Nation affirms importance of ties with Cambodia

Viet Nam attaches great importance to its relations with Cambodia and would make every effort to nurture the bilateral traditional friendship and comprehensive co-operation, said a senior Party official.

Hoang Binh Quan, a member of the Communist Party of Viet Nam's (CPV) Central Committee and head of its Commission for External Relations, made the statement at meetings with several of Cambodia's leaders during his visit to the country from February 14-15.

Quan, who doubles as the Special Envoy of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, was received by King Norodom Sihamoni, Chairman of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and President of the Senate Chea Sim, Vice Chairman of the CPP and Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Honorary Chairman of the CPP and President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin.

Quan informed his hosts about the outcomes of the CPV's 11th National Congress, saying that documents adopted at the congress were a profound summary of the theoretical and practical issues of socialism construction and of Viet Nam's national defence during its 25 years of renewal; 20 years of implementing the CPV's 1991 Political Platform; 10 years of performing the 2001-2010 socio-economic development strategy; and five years of executing the Resolution of the 10th National Party Congress.

The documents were the essence of the will and desires of the entire Party and people, the continued confirmation, perfection and development of the Party's renewal policy and a foundation for the country to become a modern industrialised nation by 2020, he said.

The Cambodian leaders thanked Party General Secretary Trong for sending the special envoy to inform them about the CPV's 11th National Congress, which reflected the time-honoured friendship and mutual trust between leaders of the two nations.

They said they believed that, under the sound leadership of the CPV with Nguyen Phu Trong as its General Secretary, the Vietnamese people would successfully implement the 11th National Party Congress's Resolution and reap even greater rewards, thereby building Viet Nam into a modern industrialised country by 2020.

The Cambodian leaders used the occasion to thank the Party, Government and people of Viet Nam for the valuable support and assistance they had extended to Cambodia during their past struggles for national liberation, escape from Pol Pots genocial regime as well as in national reconstruction and development.

Russian military friendship boosted

Viet Nam always treasures the fine traditional friendship with the Russian army and people.

Lieutenant General Truong Quang Khanh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, made the statement while receiving VK Dzirkaln, Deputy Director of the Federal Service of Technical Military Co-operation of Russia (FSTMC) and chairman of the Russian sub-committee of the Russia-Viet Nam Intergovernmental Commitee on Technical Military Co-operation (RVIC) in Ha Noi yesterday, Feb 15.

Lieutenant General Khanh said that in recent years, through RVIC, bilateral technical military co-operation has been carried out effectively, contributing to strengthening and developing friendly relations between the two peoples and armies.

Dzirkaln said he highly valued the outcomes of technical military co-operation between the two armies following the 12th annual RVIC meeting, adding that the current visit was a good chance for the two sides to put forward solutions to develop bilateral co-operative ties in the near future.

Deputy PM sets targets for northern mountains

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong has seen a lot of work ahead for the disadvantaged northwestern mountainous region to catch up with the nation, despite its huge socio-economic achievements last year.
At a meeting held in Tuyen Quang province on February 15, Trong told the Northwestern Steering Board, of which he is chair, that the region has made slow progress in developing a commodity economy and wasted a number of advantages.
“The regional per-capita income remains low, the poverty rate is high and the rate of skilled workers is lagging behind the nation as they make up just 30.2 percent of the regional workforce against the national average of 40 percent,” said the Deputy PM.
Drug trafficking is getting worse and the number of drug users and HIV-AIDS carriers remain huge, he pointed out.
Trong called on the regional leaders to pay attention to human resource development, especially training for grassroots cadres and those from ethnic minorities.
It is necessary to speed up transfer of technology and application of technical and scientific advances by strengthening cooperation between enterprises and farmers, push up economic restructuring and better tap the potential of each sub-region, he emphasised.
He also pointed out the need to expand intensive farming and develop craft villages, while tapping cultural, historic and ecological advantages in service of tourism.
Efforts should be taken to curb social evils, especially drug-related crimes and HIV-AIDS, as well as to speed up administrative reforms and the fight against corruption and waste as a measure to attract investment, Trong said.
The region last year recorded a high GDP growth rate at 12.55 percent, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.17 percent.
The State-funded poverty alleviation programme for 43 poor districts in the region has helped bring the regional poverty rate down by 3.85 percent to 18.77 percent.

VNN/VOV/VNS