Illustrative photo (Source: VOV)
Statistics indicate that the total newly registered and adjusted capital, along with capital contributed and shares purchased by foreign investors reached USD12.25 billion by April 20.
During the first quarter of the year, foreign investment recorded an increase of 18.5% to USD10.13 billion compared to the same period from last year for the first time, despite facing a range of adverse impacts caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to the Foreign Investment Agency, the production activities of firms has bounced back since the initial impact of the pandemic, with the disbursement of FDI projects during the four-month period standing at USD5.5 billion, a rise of 6.8% compared to the same period from last year.
Furthermore, there remains positive signs that the average size of newly-licensed projects and capital adjusted projects have increased compared to last year's corresponding period.
Throughout the reviewed period, financiers from abroad have invested in 17 fields in Vietnam, with the manufacturing sector taking the lead with investment capital of USD5.2 billion, thereby accounting for 42.4% of the total registered investment. This is followed by power production and distribution with USD5.1 billion, real estate with USD778 million, and the wholesale and retail sectors with USD464 million.
Singapore topped the list of 67 countries and territories currently investing in the nation during the reviewed period with over USD4.8 billion, accounting for approximately 39.6% of the total, trailed by Japan with more than USD2.5 billion, and the Republic of Korea with roughly USD1.5 billion.
The country is currently home to 33,463 valid foreign investment projects with total registered capital of USD394.9 billion, with the disbursement of the foreign-invested projects reaching USD238.36 billion, equal to 60.4% of the total valid registered investment capital.
Five Vietnamese researchers make Asian Scientist 100 list
Asian Scientist Magazine has recently published its list of Asia’s 100 most outstanding researchers, highlighting their various achievements across a range of scientific disciplines, with five Vietnamese scientists making the cut, reported the Voice of Vietnam.
Illustrative photo (Source: VOV)
Featured in the list is Tran Thi Thu Ha who is currently now working at Thai Nguyen University. The local lecturer was awarded the Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Award 2019 for her research looking at the breeding and intensive cultivation of trees, the propagation and rearing of non-timber forest products and medicinal herbs, along with the development of local medicinal plants.
Furthermore, Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy also made the list. The doctor is one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu awards for research which compared the transfer of fresh and frozen embryos in vitro fertilisation.
Le Thi Quynh Mai from the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology leads a team of women who were awarded the 2019 Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Award 2019 for their successful isolation of a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, thereby making Vietnam one of the first four countries in the world to successfully isolate the virus back in 2020.
Her team has spent the last two decades in the ongoing fight against a range of deadly diseases, most notably SARS, A/H5N1 bird flu, and H1N1.
Elsewhere on the list, Pham Tien Son of Da Lat University was renowned for being one of three recipients of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu awards for his studies on the generic properties for semi algebraic programmes.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu of Ton Duc Thang University became another recipient of the 2020 Ta Quang Buu awards and makes the Asian Scientist list for his project which aimed to determine the electron inelastic mean free path in various materials.
Every year since 2016 Asian Scientist Magazine has compiled a list of Asia’s 100 most outstanding researchers.
In order to be acknowledged on the list, individuals must have received a national or international prize in the preceding year for their research.
Ly Son island district’s boat racing festival becomes national heritage
The Tu Linh boat racing festival in the island district of Ly Son, the central province of Quang Ngai, has been recognised as part of the national intangible cultural heritage, reported Vietnam News Agency.
Teams competing at the Tu Linh boat racing festival of Ly Son district (Photo: tienphong.vn)
The certificate presentation ceremony was held on April 27 by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the district People’s Committee.
According to old documents, the Tu Linh (four mythological creatures – dragon, qilin, tortoise, phoenix) boat racing festival on Ly Son Island was first held in 1826.
It takes place around the Lunar New Year festival to pray for good weather, bumper crops, and peace. It is also meant to pay tribute to ancestors who explored this land, as well as the then Hoang Sa flotilla that planted sovereignty markers on Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes and frequently .
To preserve and bring into play this festival, the Ly Son district People’s Committee conducted many surveys and studies over the past years to compile a dossier seeking the inclusion of this activity in the list of national intangible cultural heritage.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism made the recognition in September 2020.
Thanks to this move, Ly Son district is currently home to two festivals named national intangible cultural heritages, with the other being “Le khao le the linh Hoang Sa” (Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers).
The Feast and Commemoration Festival for Hoang Sa Soldiers this year was held on April 19.
According to Vietnam’s feudal state history, the Hoang Sa Flotilla was set up when the Nguyen Lords began their reign in the south of the country. Thousands of sailors overcame roaring waves and storms to survey sea routes, plant milestones and erect steles affirming national territory in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, and exploit marine resources ordered by Nguyen Lords. Their missions were full of dangers, and many of them never returned to land.
To pay tribute to the men enlisted in the flotilla, “Le khao le the linh Hoang Sa” has been observed through hundreds of years by families in Ly Son island and many coastal areas in Quang Ngai.
The festival, which is held every April on the island, was recognised as part of the national intangible cultural heritage by the State in 2016. It reflects Vietnam’s history of protecting the national sovereignty in the East Sea, especially over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.
Ly Son island covers an area of less than 10 sq.km but it has nearly 100 relics, most of which are related to the Hoang Sa Flotilla, such as the empty graves built for Hoang Sa soldiers who never returned to land, the temples dedicated to Pham Quang Anh and Vo Van Khiet who were captains of the Hoang Sa Flotilla, and a showroom displaying the items of the Hoang Sa Flotilla sailors who also controlled Bac Hai and Ba Ri Lagoon.
A monument and memorial house dedicated to the Hoang Sa Flotilla stand near the main road of the island./.