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Home  Vietnam Daily Brief Vietnam Daily Brief, Juanuary, 18 |
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Vietnam Daily Brief, Juanuary, 18 |
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Monday, 18 January 2010 |
Investigations into ex-Khmer Rouge leaders conclude Phnom Penh (VNA) – Cambodia 's UN-backed genocide court on Jan. 14 announced that it had completed the investigations against former Khmer Rouge top leaders and is preparing for the second trial.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) charged five ex-Khmer Rouge leaders with genocide and other crimes. They were Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith.
Duch, chief of the Tuols’ leng-S21 prison, is the first prominent Khmer Rouge leader to go on trial at the court.
The ECCC spokesman Lars Olsen described the conclusion of the investigation into their cases “a milestone” in the judicial process.
Judges will have 30 days to conduct more investigations to issue their formal indictments by September, Olsen said, adding that the second trial is expected to open by the end of the year.
Vung Tau to host int’l kite festival 2010
Vungtau (VNA) – Vietnam’s second international kite festival, will be held from March 24-28 in the southern beach city of Vung Tau.
The five-day festival is expected to attract more than 300 artisans from about 30 countries and territories all over the world, including Vietnamese kite clubs.
The main theme of this festival focuses on 1000 th anniversary of ThangLong-Hanoi.
The first kite festival was also held in Vung Tau city from March 27-29 last year, drawing kite artisans from 17 countries and territories.
Vietnam-China friendship meeting 2010 to be held
Hanoi (VNA) – A delegation of 100 Chinese young people, students and entrepreneurs will take part in the Vietnam-China youth friendship meeting to be held from Jan. 16-25.
According to the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the event is part of its important external political activities to boost the traditional friendship between young people of the two countries.
During the meeting, which is held in response to the 60 th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-China diplomatic ties and Vietnam-China friendship year 2010, delegates of both countries will discuss the role of youths in participating in socio-economic development and consolidating Vietnam-China ties.
Representatives of the two youth unions will sign a cooperation agreement for the 2010-2011 period.
New roads, bridges in HCM City open for Tet
HCM City (VNA) – About 10 road infrastructure projects will be completed and open before Tet (lunar new year), HCM City People’s Committee chairman Le Hoang Quan said on Jan. 13.
Quan said the projects would include the Can Gio district’s Rung Sac Street upgrade project, the North-South Highway , the road connecting Ba Chiem intersection to Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park , Nam Ky Khoi nghia-Nguyen Van Troi streets.
The five bridges to open will be Rach Dia, Phuoc Kieng, Ba Chiem, Dong Dien and Thu Thiem, while the Sai Gon Premier Container Terminal (SPCT) port in Nha Be district will also be inaugurated.
The city will break ground on projects including Nha Be – Can Gio water supply system, Cu Chi district’s Rach Tra Bridge, the road leading to District 2’s Thu Thiem New Urban Zone as wells as public housing, dorms and houses for people with low income.
Quan said the opening of the traffic infrastructure works would be crucial to local residents during Tet and would be a good start for the new year’s socio-economic development.
He urged related agencies, districts and project authorities to keep up with their project schedules.
The newly built East-West Highway would be named after the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet before April 30, he told the meeting.
Meanwhile, to 19 footbridges will come into operation by the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi in October this year, according to the Hanoi Department of Transport.
On Jan. 14, the department held an opening ceremony foe one such footbridge that passes over Tran Dai Nghia street, in front of the National Economic University entrance.
The bridge can be easily assembled/disassemble and moved to another place when it is no longer necessary there, It is hoped that the bridge will enhance the safety of pedestrians, particularly local residents and students of the National Economic University and the Hanoi University of Technology.
The local cost of the bridge was 1.98 billion VND (107,000 USD).
The department, in cooperation with relevant agencies, has carried out field work to locate suitable sites for new bridges. Areas with high traffic flow which may be not safe for pedestrians are a priority.
This is one of the ways the department is using to try and alleviate traffic jams and accidents in the city.
Doctors separate joined twins
HCM City (VNA) – Doctors at HCM City ’s Children’s Hospital No 1 successfully separated 16-day-old conjoined twins in a 3-hour operation on Jan. 14.
The 5.7-kilo babies were found to have their livers and blood vessels attached when their mother had a prenatal check. Doctors were forced to operate to separate them because two days before, they were found to be suffering from heart complications, said Dr Tang Chi Thuong, director of the hospital.
Quy Nhon town to host Singers’ Day
Quy Nhon (VNA) – Over 200 music artists will meet next week foe Singer’s Day in Quy Nhon town, in the central province of Binh Dinh .
Star singers including My Tam, Ho Ngoc Ha, Dam Vinh Hung and Quang Dung will participate in the event from Jan. 18-22.
A music show entitled Noi Vong Tay Lon (Joining Hands for solidarity) at Quy Nhon stadium featuring all the performers will raise funds for the province’s poor.
Singers’s Day, which has been held annually since 2006, will include a gala charity dinner where items donated by well-know singers will be auctioned foe charity, and visits to shelters for the aged and the Tuy Hoa Leper’s Hospital in Quy Nhon. BUSINESSFive more luxury hotels operational in Hanoi for Tourism Year
Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi plans to put into operation five more luxury hotels, offering an additional 2,000 rooms during 2010, the National Tourism Year.
They include four five-star hotels, namely Hanoi Plaza , with 600 rooms, the PetroVietnam hotel complex with 350 rooms, Keang Nam Vina complex with 500 rooms and Crowne Plaza Hanoi, 393 rooms.
The city now boasts 213 hotels with nearly 10,000 rooms, including 36 three to five-star hotels.
Last year, the room occupancy rate was 55.41 percent, a fall of 21.7 percent compared to 2008.
The average duration of stay was 2 days per foreign tourist who came from major markets as Japan , the Republic of Korea , France , Australia , China and ASEAN countries.
The city’s tourism sector expects a surge in the number of foreign tourists during the national tourism year, helping raising the rate of hotel room occupancy.
Insurers ready to grasp new opportunities
Hanoi (VNA) – Insurance firms nationwide are warming up to launch a range of new products to catch the opportunity to do business this year after optimistic forecasts on Vietnam and the world’s economic recovery.
Bao Viet, the giant of the Vietnamese insurance sector, continues to maintain its position by planning to offer insurance for export credits, the first of its kind in Vietnam . The insurer plans to launch the new product on the market in the second quarter of this year for all exporters.
Meanwhile, SHB-Vinacomin Insurance (SVIC) says that it will develop other services for its customers around the country. Beforehand, SVIC only provided services to members of the Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Industries Group (Vinacomin).
Other insurers like PetroVietnam Insurance (PVI), Vien Dong (Far East) Insurance (VASS) have strengthened their positions by expanding the scale of their operations, increasing their chartered capital, raising their competitiveness and seeking out more experienced foreign investors.
As planned, PVI will increase its chartered capital to 1.6 trillion VND early this year, more than 1.5 times higher than their current chartered capital.
VASS will also finalise plans to increase their chartered capital to 600 billion VND in 2010.
With foreign insurers, Prudential Vietnam Insurance and Liberty Vietnam Insurance seem quite optimistic and expect developments in the market.
Prudential Vietnam plans to introduce many new innovative and appropriate products to the market this year.
According to the Finance Ministry, the insurance sector’s total revenues reached 24.7 trillion VND (1.3 billion USD) in 2009. Of this turnover, non-life insurance contributed 13.25 trillion VND and life insurance made 11.43 trillion VND, year on year increases of 21 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
Hanoi to have another Big C supermarket
Hanoi (VNA) – Big C The Garden supermarket will be inaugurated in Tu Liem district, Hanoi on Jan. 19.
The supermarket, the 10 th of its kind in the Big C supermarket chain in Vietnam and the second of its kind in Hanoi , will be located in the Garden Trade Centre in The Manor Me Tri deluxe apartment zone.
Covering 3,700 sq.m., Big C The Garden is a joint venture between France ’s Casino Group, a leading retailer in Europe, and the GTC One-member Ltd. Co., a leading tourism, services and import-export company in Hanoi.
With an investment capital of 3 million USD, the supermarket will provide more than 20,000 different items ranging from foods to household utensils and cosmetics.
Sober trades hold market in check
Hanoi (VNA) – The HCM stock market tread water on Jan. 14 on greatly reduced trading, with the VN-Index closing up just 0.73 percent on the day to 512.33 points.
The value of trades totalled only 1.56 trillion VND (84.3 million USD) on a modest volume of 35.45 million shares. Sacombank (STB) was the most active share on the day, with 2.3 million.
In Hanoi , the HNX-Index also rose slightly, adding 0.77 percent to end the session at 175.69. Daily value remained high, however, at over 1 trillion VND (55 million USD), on a volume of 29.2 million shares.
Vietnam-Germany Steel Pipe Co (VGS) led the northern market, with over 5 million shares traded.
Foreign investors became net sellers on Jan. 14 on the HCM Stock Exchange, but by a meagre volume of just 452,280 shares, while they remained net buyers in Hanoi by a margin of 141,100 shares.
Tourism agency plans promo
Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam National Tourism Administration (VNAT) has said it would launch a new discount campaign this month to attract more tourists following a successful promotional programe last year.
The new campaign that will last several months aims to enhance the competitiveness of Vietnam ’s tourism sector. VNAT targets between 4.5 and 4.6 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, brining in revenues of up to 78 trillion VND (4.2 billion USD).
Last year, more than 100 travel agencies, hotels and transport operators in the country participated in the year-long Impressive Vietnam campaign, reducing their prices by 30 to 50 percent.
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