 |
| Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem (Photo: sggp.org.vn) |
Liem ranked 23rd with an Elo rating of 2,722, according the latest FIDE ranking released last week. The ranking was topped by Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen with 2,864.
Two other Vietnamese grandmasters Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son and his spouse Pham Le Thao Nguyen were also named in the ranking. Son, a standard chess champion at SEA Games 31, was placed 111th with Elo of 2,645 while Nguyen was in the 2,583th position with 2,369.
Last month, Liem claimed the second place at the standard chess category of an international chess tournament in Czech Republic’s Prague.
He will be in Switzerland for the Biel Chess Festival 2022 from July 10 – 25.
Aquatic exports spike 40% in H1
Vietnam’s aquatic exports spiked 40% year-on-year to reach nearly 5.8 billion USD in the first half of 2022, Vietnam News Agency based on statistics from the Vietnamese Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).
 |
| Frozen shrimp production at a factory in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang. (Photo: VNA) |
The country earned more than 3.2 billion USD from aquatic exports in the second quarter of 2022, an increase of 36% from the same period last year.
According to VASEP, shipments of shrimp picked up 7% – a quite modest pace – to total 450 million USD as a result of input shortages. Though, the sector experienced a strong growth of 33% in H1 to bring home 2.3 billion USD, accounting for 40% of the total seafood exports.
Several producers have raised the shipments of high value-added processed shrimp products, instead of raw ones, to major markets like Japan, the US and the EU as a way to address input shortages.
Exports of lobster posted a record-high 30-fold surge year-on-year to 130 million USD.
High inflation coupled with the Russia-Ukraine crisis have brought big opportunity for tra fish from Vietnam this year. Sanctions on imports of Russian-caught whitefish in response to its conflict with Ukraine have caused severe shortages on the global market, especially the EU, the US and the UK, whose imports mainly sourced from Russia, according to Le Hang, Director of the VASEP Training and Trade Promotion Centre (VASEP Pro).
Many restaurants in these countries have had to exclude whitefish, like cod, from their menus and seek for alternatives. Thanks to that, Vietnamese tra fish had opportunities to gain a larger market share after months of struggle, Hang said.
In June, Vietnam exported close to 220 million USD worth of tra fish, up 54% year-on-year. The figure soared 83% in H1 to hit 1.4 billion USD, representing one-fourth of the total exports. Shipments to the UK enjoyed an exaggerate six-fold rise from the same period last year, followed by Spain (three-fold increase).
The tuna sector earned some 553 million USD in export turnover during the period, up 56 percent year-on-year. The US remained Vietnam’s largest buyer of tuna that imported over half of the Vietnamese shipments.
VASEP anticipated that aquatic exports will be likely to reach 10 billion USD this year, up about 12% from 2021.
Vietnam wins 13 awards at “Two country circuit” photo contest
Vietnamese photographers have won 13 medals and certificates of honour in travel, portrait and free categories at the 7th “Two Country Circuit” photo contest 2022, reported Vietnam News Agency.
 |
| A photo titled “Phong Dien floating market” by Tran Anh Thang is given a certificate of honour. (Photo: qdnd.vn) |
The award-winning works mainly capture beautiful moments of Vietnamese nature and country such as “Stork season in Van Long” by Nguyen Dang Hao and “The procession of dragons to the wharf” by Vu Hai which won gold medals. “Phong Dien floating market” by Tran Anh Thang and “Water season in Mu Cang Chai” by Ngo Thanh Huong received certificates of merit.
 |
| A photo entitled "Stork season in Van Long” by Nguyen Dang Hao wins gold medal.(Photo: qdnd.vn) |
The event, which was organised by Novi Sad, Kotor and Podgorica photography clubs of Serbia and Montenegro and sponsored by the International Federation of Photographic Arts (FIAP), drew entries from 37 countries and territories worldwide.
Seventeen Vietnamese universities in global list with best academic achievements
The University Ranking by Academic Performance, a Turkish non-profit organisation URAP, has honoured 17 Vietnamese universities for their outstanding academic performance globally, reported the Voice of Vietnam.
 |
| Top 10 Vietnamese universities in the global list with best academic achievements |
Among the honoured institutions, Ton Duc Thang University was ranked 427th, Duy Tan University 446th, Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City 1,013rd, and Vietnam National University in Hanoi 1,104th.
Notably, Duy Tan and Ton Duc Thang universities were named in the top 500 globally.
Last year, Vietnam had 12 universities in the URAP’s list.
This year, the URAP ranked more than 3,000 good universities in the world.
Elsewhere, the US’ Harvard University came first in the list, followed by Canada’s Toronto University, England’s University College London, and the US’s Stanford University.
The URAP, established in 2009 at the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University, measures academic achievements of universities around the world based on the number of articles published in journals, the number of citations in journals, total number of research papers published internationally in the last five years, and international cooperation./.