Defence Minister receives outgoing Australian ambassador

Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh received outgoing Australian Ambassador Allaster Cox in Hanoi on June 12.

General Thanh spoke highly of the ambassador’s contribution to the development of the Vietnam-Australia friendship and multifaceted cooperation, including defence cooperation.

He thanked the ambassador, the Australian government and Defence Ministry for helping the Vietnamese Defence Ministry in English language training, military medicine as well as supporting Vietnam within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Minister Meeting Plus over recent years.

Vietnam attaches importance to friendship and cooperation with Australia, General Thanh stressed, expressing his hope that Ambassador Cox, in his new position, will continue to help develop the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Ambassador Allaster Cox affirmed that he will make further contribution to the ties between the two countries and the two Defence ministries.

Vietnam attends FAO Council’s meeting in Rome

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat attended the 144th session of the Food and Agriculture Ogranisation (FAO) Council opened in Rome, Italy on June 11.    

In his speech, Minister Phat briefed the participants on the results of the 31st FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC) in Hanoi from March 12-16.

He said the event had attracted 300 delegates, including 19 ministers and 8 chief representatives from 39 FAO member countries in the region and 34 observers. They proposed some solutions to further promote food security and poverty reduction.

The focus was on five priority areas - strengthening food and nutrition security, accelerating agricultural production and rural development, promoting effective use and management of natural resources, improving capacities to cope with agriculture and food disasters and dealing with the impact of climate change in agriculture, food security and nutrition.

It was agreed that FAO should allocate and increase financial resources for the Asia-Pacific region to overcome food security challenges for two-thirds of hungry people in the face of climate change and natural disasters.

Minister Phat said the 32nd FAO regional conference will be held in Mongolia in 2014.

On the sidelines of the FAO Council’s meeting, Minister Phat met with some FAO officials and urged them to re-consider its project worth US$500,000 to control the spread of a particular shrimp disease in Vietnam.

He expressed hope that FAO will create conditions for Vietnamese experts to work for it as suggested by the FAO Director General at the APRC 31.

He added that Vietnam’s leading experts wish to work in the fields of rice production, seafood and rural development.

VN entrepreneur awarded Laos’ Labour Order

A Vietnamese entrepreneur has been awarded Laos ’ Labour Order, third class, for supporting Laos ’ National Assembly and people.

The Chairwoman of Laos’ NA, Pany Zathotou, presented the award to Le Van Kiem, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Long Thanh-Vientiane Special Economic Zone in Vientiane on June 11.

When speaking at the presentation ceremony, Pany Zathotou thanked Kiem for providing the Lao NA with equipment serving its 7 th session as well as for sponsoring the building of schools for poor pupils and houses of gratitude for Laotian war veterans as well as maintaining martyrs’ cemeteries.

Kiem has left a deep impression in the Laotian people’s hearts, as they see the return of a Vietnamese war veteran who had fought on Laotian battlefields and now returns to Laos to help the country develop, she said.

Kiem replied by saying he felt extremely honoured at receiving the noble reward and promised to continue with his social and charitable activities while striving to turn Long Thanh-Vientiane into a shining example of a special economic zone that highlights Vietnamese-Laotian fraternity.

Lao military officer welcomed

Deputy Minister of Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh received Lieutenant General Suphet Phayvisit, Director of the Lao People’s Army General Department of Logistics and Technology, in Hanoi on June 12.

Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh told his guest that officers and soldiers of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) are implementing activities to mark the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Year 2012, the 50 th anniversary of the Vietnam-Laos diplomatic ties and the 35 th year of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty.

Lt. Gen. Suphet Phayvisit informed his host of the results of his talks with his Lt. Gen. Nguyen Thanh Chau, Director of the VPA Technological General Department.

He affirmed that the Lao Party, State, army and people always bear in their mind the service and assistance of the Vietnamese Party, State, army and people to Laos during its struggle for national liberation in the past and in national building at present.

Congratulations to Russia on National Day

President Truong Tan Sang on June 12 sent a message of congratulations to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of the Russian Federation’s National Day (June 12).

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also cabled a congratulatory message to Chairman of the Russian Federation’s Government Dmitry Medvedev on the occasion.

DPRK Party delegation visits new rural area model

A delegation of the Korean Workers’ Party led by head of its Central Committee’ Commission for International Affairs Kim Yong Il, has visited the northern province of Thai Binh to study the model of rural area development.

At a working session with the delegation on June 12, Tran Cam Tu, Secretary of the Thai Binh Provincial Party Committee, said that the province is accelerating the development of new rural area in line with the National Target Programme on New Rural Development from 2010-2020.

Thai Binh expects to fulfill the programme in all communes by 2020, so that the province meets all the standards for a new rural province, he added.

Tu, who is also member of the Party Central Committee, stressed the solidarity and friendship between the two Parties and peoples of Vietnam and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He said that Thai Binh province’s Party Committee and people always keep in mind the valuable assistance from the DPRK’s Korean Workers’ Party and people to the Vietnamese people in the past struggle for national independence and reunification as well as national construction and defence at the present.

For his part, Kim Yong Il, who is a member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, spoke highly of Thai Binh’s economic development, especially in agricultural production, poverty reduction as well as employment and social welfare.

He attributed the achievements to the sound policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

Later in the day, the delegation made a fact-finding tour of a rural area model in Thanh Tan commune, Kien Xuong district.

VietNamNet/Vietnam Plus