SOCIAL IN BRIEF 21/11
Japan agrees funding for protective forest project; Norwegian group helps train oil and gas personnel; US author praises Vietnam’s culture and economy
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Japan is among the major donors funding these initiatives, providing grants, credit and technical cooperation to help Vietnam successfully replenish its forests. |
The project aims to replant 900 ha of coastal protective forest in Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces to mitigate the effects of sand storms and to help bolster the incomes of local residents.
Under an accord signed by Japanese Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat in Hanoi on November 20, the Japanese Government committed to funding 203 million JPY for designing work and 331 million JPY for forest planting.
In the first stage of the project, it already provide 39 million JPY for design preparation.
Vietnamese forests have been dwindling considerably as a consequence of prolonged wars and rampant deforestation. In an effort to solve the problem, the Vietnamese Government has taken numerous measures, culminating in the launch of the “National project to plant 5 million hectares of forest” and the “National strategy for forest development.”
Japan is among the major donors funding these initiatives, providing grants, credit and technical cooperation to help Vietnam successfully replenish its forests.
Norwegian group helps train oil and gas personnel
Norwegian group Roxar and the Hanoi Mining and Geology University has signed an agreement on oil exploitation technology transfer and human resource training for the oil and gas industry.
Under the agreement, the Norwegian leading company in providing software and measurement systems for oil and gas industry will transfer RMS and Tempest software to and receive internship students from the university as well as recruit graduated students with good academic results.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Norwegian Commercial Counsellor to Vietnam Harald Naevdal expressed his hope that Roxar would continue to further successes in Vietnam and cooperation between the group and the Hanoi Mining and Geology University will bring benefits to both sides.
Roxar also plans to cooperate with the Oil and Gas Department of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technologies.
US author praises Vietnam’s culture and economy
A book about Vietnam’s transformation to a modern world, written by one of the leading experts on the economics of Southeast Asian countries was published in the US on November 13.
In the book entitled “Vietnam Rising: Culture and Change in Asia’s Tiger Cub”, author William Ratliff examines the remarkable, pro-market, pro-entrepreneurial changes that are part of the so-called doi moi reforms underway in Vietnam.
He celebrated the fact that the country is now developing remarkably, with its economy expanding by 7 percent annually. Vietnam, he wrote, has renovated its economy while maintaining a commitment to Confucianism and socialism.
He also praised Vietnam for the “most successful antipoverty campaign ever undertaken anywhere”. Vietnam a country that had experienced chronic, centrally-imposed food shortages for decades has radically changed its course, greatly reducing the percentage of the population living in poverty from more than 70 percent in the mid-1980s to 14.7 percent in 2007.
However, the writer also points to challenges lying ahead that must be overcome in order to ensure prosperity and sustainable development in Vietnam, including high inflation (which had for a time risen to 26 percent).
Vietnam Rising goes on to illuminates the hows and whys of entrepreneurial opportunities and the changes necessary to address the challenges to create a truly open, market-based, entrepreneurial climate in Vietnam. It also urged Vietnam to simultaneously nurture international cooperation and global trade relations so as to ensure sustainable growth.
(Source: VNA)
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//social/2008/11/814619/
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