“A necklace was stolen during the Cannes festival and we are working with the authorities,” a De Grisogono spokesman said, refusing to comment on the circumstances of the theft or the exact value of the necklace.

This year’s Cannes festival has been plagued by a series of thefts, including the spectacular heist last Friday of a million euros ($1.4 million) worth of jewellery from a hotel room occupied by an American employee of Swiss jewellery-maker Chopard.

Police said they were investigating a complaint filed by De Grisogono and that the necklace had gone missing in the resort town of Antibes near Cannes.

France Info radio reported that the missing diamond necklace was worth 1.9 million euros and had been stolen during a gala evening Tuesday at the chic Eden Roc hotel attended by, among others, Paris Hilton and Sharon Stone.

At least two apartments rented by film executives have also been burgled during the festival, with thieves taking cash, jewellery and other personal items.

Tien Giang and Dong Thap are among forefronts in the Mekong river delta to be hit by disasters which have been getting worse due to the climate change impacts. Children are particularly vulnerable and more susceptible so more likely to be injured or killed in a disaster. As many as over 90% of the total casualties in the most recent floods in the Mekong Region in 2011 were children.

Photo: Thuy Quynh

“Save the Children believes that while children are vulnerable, they also have the potential to effectively communicate risks and act as agents of change in their communities”, said Mr Doan Anh Tuan, Acting Country Director of Save the Children.
Through trainings on emergency preparedness, rescues drills and other life saving skills in schools and in the communities, the project is expected to raise awareness of disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the possible impact of climatic hazards on communities and schools in Mekong region, strengthen children and their communities’ capacity and to build a culture of disaster resilience in communities through mitigation measures and risk reduction practices.

The British Ambassador to Vietnam, Dr. Antony Stokes stressed the important education for community in Vietnam about climate change and emergency preparedness, saying that larger communities in Vietnam can get more benefits from this project.

Since 2003, Save the Children has been working on DRR in Tien Giang province. It helps to reduce the disaster risks facing children and their communities and increase their resilience to the harsher climate these children will inherit./.

He expressed his hope that the CEMA and the Lao Front for National Construction will increase experience exchange and information sharing, as well as boost cooperation in human resources training.

Tuan briefed Volachith on the outcomes of the talks between the two agencies, saying that the two sides were satisfied at the effective cooperation over the past time, especially in the implementation of activities and policies on ethnic affairs of each country, and sustainable socio-economic development models at Vietnam-Laos border areas.

They also agreed on the contents of training courses for Lao officials in Vietnam .

Each year, Vietnam will help train 25 Lao officials in one month.-VNA

The court said legal criminal evidence and documents prove that Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) is an overseas reactionary organisation that conducts a range of activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s administration. The defendants participated in Viet Tan’s schemes while fully aware of this fact, so the first instance sentence has good legal ground.

Meanwhile, some of the accused, particularly Le Van Son, confessed to their illegal misdeeds and expressed repentance, which helped them earn a reduced sentence. Le Van Son had his sentence reduced from 13 years to 4 years, while Nguyen Van Duyet, Nguyen Xuan Anh and Ho Van Oanh had their sentences reduced by 6 months, one year and six months, respectively.

The court upheld the prison sentences for Ho Duc Hoa, Nguyen Dinh Cuong, Tran Minh Nhat and Thai Van Dung.-VNA

Tree collided with the power line The massive power outage hit 22 provinces and cities at around 2pm, causing chaos. Some provinces had to wait until 10pm for the electricity.

The incident happened when driver Ngo Dinh Thao was moving trees near to the one of the country’s two 500KV power lines. Both the 220KV and 110KV line were also affected, which forced EVN to shut down all of its electrical substations.

The overall damage assessment has not been released, however, EVN announced that it lost 9,400MW of electricity during the outage.

Vu Ngoc Minh, vice president of Management Board of the National Power Transmission Corporation said incidents like this had previously affected the 220KV line. In 2012, an accident in Ca Mau 2 Hydropower Plant rendered the 500KV lines unstable and caused power outages in some southern provinces.

Vietnam’s electricity transmission from the north to the south depends heavily on only two 500KV lines so the lines are often overload. Minh said they have to carry out frequent checks to ensure stability.

Members of the public however still remain largely ignorant or refuse to adhere rules about keeping equipment at least 8 metres away from high voltage power lines.

“Electricity incidents could occur if a crane is within five metres of a 500KV line.” said Tran Viet Ngai, chairman of Vietnam Energy Association.

In the future, new thermal power plants and an addition 500KV line will be added to the national power grid, in hope that they can prevent a similar situation.

An overview of the signing ceremony (Photo: VNA)

Attending the signing ceremony were Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, head of the Steering Committee for the Northwestern region, Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang, head of the Steering Committee for the Central Highlands region, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh, head of the Central Committee for the Southwestern region and VNA Director General Nguyen Duc Loi.

Under the agreement, VNA will strengthen its work with the three Steering Committees in popularising information on policies and laws of the Communist Party of Vietnam and State as well as the Steering Committees’ operation to promote socio-economic and cultural development, poverty reduction, and security-defence assurance in the three regions.

The four sides will reinforce cooperation to provide accurate, objective, comprehensive and timely information about the socio-economic and cultural development in the three regions, while rejecting distorted or untrue information from hostile forces , contributing to maintaining security and defence, as well as people’s trust in the Party and local authorities, and consolidating national unity.

The three Steering Committees will create favourable conditions for VNA correspondents in localities and provide VNA with timely information related to the Northwestern, Central Highlands and Southwestern regions.

Speaking at the event, VNA Director General Loi said that as an official national news channel and a trusted and strategic information centre of the Party and State, the agency has completed its political task well, including providing overall and accurate information in all fields on domestic and international issues to all people.

VNA will work closely with the above-mentioned regions to make information on the three regions more satisfactory and systematic in all VNA publications, including text and image reports, television, printed and electronic newspapers, including those published in foreign languages and ethnic minority languages.

Under the agreement, the agency will also begin a special column in the Tin Tuc Weekend newspaper to update information about the three regions.-VNA

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan (Photo: VNA)

Following is the full text of the Deputy PM’s speech.

“It gives me great pleasure to attend the 19th International Conference on the Future of Asia under the theme: ” Asia ‘s Search for Steps towards Stronger Ties and Integration”. I believe this topic is highly relevant to the common endeavor of Asian countries to enhance cooperation and integration for each country’s interest and the common benefit of the region and the world.

“I wish to thank the Nikkei Newspaper for giving me the opportunity to address this prestigious forum to share with you some ideas on the cooperation paths to forge a better future for our continent in an integrated world.

“Rapid and unpredictable developments have been unfolding in the regional and world situation with the emergence of many new issues and new opportunities affecting the future of our region and the world. These issues and opportunities are no longer limited to traditional domains like economics, politics, military etc. They have expanded to non-traditional areas such as environment pollution, climate change, water resources utilization, cyber security, maritime security and safety and so on. Thus, we are required to adopt new approaches and ideas on integration and connectivity.

“It is the view of many that dynamic development makes up the character of Asian economies. This view reflects the truth but the causes of it have not yet explained clearly. In my opinion, the growth over the long period of time and dynamics of many Asian economies lie on five factors: the driving forces from the domestics and international markets, the cooperation and integration among countries as the basic policy of governments, the similarities of cultures, the geographical proximity and the role of Government in management of national economies. In the context of international globalization and integration, although having different development levels, the Asian countries has long prioritized on cooperation and integration.

“What happened in Asia showed that cooperation and integration can only last if the interests of each country are harmonized with the interests of other countries and the common interests of the entire region.

“Joining a regional cooperation mechanism is one way to build confidence, hence, diminish the risk of conflict. Reality shows that in international relations, “confidence” and “cooperation” are inter-related. “Confidence” provides the basis for “cooperation”, while latter helps build and strengthen the former. More cooperation and confidence means less likelihood of conflict and better promotion of development for individual country and the entire region. Hence, Viet Nam has always actively and responsibly participated in the regional cooperation and integration frameworks.

“The cooperation among countries which is based on the works of governments and mutual political trust not only has the role in formulating and realizing the economic opportunities with market signals but also forming a collaboration among non-economic areas such as politics, climate change, education and training, health-care, science and technology, national defense, transportation safety, cyber security, anti-terrorism and cultural exchange …

“The Vietnamese has a proverb that reads: “one tree alone makes no mountain; three trees together make a high mountain”, or “In unity there is strength”. It means solidarity and cooperation always generate power.

“At the regional level, in order to overcome the existing formidable challenges and fulfill potentials, I believe we need to promote cooperation and integration in the following 3 directions:

“First, solidify and promote the existing cooperation mechanisms within ASEAN, among ASEAN with other countries such as Japan , the U.S. , Russia and China …, among ASEAN member countries with other countries, and enhance people-to-people exchanges for trust building. It has been proved that trust is the basic element and the precondition for countries to forge closer bonds and join efforts to overcome challenges.

“Second, deepen relations among countries via economic integration and promotion of FTAs. In relations among nations, economic interest is a core element. Therefore, strengthened economic cooperation also helps create a peaceful and stable environment in the region.

“Third, encourage cooperation on education and training, science and technology, climate change mitigation, utilization of common water resources, cyber security, economic development and poverty alleviation. This is key to the building of a world of equality, peace and development.

“The evolutions taking place in Asia – Pacific testify to the fact that cooperation and integration is an objective imperative and the best way to overcome challenges and realize the development potentials of each country, together build an Asia of peace, stability and development. This is because interest of each individual nation is invariably linked to that of others; development of an economy will contribute to the common prosperity of the entire region. Promoting cooperation and economic integration at multi-levels would also help maintain a peaceful and stable environment essential to each and every nation.

“The past years have seen Asia- Pacific’s far-reaching effective cooperation at various levels and in different areas. Much has been achieved, but we all know that challenges ahead are daunting. In order to continue maintaining dynamic growth, hence contributions to a more stable and prosperous region, we need to strengthen cooperation and integration in the six following areas:

“First, intensify trade and investment liberalization along with risk minimization of financial investment. Asia-Pacific economies have been taking the lead in promoting trade and investment liberalization. The ratio of export and import of goods and services of the regional economies averaged at some 21 percent of GDP in 2009 and have been continuing to grow on a year-to-year basis. In case of Vietnam today, it is over 130 percent of GDP . However, we still need to develop a more reliable system of financial statistics to provide timely data on the investment inflows in and outflows from each economy, which gives the essential basis for risk assessment of the financial market and establishment of financial monitoring system in the region and in the world. Until today, national statistics from all developed countries such as USA , Germany , Switzerland , UK , Canada , France , Japan and Singapore provide no data on international financial investment in their economies.

“Second, ensure the manpower supply for developed countries, which have aging population, and for developing countries, which lack high-skilled labor force. Human resources play an important role, even decisive in the pace and quality of all economies’ growth. In Asia – Pacific, some economies have abundant human resources while others have huge demand for importing trained and highly skilled labor. To support each other, we need to establish mechanisms and common regulations for promoting demand-based human resource development and create a managed flow of labor, which ensure mutual sustainable benefits among stakeholders.

“Third, step up the development of goods transport services. Transport is important foundation for promoting trade and investment. With the average growth rate of 5.6% in 2012 and the share of 40% of world economy, Asia – Pacific has huge demand for developing goods transport services in a unified manner, from planning of sea port system to training of human resources and ensuring maritime security and safety. According to the past experiences a 5% growth of economy might require a 10% growth of transportation capacity. We should make together faster and more efficient so that transportation capacity becomes the launch, but not a bottle neck for economic growth.

“Fourth, work together in sustainable management and exploitation of water resources. Asia is home to many big rivers, such as Ganga and Mekong . However, population growth, economic development, change of land use pattern and climate change have made the already scarce water resources become ever scarcer. The distribution of water resources is normally not dependent upon administrative boundary. Therefore, management of water resources must be conducted based on river basin. Exploitation, utilization and development of water resources must be closely combined with mutual benefits of related countries and environment protection. Water cooperation will help us better address the issue of poverty reduction and hunger eradication, ensure social equality and security, develop the economy and protect the environment. For this kind of international cooperation, we need international regulations. This fundamental documentation exists since 1997 already – the UN Convention on Law of non – navigational uses of international water courses. But this law is not yet effective because so far only 30 countries have ratified this UN Convention while 35 signatures are required to make this law effective and bound for all countries in the world. Vietnam is preparing to joint this UN Convention by 2015.

“Fifth, strive to minimize environment pollution and mitigate climate change. Environment pollution and climate change are striking with increasing severity, directly threatening the fruits of development of all economies. Sea-level rise, draught, air pollution, greenhouse gas effect are threatening lives of the Asian people, where agricultural activities still account for a large proportion in the economies. It is obvious that efforts by a single country are not enough. More than ever before, we need to strengthen cooperation and pool resources to rise above these challenges.

“Sixth, cooperation to ensure cyber security. In the era of globalization and deepened international integration, the exploitation and exchange of information among individuals, organizations and countries have become a must. Access to full and reliable sources of information is vital to all nations. We need to encourage countries with higher development level to transfer technologies and train human resources for those of lower development level to enable poor countries to achieve sustainable development. This is essential for the building of a world of equality, peace and development.

“One may assert that cooperation and integration are essential for stability and development of Asia . To strengthen integration and connectivity in an effective manner, we need to have a new, more comprehensive and focused approach in addition to trust-building efforts.
At present, Asia – Pacific has a number of cooperation forums and mechanisms on issues of common interest, such as the Asia – Pacific Water Summit, mechanisms for Mekong subregional cooperation, Mekong – Japan , Mekong – Republic of Korea cooperation, Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum and so on. For the existing cooperation mechanisms, we should take stock of them and if possible, elaborate a common framework to facilitate information exchange and pooling of resources. For new cooperation areas, we may study together and create a common forum for the exchange of information, experiences and sharing of initiatives among countries.

“On that note, I would like to propose the idea of establishing six specialized forums in the Asia region, including:
1. Asia Forum on cooperation in environment pollution minimization and climate change mitigation;
2. Asia Forum on cooperation in development of shipping services; maritime security and safety;
3. Asia Forum on cooperation in water resources protection and proper utilization;
4. Asia Forum on cooperation in cyber space security;
5. Asia Forum on cooperation in human resources development and labor abroad;
6. Asia Forum on cooperation in transparency of financial market.

“These forums aim to review and support countries’ implementation of regulations and instruments of the United Nations on the relevant issues; to exchange information on best practices and models; to establish a common database; to promote cooperation in research on and participation in establishing new instruments and regulations in the relevant areas.

“Among these forums, Vietnam and some countries within and outside the region already had some form of cooperation, including Japan, Republic of Korea, China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, ASEAN and the EU. I hope that these countries and communities a will share ideas and be willing to join us in strengthening cooperation and integration in the 6 areas above for peace, stability and development in the region.

“I would like to underline more on the issue of development of shipping services and maritime security and safety. As a responsible member of ASEAN and APEC, Vietnam is always ready to collaborate with other countries in the region in shipping and related areas such as search and rescue, maritime safety and security.

“As a coastal country, Vietnam attaches great importance to the promotion of maritime comparative advantages for trading within and outside the region. We have set the target of becoming a country with a strong maritime economy. The reality of Vietnam economic development in the past 20 years shows that a 7 percent growth of GDP requires a growth of commodity transportation by sea and port capacity by more than 15 percent.

“In the framework of Asia Forum on cooperation in development of shipping services, maritime security and safety, Viet Nam proposes that countries in the region consider establishing an annual mechanism for substantive, open dialogue on development plan for shipping services, maritime security and safety, combating of piracy, search and rescue and information sharing, and natural disaster warning at sea. The main objective of this mechanism is to enhance understanding, promote dialogue and cooperation between governments, businesses and scholars to find effective solutions to help ensure adequate shipping service capacity, maritime security and safety in the sea of Asia .
” Japan is a leading economic partner of Vietnam . It is the biggest ODA provider, the largest foreign investor and also the third largest bilateral trading partner of Vietnam . In 2012, Japan made up 30 percent of the total ODA committed to Vietnam . Many works and projects using Japan ‘s ODA in energy, transport, agriculture, rural development, and urban infrastructure have been completed and operationalized, contributing actively to the socio-economic development of Vietnam .

“In terms of investment, Japan has had 1,900 on-going FDI projects in Vietnam with the total paid-up capital of over 31 billion USD. In the first three months of 2013 alone, Japan invested in 50 projects of 3.1 billion USD of paid-up capital (making up 52.3 percent of the total FDI in Vietnam ).

“Since the establishment of strategic partnership in 2009, relations between the two countries have been growing continually both in depth and in breadth. Cooperation in politics, diplomacy, and security has been expanded with new progress. Many exchange mechanisms at all levels between the two Governments, people and businesses have been put in place. The two countries also conduct regular exchanges and coordination in regional cooperation frameworks, such as Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN), Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and Cooperation between four countries Cambodia – Laos – Myanmar – Vietnam (CLMV).

“Relations between Vietnam and Japan rest upon the solid foundation of trust, understanding and friendship. Bilateral ties meet the aspirations and interests of the two peoples and actively contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

“2013 was identified as the Vietnam – Japan Friendship Year to observe the 40th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations. 2013 also marks 40-year cooperation and friendship between ASEAN and Japan . The size and the far-reaching nature of our cooperation indicate the meanings and significance of cooperation, integration and connectivity. Only through cooperation and integration can we, together, find solutions for immediate challenges and build a stable, prosperous and developed Asia . That is also the reason for our gathering here today.”-VNA

PPPs are a good choice for environmental infrastructure as in the 2014-25 period, the State may lack about 250 trillion VND to manage the issue and only 34 percent of sewage in industrial zones is dealt with, Hoa said.

Prof. Dr. Carsten Haneke from Germany ‘s Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences introduced to the participants the country’s policies on PPP management in the water sector and shared its experiences in PPP models.

At the event, participants also analysed research on private investment in Vietnam ‘s environmental service, together with the difficulties Vietnam has faced collecting taxes and fees for waste water and global experience in PPPs in clean water and urban sanitation.

They agreed that to implement the PPP model effectively, Vietnam needs to complete policies and a legal framework on PPPs, select pilot PPP projects, distribute capital for State participation, and call for greater international support to develop PPP programmes.-VNA

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

The Deputy PM made the statement at the 19 th International Conference on the Future of Asia themed “Asia’s Search for Steps towards Stronger Ties and Integration” co-organised by Nikkei newspaper and the Japanese Centre for Economic Research (JCER) in Tokyo on May 23.

The event drew the participation of regional government leaders, businesspeople and scholars.

Nhan said the topic of the conference is highly relevant to the common endeavour of Asian countries to enhance cooperation and integration for each country’s interest and the common benefit of the region and the world.

Joining a regional cooperation mechanism is one way to build confidence and diminish the risk of conflict, he stressed.

According to the deputy PM, in order to maintain dynamic growth for a more stable and prosperous region, regional countries need to strengthen cooperation and integration in the six following areas: Trade and investment liberalisation along with financial investment risk minimisation; ensure workforce supply for developed countries, which have an aging population, and for developing countries, which lack a high-skilled labour force; step up the development of goods transport services; work together in the sustainable management and exploitation of water resources; strive to minimise environmental pollution and mitigate climate change; and cooperate to ensure cyber security.

The deputy PM also proposed the establishment of six specialised forums in Asia , covering cooperation in environmental pollution minimisation and climate change mitigation; development of shipping services; maritime security and safety; water resources protection and proper utilisation; cyber space security; human resources development and overseas labour; and transparency of financial market.

In his speech, the Deputy PM also highlighted the cooperative relations between Vietnam and Japan, stressing that the ties rest upon a solid foundation of trust, understanding and friendship, meeting the aspirations and interests of the two peoples and actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Addressing the forum, speakers from regional countries discussed the target of establishing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, the role of big countries in the region’s stability and development, “hot” issues in East Asia, disputes in the East Sea and the cooperation between countries in and outside the region.

Also on May 23, Deputy PM Nhan held meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Abe, Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Toshihiro Nikai and President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency Akihiko Tanaka.

During the meetings, the two sides spoke highly of the good relations between the two countries and agreed to further enhance the bilateral strategic cooperation.-VNA

Between March 16-26, they successfully completed two transactions using forged cards taking away over 3.9 billion VND from Vietcombank and Vietinbank.

Investigators are continuing to look for other suspects.-VNA