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| The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) and Binh Duong province jointly hosted the 2022 Top 7 Intelligent Communities Conference & Announcement: After the Pandemic: How Digital Innovation Drives Growth in Our Communities. (Photo: VNA) |
The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) and Binh Duong province jointly hosted the 2022 Top 7 Intelligent Communities Conference & Announcement: After the Pandemic: How Digital Innovation Drives Growth in Our Communities.
The Top7 Communities are chosen from among the Smart21 Communities of 2022 to be finalists in the yearly Intelligent Community Awards. In October 2022, one of these seven communities will be named the Intelligent Community of the Year at ICF’s Global Summit. The city of Binh Duong was one of the Top7 Communities of 2021 and is a Smart21 Community again this year.
ICF gathers nearly 200 prosperous smart cities in the world. ICF studies and promotes the best practices of the world's Intelligent Communities as they adapt to the new demands and seize the opportunities presented by broadband and digital technology.
It conducted research and evaluated hundreds of cities around the world to select the Top 21 (Smart 21) of 2022 with a smart city development strategy based on six factors of ICF including: broadband connectivity, knowledge workforce, innovation, digital equality, sustainability and advocacy.
Binh Duong has implemented its Smart City project since 2016 and has always adhered to the concept of economic transformation towards innovation and digitalisation.
A digital and innovation ecosystem is being strongly developed in Binh Duong, such as a smart operation centre, EIU Campus with Becamex Business Incubator, Fablab, advanced manufacturing hub, and World Trade Centre, contributing to bringing a better life to the local community.
With its right strategies and steady development steps, Binh Duong has been named in Smart 21 (Smart 21) for four times in a row, and among the Top 7 for the first time in 2021 along with cities of Canada, Brazil, Australia.
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| A corner of Binh Duong (Photo: baobinhduong.vn) |
The Top7 Communities Announcement Event offers a chance for organisations, businesses, institutes and education establishments in Binh Duong to access new knowledge and visions, learn from experience in smart city development from other communities across the world, and connect and set up partnership in trade and investment.
The event is expected to contribute to Binh Duong’s socio-economic breakthrough programme.
Louis Zacharilla, Co-Founder of ICF, said that this event is an opportunity for communities around the world to build a smart community and a better life.
Binh Duong always learns and finds development directions in order to create progress for the community, he added./.
HCM City posts economic growth of 3.82 percent in H1
Ho Chi Minh City recorded growth of 3.82 percent in gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the first half of 2022, reported Vietnam News Agency according to its Statistics Office.
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| The economy of HCM City has expanded by 3.82 percent in the first half of 2022. (Photo: VNA) |
Product tax collection increased 2.03 percent, trade and services 4.83 percent, agriculture - forestry - fisheries 1.77 percent, and industry - construction 2.23 percent.
Notably, trade and services generated nearly 99.66 trillion VND (4.3 billion USD) in revenue in June and almost 556.49 trillion VND in the first six months, respectively rising 41.1 percent and 6.2 percent from a year earlier.
Such positive growth indicated that sectors are recovering well, especially trade and services, the Statistics Office said.
Meanwhile, the southern economic hub has welcomed nearly 216,000 international arrivals since the beginning of June, doubling the figure in the same period last year. The six-month number also surged 100 percent year on year to approximate 478,000, equivalent to 13.7 percent of this year’s target, the municipal Tourism Department reported.
More than 2 million domestic tourists have also come to HCM City this month, raising the H1 figure to over 11 million, up 43.1 percent year on year and equivalent to 61.6 percent of the target for 2022.
HCM City earned 49.68 trillion VND in tourism revenue in H1, rising 29.9 percent and equivalent to 73.5 percent of the target.
Shrimp exports surge during five-month period
Vietnam raked in USD1.9 billion from shrimp exports during the opening five months of the year, representing an annual rise of 41%, reported the Voice of Vietnam based on the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
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| Illustrative photo |
After witnessing a growth rate ranging between 25% and 61% from January to April, 2022 the country’s shrimp exports to the United States in May fell by only 2.8% compared to the same period from last year.
Overall, the initial five months of the year saw Vietnam fetch USD390 million from shrimp exports to the US, up 21% year on year.
According to industry experts, se shrimp exports are anticipated to bounce back this September as demand for shrimp in the US recovers strongly ahead of national holidays such as Thanksgiving and the festive season at the end of the year.
With regard to the Chinese market, Vietnamese shrimp exports have since March recorded three-digit growth, with exports in May alone skyrocketing by 126% to reach USD88 million, bringing five-month exports to the market to USD275 million, a year-on-year rise of 101%.
Recent times have seen China's COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures ease, a factor which is anticipated to fuel its import demand for shrimp in the future.
With shipments from Ecuador and India, the two largest shrimp suppliers to China being returned due to the detection of traces of the SAR-CoV-2 virus on product packaging, shrimp imports from these markets decreased by 28% and 30%, respectively.
This move is therefore likely to accelerate China’s import demand for shrimp from other sources, including those from Vietnam.
At present, the Chinese Government is planning to launch stimulus packages aimed at encouraging greater consumer spending, an effort which is projected to accelerate Vietnamese shrimp exports to the northern neighbour over the coming months, according to insiders.
Vietnam tightens health quarantine against emerging diseases at borders
The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health has requested cities and provinces tighten health quarantine at borders amidst the complicated developments of dangerous and emerging diseases overseas, reported the Voice of Vietnam.
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| Monkeypox cases have been recorded in more than 42 countries and territories worldwide, according to the World Health Organisation. |
In a dispatch to border localities, the Department of Preventive Medicine noted the COVID-19 pandemic has been on a downward trajectory in the world, but numbers of infections and deaths are still increasing in some regions.
In addition, other dangerous and emerging diseases such as polio, avian influenza and acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children have been recorded in many countries worldwide.
The World Health Organisations has also confirmed more than 2,100 monkeypox cases recorded in 42 countries globally.
Notably, Singapore, an island state in Southeast Asia, recently confirmed a British flight attendant has contracted monkeypox – the first case in the state.
To proactively detect and prevent suspected cases of infectious diseases spreading across borders, the Department of Preventive Medicine suggested that the International Health Quarantine Centres of provinces and cities strictly and fully implement health quarantine activities for people, vehicles and goods.
The centres were required to closely coordinate with the National Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology and regional Pasteur Institutes to organize in-depth technical training for staff, and regularly update information on infectious diseases which are at risk of entering Vietnam in order to proactively deploy surveillance and control measures at border gates./.