Việt Nam is strongly committed to completing the role of ASEAN Chair in 2020, promoting the ASEAN community and foreign affairs as well as improving the working way of ASEAN.

Vietnamese deputy minister of foreign affairs, Nguyễn Quốc Dũng, made the statement at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (ASEAN SOM) in the central city on Wednesday.

He said the ASEAN SOM was the second activity this year, and it focused discussions on achievements of a retreat of foreign ministers of the ASEAN (AMM Retreat) in Nha Trang in January.

Dũng, who chaired the ASEAN SOM, said the meeting also discussed plans and preparations for the 36th ASEAN Summit from April 8-9, and the ASEAN-New Zealand Commemorative Summit on April 9 to be held in Đà Nẵng.

At the opening ceremony, the deputy minister also confirmed that Việt Nam was a safe destination for all visitors, and measures were taken in prevention and monitoring of the novel coronavirus, or Covid-19.

“Don’t worry. We carried out all preparations for ensuring safety and health for all participants at the meeting,” he stressed.

Participants at ASEAN SOM also expressed support for initiatives and priorities proposed by Việt Nam in the year of chairmanship as well as plans for ASEAN Community development in 2025 and ASEAN after 2025.

Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum, deputy permanent secretary of Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, highly appreciated the preparations by Việt Nam at the ASEAN SOM.

He said Việt Nam has been doing well in stopping Covid-19 from spreading.

Chaiyindeepum also expressed his hope that Việt Nam would host ASEAN meetings successfully in the role of ASEAN chairmanship this year.

Participants also discussed the implementation of the ASEAN Charter, the co-operation of sub-region and the Mekong region as well as improving women’s role in building the ASEAN Community.

Following the ASEAN SOM, the 9th ASEAN Co-coordinating Council Working Group Meeting (ACCWG) and ASEAN Joint Consultative Meeting (JCM) will continue from March 5-6.

Việt Nam has chosen the theme ‘Cohesive and Responsive’ for the ASEAN Chairmanship 2020.

The ASEAN SOM drew the participation of 10 ASEAN member countries and deputy secretary of ASEAN./.

The EU is now the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam with over 2,200 valid projects and total registered capital of 24.67 billion USD, accounting for 7.6 percent of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam.

EU investors have made significant contribution to Vietnam’s economic growth. However, the investment flow from the EU to Vietnam has been unstable and not yet reached its potential.

Together with the CPTPP, the EVFTA and EVIPA will also open up a big chance for producers outside the EU. As such, Vietnam will become more attractive to investors.

The country will also continue to renovate its economic structure, improve institutions and the business environment, and facilitate foreign investments in Vietnam.

Economists said the EVFTA will help increase FDI from non-EU members into Vietnam, focusing on services and the production of high-quality goods./.

Despite difficulties resulting from the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Việt Nam’s socio-economic situation in February basically remained stable, said Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.

At the Government’s regular meeting yesterday, the Cabinet leader said thanks to the political system’s activeness, drastic and effective actions, and the spirit of “fighting the disease is like fighting enemies”, COVID-19 prevention and control efforts had been encouraging.

He repeated the Government’s consistent viewpoint of being ready to sacrifice economic benefits to protect the health of people and visitors to Việt Nam.

According to the PM, Việt Nam had stayed calm and serious in assessing the issue, and was ready to respond to every circumstance. The localisation of hotbeds had been fast and effective, while the quarantine of Vietnamese citizens and foreigners who travelled through coronavirus-hit areas had also been swift.

Thanks to these efforts, the COVID-19 outbreak in Việt Nam had been minimised although the country shared a long border with China, where the epidemic started. So far, there had been only 16 infection cases in Việt Nam, and all of them had fully recovered, PM Phúc noted.

He lauded the efforts being made by various sectors, especially the military, police and health forces, and localities nationwide, adding that nearly 10,000 people had undergone quarantine and received care from local authorities and military units.

Việt Nam had recorded no new SARS-CoV-2 infection cases over the last 18 days, he noted.

However, as the disease had spread to 67 countries and territories, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) had raised the global risk assessment of the infection to “very high”, it was necessary to take drastic action to continue disease prevention and control to prevent COVID-19 from spreading in the community, PM Phúc said.

The PM pointed out that the outbreak had greatly influenced all major economies around the world. In Việt Nam, it had heavily impacted air transport, tourism, services, and especially value chains, leading to an interruption in the supply of input materials.

Despite that fact, the socio-economic situation in February basically remained stable, PM Phúc said, noting that the consumer price index (CPI) declined, budget revenue increased, funding for anti-disease work was provided in a timely manner, and agriculture developed stably.

He asked Government members to discuss financial and banking solutions and other measures to facilitate production and business activities to realise their development targets.

At the meeting, the Ministry of Planning and Investment reported that many areas fell in the first two months from the same period last year, such as the disbursed and registered FDI capital. Retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue, as well as foreign arrivals in Việt Nam, also witnessed slower growth.

However, there remained many positive points to the socio-economic situation, the ministry said.

Macro-economic stability had been maintained, and February CPI fell just 0.17 per cent month-on-month. Meanwhile, exports in the first two months grew 2.4 per cent year-on-year to US$36.9 billion, and agricultural development remained stable.

More than 17,400 businesses with registered capital of almost VNĐ364 trillion ($15.7 billion) were established in the two months, up 9.1 per cent and 47.1 per cent, respectively. Nearly 12,000 firms also resumed operations, up 17.1 per cent.

He took noted of the declining growth rate of many sectors, especially tourism and aviation. Many enterprises face a shortage of materials, while unfavourable weather conditions such as drought or hailstorms in northern provinces further caused difficulties to production and people’s daily life.

To overcome the difficulties, PM Phúc urged ministries and agencies to immediately work out specific solutions and tasks to help sectors hard hit by COVID-19, particularly trade, finance, services, and import-export.

He required the immediate implementation of credit support packages worth at least VNĐ30 trillion (nearly US$1.3 billion) to support enterprises and the people./.

At the working session

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USCDC) spoke highly of Vietnam’s performance in preventing and combating the acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) at a working session with Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam in Hanoi on February 28.

Chief representative of the WHO in Vietnam Kidong Park said the control of COVID-19 around the globe is encountering an array of difficulties.

He asked Vietnam to share experience in implementing quarantine, prevention, and treatment of the epidemic with the international community.

The WHO highly appreciated the Vietnamese Government’s efforts and measures, especially in building scenarios to cope with the epidemic in any circumstances.

Meanwhile, Mathew Moore from the USCDC, hailed the Vietnamese Government’s quick, firm and effective actions against COVID-19.

With the engagement of authorities from central to local levels, Vietnam has recorded only 16 infection cases so far and all have been cured. This showed Vietnam’s efforts and efficiency, contributing to the global fight against the epidemic, he said.

He asked Vietnam to continue sharing information and experience with the international community, including its coronavirus genome.

The US will continue to work closely with Vietnamese agencies in responding to epidemics, he said.

For his part, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam said Vietnam has worked out measures and learned from experience to make appropriate adjustments during the process of fighting the COVID-19 epidemic.

As the epidemic is entering a new period, Vietnam is planning new measures and hopes to get advices from the WHO and the USCDC, he said.

The Deputy PM also shared Vietnam’s experience in mobilising and arranging forces to fight against the epidemic.

With the spirit of “always ready to cope with the worst scenario”, Vietnam hopes the WHO and the USCDC will continue accompanying the country in the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, he said.

A girl with a disability takes part in vocational training

Hanoi will issue free bus passes to people with disabilities and continue improving infrastructure to help them access public transport.

These measures were included in a letter which the municipal People’s Committee has sent to organisations around the city. The letter aims to call for more attention to people with disabilities.

The municipal authorities asked organisations to help disabled people access loans from social policy banks, social welfare and other educational, vocational training and job introduction policies.

The Department of Health must offer families screening to discover genetic disabilities, while families with disabled members must receive training on rehabilitation.

The Department of Construction must ensure buildings have disabled access, especially coach stations, medical centres and schools.

The Department of Education and Training must prepare teaching aids and methods suitable for people with disabilities.

The Department of Culture and Sports must help people with disabilities take part in sports activities, as well as offer discounted tickets to cultural, sports and tourism services.

The city police are responsible for investigating and punishing anyone taking advantage of people with disabilities to earn a profit./.

A group of South Korean tourists are transported to Da Nang Airport before flying home on February 25, 2020

Vietnam stands ready to share and continue to closely coordinate with the Republic of Korea (RoK) in the prevention, fight and control of the epidemic, Spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry Le Thi Thu Hang said on February 28.

Concerning the decision to suspend the unilateral exemption of visa for the RoK citizens, the official said the Northeast Asian country on February 23 raised its alert to the highest level in face of the complicated development of the COVID-19 acute respiratory disease in its Daegu city and Gyeongsangbuk province, and in that context, the Vietnamese government has decided on the move, effective from 0:00 am on February 29.

This is a temporary measure aimed at fighting the disease, preventing its outbreak and spread in the community, thus ensuring the safety and health for the peoples of the two countries, Hang stressed, adding Vietnam has notified the RoK side on this./.

Data is considered a core element of Vietnam's digital economy; however, it is not well shared and connected to serve the country.

Speaking at an online seminar held by the Government Web Portal on February 28, Nguyen The Trung, CEO of DTT Technology Joint Stock Company said: “Vietnam has not yet seen the power of exploiting data.”

Trung said many places still managed data in the traditional way, in an ask-give manner instead of sharing data, so “a national database is still an impossible mission.”

Seeing changes in the awareness of sharing information in many places, Trung said: “National digital data will take place soon. It will be a waste if the information is closed, not shared.”

Nguyen Hong Thang, deputy director of the Department of Computerisation, Ministry of Information and Communications, thought Vietnam could develop a digital economy with well-grown technology in which data is the basis for change.

He said: “Local data infrastructure was not built with an overall strategy and data is still distributed in different places.”

The official added: “It is still difficult to connect all the data now, as not all the data is secure. Vietnam has to have a well-protected overall data system first.”

Thang confirmed: “Local technology could now protect the data,” but what was needed was “determined minds from all the decision makers,” he added.

Thang considered Vietnam one of the leading countries in approaching and moving forward to make regulations on open data management that help people, businesses and the whole society.

Nguyen Hoang Phuong, deputy director of the Information Technology Centre of the Vietnam Social Security, said his agency had been aware of the role of data sharing for a long time.

Phuong said their database included 86 million people with health insurance and about 15 million people participating in social insurance, which is one of the largest data stores in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Social Security has worked on connection and data sharing. Currently, it is connecting and sharing data with eight service providers.

Phuong also said they worked with the tax agencies and the Ministry of Justice in connecting data of their clients with nearly 13,000 medical examination and treatment facilities.

He said: “It is necessary to connect with more and more agencies to enrich the database.”

Praising the efforts of Phuong’s agency, experts at the seminar agreed that national databases on agriculture, finance and population and land management were still needed.

Thang told the seminar: “The Ministry of Information and Communications is drafting a decree on management, connection and sharing of digital data, in which it makes it compulsory for all state agencies to share data with other state agencies.”/.

Boosting the application of science and technology is an important foundation for a strong development of the country's health care sector in general and medical schools in particular.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc made the statement on Thursday in a visit to the Hanoi Medical University (HMU) on occasion of the 65th anniversary of Vietnamese Doctors’ Day (February 27).

The leader also acknowledged the contributions of professors, doctors and lecturers at medical schools nationwide and Hanoi Medical University (HMU) to both the training and health care sectors.

He urged the 118-year-old HMU to strive to be on par with other medical training institutions in the region and meet international standards soon.

The HMU should gear towards a multi-sectoral medical university with a network of special schools and modern hospitals, while paying more attention to scientific-technological application, PM Phúc suggested.

He asked the university to maintain its leading position in medical training in Việt Nam, and step up scientific research and technological transfer to health care facilities in the country.

On this occasion, the PM praised doctors and medical workers nationwide for their great efforts in the fight against COVID-19, saying they have helped bring peace of mind to the public.

He described doctors and medical workers as “soldiers” on the front line of epidemic control.

Thanks to their contributions, Việt Nam has achieved marked results in the fight against COVID-19, he noted.

“However, we should stay vigilant and keep up our strong measures until the epidemic is completely extinguished to ensure people’s life and health,” the PM warned.

He paid tribute to doctors and nurses who died on the battlefield during the past wars as well as during the struggle against diseases, saying Vietnamese people always remember their sacrifice.

Modern operating rooms

Two high-quality operating rooms were launched on Thursday by the Việt Nam-Germany Friendship Hospital.

They are named the BodyTom and Karl Storz Or1 operating rooms.

Professor Trần Bình Giang, director of the hospital, said that the mobile computerised tomography system in the BodyTom Operating Room has many advantages, such as wide vision, one-second rotation speed, 200-centimetre wide scanning area, good-quality images and fast operation process.

The important point is the high-quality images. When integrated with robotic system, they increase the accuracy of surgery, especially in difficult operations, he said.

The machine is movable during surgery and suitable for all patients. The BodyTom Operating Room is used in surgery for cranial nerve, spine, combined surgeries with robots, image diagnosis, vascular intervention and hunchback correction.

Experts said the Karl Storz Or1 Operating Room offers many practical benefits, such as standardising the surgical process, improving work efficiency, better information exchange, reducing operation time and treatment.

The Karl Storz Or1 Operating Room has modern image and sound technology which can pass image signals of different camera systems such as laparoscopic surgery cameras or operating camera lights. It also allows establishing links to external websites around the world.

Online training and instruction is one of the strong points of the Việt Nam-Germany Friendship Hospital. The remote medical system will help in the hospital’s online work./.