Overseas Vietnamese Introduces Folk Music to Foreigners

Professor and Doctor of Ethnomusicology Nguyen Thuyet Phong, a Vietnamese-American, has over the past 30 years worked untiringly for the promotion of Vietnamese music, especially folk music, with an attempt to make it a language for communication between Vietnam and the world.

Coming from a family of prominent musicians in the Mekong Delta, Phong practised music with a village master from the age of five and joined in performance of both cai luong (reformed theatre) and hat boi (classical theatre) from the age of 10.

Youth Simulate Successful Parliamentary Session

A mock youth parliament involving students from universities and high schools in Hanoi on Sunday at Ba Dinh House gathered insightful opinions on the heated issue of job creation. mock_NA_session.bmp

Vietnam Committed to Corruption Fight, Says Deputy PM

Vietnam’s Consultative Group (CG) wrapped up its mid-term meeting in Nha Trang Friday after focusing discussions on the fight against corruption and effective use of official development assistance (ODA).

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem attended the meeting and pledged Vietnam would combat corruption. He spoke with Tuoi Tre newspaper after the meeting. Here are excerpts:

Reporter: What are the donors’ views on Vietnam’s management of ODA?

Vietnam Firm Signs up for International Internet Links

Vietnam Data Communication Co. (VDC), the country’s largest Internet provider, said Friday it had clinched a deal with the American MCI Inc for two new net links to the US.

The links, each of 155 Megabytes per second speed, are part of a project to enhance VDC’s infrastructure, enabling it to improve its online movie and music services.

However, the company refused to disclose the price and other details of the deal.

It said it planned to expand its bandwidth to 6 Gigabytes per second (Gbps) by the end of this year from the current 3.5 Gbps.

Vietnam Affirms Efforts in Business Environment Improvement

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem on June 5 affirmed the Vietnamese Government's great efforts in improvement of its business environment for domestic and foreign investors.

"Vietnam's quick perfection of its legal systems, particularly the drawing up of new laws such as the Law on Investment, the Law on Enterprise, the Law on Securities and the Law on Real Estate, has manifested the Government's great determination to create a transparent and attractive legal environment for investors," the Deputy PM said at the Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi.

One-third of Foreign Visitors Return to Vietnam

More than 34% of Vietnam's foreign tourists have visited the country two or more times, said a recent survey on tourism expenditures in 2005 conducted by the General Statistics Office.

Compared to the first survey's results released in 2003, the rate of foreign visitors coming to Vietnam for a second visit increased by 6.4% and those coming for the third visit increased 0.3%.

Viet Nam-US Bilateral Agreement on Viet Nam's Accession to WTO Signed

The Ministry of Trade on May 31 issued a press release on the official signing of the Viet Nam-US bilateral agreement on Viet Nam's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Following is the full text of the press release: ki_WTO.bmp

Vietnam Province Well on the Way Setting up e-Governance

The northern Bac Ninh province has become Vietnam's first e-governed province with the introduction of electronic monitoring systems at its offices, local authorities said.

Vietnam Foreign Arrivals Up 10 pct

Vietnam welcomed 330,000 foreign visitors in May, an increase of 10 percent over the same period last year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment said. viewanh_n.gif
This took the total number of foreign arrivals this year to 1.6 million, it added.

Vietnamese Expats Learn Their Mother Tongue

Vietnam’s foreign ministry began Vietnamese lessons in Hanoi Wednesday for a group of Vietnamese expatriates from the US spending the summer in their native country.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tran Quang Hoan, deputy chairman of the ministry’s committee for Vietnamese overseas, hailed the group members, all students or teachers at San Jose College and San Francisco University, for spending their holidays to learn about their culture and history.

Source: VNA, Thanh Nien News

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