The People’s Committee of the south-central province of Khanh Hoa has sent an official document to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan asking that it be excused from hosting the Miss World 2010 pageant in Nha Trang City.
The committee said the province’s leaders together with Hoang Kieu, CEO of the US-based Rare Antibody Antigen Supply, Inc. (RAAS) had worked with the Miss World Organization (MW) on organizing the pageant in Vietnam in October 2007.
After studying the site, MW and RASS signed a contract on July 9, 2008 to hold the final round of the 60th Miss World pageant, which is scheduled to take place from October 3 to November 6, 2010, in Vietnam.
Then, the RAAS sent an official document to the committee on July 11, 2008 asking for permission to hold the pageant in Nha Trang. The committee, in turn, sought permission from the Government, ministries and relevant agencies to host the pageant on July 30.
The Government Office informed them on September 30, 2008 that Deputy Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan had approved the province’s request.
The committee held a joint press meeting with RAAS and MW on October 15, 2008 to announce its hosting of the pageant.
However, RAAS sent the committee an official letter on September 21, 2009 informing that it would ask the Government’s permission to hold the final round in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.
Due to RAAS’s inconsistent attitudes in organizing the pageant, the province’s leaders had assigned its enterprises to approach and campaign for hosting the Miss Earth 2010 pageant in Nha Trang instead of the Miss World contest.
The Miss Earth Organizing Board approved this request in late 2009.
The province has asked permission from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to host the 2nd Miss World Vietnamese and Miss Earth pageants, and therefore it is asking for permission to withdraw from hosting the Miss World 2010 pageant, the letter said.
However, so far, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has maintained that it is yet to receive communication from Khanh Hoa Province or the Government about the withdrawal, while Tien Giang Province is also yet to inform whether it will persist in its efforts to host the pageant.
With just eight months to go before the event, there is only more confusion about who will organize it and where it will be held.
Related article:
RAAS pulls out of Miss World 2010
