Day: June 25, 2023

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France, Italy enter final of Da Nang Int’l Firework Festival

The fireworks teams from France and Italy have been selected to compete in the final night of the Da Nang International Firework Festival (DIFF) 2023, the organisation board announced on June 25.

According to Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Ngo Thi Kim Yen, who is also head of the organisation board, the jury found it difficult to choose the two teams for the final as all the eight teams have shown endless creativity in their eye-catching fireworks performances which left a deep impression on the audience.

The French and Italian teams combined music and fireworks in an artistic and smooth form, and their fireworks displays are very consistent with the rhythm and the emotion of the music, said composer Nguyen Duc Trinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Musicians’ Association, a member of the jury.

According to the draw result, the Italian team will perform first, and the French team’s display will close the DIFF 2023.

This year, the organisation board of DIFF 2023 has decided to double the prize value. The champion will receive a prize of 20,000 USD, while the runner-up will receive 10,000 USD.

Additionally, two sub-prizes worth 3,000 USD each will be presented to the most creative team and the team that receives the most votes from the audience.

The final night will be broadcast live on VTV1 channel of Vietnam Television at 8:pm on July 8./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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PM’s visit marks important development step in Vietnam-China relations: Official

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to China marks an important development step in the Vietnam-China relations, Standing Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu told the media on June 25.

In an interview granted to the press on the occasion of the PM’s official visit to China and participation at the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from June 25-28, the Deputy FM stressed that China is a power in the world, a neighbour and a socialist country with traditional friendship and close ties with Vietnam.

The visit, the first to China by PM Chinh, is taking place when the two countries are celebrating the 15th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. It carries three significant meanings, he said.

Firstly, the visit continues the tradition of high-level meetings and exchanges between the two countries. It reflects the importance that the two Parties and States attach to the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and their determination to further develop the ties in a more sustainable, stable and substantial manner.

Secondly it marks a new important step forward in the relations between the two countries, concretising and implementing the outcomes of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China in October 2022, especially in the context of regional and world economic downturn.

PM Chinh’s visit will focus on seeking specific measures to bolster the bilateral economic and trade partnership, especially the trading of goods through the border and among localities, while finding solutions to speed up joint infrastructure projects.

Thirdly, this visit is expected to strengthen political trust and help find solutions to issues in which the two countries have differences, especially problems at sea, while strengthening people-to-people and locality-to-locality exchanges, thus making the bilateral ties more stable, practical and sustainable, contributing to peace, stability and cooperation in the region and the world, said Vu.

Regarding Vietnam’s attendance at the 14th AMNC in Tianjin, Vu said PM Chinh is one of the four Government leaders invited to the event, showing the special attention that the WEF and the international business community pay to the role of the Vietnamese economy as well as the country’s determination to reform and open its economy.

The diplomat said Vietnam will make contributions to the event in three aspects.

Firstly, PM Chinh will call on the regional and global business communities as well as governments to strengthen cooperation and open their markets for trade and investment activities, while actively supporting enterprises and unlocking resources for economic recovery amid the recent decline trend.

Secondly, through the event, PM Chinh will share Vietnam’s experience and learn from experience and lessons from other economies and major businesses in creating, activating and taking advantage of new growth drivers such as digital transformation, green transition, energy transition, and circular economy development to contribute to realising fast, sustainable, inclusive and innovative growth models based on science and technology and bring practical benefits to the people.

Thirdly, through this event that draws many Government leaders and leading regional and international businesses, the PM will call on the global business community to continue to pay attention to and increase investment in the Vietnamese market and the Vietnamese economy.

The PM will highlight the position, potential and advantages of the Vietnamese economy and priorities of the Vietnamese Government in economic development, thus calling for high quality investment resources and leading firms to cooperate in areas of green transition, digital transformation, energy, science-technology, and circular and digital economy development, said Vu.

He added that PM Chinh will also raise a number of proposals on public-private partnership and the model of coordination between the Government and businesses to draw green and sustainable financial resources to the Vietnamese economy./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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PM Pham Minh Chinh arrives in Beijing, starts official visit to China

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh arrived in Beijing on June 25 afternoon, starting his official visit to China.

The Vietnamese Government leader was met at Beijing International Airport by officials of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai, and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the country.

This is the first official visit by PM Chinh and the first by a Vietnamese PM to China after seven years. It is also the first time key leaders of the two countries directly meet after China completed the State leadership for the new tenure.

During his stay, PM Chinh will held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang; and have meetings with Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping, and Chairman of the 14th National People’s Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji.

He will attend important meetings of the 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and have bilateral meetings with WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwa and leaders of some countries and international organisations.

On this occasion, the PM will also join a Vietnam – China business forum./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Tax sector performs best in Administrative Procedure Cost Index

procedures posted the highest score among nine groups of key administrative procedures rated by Tax the report Administrative Procedure Cost Index 2022 (APCI 2022).

This reflected the unremitting efforts of tax management authorities to maintain the achieved achievements and continue to strongly reform administrative procedures to make it easier for businesses and people in performing tax administrative procedures.

Prepared by the Government’s Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform with the support of the US Agency for International Development through the technical assistance project Linkages for Small & Medium Enterprises (USAID LinkSME), the survey shows the rate of filing and receiving online results of tax administrative procedures is at an absolute level.

In 2021 and the first months of 2022, the tax sector cut the number of administrative procedures to 234 from 304.

In addition, the General Department of Taxation has expanded channels to receive and process support requests of the people via Hotline, email, website, Chatbot, and Zalo; as well as built an automatic question-and-answer system on electronic invoices based on artificial intelligence (AI) technology to support taxpayers.

The report recommends the tax industry to continue improving and upgrading the online tax declaration and payment system on the General Department of Taxation’s portal; completing the application of e-invoices nationwide and improving the quality of law-making in the taxation field./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

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Surigao Norte swimmer conquers Masbate open waters

Long-distance and open water swimmer Ingemar Macarine of Surigao del Norte became the first person to swim solo, unassisted, and nonstop from Bugtong Island in Pio V. Corpus town to the Barangay Matayum lagoon in Cataingan, all in the province of Masbate. The open water swim took place Saturday and in time for the ‘Bagat Dagat (Meet and Celebrate)’ Festival. In a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, Macarine said the swim covered 10.5 kilometers which he finished in four hours and 22 minutes. Locally known as the ‘Pinoy Aquaman,’ based on the fictional American superhero, he had already finished 37 long-distance and open-water swims in the country and abroad. ‘I had some difficulties during the Masbate swim especially when a strong current caught me off guard about 1.5 kilometers away from the lagoon,’ the 47-year-old Macarine said. Speeding up, he added, was also difficult as the strong wind caused turbulence approaching the lagoon area. ‘With strong will and determination I succeeded,’ Macarine said. He added that he made the open water swim to promote the festival and tourism industry of Masbate and at the same, campaign for marine conservation and a healthy lifestyle. His longest open water swim was 24.65 kilometers from Siliman Beach in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental to Tambisan Port in San Juan, Siquijor in 2017, lasting for 11 hours and 21 minutes. He also had two open-water swims in 2016 and 2017 in the United Kingdom and six in the United States. ‘I was unsuccessful during my crossing of the English Channel from the UK to France in 2017 with a distance of 21 miles. I was not able to endure the cold and freezing water,’ Macarine said. Macarine is a lawyer by profession and currently serves as prosecutor in Bohol province. He was born in Placer, Surigao del Norte, and grew up in Surigao City where he studied until high school.

Source: Philippines News Agency

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Be wary of online loan sharks, solon warns

A legislator on Sunday warned the public not to patronize online lending applications as they do more damage than help people who need financial assistance. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, in an interview with radio station DZBB, said he has been receiving complaints from borrowers who experienced harassment from loan sharks on top of high-interest rates that range from 10 up to 40 percent. Worst, he added, lending firms were able to access and hack the personal data of borrowers and their contacts. ‘May report na kung hindi nakakabayad, pinagbabantaan, minsan daw pinapadalhan pa ng korona, at nagagawan din nila ng paraan na malaman ‘yung mga activities ng nangutang. Nakakaalarma at nakakatakot ito (There were reports that those who failed to pay are being threatened. Sometimes, they received wreaths. They were able to monitor the daily activities of those people who could not pay their loans. This is alarming and scary),’ Gatchalian said. He said the public should be cautious before entertaining the idea of getting loans through online apps. It is highly suspicious if a lending agency could easily lend money, Gatchalian said. ‘Kaya ang first step dapat kung merong nagpapa-utang na napakadali, ibig sabihin niyan hindi tama ‘yan at huwag nang pumasok (The first step if when a lender could lend easily. It means something is not right. Don’t deal with them),’ he said. He advised the public to check the legitimacy of lenders with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) should they plan to make loans through an online app. BSP, he added, has a complete list of legitimate lending firms. The public could also seek the help of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Information and Communications Technology, and National Privacy Commission if they have issues with lending firms. Gatchalian said he would call for an investigation through the Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies regarding the rising concerns against lending apps and companies.

Source: Philippines News Agency