Da Lat flower festival 2009 rescheduled

VietNamNet Bridge – The government of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has stated it will change the time for the third Da Lat Flower Festival from mid December 2009 to January 2010.

According to the chief of the Lam Dong People’s Committee Office, Vo Ngoc Hiep, the event is being postponed until January 1-4 2001 to become a cultural activity to celebrate the 1000^th Thang Long – Hanoi anniversary.

The number of days for the third festival will be shortened from five to four days, with a total cost of 15 billion dong, including 5 billion dong from the state budget.

The Da Lat Flower Festival 2010 will have the theme “Da Lat – City of Flowers”. The event will include the following activities: the launching of a flower planting campaign, building a road of flowers, a tower of flowers, an island of flowers, a flower fair, an ancient street of flowers, flower and ornamental tree exhibition, a wine festival night, an international mountaineering contest, a cycling contest, a flower-arranging contest, a seminar on flowers and a stage show entitled “Da Lat flowers, the colours of cold land”.

This will be the third festival of its kind. The first festival was organised in 2005.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre

World heritages in Vietnam need closer cooperation

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has seven natural and cultural world heritages recognised by UNESCO. Preservation and improvement of these heritages is necessary to advertise Vietnam’s image to the world. However, local governments haven’t effectively cooperated to connect these heritages.

The Hoi An ancient town.

The seven world heritages in Vietnam are Hue ancient capital, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An ancient town, My Son sanctuary, Phong Nha – Ke Bang cave, Hue royal court music and Central Highlands gongs.

The ancient capital of Hue was recognised as the first world cultural heritage of Vietnam 15 years ago. After recognition, all world heritage sites have developed well, said Dr. Dang Van Bai, vice chairman of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association.

“Firstly, the central and local governments pay more attention to preserving heritages,” Bai analysed. “Secondly, thanks to the recognition, these sites have become attractive destinations, bringing in large quantities of income, which have been re-invested in preserving the values of heritages. The Prime Minister has also approved plans to preserve the sites.”

Professor, Doctor To Ngoc Thanh, chairman of the Vietnam Folk Art Association, said after the recognition, research of Nha nhac or Hue royal court music’s value was conducted more systematically.

Hue royal court music.

Central Highlands provinces have implemented many activities to honour and promote the value of the Central Highlands gong.

Two years ago, Dak Lak province held the Central Highlands Gong Festival, attracting visitors from home and abroad. This November, Gia Lai province will host the first international gong festival.

However, experts say that the best way to maximally promote heritages is through the creation of a network of provinces and cities which host heritages.

Central provinces have joined hands to create the “Heritage Road of the Central Region” in the past five years. Quang Nam province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s deputy director Ho Tuan cuong said that thanks to this programme, the number of visitors to heritages in the central region rises annually.

Central Highlands gong.

However, director of Quang Binh province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Hung Phi said that this programme is not highly effective because of the lack of close connection between local governments. They only cooperate to advertise heritages.

Quang Nam’s Ho Tuan Cuong said that it is necessary to have cooperation between central provinces and Central Highlands provinces and it would be even better with additional connections to Hanoi and Quang Ninh. Most importantly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism should play the role of a “general director” to help provinces and cities that have heritages come together.

“We support the viewpoint of associating localities which have world heritages in Vietnam, and even with those in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to bring into full play the potentials of Vietnam’s heritages,” said director of Quang Ninh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Toan.

VietNamNet/TNVN

Vietnam gets 7th mobile network

VietNamNet Bridge - Gtel Mobile, a Vietnamese – Russian joint venture, launched Vietnam’s seventh mobile network, Beeline, on July 20.

Gtel Mobile general director, Alexey Blyumin, said VimpelCom - the Russian partner – has pledged to invest US$1.8 billion in Vietnam over the next five years.

It has so far pumped in $267 million into Beeline.

The new service is initially available in 40 cities and provinces, including all major cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang, with a population of around 41 million.

It is expected to be available in all 63 cities and one year later.

Beeline has announced a package called “Big Zero” in which users do not have to pay for the second minute of any call to another Beeline number.

Calls to other networks will cost VND1,199 a minute and international calls will cost VND3,600. International SMS messages will be VND2,500.

Vietnam’s Global Telecom Corporation holds a 60 percent stake in GTel Mobile with VimpelCom holding the remainder.

Beeline is the brand name used in Russia by VimpelCom, the second largest cell phone operator in the former Soviet Union. It has 62.7 million subscribers in Russia and Eastern Europe.

VietNamNet/SGGP