EU, Viet Nam to deepen ties

The EU and Viet Nam affirmed their commitments to continue developing bilateral relations at a meeting of the Eighth Joint Commission held in Brussels on Monday.

The meeting was chaired by Viet Nam's Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Cao Viet Sinh and Viorel Budura, managing director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service.

Both parties agreed to facilitate the necessary procedures to sign a new Partnership and Co-operation Agreement, which will diversify EU-Viet Nam co-operation in the future. The EU also reaffirmed its commitment to support Viet Nam's economic and social development plan, especially in poverty reduction, health and justice sector reforms, trade-related assistance and governance.

They agreed to work on eliminating trade and investment barriers and explored Free Trade Agreement negotiations. The Joint Commission also agreed to upgrade their regular Human Rights Dialogue by the end of this year.

The EU-Viet Nam Joint Commission meeting is held bi-annually to facilitate high-level discussions within the framework of the EC-Viet Nam Co-operation Agreement signed in July 1995.

Vietnam attends 10th ACD ministerial meeting

Asia plays an important role in the global economy with its constant efforts to improve the efficiency of ACD cooperation. 

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh affirmed this at the 10th Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Ministerial Meeting in Kuwait on October 10-11.

He said Vietnam is willing to cooperate with ACD member countries to contribute to sustainable development and prosperity in the region. 

Deputy FM Minh stressed the need for a renovation in the development model of countries in the context of globalisation and changes in the global economy, with human resource development policy playing a key role. 

He also asked member countries to help each other in sharing experience in human resource development, improving capability for designing and carrying out human resource development policy, implementing cooperative programmes in the fields of education, vocational training and job creation in combination with poverty reduction and sustainable development policies. 

Themed, “Towards a better future for Asian cooperation”, the event focused on discussing measures to support Asian countries at the time of global economic crisis, opportunities to increase the use of natural resources in a reasonable way, improve transport infrastructure and environment protection, and promote cultural exchanges among young people. 

The event, chaired by Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohamed Al-Sabah in the presence of foreign ministers and head delegates of 31 ACD member countries, adopted a joint declaration affirming pathways for cooperation among member countries, with a view to strengthening economic and trade links, as well as developing cooperative projects in other areas. 

The 11th ACD Ministerial Meeting will be held in Tajikistan in 2012.

Deputy PM Phuc meets with India’s minister of law and justice

Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc held talks with India Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khurshid and representatives of Indian businesses on October 12.

During the meeting, Mr Khurshid expressed his admiration for the Vietnamese people’s past struggle for independence and their present-day national construction. He said India is willing to share with Vietnam its rich experiences in devising maritime and environmental law as well as in applying information technology to court and justice management.

For his part, Mr Phuc said Vietnam pays much attention to training human resources and expressed hope that India will assist Vietnam to train judicial staff.

In another meeting, Shantanu Srivastava, Chief Executive Officer of Ishan International Pvt.Ltd, called on Vietnamese businesses to invest in the Indian market. He said no Vietnamese businesses have set up any office in India whereas Indian businesses have established more than 70 offices in Vietnam.

Srivastava affirmed that it will benefit Vietnamese businesses to operate in India because this market is large and has cheap labour.

While meeting with representatives of India’s Tata, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Le Dung promised to introduce Tata to a list of Vietnam’s thermal power projects.

Mr Dung said the Vietnamese government is keen on the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode.

The same day, Deputy PM Phuc met with culture researcher Geetesh Sharma, a great friend of Vietnam, who wrote several books about President Ho Chi Minh and cultural similarities between India and Vietnam.

Vietnam, RoK strengthen relations

Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are set to tighten ties of friendship and cooperation.

The affirmation was made by Vice Chairman of the Vietnam-RoK Friendship Association (VRFA) Huynh The Cuoc and the RoK Consul-General in Ho Chi Minh City , Oh Jae Hak, at a meeting on October 12 to mark the 4,343th anniversary of the establishment of the RoK (October 3, 2333 BC – October 3, 2011). 

Cuoc said the Vietnam - Republic of Korea (RoK) friendship and cooperation have seen constant growth over the years. 

The cooperation in economic development between the two countries has proved very effective with the RoK becoming largest investor in Vietnam with 2,823 projects worth US$23 billion, he said. 

The two countries are scheduled to organise the 20th anniversary of Vietnam-RoK diplomatic ties in 2012.

Nation to aid Laos in boosting technology infrastructure

The Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology has placed top priority on helping Lao officials in scientific and technological management for purposes of alleviating poverty and developing information infrastructure.

Minister Nguyen Quan made the statement at the 2nd Viet Nam – Laos Science and Technology Co-operation Committee meeting in the capital on Tuesday.

He expressed the hope that scientists from both sides would continue tightening co-operation, adding that from 2009-2011, Viet Nam had helped Laos build several laboratories, transferring technologies to Lao scientists and researchers to enable more efficient operations.

Professor Boviengkham Vondara, co-chairman of the committee, asked Viet Nam to provide Laos with additional support in information exchange in science and technology, intellectual property rights, weight and measurement standards, human resources training and strategies of state management.

During the meeting, the two sides signed documents related to co-operation in the fields of information technology, training and energy.

On this occasion, Minister Vongdara presented the Labour Order (2nd Class) of the Laos State to former Minister Hoang Van Phong, the Labour Order (3rd Class) to Thach Can, former director of the International Co-operation Department, and the Friendship Order to Vu Van Khiem, rector of the Science and Technology Management School.­­

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA