My name is Dang Dam Tuan, and I am a veteran soldier who served in the Vietnam People’s Army. I devoted my youth to the people of Vietnam and to my country. My unit was stationed away from home, so I could spend very little time with my family. To make up for it, since being discharged, I now spend most of my time caring for my family. I have 2 beautiful grandchildren, one in 9^th grade and the other in 5^th grade. They are both well mannered and are doing well in school, and for this I am grateful.

Some months ago, my wife bought a computer to help our grandchildren learn. Being children, it wasn’t long before they managed to crash it. My wife then came to me and asked me to fix it. At that point I realized that I knew nothing about computers. In this era of information technology, computers and the internet have become extremely necessary in all aspects of life, and even children are taught about ICT at an early age, but sadly I was out of the loop.

Full of frustration, I asked friends and relatives if they knew where I could learn computer skills. Luckily, I didn’t have to search too long. One relative told me to go to the APEC Digital Opportunity Center, so I paid a visit. I was impressed with their clean facilities, modern computers and internet access. I enrolled in their computer training program that same day. The teachers were so enthusiastic and reassured me that I would soon know all about computers. After only three months of study at the APEC Digital Opportunity Center, I learnt the basics about computers, such as how to install and configure the operating system and application programs, how to use MS Office, but most importantly, I learnt to use the internet to assist my grandchildren in doing homework.

Thanks to the ADOC 2.0 project, I have confidence in fixing our home computer whenever our children break it or there are any errors. I no longer fear this new technology and have found a way to bond with my grandchildren, compensating for all those years I was away from them. ADOC 2.0 has helped improve my parenting skills.

Farmer Le Thi Cham, 52, was very happy to find her daughter who was adopted by a French family 12 years ago.

A resident of Van Tho Village in the northern province of Thai Nguyen’s Dai Tu District, Cham had only words of praise for a pilot project designed to improve computer use and internet access in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Nghe An and Tra Vinh. Thanks to the project, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, her family has been reunited.

Cham said she put her five-year-old daughter up for adoption because she needed money to help treat her father-in-law’s lung cancer.

“My heart nearly broke when I had to give my daughter up for adoption but I had no choice because we were very poor at that time and had no money to pay for my father’s treatments. I’ve suffered miserably since then because I didn’t think I would ever see my daughter again. Then, in 2009 I was selected to participate in a project to learn how to use a computer and access the internet.

“One of the staff members at the post office helped me send the French couple an email. I was so surprised when I learned they had replied and planned to bring their adopted daughter (my daughter) to Viet Nam in the very near future.

“Thanks to the internet, I can contact my daughter frequently. She is currently a pretty university student in France.

“My poor village is also happy because my daughter’s adopted parents recently sent us 12,000 euros (US$ 15,756) to build a road in our village,” she said.

Through the project, Hoang Thi Sam, in the central province of Nghe An’s Dien Chau District, has learned how to use computers and access the internet to find information about raising chickens to sell for extra income.

Sam said her six-member family would remain very poor and possible face two or three months of hunger if they limited their livelihoods to cultivation of their 700sq m of land.

“As a participant of the project, I now know how to access the internet to search for techniques on how to raise chickens to sell. I contacted a successful chicken farmer in Ha Noi’s Tu Liem District to seek information on how to protect them from bird flu and other illness, and what I should feed them to ensure they produce tasty meat. Last year, we earned nearly VND80 million ($3,809) in profit from selling chickens. We have escaped poverty and hunger.

“But more importantly, my son, who is very interested in studying maths, also went with me to the village post office. Now he knows how to use a computer and access the internet to get maths lessons. As a result, he has become an excellent maths student at school, said Sam, adding that her family and relatives are very proud of him.

Ho Quang Thanh, director of the Nghe An Department of Information and Communications, told Viet Nam News that the project has benefited more than 1,320 learners in his province’s 11 mountainous districts whichhave more than 450,000 ethnic people.

Nghe An’s infrastructure for information and technology is still limited. The project has brought computers and wideband internet to remote and isolated areas to benefit disadvantaged ethnic people, said Thanh, adding that if the project didn’t come, these people could have to wait for years to access IT.

“More importantly, the training courses, and computer and internet awareness have been lucrative for the local administration and people have been improving their lives as shown by the fact that more locals come to the commune library and post office to access the internet for their businesses and services,” said Thanh.

He added that many beneficiaries have purchased home computers to do business and contact their relatives and friends inside and outside the country.

Cham and Sam are among hundreds of beneficiaries of the three-year pilot project which started in 2009.

More than 200 courses have been opened for more than 4,000 learners in the three provinces.

In light of the project’s success, last year the BMGF and Microsoft agreed to extend the project with an additional $50 million, which includes more than $29.9 million in grant aid, $3.6 million from Microsoft and more than $16 million from the Vietnamese Government, said Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, head of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Library Department.

The extended project will be implemented at 400 libraries and include the installation of more than 12,000 computers connected to the internet at 1,900 commune post offices in disadvantaged areas in 40 provinces and cities nationwide from now until 2016, giving residents access to 100 per cent free services, she said.

“More than 1,500 staff from commune post offices will be selected to join courses to improve their computer usage to better serve people while 760,000 rural people are expected to know how to use a computer and access the internet when the project ends in five years,” said Am.

Director of BMGF’s Global Libraries Initiative Deborah Jacobs said that co-operation and discussions about visions of the project would play important roles in ensuring long-term financial and technological sustainability.

Dr Phan Huu Phong, director of the project management board, said the project has benefited many poor people in severely disadvantaged areas.

“It aimed to improve service capacity of commune libraries and post offices so that they could focus on helping the poor use computers and the internet to improve their living standards,” Phong said.

The pilot project was awarded first prize among rural management projects from India’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology last June. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Sunday/Features/220740/it-training-helps-alleviate-rural-poverty.html

News from Vietnam News

The Ministry of Finance issued Official Letter No 1920/BTC-CST on January 16 in response to Official Letter No 3836/BNT-CNTT from the Ministry of Information and Communications regarding import taxes to software.

In its letter, the Ministry of Finance ruled that, if the software is imported in the form of goods containing the software, the software shall be categorized and taxed subject to the tariff applied to such imported goods.

If the software is imported over the internet, i.e., without containers that constitute moveable property under the law, the customs authorities have no legal basis to supervise the importation or apply a tax. However, the trading in software, domestically or offshore, is subject to value-added and income taxes in accordance with the law.

Lubricants deemed subject to environmental taxation

The Ministry of Finance issued Official Letter No 1199/BTC-TCT on January 30, providing guidance on the enforcement of Circular No 152/2011/TT-BTC of November 11, 2011, on environmental protection taxes. Under the letter, the ministry ruled that lubricant was a taxable object of the environmental protection tax. An enterprise importing aircraft equipment or materials accompanied by separately-packaged lubricant must declare and pay environmental protection taxes in accordance with the law. In addition, taxable goods imported to non-tariff area for consumption (not for re-export) shall be subject to environmental protection tax.

State Bank reveals new rules on valuable paper discounts

The State Bank of Viet Nam issued Circular No 01/2012/TT-NHNN on February 16 on discounting of valuable papers of the State Bank for credit institutions and branches of foreign banks.

Valuable papers eligible to be discounted must be denominated in domestic currency, assignable, in the legal possession of the credit institutions and branches of foreign banks, and not issued by the credit institutions and branches of foreign banks. If valuable papers are discounted for their entire remaining term, the maximum remaining term of such valuable papers shall be 91 days.

Credit institutions and branches of foreign banks eligible to participate in discount operations of the State Bank must not be under special control, must not be in default on any debts, and must have an active account opened at an authorised branch of the State Bank. They must submit a timely request dossier to the State Bank, and the valuable papers to be discounted must comform with statutory conditions and be included on the list of discountable valuable papers periodically promulgated by State Bank.

Not later than the 15th day of the first month of each quarter, credit institutions and branches of foreign banks shall submit to a request dossier to the State Bank serving as the basis for the State Bank to determine the approved discount limit to such credit institutions and branches of foreign banks in that quarter.

Upon maturity, if credit institutions and branches of foreign banks fail to pay or make insufficient payment to recover valuable papers, their accounts at the State Bank shall be deducted to recover the debt, and their valuable papers in the custody of the State shall be subject to sale. Such credit institutions and branches of foreign banks will also lose their eligibility to participate in discount operations with the State Bank for six months.

This circular takes effect on March 31, replacing Decision No 898/2003/QD-NHNN of August 2003, Decision No 12/2008/QD-NHNN of April 2008, and Article 1 of Circular 26/2011/TT-NHNN of August 2011. – BIZCONSULT LAW FIRM

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Economy/221472/software-imported-over-the-internet-declared-duty-free.html

News from Vietnam News

Updated October, 29 2011 09:31:21

Workers at the Da Nang Software Park. Priorities to attract foreign direct investment should be made to help develop the IT sector. — VNA/VNS Photo Van Son

HA NOI — The information technology (IT) sector should be given priority to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in the period between 2011 and 2020, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) has said.

The ministry said the sector accounted for a small proportion at 2 per cent of the country’s total FDI, which was much lower than industries such as processing and manufacturing, real estate, hotel and restaurant services.

MPI statistics showed that IT ranked third out of 10 sectors in terms of the number of projects, but took the sixth position for the amount of registered capital in the first nine months of this year.

The sector attracted 680 FDI projects, while total registered capital was US$4.8 billion.

Deputy head of the MPI Foreign Investment Agency Nguyen Ba Cuong said IT, in combination with the support, agriculture and service industries would be key a sector for the country’s FDI strategy in this period.

Cuong said the Government would give priority to projects that offered high competitive products and could take part in the global production network.

He added that Viet Nam would not grant licences to projects wasting energy or natural resources, or that use backward technologies and pollute the environment.

Figures from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) showed that the sector had seen a high growth rate of 25 per cent, three to four times higher than the country’s GDP, with a wide application over the past 10 years.

Around 25 per cent of the population has used the internet. Moreover, several public services have been implemented online, contributing to the country’s socio-economic development.

The sector’s yearly average growth rate in the 2010-15 period is expected to be 25 per cent.

It is a high value-added industry, especially software and digital content which have a yearly growth rate of 35 to 40 per cent.

Acting head of the MIC Information and Technology Department Nguyen Trong Duong said FDI in the sector had not met its potential though investments have increased.

Duong said the country should spend 25 per cent of its annual investment on promotion programmes to attract FDI from multinational groups into the sector, especially new and high value-added products.

Viet Nam has around 500 businesses operating in the software industry, half of which are wholly-foreign invested enterprises.

Under the IT zone development planning, by 2020, the country will have 23 industrial parks covering an area of 2,000ha designed to attract foreign investors.

He said the Government will build transport, water and electricity systems around the zones. Additionally, infrastructure inside the zones will be mobilised from investors both inside and outside the country to quickly develop the area.

The country now has some IT zones assigned for businesses to invest in, including Da Nang and Hoa Lac in Ha Noi of FPT Group. — VNS