Party leader holds phone talk with Cuban Party First Secretary
Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong engaged in a phone talk with First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) Central Committee and President of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez on July 27.
On behalf of the Party, State and people of Cuba, First Secretary of the CPC Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez thanked Vietnam for the gift of 12,000 tonnes of rice at a time when Cuba is facing difficulties, describing it as a vivid manifestation of Vietnam’s consistent solidarity and a source of great and timely encouragement for the Revolution and people of Cuba.
He took the occasion to reiterate the wish and resolve to further deepen the special traditional friendship between the Parties, States and peoples of Vietnam and Cuba. He stressed that Cuba is ready for and gives priority to cooperation with Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, including in the provision and transfer vaccine technology to Vietnam.
Party General Secretary Trong re-affirmed the faithful solidarity of the Party, State and people of Vietnam with the righteous cause of the Cuban Party, State and people. Vietnam will continue to accompany Cuba in the process of updating its model of socialist socio-economic development, he said, stressing that Vietnam will continue to support Cuba in ensuring food security through the stable provision of rice and programmes to develop the production of rice, maize, coffee, and aquatic products.
He appreciated the support and cooperation of Cuba, and of Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez himself, in providing and transferring technology for the production of COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam in the time ahead.
15th National Assembly wraps up first session
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At the closing meeting of the 15th National Assembly’s first session (Photo: NDO/DUY LINH)
The first session of the 15th National Assembly (NA) concluded in Hanoi on July 28 after nine consecutive days of working in a serious, democratic, solidarity, wise, and responsible manner.
With high consensus, the NA approved and issued 29 resolutions, including 17 resolutions on organisation and personnel, 11 thematic resolutions, and one general resolution on the first session, promptly resolving immediate pressing issues and making decisions on important strategic and long-term ones.
Within the session, the legislators elected the State President, NA Chairman, Prime Minister, Vice State President, Vice NA chairpersons, members of the NA Standing Committee, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People's Procuracy, NA Secretary General, Chairperson of the Council for Ethnic Affairs, heads of NA committees, and State Auditor General. It also ratified the appointment of Deputy PMs, ministers and other Cabinet members, and justices of the Supreme People's Court, while approving a proposed list of Vice President and members of the National Defence and Security Council.
In addition, the lawmakers spent their time discussing and making decisions on plans regarding socio-economic development for 2021 - 2025, national finance and public debt borrowing and payment, and middle-term public investment. They also decided on investment policy for the national target programmes on new-style rural development and on sustainable poverty reduction for the period.
Ceremony held to send off Vietnamese artillery team to 2021 Int'l Army Games
A send-off ceremony was held on July 26 for Vietnam’s artillery team, who are set to leave for Kazakhstan next week for the 2021 International Army Games.
It is the second year Vietnam has attended the Games’ Masters of Artillery Fire event. The team will depart for Kazakhstan on August 3. The Vietnamese artillery corps received a five-month intensive training to prepare for the event.
According to the Ministry of Defence of Russia, this year’s Army Games will be held from August 22 to September 4. A total of 277 teams from 41 countries and territories will compete across 34 categories.
Team of Vietnamese engineers win first place at Kaggle competition
Nguyen Quan Anh Minh and Nguyen Tuan Khoi
A team of two Vietnamese engineers of the messaging platform Zalo have won a data competition entitled “Show US the Data” organised by the Coleridge Initiative on Kaggle.
The pair, Nguyen Quan Anh Minh, a 1997-born AI engineer, and Nguyen Tuan Khoi, a 1994-born data engineer, will receive a cash prize of US$30,000. In addition to the award, the solution proposed by these two young engineers is expected to be applied to data analysis in the United States.
“Show US the Data” challenges data scientists to help show how publicly funded data and evidence are used to serve science and society, said a statement on the Coleridge Initiative website. It added that data, evidence, and science are critical if governments are to effectively combat pandemics, manage climate change and address many other challenges.
After nearly three months of competition, Anh and Khoi overcame 1,600 teams from many countries with advanced levels of technology to clinch the top position.
Two Vietnamese companies receive ASEAN awards for occupational safety and health
Two Vietnamese companies, namely the Northern Power Corporation of Vietnam (EVNNPC) and the Dau Tieng Rubber Corporation of Vietnam, have been presented with ASEAN – Occupational Safety and Health Network (OSHNET) Awards.
They are among the 18 enterprises receiving the awards. They were nominated by the labour ministries of ASEAN Member States for their innovations and achievements in promoting safety and health standards at their workplaces.
The ASEAN-OSHNET Awards started in 2016 and has continuously showcased enterprises that have set a high bar for OSH standards. These awards show the commitment of ASEAN to promote closer public-private partnerships in improving OSH in the region.
Vietnam in the top 10 emerging markets for global data centres
An FPT data centre (Photo: fpt.vn)
Vietnam is rated one of the 10 emerging markets in the global data centre market, with impressive growth, international standard service delivery capacity, and a large number of organisations and enterprises, research firm ResearchAndMarkets has said.
The Vietnamese data centre market stood at US$858 million last year and is forecast to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 14.64% until 2026.
The growth in the Vietnamese data centre market was driven by government projects and initiatives, the report said.
Data protection is a matter of global concern and is becoming an important issue on the agenda of the Vietnamese Government. The data localisation requirement under the Cybersecurity Law, plus the need for better processing speeds to assist Vietnamese users are the main drivers, which are anticipated to significantly enhance the demand for data centres in the country.
Documentary by Vietnamese-origin director nominated for Emmy Awards
“Be Water”, a film directed by Vietnamese-American Bao Nguyen, has been listed among the nominees for the 42nd Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
This documentary will compete with four others, namely “Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché”, “John Lewis: Good Trouble”, “Feels Good Man”, and “The Last Ice”.
As part of “30 for 30” - a series of documentary film airing on ESPN, “Be Water” profiles the life of martial arts legend Bruce Lee.
It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival of the US and then was screened in the Cannes Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival 2020. It has also competed at many other film festivals.
Quach Thi Lan makes history as first Vietnamese runner to qualify for athletics semis at Olympics
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Runner Quach Thi Lan (middle) in action during the women’s 400m hurdles heat at Tokyo 2020 on July 31, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)
Runner Quach Thi Lan has become the first ever Vietnamese runner to have qualified for athletics semis at the Olympics after finishing the women’s 400m hurdles heat at the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games with her personal best of 55.71 on July 31.
In Heat 3 of the category’s Round 1, she ranked fifth out of the eight competitors, clocking 55.51 seconds. However, as Jamaican Leah Nugent was disqualified for running in the wrong lane, Lan earned the fourth place position and thus entering the semi-final.
Lan is the sole Southeast Asian athlete and the only of the Asian origin to compete at the category.
The semi-final is slated for August 2. The Vietnamese athlete will compete against 23 rivals for the top eight places to the final.
