Technology events in bay area

Bản Giốc Waterfall ís a renowned tourist attraction in Cao Bằng Province. — Photo thethaovanhoa.vn

THÁI NGUYÊN  Six northern provinces in Việt Nam should continue to actively support and participate in two national tourism stimulus programmes – Vietnamese Travelling within Việt Nam and Việt Nam’s Tourism – Safe and Attractive , said Đoàn Văn Việt, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Việt was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 12th programme of travelling through heritage areas of Việt Bắc region that spreads over six north-western provinces of Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Cao Bằng, Bắc Kạn, Thái Nguyên and Lạng Sơn on Wednesday.

The programme, held annually, aims to promote the culture and tourism of the six provinces that have great potential with well-known destinations like Ba Bể Lake (Bắc Kạn), Đồng Văn Karst Plateau (Hà Giang), Bản Giốc Waterfall (Cao Bằng), and Na Hang hydropower reservoir (Tuyên Quang).

This region is also the seat of the resistance government during the anti-French war and houses many ethnic groups with diversified cultures making it a destination for anyone interested in culture and history.

Among the attendees at the opening ceremony of the tourism stimulus programme were representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Vietnam Tourism Association, Vietnam Community-Based Network, travel agencies and culture-tourism sector of nearby provinces.

As six north-western provinces shares many similarities in natural, economic, cultural and social conditions, in addition to their tradition of exchanging and collaborating with each other in various fields, their cooperation in tourism development is crucial, laying firm foundations for promoting and introducing local landscapes, people, culture and tourism potential, the deputy minister stressed.

The 12th “Travelling Through the Heritage Areas of Việt Bắc Region” programme would strengthen the exchange and cooperation between the provinces and attract not only investors to exploit local tourism potential but also bring tourists to Thái Nguyên Province and the northern region of Việt Nam, he added.

The programme was scheduled to take place in Thái Nguyên in 2020 but was delayed to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It includes surveying routes and tourist attractions in Thái Nguyên, seminars on tourism development cooperation in six provinces of the Việt Bắc region, an art show and a photo exhibition.

An art performance by local artists in the region is held at the opening ceremony of the programme. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Nguyên

At the opening ceremony, the attendees enjoyed a special art programme titled Colours of Việt Bắc Region performed by professional artists and actors from the six provinces in the Việt Bắc Region.

Addressing at the ceremony, the deputy minister of Sports, Culture and Tourism noted that domestic tourism will be the focus of Việt Nam’s recovery in the post-pandemic period 2021-2023.

He said: “Việt Bắc provinces need to further develop unique tourism products of their own to enable visitors to experience contemporary tourism products to meet the demand of the market in the new normal context.

“In particular, the provinces need to strengthen the digital transformation and information technology application in tourism, enhance tourism cooperation programmes with other localities nationwide, promote the effectiveness of regional linkage and connections with markets and businesses nationwide.”

The programme will end today.

Also within the programme, representatives of Thái Nguyên Province handed over the hosting position to Hà Giang Province where the 13th edition of the programme Travelling through Heritage Areas of Việt Bắc region will take place next year. VNS

Head of Publications Department Nguyen Nguyen (third from right) at the seminar

A seminar on reading culture amid digital transformation trends was the first activity within the framework of the 8th Vietnam Book Day on HCM City’s Book Street.

The speakers participating in the seminar were Nguyen Nguyen, Director of the Publications Department (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism); Le Hoang, Deputy Director of Vietnam Association of Publishers; Diem Phuong from the HCMC General Publishing House; Hoang Thach, co-founder of Voiz FM; and Dinh Bao, CEO and Founder JoiKid.

In Vietnam, digital transformation began 10 years ago when publishers began digitizing their data stores and some operations, such as accountancy and sales units.

They are now in the second stage of digital transformation, using technologies in management and administration of all activities, and AI in book editing.

They are about to enter the third phase – shifting to digital publishing houses.

According to Nguyen, there are great advantages for publishers to go digital. He cited a report as showing that more than 70 million out of 145 mobile phone subscribers in the country as of 2020 used data on internet, higher than the average level of 50 percent in the world and 44 percent in developing countries.

Internet users should pay more attention to reading culture and use the internet to access knowledge, rather than use it just to access Facebook, he said.

Nguyen believes that the capability of Vietnamese publishers is quite good.

Regarding copyright protection, Nguyen said this is a common challenge for the publishing industry all over the world. The top US publishers have recently joined forces to combat piracy.

What is happening in the world’s publishing industry shows that digital transformation doesn’t mean ‘killing’ printed books. On the contrary, the two areas create interactions and help each other develop.

Nguyen believes that solutions to help a reading culture include changing people’s perceptions; setting up institutions for copyright protection; and investing in technology and creating a new-generation workforce for the publishing industry.

At the seminar, Hoang Thanh from Voiz FM introduced an app that helps people listen to books. Voiz FM staff has applied AI to audiobooks. The AI voice is recorded from real voices and is so perfect that 70 percent of people attending a survey could not tell if was a real voice or an AI voice.

Gia Bao

The “sleepless city” , Grand World

At the inauguration ceremony

The construction of Bamboo Legend is built from more than 32,000 bamboo trunks.

Teddy Bear Museum

3D multimedia show featuring Vietnamese traditional culture

The floating multimedia show inspired by European culture

By Tan Thai – Translated by Kim Khanh

Chợ Lương pumping station, Yên Bắc District, Hà Nam Province is stinking. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has announced plans to strengthen inspections of industrial production models with risks of environmental pollution and strictly handle violations in 2021.

A representative of the ministry said unexpected inspections would help promptly detect violations as businesses tend to try and avoid inspectors.

In the southern province of Long An, environmental pollution in rural areas is getting more and more serious, according to local media, while the awareness of environmental protection of local people is limited. Indiscriminate littering is a problem, while waste collection, treatment and classification are not synchronised.

Wastewater from factories and enterprises has not been treated and has been discharged to rivers causing water pollution and impacting public health.

The ministry has inspected more than 3,000 industrial parks and production units, detected more than 1,300 violation cases and levied fines of VNĐ275 billion (US$11.9 million) over the last five years nationwide.

The ministry is also carrying out annual inspections on environmental protection at industrial parks and production units.

The revised Law on Environmental Protection 2020 makes the chairmen of district People’s Committees and of communal People’s Committees responsible for working with environmental inspectors and accelerating the local inspection process.

The law also states that environmental protection must be based on the rational use of resources, minimising waste generation and increasing reuse and recycling of waste to maximise the resource value of waste.

The law for the first time stipulates the principle of classifying daily-life solid waste generated from households into types: reusable or recyclable solid waste, food waste and other domestic solid waste.

The law also assigns provincial People’s Committees to decide on specific classification for domestic solid waste in their locality and to encourage the separate classification of hazardous waste in daily-life solid waste generated from households.

The ministry has submitted to the Prime Minister a number of urgent solutions to strengthen solid waste management and solutions to prevent and reduce environmental pollution, focusing on the classification of waste at the source, applying advanced waste treatment technology and using waste as raw materials for production when possible.

The ministry will develop technical guidelines on the collection and classification of waste at the source suitable to each region.

The ministry will submit to the Prime Minister for approval a pilot programme on waste collection and classification in selected localities with different natural and socio-economic conditions with the goal of later spreading it nationwide. VNS