Category: Sports

HCM City: The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee will implement a programme that provides libraries across the city with up to five million books, both printed and e-books, from February 2024 to March 2025.

The programme is part of a plan that the committee has approved to develop book streets and reading spaces and promote reading culture in the city, which aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975 – 2025).

According to the plan, by March 2025, the city will build and develop book streets and book spaces in its eastern, western, southern and northern areas.

Thu Duc city’s book street opened in December 2023, and the city plans other book streets and spaces in Binh Tan district, District 7 and Cu Chi district.

The city will continue to develop a book street on Nguyen Van Binh street, District 1 to become a cultural tourism destination in the city.

Developing reading culture is an important policy that the city has implemented ove
r the past years. The city focuses on solutions to promote the development of reading culture among the people, closely following the criteria set by the World Book Capital – an initiative of UNESCO which recognises cities for promoting books and fostering reading./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

-Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has requested the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) consider expanding the coverage of the visa exemption policy.

This is part of his recently issued Directive No. 06/CT-TTg, which urges the implementation of some focal tasks after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.Read full text

– Ship 20 of Naval Region 3’s Brigade 172 arrived in the Indian port city of Visakhapatnam on February 18 to participate in the 12th Multilateral Naval Exercise 2024 (MILAN 2024), according to the Quan doi Nhan dan newspaper.

Themed ‘Camaraderie, Cohesion, Collaboration’, the exercise will take place in Visakhapatnam from February 19 to 27. It comprises harbour and sea phases.Read full text

-The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) began its first trading session following the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival with a gong-beating ceremony on February 19, the 10th day of the lunar year.

In his remarks, Deput
y Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi noted with pleasure achievements in the domestic stock market and the HoSE in particular last year, saying despite global and regional economic uncertainties, the Vietnamese stock market still experienced growth in terms of index, liquidity, and capitalisation.Read full text

-Airlines in the country served more than 1.5 million passengers, including 748,600 international and 762,400 domestic, during the recent Lunar New Year 2024 from February 8-14, the Vietnam Aviation Administration (VAA) has reported.

Air passengers and cargo during the period expanded by 11% year on year, it said, adding that although the domestic market saw a downward trend of 13.2%, the international market flourished at 54%.Read full text

-Some potential investors are exploring investment chances in central Da Nang city, and its Hi-Tech Park and Industrial Zones Authority (DHPIZA) hopes that 50% of those FDI businesses will invest in the local semiconductor industry this year.

Nearly 260 million
USD in investment was poured into the Da Nang Hi-Tech Park in 2023, the DHPIZA said, noting that many challenges are predicted for 2024 and beyond, but it hopes the firms who are planning to invest in the city and learning about the local market will make decisions this or next year.Read full text

-The Hai Duong provincial People’s Committee on February 19 held a ceremony to grant investment registration certificates to eight investors who committed over 2.2 trillion VND (89.65 million USD) in nine projects in the province.

The ceremony is the first of its kind that the committee held this year. Four of the investors are foreign.Read full text

-The Hoa Binh Construction Group announced on February 19 that it has won bidding packages to develop five social housing projects worth 72 million USD in Kenya.

Invested by the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development, the projects aim to provide accommodation for the police and military forces, and students of the Technical University of Ken
ya.Read full text

-The ancient city of Hoi An in the central province of Quang Nam has been named among the world’s top 25 Honeymoon Destinations of 2024 on Tripadvisor 2023 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Awards.

According to Nguyen Thanh Hong, Director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Tripadvisor’s rankings are based on reviews from tourists over the past 12 months.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Quang Ninh: The Yen Tu Spring Festival, one of the largest and longest festival in the north, kicks off in Uong Bi city of the northern province of Quang Ninh on February 19, or the 10th day of the first lunar month.

The opening ceremony features traditional rituals such as drum beating, bell ringing and other spiritual practices.

Yen Tu Mountain is closely attached with the name of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third King of the Tran Dynasty, who defeated Mongol invaders twice during his 15-year reign.

The King abdicated when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain practicing and popularising Buddhism. He founded the first Vietnamese School of Buddhism called ‘Thien Tong’ or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen on the 1,068m-high Yen Tu Mountain. The 20,000ha site is considered the capital of Vietnamese Buddhism.

Yen Tu was recognised as a special national relic site in 2013. It is home to dozens of pagodas, hundreds of towers and thousands of ancient relics containing the spiritual values
and thoughts of the Truc Lam Zen sect and the glorious culture of the Dai Viet period.

Quang Ninh as well as nearby provinces of Hai Duong and Bac Giang provinces have completed a dossier to submit to the UNESCO to seek the World Heritage title for the Yen Tu – Vinh Nghiem – Con Son, Kiep Bac relic and landscape complex.

In the first nine days of the Lunar New Year, the Yen Tu relic site welcomed 138,000 visitors, up 19% year on year.

The Yen Tu Spring Festival will take place until the end of the third lunar month, or early May./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Quang Ninh: The Vietnamese sailing team named “Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam” finished in fifth place in the 2023-2024 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race after docking at Ha Long International Cruise Port in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh at 10:35 am on February 19.

Members of the team were very excited after completing a long journey in this fifth leg of the race.

The captain of the “Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam” team, Josh Stickland, expressed his joy, stating that the team is proud to be named after the Ha Long Bay. He said this is the first time he arrived at the Ha Long International Cruise Port, adding that the port and Ha Long city are beautiful.

Meanwhile, Tyson, a crew member of the team, expressed his pride in what the team had accomplished.

A day earlier, the teams ‘Qingdao’ and ‘Zhuhai’ were the first to dock at the Cruise Port at 1:20 pm and 1:55 pm on February 18.

The race, drawing nearly 400 sailors aboard 11 sailing yachts, is divided into eight legs and 16 separate races, including six oce
an crossings. They can choose to either complete the full circumnavigation or opt for one or multiple legs.

The Vietnamese destination is on the fifth leg within the Asia-Pacific Challenge where sailors will take part in the race and different activities during the 10-day event.

As planned, the teams will make a stop in Quang Ninh until February 27 for rest and relaxation. There will be numerous sightseeing activities at tourist landmarks, with cultural exchanges along the way.

It is the only race in the world where the organisers supply a fleet of identical racing yachts, each with a fully qualified skipper and first mate to safely guide the crew. Crews must complete four levels of intense ocean racer training before they compete.

The Clipper Race was first organised in 1996 in the UK. Since then, almost 6,000 race crew from diverse backgrounds representing more than 60 nations have undergone training and taken part in the competition.

Renowned for its grueling nature, it is one of the most formidable c
hallenges in the natural realm and an unparalleled test of endurance and resilience./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: The Vietnamese puppet art programme “Tray Hoi Mua Xuan” (Spring Celebration) is taking place in Sunset Town, Phu Quoc, aiming to showcase Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritage to both domestic and foreign tourists.

“Tray Hoi Mua Xuan” is a free 30-minute show to be performed daily from 7:30 p.m. at Sunset Town Beach from February 15.

After each show, visitors have a chance to experience puppetry, chat with elite artists, and learn more about this type of stage performance art.

The programme is invested in by Sun Group, directly produced by People’s Artist Nguyen Tien Dung, Director of Vietnam Puppet Theatre, and performed by Vietnam Puppet Theatre, one of the largest and leading puppetry art centres in Vietnam.

The eight-part performance tells the story of the productive working life and beliefs of Vietnamese people, bringing viewers into the flow of Vietnamese culture, discovering the beauty of the spring festival, the working life of rice farming, as well as spiritual culture and Vietnamese beli
efs.

There is also the appearance of a quai thao hat metaphorically resembling moonlight or a boat on water.

The puppet show in Phu Quoc is an intersection between tradition and contemporary art, creating a new but still close and familiar experience for the audience.

Nguyen Tien Dung said the festival combines many different types of art and performances, such as land puppetry, water puppetry, and dance art.

As for the music, the audience will also listen to ‘cheo’ singing and ‘chau van’ singing.

A special highlight lies in the final performance, “Hello Vietnam,” with new harmonies using the flute, and gourd and drums. These traditional musical instruments will be combined with the ao dai dance and conical hats.

One of the things that makes “Tray Hoi Mua Xuan” unique is the water pavilion that simulates Thay Pagoda. This is the most ancient pagoda in Hanoi and the founding stage of Vietnamese water puppetry.

The architectural and artistic relics of the Ly Dynasty promise to be a highlight in the poeti
c picture Hoang Hon Town.

Before Phu Quoc, artists at the Vietnam Water Puppet Theatre brought this Vietnamese intangible cultural heritage to 70 countries and territories around the world.

People’s Artist Dung said that from the first conversations, they felt in harmony with Sun Group. Both sides desired to bring traditional culture into tourism.

He and the artists at the theatre were happy to perform in Sunset Town, which gathers many other art forms with many international tourists.

“We can introduce the age-old theatre art to tourists so that all nationalities and ages can learn more about the country and people of Vietnam. In particular, we Vietnamese people also understand more about the value of traditional cultural arts and are proud of our international friends,” Dung said.

The puppet performances, along with other unique art shows at the multi-million-dollar entertainment complex in Sunset Town, help visitors increase their experience, contributing to honouring and bringing back traditional val
ues and bringing Vietnamese culture closer to the world./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tokyo: More than 300 Vietnamese people living in the central and southern regions of Japan on February 18 gathered at a festival in Hiroshima prefecture to welcome the Lunar New Year (Tet) of the Dragon.

There are over 70,000 Vietnamese people in the central and southern regions as well as the Kyushu region.

Vietnamese Consul General in Fukuoka Vu Chi Mai said that events held on the occasion of the two countries’ festivals have contributed to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening cohesion between the two peoples.

Member of the Japanese House of Representatives Minoru Terada affirmed that the Japanese government and local authorities treasure their friendship with Vietnam, and hope to receive more students and skilled labourers from the Southeast Asian country.

At the festival, many traditional art performances of the two countries were held such as making Japanese mochi (a type of rice cake), calligraphy, Japanese music and drama, and Vietnamese bamboo dance./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnam will host at least four chess competitions of the Hanoi International Chess Series in 2024, which will deliver world point rankings for successful masters.

In addition to their points, competitors also hunt for their norms to earn FIDE titles such as International Master, FIDE Master and Grandmaster.

In 2023 events, world U14 champion Indian Ilamparthi A R earned his norm to become a Grandmaster.

The first event will be from March 19-25, the second from March 26-31, both at the Hanoi Old Quarter Culture Exchange Centre.

The third event is from May 14-19 in Quang Ninh province, while participants will return to Hanoi for the fourth one, from May 21-26.

Each event will lure about 40 local and international masters.

According to the Vietnam Chess Federation, this will be the first time an international event of the Hanoi Series is organised in Quang Ninh. It is an activity to strengthen the relationship between the two localities in terms of tourism and sport development./.

Source: Vietnam
News Agency