He affirmed that the city will work with the Duong River Surface Water Plant JSC and help the firm complete the project on schedule. The plant’s capacity is expected to reach 600,000 cu.m per day by 2030 and 900,000 cu.m per day by 2050. In the first phase, the plant will have the capacity to generate 150,000 cu.m of water per day by this October. In the second phase, to be complete by 2020, the plant will increase to 300,000cu.m of water per day. The plant’s capacity will increase to 600,000cu.m of water per day by 2030 and to 900,000cu.m of water per day by 2050.

Dien Bien celebrates Ban Flower FestivalThe Ban (Bauhinia) Flower Festival is slated to open on March 17 in the north-western province of Dien Bien. Ban flowers in blossom in Dien Bien Province’s Dien Bien Dong District. The annual cultural and tourism event aims to honour and promote the natural beauty, cultural heritage and ethnic groups of the province. It will feature exhibitions on ethnic groups and tourism, traditional games, sports and fashion contests. The ban flower is characteristic of the north-west and blossoms in March-April.

Wood export growth recorded in most marketsVietnam exported wood and timber products worth 1.48 billion USD to 38 markets in the first two months of 2018, a year-on-year rise of 38.3 percent. Wood export growth recorded in most marketsGrowth was reported in most markets, including the US (29 percent), China (29.6 percent), Japan (34.5 percent) and the Republic of Korea (48 percent). Chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) Nguyen Quoc Khanh advised wood companies to pay more attention to international standards to reach out further to the world. Vietnam hopes to enjoy wood export growth of 13 percent in 2018, 13.7 percent in 2019 and 14.5 percent in 2020, he added. To realise these goals, wood firms should invest in technology to reduce production costs and increase quality of products and their added value, Khanh recommended.

Government News 2/3President Tran Dai Quang together with commercial counsellors and chiefs of Vietnamese commercial offices overseasPresident Tran Dai Quang lauded external economic activities and trade promotion abroad during a meeting in Hanoi on March 1 with 45 commercial counsellors and chiefs of Vietnamese commercial offices overseas. According to him, the Vietnamese commercial offices abroad have helped step up exports, especially typical farm produce and fruits, towards bringing Vietnamese goods to global distribution chains and marketing trademarks of Vietnamese goods abroad. Thus, he urged economic restructuring, increasing labour productivity, attracting more foreign investment, improving domestic production efficiency and better Government policies in socio-economic management in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. The leader also commented on exports in February, which stood at some 13.4 billion USD, raising the total export value in the two months to 33.6 billion USD, up nearly 23 percent year-on-year. He recognised achievements in various fields from foreign direct investment disbursement, business establishment, social welfare and rural development to defence-security.

Bocuse d’Or culinary contest comes to VietnamBocuse d’Or, the world-class cuisine competition today launched its first Vietnam contest at the Residence of France in HCM City. Bocuse d’Or, the world-class cuisine competition,launched its first Vietnam contest at the Residence of France in HCM City on March 1. Five teams comprising the top chefs in the country will compete in the Bocuse d’Or Vietnam at the School of Hospitality Professionals on March 10. The winning team will represent Viet Nam at the Bocuse d’Or Asia-Pacific on May 8 and 9 at in Guangzhou, China. Bocuse d’Or, named after famous French chef Paul Bocuse, is not only an arena for the world’s top chefs, but also an innovative stage for the fusion of global culinary cultures.

Vietnamese translator wins Hans Christian Andersen Award 2018VietNamNet Bridge - The Hans Christian Andersen Award Committee yesterday announced three winners ofthis year’s global Hans Christian Andersen Award, including Ms. Tran Thi Minh Tam, Vietnam’s renowned children’s book translator. Translator Tran Thi Minh TamTam is awarded for her success in extending the reading of Hans Christian Andersen in Vietnam. Klaus Müller-Wille (Switzerland) for his groundbreaking studies on the material aesthetics of Hans Christian Andersen and singer/composerSebastian(Denmark)for his interpretations of Hans Christian Andersen for the Danish musical scene. The Hans Christian Andersen Award is presented annually in recognition of outstanding achievements in working with Hans Christian Andersen and of contributions to promoting and spreading further knowledge of the Danish national poet in many parts of the world. Since 1996 the Hans Christian Andersen Award Committee has presented its Honorary Award to 44 different organizations and individuals from 12 different countries.

Filipino saved after suffering heart attack at seaA Philippine man on a Greek-flagged ship has been rescued and transported to central Da Nang city’s Hoan My hospital after suffering a heart attack on the way to China from Singapore. A rescue ship and a team of doctors were sent to give first aid to the victim, named Guerrero Rosmeni Nedia, before carrying him to the mainland on the late night of the same day. Earlier this year, a crew member on the Liberian-flagged Maribor was rescued after suffering a stroke, also on the way from Singapore to China. In 2016, the centre saved Wang Xiaogang, a Chinese seaman, off the coast of Quang Ngai province after he suffered stomach pains on a cargo ship. In 2015, an Indian cargo ship captain, Chatterjee Tuhindra Nath, was taken to Da Nang after a heart attack at sea.-VNA

HCM City to test merit pay for workersThe HCM City Department of Finance plans to submit a proposal to the People’s Council to increase salaries for Government workers in line with the recent National Assembly Resolution No 54 for “piloting a special mechanism and policy for the development of HCM City.”HCM City prepares to try out merit-based salary for Government workers. — Photo baogiaothong.vnThe resolution allows the city People’s Council to decide the salaries for public workers based on their capability, which it can increase to up to 1.8 times their current salary. According to statistics from the central government and HCM City, in 2017 the general worker productivity in the city was 2.7 times the national average, while for State staff it was 1.5 times. The income increase is very important because Government workers in HCM City are believed to have a lot of responsibility but get paid a low income, lower than people working in the private sector, meaning the Government finds it hard to retain talent. This is one of 21 projects the city People’s Committee will deploy to concretise the contents of the resolution.

HCM City to pilot ’smart schools’The HCM City Department of Education and Training has sought approval from the People’s Committee for piloting a “smart schools” programme based extensively on IT use in management and communication between schools and students’ families. A board with a touch screen being used at a primary school in Bình Duong Province. The smart schools would have teachers trained to fluently use touch-screen boards and design e-learning lessons, and they would use and contribute to creating open databases for teaching, he said. There would be studies into what smart devices primary school students could use and the results would be announced, he said. The department is drafting a plan for training teachers in the skills required to establish “smart schools”, he said.

Hanoi proposes cameras to record sidewalk violationsHanoi's proposal to install cameras to record pavement encroachers’ violations has faced backlash. Installing cameras to record violations will help street order management. The department has studied the proposal of some inner districts to replace fixed cameras with mobile cameras. He also wondered how the fines via cameras will be issued given the large number of violators. Lawyer Dang Van Cuong from Hanoi Bar Association told the newspaper that recording and punishing violations via camera are possible.

Da Nang asks steel plants causing pollution to halt productionThe People’s Committee of central Da Nang city has asked Dana-Italy and Dana-Australia steel factories to immediately halt production activities directly causing environmental pollution. Locals gather at Dana-Italy to object to the factory's production causing environmental pollution. The request was made on March 1 following the February 28 dialogue between municipal leaders and local residents in Hoa Lien commune, Hoa Vang district, where the two factories are reportedly causing environmental pollution. The Chairman of the Hoa Vang district People’s Committee will instruct relevant agencies and units, and the Hoa Lien commune People’s Committee to intensify the communications work to help local people understand the city’s policies and abide by law. The Chairman of the Hoa Lien commune People’s Committee was tasked with popularising the conclusion among local people and businesses.-VNA

New policies proposed to better serve pharmaceutical FDI firmsThe American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) in Vietnam and the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) jointly held a workshop in Hanoi on March 1 proposing new policies for foreign-invested businesses in the pharmaceutical industry. She asked for the revision of Clause 3 of the draft Circular guiding several articles of Decree No.54 which prescribes that enterprises must directly do distribution-related activities. In addition, legal documents are not permitted to apply retrospectiveness, except several special cases mentioned in the Law on the Promulgation of Legal Documents. However, the draft circular stipulates foreign-invested enterprises must abide by Decree No.54. This means that they have to stop preservation and transportation services after the decree takes effect.

Vietnam contributes to common efforts in ASEM cooperation: spokespersonVietnam always attaches importance and gives high priority to contributing to common efforts to raise the role of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) cooperation, said Vietnamese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang. March 1 is ASEM Day, she said, adding as a founding member, Vietnam warmly welcomes the important event. The Southeast Asian country successfully organised the 5th ASEM Summit in 2004, and economic ministers’ meeting (2001), information-technology ministers’ meeting (2006), foreign and education ministers’ meetings (2009) and labour ministers’ meeting (2012). The country is among leading nations in promoting periodic cooperation mechanism on natural disaster response and ASEM dialogue on sustainable development on water resources, upgrading the Mekong Sub-region cooperation to regional level, boosting first local cooperation projects in ASEM between localities of Vietnam and Romania and Bulgaria. The country chaired the 37th meeting of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Board of Governors.- VNA

Vietnam chairs GMS and CLV summitsVietnam will host the sixth Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Summit and the 10th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Development Triangle Summit in Hanoi from March 29-31. The 11th meeting of the CLV Development Triangle Area was declared a success in Vietnam’s southern Binh Phuoc on December 19, 2017. On the occasion, Vietnam will also organize the first GMS Business Forum with a view to facilitating the involvement of the business community and development partners in GMS cooperation, she added. GMS cooperation was initiated in 1992, encompassing Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and China’s provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan. Meanwhile, the CLV Development Triangle cooperation was forged in 1999, targeting to spur the development of border provinces of the three countries.

Swimmer, 99, 'breaks world record' in AustraliaA 99-year-old Australian swimmer appears to have smashed a world record for his age group in the 50m freestyle. The previous record of 1:31.19 was set by British swimmer John Harrison in 2014. Mr Corones's race took place just before the Australian Swimming Trials for the Commonwealth Games, which will begin on the Gold Coast next month. Masters Swimming Australia said the record was pending official verification by the International Swimming Federation (Fina). Mr Corones was aiming to beat the previous record of 1:31.19 -- Photo: SWIMMING AUSTRALIASource: BBC