Support them psychologically

Phnom Penh (VNA) – The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on April 21 expressed its appreciation of the Vietnamese Government providing 300 ,000 USD in humanitarian aid for its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The provision of the aid demonstrates the continuous development of the two countries’ traditional friendship, solidarity, and neighbourliness, the ministry said in a press release.

Vietnamese leaders believe that under the wise leadership of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Cambodia will soon overcome the this difficult time posed by the pandemic and emerge stronger.

The Cambodian Government and people sincerely thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for their continuous assistance in the effort to fight the pandemic in Cambodia ./.

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Hanoi (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy , Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN), has affirmed Vietnam’s strong support for all efforts and initiatives that can help promote the Middle East peace process.

During his speech at a video debate on April 22 of the UN Security Council ( UNSC ) on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestine issue, Ambassador Quy urged all parties to take measures to build trust and refrain from unilateral actions that could negatively affect the prospect of negotiations for the process.

Vietnam applauds the progress of preparations for upcoming elections in Palestine, he said, calling on the Israeli Government to facilitate the elections across the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

He also expressed his sharing with the Palestinian people about the humanitarian situation in the occupied territories, especially the complicated developments of COVID-19 pandemic and deteriorating economic conditions in the Gaza Strip, and called on efforts from international donors to help Palestinians fight the health crisis, especially in high-risk areas.

Ambassador Quy reiterated Vietnam’s steadfast stance in favor of a two-state solution, including the establishment of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in line with international law, the UN Charter and relevant resolutions of the UN.

Addressing the event, Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed participants on preparations for the upcoming elections in Palestine, affirming that the success of the elections will be an important step towards national harmony and promote the peace process with Israel.

He urged the international community to roll out a specific roadmap to promote an end to the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian territories, and to achieve a lasting peace.

The parties should take concrete steps to get back to negotiations, he said, stressing that the UN pledges to assist Israel and Palestine in advancing these efforts.

Participants expressed support for the organisation of the elections in Palestine, and efforts to promote the Middle East peace process , affirming that a two-state solution is the only one for a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine.

They also called for more assistance for UN agencies that are carrying out humanitarian activities in Palestine./.

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MARD Vice Minister Ha Cong Tuan, USAID Acting Mission Director Bradley Bessire, Ministry representatives, provincial leaders, forest owners, private sector partners, local organizations, and community members, joined the event to review the results and lessons learned from the Vietnam Forest and Delta’s work, and share recommendations on how to sustain the project’s results for future development of the forestry sector in Vietnam.

The USAID Vietnam Forests and Deltas project, a $31.4 million climate change program implemented by Winrock International from 2012-2021, helped Vietnam’s transition to climate resilient, low-emission sustainable development. Over its more than eight years of implementation at the national level and in the provinces of Quang Ninh, Nam Dinh, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Lam Dong and Long An, the project achieved significant results, which received wide recognition from the Government of Vietnam, local communities and other related stakeholders.

Notably, the Vietnam Forests and Deltas project supported MARD to successfully implement the Payment for Forest Environmental Services (PFES) system at national scale, which now generates approximately $120 million annually to finance the management of approximately 6 million hectares of Vietnam’s forests. The PFES system contributes to increasing incomes and living standards for hundreds of thousands of people living in the mountainous areas who receive payments to help protect forests. The project also helped MARD expand the PFES system to increase its transparency, efficiency and effectiveness through application of electronic payments in disbursing funds and enhancement of monitoring and evaluation.  In addition, the project trained approximately 350,000 people on climate change adaptation, forest management and livelihoods development and helped over 200,000 people implement climate change risk reduction practices in the Mekong and Red River Deltas.

In his opening remarks, Acting Mission Director Bessire said, “The Vietnam Forests and Deltas project is the first climate change collaboration program between USAID and the Government of Vietnam. We are very proud to work closely with the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and a number of provinces to strengthen forest management and build resilience for vulnerable communities in the Red River and Mekong Deltas through this program.”

USAID also announced two new projects which will build on Vietnam Forest and Delta’s successes and expand assistance in helping Vietnam respond to the impacts of climate change and strengthen forest and biodiversity conservation. The new Sustainable Forest Management project (2020-2025) seeks to avoid carbon emissions from natural forest conversion and increase carbon sequestration through the improved management of plantation forests; and the Biodiversity Conservation project (2020-2025) aims to maintain and increase forest quality, and protect and stabilize wildlife populations in national parks and natural reserves, in high conservation value provinces. These projects will work in 12 provinces across Vietnam.

To view Vietnam Forests and Deltas project photos, visit: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVfYxXR

Chung Anh

Vietnam possessing advantage in AI field, illustration photo

South Korea’s Naver Corporation and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) – Vietnam’s leading research university – in late March launched the AI International Research Centre under the Symposium on Information and Communication Technology, marking the first Southeast Asian AI research centre in Hanoi. Accordingly, the two parties will together build and operate the centre with the purpose to deeply research and train a high-quality labour force in terms of AI.

Along with implementing a search to create core “Make in Vietnam” technology, the centre will also focus on developing AI applications for different sectors and industries in order to promote Vietnam’s digital transformation and the Industry 4.0 process. The deal between Naver and HUST are motivation for South Korean enterprises in the AI sector arrive to Vietnam to expand their operation in the context the country’s demand on developing the AI sector is also increasing.

Vietnam has seen increase in such investment inflow from South Korea as well as other countries under deals between domestic and foreign investors. Notably in March 2020, Samsung officially kicked off construction of the largest research and development (R&D) facility in Vietnam.

The new centre will become the largest for the tech giant in all of Southeast Asia, becoming a leader towards researching, deploying, and applying new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In addition, the centre will also be a place to train high-tech human resources and especially technologies such as AI and big data.

Jeong Sam Yong, general director of Samsung SDS Vietnam, said that the group is interested in joining Vietnam’s digital transformation process, and that becoming the strategic shareholder in domestic tech group CMC Corporation is a bold example.

“Samsung is assisting Vietnam in implementing IT solutions and applying management software in production operations. In addition, the group supports telecommunications and system integration solutions,” Yong said. “In the future, the group will promote the construction of smart cities and smart buildings thanks to Internet of Things (IoT) applications, cloud computing, and AI in Vietnam.”

A year ago FPT Corporation signed an MoU with Hancom Corporation, the largest productivity software manufacturer in South Korea. The two parties will work together to develop six sectors: office software for the Vietnamese market, smart cities, AI, IoT, education, and self-driving vehicles.

Around the same time, VinAI Research, VinGroup’s AI research arm, announced addition of a cutting-edge supercomputer to its AI computing platform. The machine, a 5-petaflop accelerated data centre in a box, is the first deployment of such a system in Southeast Asia.

Numerous large international groups are also investing for R&D activities in Vietnam along with their operational activity. German technology giant Bosch already boasts two R&D centres in Ho Chi Minh City.

These investments are playing a major role in Vietnam’s goal of nurturing its high-tech sector and becoming an AI research and development leader by 2030 as similar as the target mentioned in the national strategy on R&D and application of AI approved by then-Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last month.

The strategy outlines that by 2025, Vietnam is to become a centre for innovation, as well as development of AI solutions and applications. The country will establish two national innovation centres for AI and simultaneously increase the number of innovative related startups and total investment in the sector. In addition, Vietnam is also focused on upgrading and forming 10 new key research and training institutions on AI. As per the strategy, Vietnam expects to rank among the top four countries in ASEAN and in the top 50 worldwide in R&D and application of AI by the end of the decade. The country has plans to set up 10 renowned AI centres as well as develop three national centres for big data storage and high-performance computing, connecting domestic data centres and high-performance computing centres to create a shared network.

In order to realise the targets, the government has asked to “allocate resources on developing essential AI products and services that Vietnam possesses a competitive advantage in; and strategise key investments in AI application in fields related to national defence and security, natural resources and environmental management, and public services. Besides this, it is necessary to vigorously develop AI application enterprises and AI startups,” the strategy noted.

Developing AI is also a part of the economic target by 2030 as defined by the 13th National Party Congress. Vietnam determines that the rapid and sustainable development on the basis of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation is one of three key elements in the country’s development strategy.

Choi In Hyuk, COO of Naver said, “Naver has been impressed with Vietnam’s growth in the science-technology sector in recent years and we see that it has potential to expand AI personnel training.”

Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam  Yamada Takio on April 23 signed an exchange of notes on two non-projects on receiving an oceanographic research vessel and supporting equipment for investigating, surveying and analysing ocean plastic waste, funded by the Japanese Government’s non-refundable aid.

The non-projects are hoped to help promote the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE)’s capacity of investigating and conducting basic surveys related to the marine environment and marine resources of Vietnam and addressing ocean waste.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Minister Ha stressed that these are important cooperative documents demonstrating close and effective cooperation between the two Governments’ agencies in realising senior leaders’ commitments.

MoNRE pledges to efficiently operate the received oceanographic research vessel as well as equipment to address challenges related to marine environment and resources in the time to come, he added.

Ambassador Yamada said that the signing of the exchange of notes symbolises the fine friendship that the two countries have been building and maintaining over the past years.

He expressed his hope that the oceanographic research vessel will promote its capacity in basic surveys related to marine environment and resources in Vietnam, contributing to implementing the Strategy on Sustainable Development of Marine Economy until 2030 with a vision to 2045.

Meanwhile, the equipment for investigating, surveying and analysing ocean plastic waste will help raise Vietnam’s monitoring capacity, which, he said, is the most fundamental factor to make right policies to tackle the ocean waste problem./.

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Hanoi (VNA) – The Malaysian Government has issued a new emergency ordinance allowing it to use funds derived from oil and gas contributions to pay for vaccine procurement, part of efforts to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination.

The ordinance will enable the government to use the 17.4 billion MYR (4.23 billion USD) under the national trust fund to secure vaccines “for an epidemic of any infection disease”, according to the law published in the federal gazette.

The trust fund, which takes contributions from state energy company Petronas and others involved in petroleum exploitation, was set up to support infrastructure and other development and provide federal loans to Malaysia ‘s states.

In January, King Al-Sultan Abdullah declared a nationwide state of emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19, giving the government more power to enact temporary laws without parliamentary approval.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in March nearly doubled the country’s COVID-19 immunisation budget to 5 billion MYR with a view to helping achieve the government’s target of inoculating 80 percent of the country’s 32 million population by December.

As of April 20, nearly 750,000 people in Malaysia had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease while about 462,000 others are awaiting their second shots.

With nearly 382,000 cases, Malaysia has the third highest number of COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, following Indonesia and the Philippines./.

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