The delegates at the forum.

HCM City, RoK province enhance trade links

Municipal leaders have affirmed their commitment to always supporting and providing favorable conditions for foreign businesses, including those from the Republic of Korea (RoK), to invest and do business in the southern city.

The city People’s Committee and the Government of Chungcheongbuk-do province recently held the Ho Chi Minh City - Chungcheongbuk Trade and Investment Co-operation Forum in the RoK locality as part of efforts to boost investment and trade ties between the two sides.

As part of his address, Vo Van Hoan, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, stated that the city is prioritizing digital and green transformation as it strives to achieve its sustainable development goals, cited VOV.

It is working to promote sectors such as hi-tech, supporting industries, electronic circuit technology, semiconductors, banking, finance, information technology, and logistics, he said.

Tran Phu Lu, director of the HCM City's Investment and Trade Promotion Center, gave an overview of the city's environment and investment incentive policies and highlights of Resolution 98 relating to specific mechanisms and policies for the southern metropolis’ development.

The city boasts huge advantages compared to other localities, he said, adding that the forum is constantly reforming administrative procedures, thereby creating an open investment environment and actively mitigating difficulties faced by investors.

Kim Myung Kyoo, deputy governor of Chungcheongbuk-do Province, said the city's economy has made great strides across multiple fields, especially in hi-tech and green technology.

Chungcheongbuk-do has made great advances in four key industries, including solar energy and new energy, semiconductors, biotechnology, and IT, he said.

He affirmed his province’s readiness to collaborate with the Vietnamese city to achieve their common development goals.

Leaders of the two sides witnessed the signing of MoUs and contracts in airport development, logistics, trade promotion, food, and healthcare, among others.

Hoan outlined that both countries have enjoyed sound relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties back in 1992 and the subsequent upgrading of their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022.

The relationship between the city and the RoK has seen strong growth in recent years, especially in economics, investment, trade, and tourism. The RoK ranked fourth among all countries and territories investing in the city, with trade recording strong growth, hitting US$4.3 billion last year, he stated.

Vietnam, Iran boost cooperation in law enforcement

Minister of Public Security General To Lam chaired an official welcome ceremony in Hanoi on May 14 for a high-ranking delegation from Iran’s Law Enforcement Command, led by its commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan.

Lam said that the delegation’s working visit from May 13-16 is of important significance, contributing to consolidating the good friendship between Vietnam and Iran, and strengthening cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Law Enforcement Command of Iran.

The two sides agreed to increase delegation exchanges at all levels, especially the high level, to explore the needs and potential for cooperation between the two countries in the field of security and order; promote information sharing and professional coordination; and intensify coordination in handling all types of transnational crimes and those involving citizens of the two countries, according to VNA.

Minister of Public Security General To Lam (right) and Iran's Law Enforcement Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan at the meeting on Tuesday in Hanoi. Photo: VNS

They agreed not to allow any organization or individual to take advantage of one country's territory to operate against the other; coordinate to protect the absolute safety of visits by senior leaders, ensure security and safety for the headquarters of representative agencies and citizens of this country in the other's territory; and step up collaboration in the field of training to improve professional capacity and foreign languages (Persian and Vietnamese).

General Lam and Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan then signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two agencies.

Vietnam guarantees the right to public healthcare for its people

The average life expectancy of Vietnamese people has surged by 15 years, with a significant decline being recorded in vaccine-preventable diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Vietnam has strived to expand the scope of health insurance, thereby moving the country toward reaching the goal of universal health care.

Poverty eradication, social security, and better medical care for people are all part of efforts the nation has been making to better ensure human rights.

Vietnamese average life expectancy up by 15 years

The country is considered to be one of the fastest-growing countries in the world in terms of increasing the Human Development Index (HDI). In just a decade, Vietnamese HDI has soared by 46%, among the countries with the highest growth rate globally.

According to information provided by the UNDP's latest Human Development Report, the Vietnamese HDI human ranking continues to increase from 115 to 107, with the country ranked in the group with a high HDI.

Thanks to great successes made in family planning, the national birth rate has dropped from 6.4 children per woman to 2.09 in 2006 and continues to be maintained at current level.

Vietnam is moving further on the roadmap towards universal healthcare, according to the WHO.

Vietnam is also among the six countries in the world to achieve the fifth Millennium Development Goal of promoting gender equality and empowering all women and girls in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the UN.

According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), unlike most developing countries, Vietnam was able to maintain economic growth during the most difficult years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although average growth has slowed and vulnerable groups and individuals have endured very difficult times, the nation has avoided a reversal of human development progress.

The country has obtained numerous achievements in improving people's lives and healthcare quality in recent decades. Indeed, the average life expectancy has increased by 15 years, with a significant decline made in vaccine-preventable diseases. The nation has expanded its health insurance coverage, moving toward its goal of achieving universal health care, Ghebreyesus said.

According to data from the General Statistics Office, the average life expectancy of Vietnamese people stood at 73.7 years old in 2022 and 73.6 years old in 2022, of which men were 71.1 years old and women were 76.5 years old.

Population quality has improved, while fertility has decreased sharply and the replacement fertility level has been basically maintained since 2005.

The death rate remains low, with the average life expectancy increasing due to the developments made in medicine and improved health care.

The nation has suffered unprecedented impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic which took lives, increased inequality, and reduced people's ability to enjoy human rights.

Ensuring the right to health care is also a top priority as the nation has carried out the largest vaccination campaign in history, with more than 266 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines being administered to most people aged 12 years and older in just over two years.

At a recent meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Dr. Saia Ma’u Piukala, regional director for the Western Pacific of the WHO, shared some of the WHO's priority goals in supporting and strengthening the capacity of the Vietnamese health sector in a bid to increase the capacity of the preventive health system to respond to future epidemics, improve the environment, promote healthy lifestyles, and ensure healthcare security.

The WHO predicts that the country will face many challenges moving forward, especially amid climate change seriously affecting the level of human development in the most vulnerable areas, forcing many people to relocate homes and lose livelihood.

However, WHO experts believe that Vietnam has enough capacity to manage the uncertainties related to cascading crises.

Ensuring people's right to public healthcare

The right to public healthcare is always considered by the country to be one of the most important human rights, with this being the basis for exercising many other human rights.

The exercise of the right to community healthcare is also associated with other human rights such as the right to life, the right to food, housing, employment, education, protection of privacy, and access to information.

The provisions of the 2013 Constitution on social security rights are specified in many specialized legal documents such as Labor Code, Social Insurance Law, Law on Elderly, Law on Children, Law on People with Disabilities, Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Health Insurance Law, and Law on Occupational Safety and Health.

Laws in this area better ensures citizens' rights to access and use quality medical services, health insurance services, and social insurance, thereby creating a legal basis for implementing social preferential policies for policy beneficiaries and consumer protection. In addition, it serves to better resolve the relationship linking economic growth with the implementation of social policies in general, as well as labor and social security policies in particular according to the principles of equity and social progress.

The number of people participating in health insurance in 2020 reached 88.04 million, accounting for 90.85% of the national population. Elsewhere, the figure of 2021 was 88.837 million, making up 91.01% of the population, exceeding the target assigned in the Government's Resolution issued in 2019.

By the end of 2023, health insurance coverage hit about 94% of the Vietnamese population. The social security system and social policies have proven their superiority in supporting workers facing difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As of June, 2023, the rate of ethnic minorities participating in health insurance averaged 91.9%. The rate of malnourished and underweight children under five stood at 15.8% on average, with the rate of stunting among children under five at 21% on average.

Although there are plenty of challenges ahead and resources for social security remain limited, Vietnam has been and will be making constant efforts to enable people to enjoy better public healthcare. This is also the result of innovation and stronger socio-economic development.

Vietnam, Thailand top seeded ahead of ASEAN football tournament

Vietnam and Thailand are the top seeds at the ASEAN Championship Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2024, an international football tournament held every two years, according to the Vietnam Football Federation (VFF).

Based on their achievements at the recent two ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup tournaments, the AFF made the seeding list for group stage draw.

Indonesia and Malaysia were seeded No.2, Singapore and the Philippines No.3, Myanmar and Cambodia No.4, and Laos and the winners of the play-off game between Brunei and Timor Leste No.5, VNA reported.

Vietnam have won the ASEAN Championship for two times. (Photo: VNA)

The draw will be held in Hanoi on May 21, with 10 teams divided into two groups to compete in a round-robin format. The first- and second-placed teams in each group will advance to the semi-finals.

The AFF Cup, having its name changed to the ASEAN Championship in 2024, will take place from November 23 to February 21, 2025.

Since its inception in 1996, the competition, which features ASEAN national teams, has grown after each edition.

In 2022, it achieved a record of more than 438 million viewers on television and digital streaming platforms. Additionally, digital media channels Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and X registered 4.2 billion views of event-related videos.

The tournament was considered FIFA's official event in 2016. Only four teams have won titles after 14 editions. Defending champions Thailand lifted the cup seven times. Singapore won four, Malaysia one and Vietnam two.

Vietnam's railway sector gets creative to attract passengers

In an effort to diversify its customer base, the railway sector has regularly upgraded and improved infrastructure and services. Many luxury trains have been put into operation recently, attracting a large number of tourists.

With recent increases in the price of flights, many domestic travelers have chosen to take the train and to build on that popularity whilst the railway sector has been making efforts to improve service quality.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Hoa and her family will have a summer vacation in central Da Nang City in early June.

Rather than fly by plane, where tickets cost more than VND2.4 million (US$94) each, she opted to take the train, which would have cost around VND700,000 (US$27.4) per ticket, from Hanoi to Da Nang.

“It is much more convenient to travel by train now as train stations are located in the city center," Hoa told Vietnamplus. "You just need to sleep one night on the train and the next noon you will be in Da Nang City. You don't have to worry about traffic jams and can enjoy beautiful landscapes of nature along the way. Such an interesting experience.”

She said her family will take the Central Heritage Connection train route linking Hue City and Da Nang City to enjoy the majestic Hải Vân Pass and Lang Co Bay.

According to the Da Nang City Department of Tourism, over five days across the April 30 - May 1 holiday, the number of tourists coming to the city by train reached more than 16,000, an increase of 60 per cent over the same period in 2023.

Many other destinations such as Hue, Nha Trang, Hai Phong also recorded a sharp rise in the number of tourists traveling by train.

Hanoi Railway Joint Stock Company reported that since March 26, 2024, the heritage train has carried more than 27,600 travelers, including nearly 2,200 international ones, cited VNS.

A family travels from Hanoi to Da Nang by train during the recent April 30-May 1 holiday. Photo: VNA

Do Van Hoan, chairman of the company’s Board of Directors said: “The railway sector and localities are coordinating with travel companies to continue to enhance service quality to launch promotion programs, connect with tourist attractions, diversify services and bring quality trains to domestic and foreign tourists visiting the central region.”

The rise in the popularity of taking the train was confirmed by Dang Sy Manh, Chairman of the Board of Members of Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR), who said by 2023, passenger transport output reached more than six million people with revenue of over VND2.3 trillion (US$90 million). The figures recorded in the first quarter of 2024 were more than 1.4 million people and VND700 billion (US$27.4 million), respectively.

He said: "Unlike previous years, there are still a lot of people traveling by train during the low season this year. The passenger trains that run between North and South are frequently fully booked.

“2024 is forecast to be a boom year of tourism such as intercontinental tourism, off-season tourism and especially rail tourism, so increasing train passengers is also a trend."

He predicted that as the cost of tickets for alternative modes of transportation rises, more people will think about using trains again. But if travelers come back and the railroad can't keep up the quality, it will lose market share. To better meet the demands of its customers, the VNR has worked to innovate and provide a wider range of products and itineraries.

The railway sector has regularly upgraded and improved infrastructure and services with a number of luxury trains put into operation recently, attracting a large number of tourists.

VNR launched high-quality trains SE19/SE20 Hanoi-Da Nang, SE21/SE22 Da Nang-HCM City, Hanoi-Hai Phong train for food tour, Hue-Da Nang Central Heritage Connection train and the Da Lat night train.

Mạnh said the railway sector wanted to not just be a mode of travel but make the departure and arrival destinations an experience in themselves, to help promote the image of the country.

“Trains can become check-in destinations. The station can be a destination of culture, art, history and heritage,” he said.

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