Day: July 25, 2023

A conference took place in Tokyo on July 25 to connect Japanese investors with Vietnamese localities, industrial parks, and enterprises.

The event, part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties, attracted a large number of investors and businesses from both countries.

It was organised by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the ASEAN – Japan Centre (AJC), the Vietnamese Trade Office in Japan, the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), and the provinces of Hau Giang, Bac Kan and Lai Chau and Da Nang city of Vietnam

Vietrade Director Vu Ba Phu said that via the conference, representatives of localities, industrial parks, and enterprises of Vietnam could directly meet Japanese investors to look into the demand and situation of Japanese investment in the country and discuss measures for enhancing investment ties.

In particular, officials of Hau Giang, Bac Kan, Lai Chau, and Da Nang had chances to provide details about investment and business climate in their localities, along with their policies for tackling difficulties facing enterprises and recovering production and business activities after the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

AJC Secretary General Kunihiko Hirabayashi said AJC last year submitted a medium-term strategic plan until 2025 aimed at responding to big changes in the international and regional situations. The plan includes promoting and diversifying investment such as direct investments that are sustainable and have positive socio-economic impacts from Japan to ASEAN countries, especially Vietnam.

AJC attaches special importance to investments promoting green growth and circular economy, and will expand trade and investment cooperation activities between Japan and ASEAN more comprehensively, he went on.

Since the diplomatic relationship was established in 1973, Japan has always been one of the leading partners of Vietnam.

As of June 20, it had 5,116 valid projects worth over 69.9 billion USD in Vietnam. It is also the biggest supplier of official development assistance (ODA) for the Southeast Asian country, with about 30 billion USD.

The Northeast Asian country was the fifth largest importer of Vietnamese goods in the first half of 2023, with 11 billion USD in value, statistics show./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception for General Director of Lao News Agency Khampheuy Philapha in Hanoi on July 24.

Prime Minister Chinh spoke highly of the traditional friendship and sound cooperation between the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Lao News Agency (KPL) over the past five decades.

He said he believes that, the two national news agencies will continue their effective cooperation in the coming time, contributing to consolidating the great relationship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

General Director Khampheuy Philapha expressed his gratitude for the support and assistance that the Party, State and people of Vietnam in general and VNA in particular, have given to the Lao side over the times.

He affirmed that, he would work closely with VNA to implement the Prime Minister’s recommendations, contributing to strengthening the friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two parties, peoples and nations in the time to come.

On the same day, the VNA delegation, led by General Director Vu Viet Trang, held talks with the visiting KPL delegation, led by General Director Khampheuy Philapha.

At the talks, the two sides evaluated their cooperation results on the basis of the Professional Cooperation Agreement for the period of 2022 – 2025, and discussed measures to increase cooperation in the coming time.

Both sides agreed that, in the recent time, cooperation between the two national news agencies has continued to be consolidated and developed. The two agencies also regularly organized professional exchanges.

In the time to come, the two news agencies confirmed they will further promote activities of information exchange, professional improvement, and language training. Besides, the implementation of a cooperation project between the VNA News Television channel and LaoTV channel was also on the table for discussion.

On this occasion, the two news agency signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the new period.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), with support from the Australian Government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Basic Education Quality and Access in the Lao PDR (BEQUAL) programme launched the second round of training workshops to support primary teacher Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in mid-July in Savannakhet, Luang Namtha and Kang Khay Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs).

The training will be cascaded to Internal Pedagogical Support (IPS) teams in 30 target districts until mid-August.

This training round includes an ICT training focus and all IPS teams, TTC technical teams and some staff in the 30 target District Education and Sports Bureaus (DESBs) will receive tablets. During this new series of five-day workshops, they will learn the basic of tablet usage (getting started with tablets, basic functions of tablets, troubleshooting) and also how to access digital learning resources such as the Teacher Development Videos YouTube channel and Khang Panya Lao.

They will also learn how to use tablets for data collection and record keeping. The objective is to enable them to integrate ICTs into their roles in the new primary teacher CPD system with the goal of strengthening the quality of teaching and improving student learning and engagement.

In the new system, CPD and on-going teacher support is facilitated by IPS teams selected in February-March 2023 for 30 target districts from seven provinces (Phongsaly, Luang Namtha, Bokeo, Huaphan, Xiang Khuang, Savannakhet and Khammuan). The IPS teams are based at the school level and are composed of 1,043 principals and deputy principals (40%) and teachers (60%). 56% of IPS team members are women.

Three target TTCs, Savannakhet, Khang Khay and Luang Namtha, lead on building the capacity of those teams to provide high quality pedagogical support to primary teachers. The first round of training took place in April 2023 with a focus on facilitation skills, adult learning principles and practical tools to support teachers to engage in CPD for example, school visits, mentoring, peer observation and learning circles.

This second round focuses on pedagogical practices which can be used in the classroom and explores tablets and how to use them to support teacher CPD.

“There are still many challenges with having access to ICT resources such as computers and internet access as well as developing the technical skills to use those tools. It is very positive that Australia and USAID, though the BEQUAL programme, supports our TTC technical teams and IPS teams with both equipment and training to develop their technical skills for using digital learning and teaching resources,” said Mr Keth Phanhlack, Director General of the Department of Teacher Education (DTE).

The DESB will be using tablets during monitoring visits to schools to collect data on the implementation of the CPD system. The TTC technical teams will be using the tablets to provide ongoing support to IPS remotely, using tools such as Zoom and WhatsApp.

The tablets will also enable them to share learning resources with IPS teams and collaborate with DESBs on providing stronger and more comprehensive support to IPS teams. Moreover, the technical teams can also use the tablets to engage in their own CPD through digital learning.

The other parts of the training consist of unpacking teacher guides and active learning specifically for Lao language, Maths and Science and Environment and guidance on how to use teacher guides for lesson planning and delivery.

The training also focuses on professional skills and attitudes as well as child protection and safeguarding.

“The IPS teams will start to support the primary teachers in their local areas at the start of the new school year in September. They will visit peers in other primary schools and provide one-to-one advice to teachers to help them improve their teaching skills and knowledge. Thanks to the tablets, they will have easier access to teaching and learning resources to share with the teachers and CPD tools and techniques to answer the challenges teachers may encounter,” Mr Keth Phanhlack concludes.

Source: Lao News Agency

The China-Laos Railway that started cross-border passenger services in April had transported 41,735 passengers as of Saturday, when it marked the 100th day of operation.

On this railway, a train departing from Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, travels at a speed of up to 160 km per hour through mountains and valleys. The trip from Kunming to the Lao capital of Vientiane takes 10 and a half hours to complete, including the time spent on going through customs.

The Mohan checkpoint on China’s border with Laos tallied that as of Saturday, 200 train trips had been provided by the railway, serving 41,735 passengers from 49 countries and regions.

Among the total, the number of inbound passengers was 12.2 percent more than that of outbound passengers, reaching 22,066, with 54 percent of them being tourists.

Source: Lao News Agency