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HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam for the second time assumed the role of rotating President of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2020-2021 tenure this month, thus making a new and important imprint in the process of transforming from a participant to an active and proactive UN member.

VN grows up in UN

Thirty years after Việt Nam joined the UN on September 20, 1977, the country was elected for the first time as a non-permanent member of the UNSC for the 2008-2009 tenure in the first secret ballot round in October 2017, with 183 votes of approval out of 192 General Assembly members participating in the ballot, or 96 per cent.

During its first tenure at the UNSC – the UN’s most important body in maintaining international peace and security – Việt Nam and other UNSC member states handled a large workload with more than 1,500 meetings, passed 113 Resolutions and 165 Presidential Statements and Press Statements on 50 agenda items, and dealt with complex issues regarding Kosovo, Iran’s nuclear programme, and Middle East peace, as well as those relating to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Myanmar.

Việt Nam made active and comprehensive contributions, from delivering speeches, participating in the making of resolutions and documents, assuming the posts of Chair or Vice Chair of several subcommittees, holding the post of UNSC President in July and October 2009, chairing negotiations for the council to approve Resolution No 1889 on women, peace, and security, and providing ideas to build the council’s Annual Report in a more practical and comprehensive manner.

“Việt Nam was on the UNSC 10 years ago in the 2008-2009 tenure,” said Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator. “It played an important role, contributing to a resolution on women, peace, and security which I think was a landmark resolution in the UNSC. Việt Nam has also been increasing its role in global peacekeeping.”

On June 7, 2019, Việt Nam was once again elected as a non-permanent member of the UNSC for the 2020-2021 tenure, with 192 votes in favour out of 193 UN member nations.

The country’s election as a UNSC non-permanent member twice in just a short period was an important milestone in it transforming from a participant to an active and proactive member.

“This was the second time over the last more than 10 years that Việt Nam has been voted as a member of the UN body with a leading role in maintaining global peace and security, proving the international community’s recognition of its improving position as well as trust in its responsible contributions to regional and international peace and security in the coming years,” said then Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.

Promoting multilateralism, respecting international law

Joining the UNSC for the second time amid complex developments in the world, Việt Nam has effectively implemented activities relating to the UNSC, completed the heavy workload in the first year of the tenure, and created its own imprint at the UNSC.

The country has actively proposed initiatives and played a leading role in several important issues.

While holding the UNSC Presidency in January 2020, Việt Nam successfully chaired an open debate on upholding the UN Charter to maintain international peace and security, and the first-ever meeting on cooperation between the UN and ASEAN, which combined the country’s dual role as UNSC non-permanent member and ASEAN Chair in 2020, thus helping enhance ASEAN solidarity and role and strengthening connectivity between the regional bloc and the UN and the UNSC.

In that month, the council held about 30 meetings and adopted 13 decisions, including four resolutions and one decision on extending UN missions, forces and mechanisms, one Chairman Statement, five press statements, and two press releases.

Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve, Permanent Representative of Belgium to the UN, told the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s correspondents at the UN that Việt Nam had done a good job despite formidable challenges when it took up the presidency of the UNSC at the beginning of its tenure as a non-permanent member of the council.

Việt Nam really left an imprint with the open debate on the 75th anniversary of the UN Charter, particularly in the context of mounting tensions in the UN as well as in the world, he added.

As a coordinator of the ten current non-permanent members (E10), in May 2020 Việt Nam actively resumed the annual meeting mechanism, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, between the E10 and the UN Secretary General via videoconference.

It chaired a dialogue between the E10 and the five newly-elected non-permanent members (I5) with the theme “Joining Efforts for an Effective UNSC: Best Practices and Experiences for Elected Members” and an International Conference on Women, Peace and Security.

“Việt Nam fulfilled its duties as a non-permanent UNSC member in the first year of its membership, achieved set targets, and proactively and actively contributed to UNSC operations,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Lê Hoài Trung.

The success gained in the first half of the 2020-2021 tenure is a firm foundation for Việt Nam to create more imprints in the second half and complete a successful tenure, contributing practically to maintaining regional and international peace and security and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national development. — VNS

HCM CITY — The HCM City Department of Customs has shortened the time for goods clearance at the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport by using an automatic airway management and monitoring systems at two warehouses.

The TCS warehouse is managed by the Tân Sơn Nhất Cargo Service Joint Stock Company and the SCSC warehouse by the Saigon Cargo Service Joint Stock Company.

Bùi Lê Hùng, head of Tân Sơn Nhất Airport’s Custom Department, said the system would greatly reduce the time and necessary procedures for businesses and airlines to deliver goods.

The city’s Customs Department worked with representatives of SCSC and TCS warehouses to implement the plan.

Last year, Hà Nội’s Nội Bài International Airport began using the system after more than a two-year trial implementation.

A survey of enterprises by the General Department of Customs found that the VASSCM system helped save about 2.5 hours per shipment when completing procedures for importing goods through the Nội Bài airport. — VNS

ĐÀ NẴNG — To raise the amount of female deputies to the National Assembly (NA) and all-level People’s Councils requires strong, synchronous, and effective solutions as well as political resolve and efforts from female candidates, a meeting in central Đà Nẵng City was told on Monday.

Nguyễn Thuý Anh, Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs and Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the Female NA Deputy Group, said legal regulations require that women must account for at least 35 per cent of the total number of female candidates for deputies to the NA and all-level People’s Council.

Although the rate to the 14th NA and all-level People’s Councils for 2016-2021 was higher than in the previous tenure, it failed to reach the targeted 30 per cent.

The world average rate is currently 25.5 per cent, and Việt Nam ranked 60th globally during the 14th tenure and fifth in Southeast Asia, after Timor Leste, Singapore, the Philippines, and Laos, she said.

Anh stressed that Việt Nam attaches importance to promoting gender equality and women’s engagement in politics, noting that the country’s constitution, policies, and laws on the matter have created a legal framework for women to play a role in political activities.

Lê Thị Nguyệt, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee, praised the contributions of female deputies to the country’s development, especially on issues regarding women, children, gender equality, and social welfare.

During the 14th tenure, they actively contributed opinions on draft laws, thematic supervision reports, and Q&A sessions, she added.

A focus of the meeting was how to improve female candidates’ election campaign skills, towards the goal of having more women representatives in elected bodies. — VNS

HCM CITY – The HCM City People’s Council has revised plans to improve the salaries of new preschool teachers in an effort to address the shortage of teachers at local preschools.

New graduates working in public preschools will continue to receive financial support to 2025.

Under the plan, new preschool teachers will continue to receive monthly support of VNĐ3 million (US$130) in the first working year, or 100 per cent of their base salary.

In the second year, support will be 70 per cent of the base salary and in the third year 50 per cent.

Preschools in the city recruit about 600 teachers a year, so the city needs about VNĐ20 billion ($870.26) to carry out the plan.

The original plan, which began in 2014, helped triple the number of preschool teachers in the city to 1,205 in 2019, according to the city’s Department of Education and Training.

However, the city now needs 871 preschool teachers working under formal contracts and 3,561 babysitters.

To attract more preschool teachers, the council has revised the plan to improve their income. Preschool teachers who have signed labour contracts of under 12 months will receive nine months of monthly support equal to the minimum monthly wage for workers in Region I, or VNĐ4.42 million ($191.39).  Contracted babysitters will receive half of that.

The number of preschool students in recent years in the city has increased by about 10,000 per year, putting great pressure on schools and teachers.

Many teachers quit because of the hard work and low salaries. Teaching preschoolers requires special skills, including dancing, singing and storytelling.

Teachers must also ensure both educational quality and student safety. Work hours typically range from nine to 10 hours a day with no overtime pay.

“The intense workload and burden of keeping students safe can cause chronic stress, which undermines the health of pre-school teachers,” Hồ Thị Kim Ngân, deputy head of the Labour Relations Department under the Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour, has said.

The confederation has asked the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to classify preschool teaching as “arduous, dangerous labour” to allow teachers to retire early.

If approved, male teachers would retire at 57 and females at 55, five years earlier than usual. The lower retirement age would also keep the workforce young, Ngân said.

Phạm Thị Ngọc Lan, 52, a teacher at Cần Thạnh Preschool in Cần Giờ District, agreed with the early retirement proposal.

“Everyone thinks this job is all fun and games, but it’s really tough,” she said.

Lan said that dealing with demanding parents can be intense and often threatening, especially when children suffer minor injuries from falls or fights with others. As a result, many young teachers are unsure about working until retirement age.

Việt Nam regularly faces preschool teacher shortages, with 45,000 currently needed, Minister of Education and Training Phùng Xuân Nhạ has said. – VNS

According to the ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance, negative developments of the Covid-19 pandemic continued to affect the demand for petroleum products; traffic congestion in the Suez Canal has been solved; the OPEC+ agreed to gradually increase oil production in the coming months.

Meanwhile, global economic growth is also forecasted to be more optimistic, leading to an expectation about increasing demand for petrol products, having affected the global oil prices in the past time.

The global gasoline prices in the past 15 days were mixed, but the general trend was a slight decrease.

Domestically, the pandemic continues to be controlled well. The activities of production, business, and daily life of the people continue to gradually recover but still encounter many difficulties.

In recent adjustments, to support the production and business activities of enterprises and the daily life of people, and limit the increasing level in fuel prices, the ministries of Industry and Trade and Finance had used the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund at a fairly high level. From March 27 to April 12, the fund spending ranged from VND500 to VND1,900 per liter or kilogram for petroleum products.

From the beginning of the year to now, the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund has continuously been tapped with an appropriation from VND200 to VND2,000 per liter or kilogram on petroleum products.

In this adjustment, if not using the fund, the retail prices for petroleum products will surge by about VND123-VND1,755 per liter or kilogram.

To limit the increase in the retail fuel prices, contributing to stabilizing prices of goods in the market, supporting the life, production, and business activities of people and enterprises that remain difficult due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ministries decided not to set up the fuel price stabilization fund for all petroleum products and continue to spend the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund at high levels for all kinds of petroleum products.

This adjustment of gasoline prices continues to contribute to ensuring the implementation of the target to control inflation and stabilize the market from the beginning of this year, supporting people and businesses, and maintain the price difference between bio-fuel E5 RON92 and fossil gasoline RON95 at a reasonable level to encourage the use of biofuel to protect the environment following the policy of the Government.

Accordingly, from 4.30 p.m. on April 12, the retail prices of petrol and oil are adjusted as follows:

E5 RON92 gasoline is not higher than VND17,806 per liter, down VND45 per liter. If not using VND1,800 per liter from the fund, the price would jump VND1,755 per liter to VND19,606 per liter.

RON95 gasoline is not higher than VND18,970 per liter, down VND76 per liter. If not using VND950 per liter from the fund, the price would climb VND874 per liter to VND19,920 per liter.

Diesel oil 0.05S is not higher than VND14,141 per liter, down VND102 per liter. If not using VND250 per liter from the fund, the price would edge up VND148 per liter to VND14,391 per liter.

Kerosene is not higher than VND12,827 per liter, down VND177 per liter. If not using VND300 per liter from the fund, the price would go up VND123 per liter to VND13,127 per liter.

Fuel oil 180CST 3.5S is not higher than VND13,687 per kilogram, down VND70 per kilogram. If not using VND500 per kilogram from the fund, the price would rise VND430 per kilogram to VND14,187 per kilogram.

By Van Phuc – Translated by Gia Bao