The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Vietnam will be the third country in Southeast Asia, after Thailand and Laos, to grant visa exemptions to Russian citizens. Beneficiaries must have valid passports and return tickets or tickets to go to other countries. If Russian citizens want to stay in Vietnam more than 15 days they can apply for a visa with approval from the Ministry of Public Security or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Russia is a potential market for the Vietnamese tourism sector and the number of Russian visitors to Vietnam is increasing strongly.

The 11.7m-high and 13.5m-wide bronze statue, weighing 85 tonnes, is an image of Giong ascending to heaven on his iron horse after defeating northern invaders.

The statue is being constructed of 77 tonnes bronze, 4 tonnes tin and 4 tonnes lead, plus gold added by pilgrims who attended the casting ceremony.

Legend has it that the three-year-old Giong, born after his mother tried to fit her feet in the footprints of a giant, suddenly grew into a giant when invaders attacked the country. He asked the king for an iron horse and promptly chased the enemy out of the country with a sword and groves of bamboo. Once they were defeated, he and his horse flew into the sky from Soc Mountain in Soc Son District.

The statue, by sculptor Kim Xuan will be placed on Da Chong, the highest peak of Soc Mountain.

Artisan Vu Duy Thuan, one of the casters, said the casting was far more difficult than other statues. Placed on the peak, the statue would suffer the power of winds and storms, he said, requiring casters to work accurately to ensure the statue’s safety and durability.

The statue was of great spiritual significance as it would help teach younger generations about the nation’s traditions of patriotism and defence, said Most Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet, a member of the Buddish Sangha Executive Council Standing Committee and head of the project’s management board.

To be built with donations at a cost of up to VND50 billion (US$2.8 million), the statue is a major project to celebrate the millennial anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi in 2010. It’s expected that parts of the statue will be carried to Da Chong during the twelfth lunar month, with the erection of the statue to be finished on the occasion of next year’s Giong Festival. The Giong Festival has been nominated to UNESCO for designation as the world’s intangible heritage. The festival depicts the patriotic ardor and love for freedom of the Vietnamese people and expresses their earnest gratitude for their national heroes. It intermingles a sincere devotion to the motherland with an earnest effort to preserve the nation’s cultural legacy.

The festival is celebrated on the ninth day of the fourth lunar month.

The agreement was signed at a meeting in Dalat City on September 14, 2009 to review the tourism cooperation program between the three localities that began two years ago.

The program has been fruitful not only in marketing tourism nationwide and worldwide but also in luring investors from HCMC to upgrade facilities and create new tourism products in Lam Dong Province’s Dalat City and in Binh Thuan Province’s Phan Thiet City, according to the meeting.

Among 237 tourism projects in the Central Highlands, 95, with a combined investment of VND28 trillion, are being funded by HCMC companies.

The hand joining within the triangle also helps Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces lure tourists from HCMC who account for 40% and over 50% of the total national tourists to the two provinces respectively.

The sweet tourism friendship also helps human resource development because tourism schools and enterprises of the three localities often organize training courses and exchange programs within the triangle and at tourism hubs around the country.

Representatives at the meeting contributed practical ideas for cementing the relationship between HCMC, Lam Dong and Binh Thuan, most of them focusing on advertising and marketing, creating more tourism products and boosting culture and sports.

The contest received a total of 8,545 pictures from 1,275 photographers from 47 countries and territories around the world. Of the photos, 6,515 were sent by Vietnamese photographers.

The photo named Mua Lu (Flood) of Ngo Viet Ngoc (Vietnam) won the Gold Medal of the Vietnam Artistic Photographers Association (VAPA).

Ngoc said that he was extremely surprised and happy to win the Gold Medal, the highest from the VAPA.

Flood was shot in Tay Nguyen’s (Central Highlands) Kon Tum Province in a rainy day when he took part in a photo camp held by Tien Giang Province’s photographers association.

“The rain was pouring down, and it quickly flooded a large section of the road. I saw some farmers on their carts crossing through the water. I myself experienced a terrible flood in 1978, so my emotions were deep and I shot continuously despite the rain and strong winds,” Ngoc said.

Flood shows the daily life of Vietnamese farmers, their hardships and their strengths in overcoming difficulties.

“The harmony between content and expression gives the work its artistic value,” said Chu Chi Thanh, Head of the contest’s jury board.

Ngoc is now a photographer in Tien Giang. He became a member of the province’s association thanks to his photo Children in a Flooded Area.

“Another picture with the same theme helped me gain access to VAPA. There seems be a link between my career and my passion with floods,” Ngoc said.

Besides a set of awards given by VAPA, the contest had another set that was given out by the International Artistic Photography Federation (FIAP).

Jan Cawley, a UK photographer, with his work Wintry Wood, was chosen for the gold medal, given by FIAP.

Jan said, “I was completely amazed to have been awarded the gold medal. It is my first gold medal and I am very honoured to have my image chosen for it.”

He said that he took the photograph in Sweden while visiting his son. “It was early one morning when the temperature was minus 8ºC. I saw that some of the trees in the snow still had some colour in the leaves. I took the photograph very quickly,” Jan said.

Wintry Wood features a forest of yellow-leaf trees on a snowy day. Snow covers the trees, and some leaves have fallen down to the snow. The colour yellow pops off the background of white snow.

The landscape presented in the picture is still in motion, which makes viewers feel that both the snow and leaves are gently falling along the landscape.

Sharing the same winter theme, Cold Winter Day from Bosnia and Herzegovina was given the silver medal from FIAP. Its focus is on stalactite-like ice formations.

Photographer Le Hong Linh said that he liked this work most because of the luxurious grey colour, the unique way of expression and the artist’s special techniques.

The contrast between clear huge icicles with dim, small people behind them stayed in his mind, inspiring a closer look to discover deeper abstract feelings, he added.

To some extent, participating foreign photographers’ works were more diverse and sophisticated in expression, affirming the artists’ typical styles, creativity and techniques, while Vietnamese photographers mostly went about capturing scenes of life and humanity, according to Linh.

The 32 works selected for awards by FIAP and MOCST are good and vivid photos; they have aesthetic value, social meaning and profound emotion, according to Thanh, who is VAPA chairman.

“This proves that international and Vietnamese photographers have created their works based on the principles of peace, friendship and understanding among nations,” he added.

“I hope the exhibition will give artistic photography lovers a great chance to see great moments of life, nature, human feelings and the techniques of talent photographers as well,” said David Tay Poey Cher, representative of FIAP.

Seven Vietnamese photographers will be honoured and given medals/certificates together with foreign ones at the exhibition, where the works are being displayed.

As many as 342 photos selected from the contest, including the award-wining ones, will be displayed in Hanoi until November 7.