will come, a new industry will emerge, and the cradle of Vietnam will create exportable digital technology products. But it must be an early acceptance, earlier than others. If walking behind or at the same pace with others, there will be no chance to change Vietnam’s ranking. When we accept the new, we may lose something. But we don’t have too much to lose; that’s our opportunity.

Thus, from the point of view of digital economy, or digital transformation, innovation means: Enterprises focus on digital transformation to become digital enterprises, while the government focuses on institutional building to accept new business models, breakthrough technologies. The challenges of innovation are always enormous. But the chances of a developing country like us are even greater. And this is also an opportunity for Vietnam to change its rankings and become a developed country by 2045. Each business has its own approach to innovation to develop its own business, reinvent itself and contribute to the development of the country.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung

Vietnamese powerlifter Dang Thi Linh Phuong (left) hopes she will take gold medal at the Para Games to be held in Vietnam later this year. Photo thanhnien.vn

Like all athletes, Phuong experienced a very difficult year in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the Para Games in the Philippines to be postponed twice before being cancelled.

“For the past two years, I was focusing strongly on the Para Games 2019. But then the event had to stop. So my plan was also incomplete. I was very sad,” said Phuong.

“Earlier, I quit my work as a nail technician to focus on weightlifting. I couldn’t spend all my time in the nail salon. I decided that weightlifting was my main job to earn a living until I couldn’t continue to compete any more.

“When the pandemic came, tournaments abroad were postponed and I couldn’t compete in any tournaments for a whole year. I was really looking forward to competing. Therefore, I am more determined and wait for the Para Games 2021 to partake in Vietnam as expected,” said Phuong.

As events were postponed, Phuong had to find another job to maintain her passion for weightlifting.

“I work part-time, such as selling toothpicks. Although I couldn’t earn much, it was enough to help me overcome difficulties in the past year,” said Phuong.

Phuong still maintains a scientific diet, nutrition and lifestyle to allow her to achieve peak performance.

“I spend about one hour per day to train with the highest focus. I also maintain the diet of a powerlifter. In the context of the pandemic, training can help us stay healthy,” said Phuong.

Having been involved in weightlifting for about 10 years, Phuong has recorded many remarkable achievements.

In the 2018 Asian Para Games, Phuong bagged a gold medal in her favourite category of the 50kg weight class with a lift of 103kg, far above the lift of 84kg by Indian powerlifter Khatun Sakina.

Phuong was also the first Vietnamese woman to win a medal at a Paralympic Games. She won a bronze medal in the women’s 50kg class with a lift of 102kg.

In the National Sport Games for People with Disabilities in 2012, she took a gold medal in the 48kg division, while in the 2013 event, she won in the 50kg.

Phuong also stood on the top podium at the Asian Powerlifting Championship in 2013 and Para Games 2014.

In the World Para Powerlifting Championship held in Dubai in 2014, Phuong claimed a gold medal and at present, she doesn’t have rivals in Vietnam.

Thanks to all this success, she is tipped to take a gold medal at the upcoming Para Games at home.

“I hope I can get a gold medal at home. That is also my dream and desire. I’ve gained high results in weightlifting, but being able to sing the Vietnamese national anthem on home turf has a sacred meaning,” said Phuong.

Powerlifter Dang Thi Linh Phuong competes at the Rio Olympics 2016. — Photo vov.vn

Endless efforts

“Eight years ago, it was the first time I received a gold medal and I could not hold back my tears. From that moment, I realised that sport would help me integrate better into this life, overcoming the sadness and loneliness without close relatives by my side,” said Phuong.

“Since joining the HCM City team to compete and win medals, my life has become more joyful,” Phuong added.

Phuong was born with her legs shrivelled and she was sent to her paternal grandmother to be taken care of.

Since then, Phuong grew up selling street food with her grandmother.

“Lacking the care of my parents from a young age, I felt down, my grandmother was my only relative,” said Phuong.

Her grandmother passed away more than 10 years ago and Phuong felt very sad and lonely. She could only overcome her sadness when she had a job at a handicraft workshop and especially when training.

Seeing many colleagues participating in sports competitions at the workshop, Phuong began to learn and liked to train.

Vietnamese powerlifter Dang Thi Linh Phuong (middle) celebrates her gold medal at the Asian Para Games 2018. — Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

In 2011, with the encouragement of coach Nguyen Van Phuc of the national powerlifting team, Phuong decided to get involved in the sport. After a year of training, she took a gold medal at the National Sport Games for People with Disabilities in the 48kg category.

“That first gold medal was a driving force for me to follow this sport until now,” said Phuong.

Coach Nguyen Van Phuc said: “In tournaments, Phuong often surprised the coaching staff with her achievements. We appreciate and honour her efforts and responsibilities in the competitions.”

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