[news] various unsorted news

[Dam Son <son@fermi.phys.washington.edu>]

U.S. IT firms approach local market

(SGT-HANOI) The U.S. computer company, 3-COM, has pledged to assist
Vietnam to form a software development center, said Mr. S. Verma,
director general of 3-COM for the region.

He said in Hanoi that 3-COM, seen as the leading U.S. computer
networking technology supplier, will try its best to provide
assistance for Vietnam to develop this center.

The center initiated by the Corporation for Financing and Promoting
Technology (FPT) is aimed to develop the country's software
technology, and make equipment, information and an experimental
environment available for young programmers.

In respect to information technology (IT), 3-COM, whose sales reached
US$5.5 billion last year, has signed a cooperation agreement with FPT
to develop computer networks in the country.

Mr. Stephen C. Power, chief representative of 3-COM in Vietnam, said
Vietnam is a potential market as 60% of the PCs here have been
networked.

* The American Power Conversion (APC) company of the U.S. will
strongly invest in Vietnam, Mr. Truong Ngoc Long, APC manager for
Southeast Asia, said on Monday.

APC, the world's biggest supplier of UPS (Uninter-ruptible Power
Supply) devices, is approaching the local market through two local
distributors, namely FPT and One Limited.

APC is expected to open an office in Vietnam in December and it will
likely develop a UPS production base here, he said.
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Fashion cafe in downtown HCMC 

A fashion cafe of Helen and Lieu (H&L) fashion firm has been opened at
Spago, 158 Dong Khoi Street, District 1, HCMC.

Here many materials and pictures about the world's fashion history,
and the latest fashion catalogs such as Elle, Boutique, and
Marie-Claire are available for customers who can also listen to
fashion music and watch video recordings on fashion. Customers can
also hold talks over coffee with models in fashionable clothes.

According to Ms. Lieu, owner of the cafe, this is just a new venture
whose results are still unknown to her, but she hopes this will soon
become a new form of entertainment for young people, not just a
business as at present.
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Remnants of an architectural relic in the Ly Dynasty discovered in Do
Son

The Institute of Archaeology and Haiphong Service of Culture and
Information has excavated the foundation of Tuong Long Tower, which is
closely associated with the history of Do Son area, in a move to
discover the original values of this relic.

Results of the excavation show that the tower is square-shaped, each
side 7.86m long. The wall is 3m thick. The inside of the tower is
hollow, nine sq.m wide, where a stone statue of the Buddha is located.
The tower is made of brick and is decorated with designs of flowers,
leaves, dragons, phoenixes, and clouds, which are typical of the Ly
Dynasty.

Tuong Long Tower was build in the reign of King Ly Thanh Tong some 920
years ago. It is situated on a mount which is 96.6m high above sea
level, located in Ngoc Xuyen Ward, Do Son Municipality, Haiphong City.
In 1804, under the reign of King Gia Long, the tower was destroyed to
obtain materials for the construction of Hai Duong Town.
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* Bach Mai International Medical Center to be completed next month

The first phase of the project to repair the former International Ward
of Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi will be completed in July to serve the
Francophone Summit to be held later this year in Hanoi. This is part
of the joint venture of Bach Mai International Medical Center between
the hospital and Australian IMC organization. The second phase of the
project includes the construction of a six-story building, completing
Bach Mai International Medical Center with an investment capital of
US$26 million and 150 beds.

* Mine kills six people in Tay Ninh

At 4:00 p.m. on June 23, at Trang Riec Commune, Tan Bien District, Tay
Ninh Province, a vehicle carrying cassava was destroyed by an
anti-tank mine. The mine exploded, killing six people on the spot
including the driver, three farmers who were on the way to harvest
cassava, and two soldiers, Huynh Van Hien, born in 1973, and Tran Minh
Phuong, born in 1978.
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VN exports 1.7 million tons of rice

(SGT-HCMC) Vietnam exported 340,000 tons of rice in the first three
weeks of June, raising the exported volume since early this year to
some 1.7 million tons, said an official with the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The quantity of exported rice so far this year shows a year-on-year
increase of 55%, but the quality of the exported rice is reported to
be lower than in 1996, the source said. A report of the ministry shows
high-quality rice made up only 39% against the ratio of over 50% last
year, while low-quality rice with 25% broken-grain made up 55.7%.

However, the official at the Planning Division of MARD said, it was
not because the rice quality was lower, but because customers prefer
lower-quality rice. Currently, he said, the rice still stockpiled at
warehouses is mostly high-grade.
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City's hospitals receive three million patients

(SGT-HCMC) Nearly three million patients had health care services at
36 hospitals and clinics in HCMC in 1996, according to a report of the
city Service of Health.

Clinics have become overloaded, said experts at the service. They said
specialized clinics which were overcrowded during the year include Tu
Du Hospital, Medical Diagnosis Center, and Pediatric Hospitals 1 and
2.

Facing such a situation, the Health Service has planned to upgrade
medical service facilities in the city, especially district clinics
and general hospitals with an invested capital of VND23 billion from
the State budget.
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Local spirits stockpiled

(SGT-HANOI) Vietnam Beverages Corporation (Vibeco) has 550,000 liters
of spirits, 570,000 liters of alcohol, around 300,000 liters of soft
drinks and 2.1 million glass bottles in stockpile, with a total value
of VND19 billion.

The stockpile has resulted from the increasing tendency to drink
foreign spirits, and the increasing production costs of packages and
glass bottles produced locally. Specifically, Khanh Hoi and
foreign-made glass bottles are of similar quality, but prices of the
former are US$18/1,000 bottles higher than those of the latter
(US$234/1,000 domestically produced bottles compared with US$216/1,000
imported bottles).
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French firm markets bricks

(SGT-HCMC) A leading French-based producer of refractory bricks, SERP,
has decided to enter the Vietnamese market by introducing its
fire-proof bricks here and will provide consultancy services on glass
tunnel technologies for local glass producers.

Experts of the company briefed Vietnamese manufacturers on technical
aspects of SERP products in a seminar held in HCMC on Monday.

In addition to selling products, SERP is also ready to provide
production solutions in part or in packages to help local glass
producers build, operate and maintain tunnels.
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Australia grants 200 scholarships for Vietnamese students in 1997

(SGT-HCMC) The Australian government will provide graduate and
post-graduate scholarships for 203 Vietnamese students in 1997,
according to the Australia-Vietnam Human Resources Development
Program.

Of these, 40 students will take graduate courses and 163 will
participate in post-graduate studies. At the same time, 204 Vietnamese
students will return home from Australia in 1997 after completing the
study program there.

The Australia-Vietnam Human Resources Development Program has been
implemented for several years. From 1992 to July 1997, the Australian
government has provided scholarships for 560 Vietnamese to study in
Australia.

According to this program, in 1998, Australia will grant 150
scholarships of graduate, post-graduate, and vocational study to
Vietnamese students; 70% of this will be reserved for the State
sector, 15% for 22 provinces and cities with difficulties countrywide,
and the remainder for the non-State sector.

As planned, the Vietnam-Australia English Language, Technical Training
and Resources project will start implementation by the year-end and
will last five years with the following work: training teachers of
English, teaching specialized English, and teaching English to
students provided with scholarships for study in Australia.

Recently, the Australian government approved funding of US$66 million
for Vietnam in the fiscal year 1997-1998. According to Mr. Peter
Baxter, Australian general consul in HCMC, 40% of this aid will be
reserved for Vietnam's education and training, adding that the
Australian government is committed to maintaining the current aid
volume for Vietnam despite its decreasing budget for foreign aid.
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Acer introduces Vietnam's IT industry to the world

(SGT-HCMC) Acer is looking to set up a joint venture with a local
company to strengthen its presence in Vietnam, Acer's chairman and CEO
Stan Shih said during a press conference yesterday.

He added that Acer now has a plan to set up an assembly line in
Vietnam, which is expected in the next year.

Acer Group, the Taiwanese PC giant, invited 400 authorized dealers
from 36 countries to attend the 1997 Distributor/Dealer Workshop
hosted in HCMC from June 25 to 28.

During the workshop, Acer will introduce its plans for the year 2000
and beyond, sales and marketing activities, trends and future growth
and the latest fresh technology.

Acer, which established a liaison office in Vietnam in 1996, won a
large contract to supply PC units in 1993.
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