Month: May 2023

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ASEAN, Canada vow to bolster longstanding partnership relations

ASEAN and Canada reaffirmed their commitment to amplify efforts to substantiate their longstanding relations with a view to taking the partnership to a new height at the 20th ASEAN-Canada Dialogue held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 30.

The meeting was jointly chaired by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and SOM Leader of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Amran Mohamed Zin and Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia Pacific of Global Affairs Canada, Weldon Epp, with the participation of ASEAN Senior Officials, representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat, and Timor-Leste as an observer.

At the event, Canada conveyed its unwavering support for ASEAN Community-building efforts, assistance towards the region’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and commitment to ASEAN Centrality through its active participation in ASEAN-led mechanisms.

Both sides welcomed positive advancement made in the implementation of the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action (2021-2025) and acknowledged the strengthening of cooperation between both sides across the three ASEAN Community pillars.

They shared the significance of intensifying economic cooperation in key areas of trade and investment. Recognising the economic potential, they looked forward to the constructive progress of the ongoing ASEAN-Canada Free Trade (FTA) negotiations. Looking ahead, the meeting looked forward to the 4th ASEAN-Canada FTA Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) Meeting, scheduled for this June.

Under the ambit of future cooperation, the two sides highlighted the importance of enhancing partnership in the four key areas outlined in the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) through concrete projects to support its implementation, in complementarity with Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS), launched in November 2022.

They emphasised the need to work closely to further enhance cooperation to combat transnational crime and counter terrorism as well as promote maritime cooperation. The meeting also encouraged greater collaboration on cybersecurity, connectivity and infrastructure, transport, trade and investment, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), including women entrepreneurship, digital economy and financial infrastructure.

In addition, they discussed and called for cooperation to narrowing the development gap in ASEAN and promote collaboration on energy and minerals, food security, science, technology and innovation, disaster management, public health security, youth and women empowerment, Women Peace and Security Agenda, protection of the rights of migrant workers, education, people-to-people exchanges, tourism and sports, smart cities, environment and climate change, including clean water and social services, biodiversity, and sustainable development.

To support its collaborative programmes with ASEAN, Canada highlighted the establishment of the ASEAN-Canada Plan of Action Trust Fund this year. Correspondingly, the meeting shared the significance of developing practical programmes and activities that are tangible, sustainable, mutually beneficial, regional in nature and adaptive to current challenges and needs of ASEAN./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Phnom Penh regulates traffic flow to serve ASEAN Para Games 12

Phnom Penh authorities will suspend two-way traffic near the Morodok Techo National Stadium between the section of Win-Win Boulevard from Prek Pnov Bridge toward National Road No. 6 from June 6 – 9 to serve Cambodia’s host of 12th biennial Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Para Games.

The move aims to ensure security, safety and public order and avoid traffic congestion during the sporting event.

As scheduled, official events of the Games will be organised at the Morodok Techo National Stadium, as well as in Chrouy Changvar district and Sangkat Preaek Ta Sek neighbourhood. Additional gatherings are likely to take place in other parts of the city, especially at sports stadiums, such as the Army Stadium and/or Chroy Changvar International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Khieu Kanharith, Minister of Information and Vice Chairman of the Cambodian national organising committees for the 32nd SEA Games and 12th ASEAN Para Games (CAMSOC-CAMAPGOC), on May 30 inspected the establishment of the Main Press Centre (MPC) of the Morodok Techo National Stadium to serve domestic and international journalists during the 12th ASEAN Para Games.

Phos Sovann, Director General of Information and Audio-visual of the Ministry of Information said the MPC can accommodate between 250 to 300 national and international journalists at the same time, with free snacks as well, he added.

According to Sovann, more than 500 Cambodian and international journalists have officially registered to work at the event.

Cambodia expects to win 56 medals in the upcoming games, up from 28 medals they got in the 11th ASEAN Para Games in Indonesia in 2022. The host country is also expected to rank sixth out of the 11 participating countries on the medal tally./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Send-off ceremonies for Vietnamese athletes to ASEAN Para Games 12

A ceremony was held at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on May 31 to send off Vietnamese athletes with disabilities competing in the 12th ASEAN Para Games, which is scheduled to take place in Pnom Penh, Cambodia from June 3-9.

Led by Nguyen Hong Minh, Deputy General Director of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism’s Vietnam Sports Administration, the delegation consists of 164 members, including 122 athletes.

The Vietnamese athletes will compete in eight out of 13 sports at the tournament, namely track-and-field, swimming, weightlifting, badminton, table tennis, chess, judo, and boccia.

On the same day afternoon, the administration also hosted a ceremony at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to send off athletes from the southern and central regions to the event.

Vietnam is set to win 50-55 gold medals and named among the top four countries in the medal tally at the event.

So far, more than 2,600 athletes with disabilities have registered to compete at ASEAN Para Games 12.

At the 11th ASEAN Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, last year, Vietnam claimed 183 medals, including 65 golds, 62 silvers and 56 bronzes, ranking third on the medal tally./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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World No-Tobacco Day: Ensuring rights to smoke-free environment

Amid the increasing use of tobacco, especially e-cigarettes, Vietnam has rolled out measures to minimise tobacco harms.

The Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms has been implemented for 10 years with a number of achievements. However, Vietnam is still one of the 15 countries with the largest number of adult male smokers in the world, while the target set out in the Strategy on Prevention of Tobacco Harms to 2020 was not reached.

Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan said that in recent years, products called e-cigarettes, heated cigarettes, and shisha have appeared. These products are currently not allowed to be imported, traded or circulated in the domestic market. However, they have still been advertised and traded illegally, especially on the Internet and among youngsters.

Doctor Le Hoan from the Hanoi Medical University Hospital said that e-cigarettes are very harmful to the health of both active and passive smokers due to chemicals used in e-cigarette production.

This year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) chooses the theme “We need food, not tobacco” for the World No-Tobacco Day, aiming to call on countries to design policies and strategy as well as provide necessary support to alternative crop production and marketing opportunities for tobacco farmers and encourage them to grow sustainable, nutritious crops.

According to the WHO, nicotine contained in tobacco is highly addictive and tobacco use is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, over 20 different types or subtypes of cancer, and many other debilitating health conditions. Every year, more than 8 million people die from tobacco use. Most tobacco-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, which are often targets of intensive tobacco industry interference and marketing.

Smoking rates tend to increase in developing countries. Every day, approximately 21,000 people die and on average 1 person dies from smoking every 4 seconds.

Tobacco can also be deadly for non-smokers. Second-hand smoke exposure has also been implicated in adverse health outcomes, causing 1.2 million deaths annually. Nearly half of all children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke and 65,000 children die each year due to illnesses related to second-hand smoke. Smoking while pregnant can lead to several life-long health conditions for babies.

WHO estimates that the global economic loss caused by tobacco each year is 1.4 trillion USD. Globally, about 3.5 million hectares of land is converted to tobacco crops per year. Nine of the 10 largest tobacco-growing countries in the world are low- and middle-income countries, of which four are identified as being food deficient.

Every year, about 5% of the forest area is cleared to grow tobacco, as well as to get wood for tobacco drying. It is estimated that 18 billion trees are needed each year to make firewood for tobacco drying. Annually, the use of tobacco releases into the environment between 3,000 and 6,000 tons of formaldehyde (H2CO), along with 12,000 to 47,000 tonnes of nicotine, and from 300-600 million kilograms of toxic waste.

Responding to the World No-Tobacco Day (May 31), a national No-Tobacco Week have been held from May 25-31 with various activities in many localities to raise awareness of tobacco harms and reduce the percentage of smokers in the community. The activities include a marathon themed “Vietnamese youngster say no to e-cigarettes”.

The Ministry of Health has suggested the adjustment of the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms with the addition of regulations on “e-cigarette” and “heated tobacco” products to control and minimise the use of e-cigarettes and new generation cigarettes.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha signed a decision issuing a national strategy on tobacco harms prevention and control until 2030 with strong and synchronous measures to strengthen the efficiency of tobacco harm prevention and control efforts.

Under the strategy, Vietnam is striving to reduce the rate of tobacco use among males aged 15 and above to less than 36% in the 2023 – 2025 period.

The strategy also aims to reduce the rate of passive smoking at work to less than 30%, at restaurants to less than 75%, at bars and cafes to below 80%, and at hotels to below 60%. The figures are hoped to drop to below 25%, 65%, 70% and 50%, respectively, in the 2026-2030 period.

Thuan said that the implementation of the strategy aims to ensure the right of all people, especially non-smokers, to live, work and study in a smoke-free environment./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Petrovietnam generates over 10 billion kWh of electricy in five months

The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) generated over 10 billion kWh of electricity in the first five months of 2023 which equals 42.5% of the yearly target.

The figure represents an increase of 46.6% compared with the same period last year, thanks to the inauguration of Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant in late April.

In May alone, the group generated 2.77 billion kWh of electricity, up 7.8% from April.

Along with power production, Petrovietnam continues to maintain strong growth momentum, ensuring the supply of strategic products, especially crude oil, gas and petrol, contributing to ensuring national energy security.

Specifically, crude oil output in the first five months of this year was estimated at 4.41 million tonnes, exceeding the set plan by 13.7% and equaling 47.5% of the year’s plan. Of the figure, domestic crude oil exploitation reached 3.66 million tonnes, equivalent to 48.6% of the yearly plan and gas production hit 3.42 billion cu.m, equaling 57.6% of the plan for the whole year.

This result reflects the efforts of Petrovietnam and its member units in applying measures to maintain output while ensuring safety in the context that most of Vietnam’s key oil wells are on a decline.

Regarding domestic petrol production (including Nghi Son Refining and Petrochemical Company), the group’s output hit 1.47 million tonnes in May, up 32.6% year-on-year.

Petrovietnam’s petrol production reached 6.3 million tonnes in the first five months of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 18.1%.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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HCM City moves to apply ASEAN Tourism Standards

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism held a conference on May 31 to discuss the application of the ASEAN Tourism Standards and launch the ASEAN Tourism Awards among businesses in the sector.

Deputy Director of the department Bui Thi Ngoc Hieu said the application of the ASEAN Tourism Standards will help guarantee higher product and service quality as well as safety so that travellers can have better experience. It will create a quality tourism environment and promote HCM City as a trustworthy tourist destination.

The ASEAN Tourism Standards include criteria for energy use management and reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, and efficient waste treatment. By complying with these standards, HCM City can maintain the harmonious balance between tourism development and environmental protection, climate change response, she went on.

Experts said the city, one of the most dynamic trade, service, and tourism hubs in Vietnam, has attracted millions of visitors from around the world and established itself as a diverse and charming destination.

However, to adapt to common trends in the region and the world, the local tourism sector should standardise tourism services, which is critical to its development. Given this, learning and applying the ASEAN Tourism Standards is an urgent need, they added.

Nguyen Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Hotel Department under the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that aiming to turn tourism into a key economic sector by 2030, Vietnam is working to develop sustainable, inclusive, and responsible tourism based on green growth, and maximise the sector’s contribution to the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

To do that, she said, the sector will step up applying the ASEAN Tourism Standards, which also include standards on hotels, community-based tourism, venues for MICE tourism, public restrooms, and spa services. The standards also target sustainable and environmentally friendly development, along with energy efficiency at accommodation facilities.

Besides, the tourism sector will also enhance its participation in the annual ASEAN Tourism Awards, which honour the localities and units with high-quality tourism products and services to help with the sustainable development of tourist destinations in ASEAN, according to Binh./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency