Category: General

Canberra: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia in Canberra on March 8 as part his official trip to the country.

At a working session with CSIRO leaders, the Vietnamese Government leader expressed his impression on the sound cooperation between Vietnam and CSIRO over the past time, and congratulated the organisation on its valuable research that has contributed significantly to Australia and the whole world.

He particularly highlighted that the organisation has been on the right track with its studies on digital transformation, green transition, innovation and agriculture, among others, which are in line with Vietnam’s development policies.

He suggested CSIRO and its Vietnamese partners make efforts to remove roadblocks in their cooperation, adding the Vietnamese Government will pen mechanisms and policies to ensure that cooperation programmes are carried out smoothly.

The PM asked Vietnamese ministries, sectors and loc
alities to step up cooperation with CSIRO, stressing as collaboration in science-technology, innovation, climate change response, digital transformation and green transition is boundless, they need to fully tap the Australian Government’s 2 billion AUD (1.3 billion USD) finance facility for trade and investment promotion with ASEAN so as to implement practical and specific programmes and projects.

Meanwhile, Australian Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Tim Watts said as sci-tech and innovation cooperation programmes are a pillar in the bilateral relations, which has been elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the Australian Government committed to enhancing the sci-tech cooperation with Vietnam through specific projects.

Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat said that Australia’s innovation programmes managed by CSIRO have helped Vietnam develop its fisheries, plantation and modern production sectors on the basis of the commercialisation of the research results.

For his part,
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that cooperation with CSIRO helps Vietnam handle challenges in agriculture that the country is facing.

Vietnam hopes to receive CSIRO’s support to develop low carbon emission tra fish and shrimp farming models, he added.

On the occasion, Dat and CSIRO Chief Executive Doug Hilton exchanged an agreement on sci-tech and innovation cooperation in the presence of PM Chinh.

Established in 1916, the Australian national science agency has been one of the world’s largest mission-driven science and research organisations, with 5,500 staff and 57 establishments across Australia and representative offices in the US, Chile, France, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The organisation has close cooperation ties with the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology for years. Both sides signed agreements on research support in the fields of CSIRO’s strengths such as agriculture and food, healthcare and bio security, energy, manufacturing industry and land an
d water resources./

Source: Vietnam News Agency

MANILA: The House of Representatives expects the Senate to approve proposed amendments to the constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.

Speaker Martin Romualdez believes Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri will do everything to convince his colleagues to agree to the changes.

‘We understand the challenges, pero (but) the Senate has always lived up to the challenge. Magagaling ‘yung mga senador natin (Our senators god) and I know that they know what is good for our people,’ Romualdez told reporters in an ambush interview during the groundbreaking ceremony of the Philippine Cancer Center in Quezon City on Friday.

Zubiri earlier said that getting the needed 18 votes in the Senate for the economic amendment proposals ‘is a big challenge’ but ‘not impossible.’

The House of Representatives is expected to approve the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 before the Lenten break starts on March 23.

Meawnhile, Bagong Henerasyon Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera reiterated full support to amend the economic
provisions.

Herrera cited circumvention through internal arrangements between local and foreign business partners as her main reason.

“In our experience here in Congress, we have conducted hearings and investigations on foreign ownership restrictions, but we also see internal arrangements that do not truly reflect the partnership between foreign and local entities,” she said in a news release.

She said the discrepancy between official regulations and internal agreements often leads to legal disputes.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: Seven community-based associations in Surigao del Norte’s Claver town received PHP2.5 million worth of livelihood projects from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), an official said Friday.

Beneficiaries of the projects included women, persons with disability (PWDs), and farmers who are members of the associations.

‘These projects are of great help to the different sectors in our town, especially the PWDs, women, and farmers, by allowing them to increase their incomes through micro-enterprise ventures,’ Claver Mayor Georgia Gokiangkee said in a statement.

Gokiangkee and Vice Mayor Leah Patan led the distribution of livelihood projects to the organizations on Thursday.

The projects were released through the DSWD’s Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), which supports the poor by helping them engage in resource-based and market-driven micro-enterprises or employment opportunities.

Currently, the seven groups are engaged in businesses such as retailing grocery items, farm and vete
rinary supplies, school and office supplies, and frozen and processed food.

The beneficiary groups are the Amazing Ladgaron SLP Association, Daywan Association of PWD, Marajaw Tayaga SLP Association, Cabugo Aktibong PWD SLP Association, Ladgaron Energetic Association, Panatao Entrepreneurs Women Association, and the Sapa Rice Farmers and Millers Association.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Philippine Army hopes to declare a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS) in Panay before this year ends by working on dismantling the two already-weakened guerrilla fronts on the island.

Lt. Col. J-Jay Javines, chief of the 3rd Division Public Affairs Office (DPAO), said the Central Panay and Southern Panay Fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA) no longer have any hold on any of the barangays in these areas after losing their political-military structure in the villages.

‘We already have zero-affected barangays. If we dismantled them by the third quarter, then we will facilitate the declaration of SIPS,’ he said in an interview on Thursday.

Javines said the declaration of SIPS could boost investor confidence.

Aside from having a stable power supply, the business sector looks at security as a parameter when investing.

He said the Feb. 28 encounter with members of the Southern Panay Front, Komiteng Rehiyon Panay in San Joaquin town in Iloilo, was a big blow to the communist group.

The encounter left four members of the communist group dead while one was captured. The group also lost several firearms.

‘They will have difficulty looking for a replacement if they lose their senior officials,’ he said, adding that their operations resulted in the neutralization of their squad leader, finance, and medical officers.

He also credited the support of civilians for providing them with information.

‘The popular support of our civilians is a very important indicator. If we can get information from them, it means they are no longer supporting the armed group,’ he added.

Meanwhile, the bodies of three of the four fatalities during the encounter had already been claimed by their respective families.

Javines said they are still trying to identify the fourth, earlier identified as Patrick Reovoca, because his family denied that it was him.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: The Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) on Friday assured that the agency would have significant accomplishments that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. could report to the public in his upcoming State of the Nation Address (SONA).

During the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Philippine Cancer Center, PhilHealth president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. said several reforms have been implemented in the agency that will benefit its members and address the healthcare of all Filipinos.

“I’ve assured the First Lady and the President just last week, that in the upcoming SONA, a lot of accomplishments will come from PhilHealth and the Department of Health,’ he added.

Among the reforms, he said, is the agency’s increased coverage for cancer patients, particularly the increased ‘Z-benefit’ package for breast cancer patients from PHP100,000 to PHP1. 4 million.

Ledesma said once the Philippine Cancer Center becomes operational, PhilHealth will immediately work for its inclusion in its list of contracted partn
ers so that ‘Filipinos may avail of these life-saving packages.’

‘Let me assure you that PhilHealth will maintain its commitment to battle cancer at every step. We are one with the Philippine Cancer Center’s mission of bringing hope to every Filipino in the fight against cancer,’ he said.

The allocation for the center’s fixed assets and critical services was made through the House Committee on Appropriations as part of the mandate of Republic Act (RA) No. 11215 and the Resource Stratified Framework set by the National Integrated Cancer Control Council.

Ledesma also thanked Speaker Martin Romualdez, who led the groundbreaking event, for giving the full support of the House of Representatives in PhilHealth’s endeavor to provide more services to Filipinos.

‘I’d like to think we were able to move forward substantially, and with the 24/7 never-ending support and help of our dear Speaker Martin Romualdez, we continue to do so,” he said.

Source: Philippines News Agency

MANILA: A partnership expansion with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) for rice intervention convergence may be feasible by the second half of the year, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Friday.

Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. shared the DA proposal to utilize IRRI’s intervention and technologies in select clusters of rice farmlands.

‘Together with farmers, DA and its operating units like PhilRice (Philippine Rice Institute), NIA (National Irrigation Administration), the National Rice Program, LGUs (local government units), and IRRI, we will showcase convergence of interventions and services like mechanization and digitalization in these clustered farms,” he said in a news release.

“This, basically, will be commercial-scale testing. If you agree with that concept, we will find the legal framework to do it, and fund it,’ he added.

The DA chief said such an approach will help the administration achieve its rice self-sufficiency targets by 2028.

‘Let us continue to wor
k together on technology scaling, utilization, and deployment, as well as in setting priority research-for-development projects,’ Laurel said.

IRRI Board of Trustees Chairperson Cao Duc Phat expressed willingness to actualize such a partnership expansion.

‘The Philippines can be the model to the rest of the world to show how to bring these packages of technologies to be useful to the environment, to the farmers, and the people generally. So we are very happy to do that,’ he said.

The DA and IRRI earlier agreed to scale up research in rice production in the country, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Feb. 13.

Under the five-year term MOU, both agencies will continue collaborative activities and implement rice-based research for development.

The IRRI is an independent, non-profit, research and educational institute, which aims to reduce poverty and hunger through science.

Source: Philippines News Agency