HCM City leaders welcome foreign guests

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Manh Ha has said the city wants to attract more investment from Philippine businesses.

At a reception in HCM City on Sept. 24, visiting Speaker of the Philippines House of Representatives Feliciano Belmonte expressed his hope for cooperation and sharing experiences with HCM City in organising models of local authorities’ activities at all levels, especially the district level.

He said he hopes the municipal authorities will facilitate the Philippine community living in the city.

Both host and guest said the regular exchange of high-ranking and business delegations will help boost the two countries’ relations.

At another reception the same day, Vice Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee Le Minh Tri and visiting President of Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission Panthep Klanarongran emphasised the necessity of the prevention in the fight against corruption for the sustainable economic development and people’s trust.

The two sides expressed their wish to learn from each other’s experiences in the field.

They said the cooperative relations between the Thai Commission and the Vietnamese Government Inspectorate is a foundation for promoting the exchange between Vietnamese and Thai localities in fighting corruption.

They agreed that both sides will exchange delegations of leaders and inspectors in the time to come.

Corruption fight moves ahead

Vice Chairman of HCM City's People's Committee Le Minh Tri yesterday, Sept 24, said that prevention was extremely important in the fight against corruption.

Tri was speaking at a reception for a delegation from Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission led by its president, Panthep Klanarongran.

The two sides agreed that only if prevention was done well, socio-economic development would become sustainable and the faith of people maintained.

They also agreed that relations between the Thai commission and the Vietnamese Government Inspectorate was a good base to promote the relationship between localities in both countries.

Vietnam, Germany review partnership

Leaders of Ho Chi Minh City and the Germany Consulate in the city joined numerous diplomats and scientists of Vietnam and Germany on September 24 in a conference to look through the status and prospects of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

The conference was co-organised by the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Association (VGFA) and its Ho Chi Minh City chapter in conjunction with the German organisation Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).

Speaking at the event, Chu Tuan Cap, Vice President of the VGFA, said the establishment of the Vietnam-Germany strategic partnership in 2011 opened a new era for the two countries’ relations, lifting their cooperation to a new height and for the sake of peace, stability and cooperation in the region as well as in the world.

Participants at the conference reviewed the Vietnam-Germany relations over half of the past century, highly valuing the spiritual and material support that Germany gave Vietnam during its struggle for national independence and freedom.

Today, Germany is among top partners of Vietnam. Many agreements on various areas ranging from economic, science and technology to culture, legality have been signed, creating a sustainable basis for the development of the two countries’ cooperation, they said.

Particularly, Ho Chi Minh City and many German localities have seen significant progress in multifaceted cooperation.

Le Manh Ha, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said facilitated by the opening of the direct air route between Ho Chi Minh City and Frankfurt in 2005, strong commitments and increasingly favourable legal corridor, two-way trade between the city and Germany has risen remarkably.

Germany is now a leading trade partner of the city and one of its key investors, he said, citing the development aid of 240 million EUR for the metro line No. 2 as an example.

Vietnam wants further assistance, deputy PM

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has said he wants the World Health Organisation to continue assisting Vietnam and other countries and territories in the Western Pacific region to improve the quality of health care services for the people.

At a reception to WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Shin Young-soo in Hanoi on Sept. 24, Nhan said Vietnam highly values WHO’s leading role in the global health forums as well as its assistance to countries in the Western Pacific.

Vietnam’s hosting of the 63 rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific will help bring cooperation in healthcare between Vietnam and WHO and between Vietnam and other countries and territories in the Western Pacific to a new height, said the deputy PM.

He went on to say that the agenda of the meeting is extremely important and commensurate with Vietnam’s medical priorities and key areas such as health financing, nutrition, the health-related Millennium Development Goals and the prevention of accidents, injuries and diseases.

Vietnam also highly values the Resolution of WHO Assembly on Universal Health Coverage, Nhan said, adding that the country is doing its utmost to help all people access quality healthcare services.

The initiative to host the forum on medical insurance within the framework of this meeting reflects Vietnam’s commitment in the field, he affirmed.

For his part, Shin Young-soo said WHO will be more active to adapt to fast development not only in the public health sector but also socio-economic activities as this requires WHO’s assistance to be suitable to each nation.

President praises JCCI role

President Truong Tan Sang on September 24 highly valued the role the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) plays in strengthening the economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries.

Meeting with Chairman Tadashi Okamura in Hanoi, Sang said he hopes the Chamber will continue to encourage Japanese businesses to invest more to Vietnam, particularly in areas of high technology, infrastructure, human resources development and environment.

The President affirmed that despite the changes in the global political and economic situation in the past years, the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan has unceasingly developed.

He spoke highly of the large amount of ODA that Japan, a leading investor and the largest bilateral donor of Vietnam, has offered to the country.

Okamura said his organisation, as a top economic agency in Japan with more than 1 million members, is stepping up policies of supporting small-and-medium-sized enterprises to boost cooperation and investment in various countries in the world, including Vietnam.

The increasing number of Japanese enterprises operating in Vietnam is a clear evidence of the Japanese businesses’ interest to a country that plays an important role in Southeast Asia, he said.

The Chairman also affirmed that he will exert more effort to further strengthen economic, investment and trade cooperation between the two countries.

VNN/VNS/VNA