Prime Minister meets with newly-assigned diplomats

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on June 19 met with newly-assigned Vietnamese ambassadors and consul-generals before they take up their positions overseas for the 2013-16 term.

The PM stressed that in order to fulfill their tasks, the ambassadors and consul-generals need to understand thoroughly the Party and State’s policies in all sectors.

Photo: VGP

He said great importance should be attached to political diplomacy, in order to deepen friendship and mutual understanding between Vietnam and other nations in the world and lay the foundation for economic cooperation.

At the same time, economic diplomacy should be promoted to garner support for the country’s efforts to sign FTA with its partners, help expand export markets, attract ODA and FDI projects as well as learn about economic management experiences from other countries.

The PM also requested that the diplomats should try to make other countries understand better Vietnam’s policies and stance, thus countering and invalidating distorted information spread by hostile forces.

In addition, the government leader stressed that Vietnamese communities overseas are indispensable part of the Vietnamese nation. Therefore, the diplomats must take good care of them, he said.

ASEAN, China work on search, rescue in East Sea

Government officials and scholars of ASEAN countries and China yesterday morning, June 19, gathered in the capital to intensify co-operation on search and rescue services for distressed fishermen and vessels in the East Sea.

The two-day conference is a part of the ASEAN-China working plan on guiding the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC).

The conference hopes to enable participants to establish trust through search and rescue co-operation.

It will also study factors influencing co-operative humanitarian aid in the region and propose specific measures for closer links.

Vietnam congratulates Iran’s new president

President Truong Tan Sang on June 19 sent a letter of congratulation to the newly-elected President of Iran Hassan Rowhani.

Hassan Rowhani was elected as the new President of Iran in the elections on June 14.

VFF leader congratulates Buddhist community on its 74th anniversary

The President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee, Huynh Dam, has sent his best wishes to the Hoa Hao Buddhist sect’s Executive Committee, dignitaries and followers on the occasion of its 74th founding anniversary.

In his message, Dam expressed his pleasure at the improvement of the followers’ material and spiritual life.

He highlighted the Hoa Hao Buddhist followers’ active participation in patriotic emulation movements, and practical contribution to the cause of national construction and defence in line with the party and state’s policies and guidelines.

The VFF leader also expressed his belief that the sect’s dignitaries and followers will stick to the principle of “For religion, for the nation”, to help strengthen the great bloc of national unity.

ASEAN told: fight money laundering

VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam's Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quy Vuong has warned against the emerging threats of money laundering and cyber crime and called for ASEAN nations to work together to stop these criminals operating in the region.

Vuong made the call at the opening ceremony of the 13th ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime, which was held in the central city of Da Nang yesterday.

"These growing transnational crimes challenge the security of every ASEAN nation, so members must work together to deal with them," he said.

Viet Nam's police force, working with its ASEAN colleagues, detected 261 cyber crimes last year which resulted in a loss of VND2 trillion (US$95 million), the Viet Nam Interpol office has reported.

In the first three months of this year, police detected 17 incidents and arrested 34 people on online fraud charges.

According to Lieutenant General Do Kim Tuyen, deputy head of the Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, money laundering is still a very new crime in Viet Nam.

He said the police force had detected 650 suspicious bank transactions last year, of which 22 have since been placed under investigation.

However, the financial damage done by money laundering has yet to be reported.

The meetings in Da Nang will end on Friday.

There are 200 participants from the 10 ASEAN member nations and the bloc's key dialogue partners: China, Japan, the US, South Korea, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project.

Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, the head of the Philippines delegation Felizando Serapior said: "During the group session we discussed initiatives to improve the training of staff working to combat human trafficking.

"We also emphasised that further education is needed for border patrol officers because they play an important role in the management of immigration."

Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, head of the Thai delegation, revealed that his country had requested environmental crimes to be included in the transnational crime meeting discussions.

"This type of crime is an alarming problem because it infringes wildlife and can badly impact the environment in many countries. Despite this, strong enough action has not yet been taken to bring environmental criminals to justice," he said.

Charleroi City links Vietnam-Belgium friendship

Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Pham Sanh Chau visited Charleroi City on June 17 at the invitation of the Charleroi municipal mayor, Paul Magnette.

Many Charleroi municipal officials welcomed Chau’s visit, saying it took place at a time when the two countries are celebrating 40 years of diplomatic ties.

They said they are happy at the positive development of the two countries’ cooperative relations and wanted to speed up joint cooperation projects with Vietnam.

They added that the municipal council is considering establishing a sisterhood relationship with a Vietnamese locality.

Charleroi is Belgium’s third largest city with over million people.

During the visit, Ambassador Chau also met with representatives of Sporting Charleroi football club, JetRaid water motorsports organisation board, and KPN telecommunication group.

Sporting Charleroi club accepted Chau’s invitation to visit Vietnam for a friendly football tournament in early 2014.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA