PM to attend ASEAN, East Asia summits

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will lead a Vietnamese delegation to take part in the 19th ASEAN Summit and other related meetings including ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit, and ASEAN+1 with partners, held from November 17-19 in Bali.

The delegation's planned visit is made at the invitation of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Governor-General of Canada to visit

The Governor General of Canada, David Johnston, will pay a state visit to Viet Nam.

Johnston has been invited by President Truong Tan Sang, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.

The visit will last from November 16 to 19.

WB special envoy on climate change visits Vietnam

The World Bank’s Special Envoy on climate change Andrew Steer is on a visit to Vietnam to assess the impact of climate change on the Southeast Asian country.

In his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on November 10, Steer discussed the WB plan for member countries’ activities to respond to climate change and proposals on the institution’s assistance to Vietnam from funds set up by the WB and co-donors.

Deputy PM Hai spoke highly of the WB’s recent achievements, saying that the institution plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable poverty reduction in developing countries and promoting global trade, particularly food security, renewable energy development and environmental protection.

He hailed Steer’s cooperative efforts in his earlier capacity as WB resident director in Vietnam, from 1997-2002.

The Deputy PM expressed his wish that the WB would continue to help Vietnam seek aid sources and technical assistance, since Vietnam is among countries most at risk from climate change and rising sea level.

Hai took this opportunity to thank the WB for providing a loan worth US$70 million to the programme on climate change (Phase I).

He said he wants the WB to consider soft loans to projects relating to coastal protective forests, construction of a tidal dyke system and enhancement of flood control in vulnerable urban cities and central provinces.

Public security body receives top decoration

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has presented the Gold Star Order, the noblest decoration of the Vietnamese State, to the People’s Public Security Institute on the occasion of its 65th anniversary.

At the ceremony in Hanoi on November 11, PM Dung commended the institute’s lecturers and students on their contributions to ensuring national security over the past 65 years.

The institute should enhance training the police forces with political firmness and a pure revolutionary quality, he said.

The PM said “The institute should develop itself into a major scientific centre, gaining prestige not only in the public security sector but also in other fields. The institute should contribute to perfecting professional theories, techniques and skills in its speciality, thus helping address effectively newly-arising issues in the era of international integration and globalisation.”

He said he hope the institute will become a major university of the public security sector and the nation and successfully complete its assigned task and make more practical contributions to the national education and training cause and the police forces.

Director of the Institute Phan Duc Du said that the institute has fulfilled its political tasks assigned by the Party, State and the Ministry of Public Security and met the demands of the fight to ensure national security in different periods of the revolution.

At present, more than half of its lecturers hold doctorates and masters degrees, he added.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau to become modern port province

Ba Ria – Vung Tau aims to develop its marine economy, thus becoming a modern industrialized province in the 2010-2015 period.

Nguyen Tuan Minh, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, was speaking at a ceremony celebrating the province’s 20th anniversary, which was attended by former State President Nguyen Minh Triet, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and representatives of ministries, agencies, localities, as well as local soldiers and people.

Addressing the event, Deputy PM Phuc underlined the achievements made by the southern coastal province in the nation’s construction and protection.
 
Ba Ria-Vung Tau has proved its important role in the industrialization and modernization process, he said, adding that it is not only a centre of oil and gas exploration and exploitation, but also a provider of power, fertilizer, chemical substances, and steel for domestic consumption and exports. The province is also Vietnam’s top locality in terms of foreign direct investment attraction.

Deputy PM Phuc expressed the belief that Ba Ria – Vung Tau will uphold its spirit of unity, creativity and renovation, taking advantage of its resources in order to become a modern port city.

On the occasion, Mr Phuc granted the province a Ho Chi Minh Order in recognition of its achievements.

Established in 1991, Ba Ria-Vung Tau displays great potential for developing the economy, notably the marine economy. The province maintained a large-scale economy in the southern key economic region with annual GDP growth rate of 19.85 percent (excluding oil and gas) in the 1992-2010 period and an annual per capita income of US$5,000.

Institutional reform receives top priority

The Government will focus on institutional reform over the next 10 years, working to ensure the efficiency and accuracy of the law-making process.

As part of a comprehensive plan for administrative reform, Viet Nam has set a target of simplifying bureaucratic procedures and improving the quality of public services, particularly those that relate directly to the people and enterprises.

In the next five years, key objectives would be to enhance the business environment, liberalise all societal resources and sharpen the national competitive edge, in order to bring about rapid and sustainable economic development.

Reforms would concentrate on areas such as investment, construction, taxation, customs, import and export, health care, education, labour and technology.

Transparency and accountability would be upheld throughout the governmental review process.

Officials involved in the administrative reform campaign have said that, by 2020, they would require the rate of satisfaction with public services to be at 80 per cent.

Under Resolution 30c/NQ-CP, merit-based tests would be necessary in order to recruit new staff and to issue promotions to senior positions.

By 2020, civil servants and public employees would all earn middle-class salaries. Viet Nam would eliminate the existing system of staff – based budget allocation and replace it with a results-based model. With the new mechanism, the output and quality of Government offices would be more easily controlled. This fundamental change would become an important tool in the longer process of administrative reform.

Policy-makers have also indicated that, by 2020, 90 per cent of communication circulated among State offices should be in electronic form, no longer reliant on costly paper resources.

The period of administrative reform would be divided into two five-year phases, from 2011 to 2015 and 2016 to 2020.