Prime Minister leaves for China, ASEAN expo

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on September 20 for the ninth ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) and China-ASEAN Business-Investment Summit (CABIS) in Nanning, the capital of China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The PM is accompanied by Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Vu Duc Dam, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, Deputy Foreign Minister Ho Xuan Son, Deputy Finance Minister Vu Thi Mai, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Nguyen Van Tho and other senior officials.

On the occasion, Nhan Dan daily, the newspaper of the Communist Party of Vietnam, carried an editorial, saying the PM’s attendance at the two-day events, aims to strengthen the reliable political relations between the two countries’ high-ranking leaders.

It also affirms the Vietnamese Party and State’s policies of attaching great importance to developing the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with China under the motto of “friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive cooperation, long term stability and looking towards the future” and in the spirit of “good neighbour, good friend, good comrade and good partner.”

The PM’s attendance also clearly shows Vietnam’s viewpoint of stepping up the settlement of disputes and arising problems in the East Sea through peaceful negotiations, leaving no impacts on the relations between the two Parties and States, the editorial says.

China became Vietnam’s leading trade partner with two-way trade exceeding 30 billion USD in 2011.

In the first seven months of this year, two-way trade reached nearly 23 billion USD, representing a year-on-year increase of 20 percent.

During the period, China invested in 857 projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 4.5 billion USD, ranking 14 th out of 96 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

It remains Vietnam’s largest tourism market. In the first eight months of 2012, as many as 893,000 Chinese visitors came to Vietnam.

CAEXPO is held annually by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the 10 ASEAN countries and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Amongst to the countries participating at this year’ expo, Vietnam has the largest number of stands, with 200 covering an area of 3,500 sq. m.

Last year, Vietnamese business occupied 196 stands out of the 1,200 taken by ASEAN countries. Since then 120 of those businesses have signed contracts worth 950 million USD.

HCM City leader welcomes German minister

Germany and Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular have a good long-lasting relationship, says mayor Le Hoang Quan.

Quan was speaking at a reception for a visiting German Minister of Economics and Technology Philipp Rosler in HCM City on September 19.

At present, two-way trade between HCM City and Germany exceeds US$1.2 billion, he said, adding that 60 German businesses are investing in the city with a total capitalisation of more than US$300 million while the number of tourists from Germany to HCM city is on the rise.

Quan highlighted huge potential for cooperation between Germany and HCM City and expressed his hope more German companies will invest in the city, especially in infrastructure, economics, industry and services.

Rosler praised the HCM City’s economic environment and said he hopes that there will be more German enterprises to invest in Vietnam and HCM City.

He also said he expects the municipal authorities to create favourable conditions for the building of the German House and pledged that Germany is willing to help HCM City to implement the second urban metro project.

The building of the Vietnam-Germany University and the German international school in the city demonstrates the fine relationship between his country and HCM City, he added.

On this occasion, Minister Rosler attended the inauguration ceremony of the German international school and the Germany-Vietnam technology academy.

The same day, he participated in the Vietnam-Germany Business Forum, which drew more than 400 delegates.

Addressing the event, Rosler voiced his support for the Vietnam- EU Free Trade Agreement, which, he said, will act as basis for the two sides to boost bilateral cooperation.

The successful negotiations on the Vietnam-EU FTA will bring great opportunities for the two countries, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang asserted.

Delegates discussed issues relating to vocation training for industries and enterprises as well as technology development in agricultural product processing.

Cambodian King to visit Vietnam

Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Borormneath Norodom Sihamouni will pay an official visit to Vietnam from September 24-26.

The visit is made at the invitation of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.

Nation's UN envoy looks back over General Assembly session

Head of Viet Nam's mission to the United Nations, Ambassador Le Hoai Trung, claimed the nation made great contributions to the success of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly.

Trung was speaking to Vietnam News Agency in New York to mark the conclusion of the session.

He said that despite increasing world conflicts and the slow recovery of the global economy, the 66th session recorded many successes, especially in playing an intermediary role in reconciliation and promoting environmental protection and social development.

He said member countries valued Viet Nam's recommendations, claiming that they were practical and effective, adding that the "one-UN in Viet Nam" initiative was considered a useful lesson for improving the efficiency of UN operations around the globe.

During the session, he said Viet Nam participated in a high-ranking forum on South-South co-operation and a meeting of the Committee on Sustainable Development.

It also put forward initiatives and recommendations to help improve the efficiency of these multilateral mechanisms.

Hanoi, Seoul boost cooperation

Cooperation between Hanoi and Seoul has contributed to deepening and diversifying the relations between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea.

Hanoi People’s Council Chairwoman Ngo Thi Doan Thanh affirmed this at a meeting with a visiting delegation of the Seoul Metropolitan Council led by its Chairman Kim Myung Soo, in Hanoi on September 18.

The visit took place in the context that Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties (December 22, 1992-2012).

Thanh noted that Seoul has helped Hanoi set up the electronic government system and make urbanisation plans for areas along the Red River banks. Many RoK-funded projects in Hanoi are operating effectively, which have reflected the fine cooperation for mutual development between the two capital cities.

For his part, Kim Myung Soo said the visit of his delegation aims to share experience and strengthen cooperation with Hanoi, for mutual benefit.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA