Vietnam Ambassador to Serbia presents credentials

Vietnam’s Ambassador to Serbia Tran Xuan Thuy has presented his credentials to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolie.

At the reception after the presentation, President Tomislav Nikolie expressed pleasure at the fine developments of the traditional relationship between Vietnam and Serbia, as well as between Vietnam and the former Yugoslavia in the past.

Ambassador Thuy forwarded Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang’s regards to the host, saying that he will exert every efforts during his tenure of office to contribute to strengthening the traditional relationship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Seminar discusses combating local corruption

A seminar was held in the central city of Danang on October 29-30 to discuss the real situation and solutions to prevent and control corruption in localities.

Representatives from the Government Chief Inspectorate, the Central Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention and Control, and the Danang municipal People’s Council and Committee attended the event, along with inspectors from 19 central and central highland provinces, British ambassador to Vietnam Antony Stokes and local and foreign legal experts.

Participants presented 14 reports on hands-on experience and solutions for combating corruption in localities, while experts introduced good local governance practices for Vietnam.

The seminar also focused on analyzing data, learning lessons from experiences in dealing with corruption, and evaluating the real situation and results of measures to prevent and control corruption five years after the Anti-Corruption Law was implemented.

To date, Vietnam has successfully organized 10 anti-corruption dialogues with international donors, focusing on managing areas at high risk of corruption such as construction capital investment, health care, education, land management and mineral resources.

The seminar is part of anti-corruption dialogues aimed at encouraging greater participation from localities in this forum and to gain an overview of local corruption prevention and control measures.

The co-hosting agencies have agreed to hold three more seminars prior to dialogues in the northern, central and southern regions.

The results of these regional seminars will provide input for the 11th Anti-Corruption Dialogue scheduled to take place on November 22.

Vietnam, RoK discuss Sea Law

An international seminar on the Law of the Sea of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) took place in the RoK city of Busan on October 29.

The event was jointly organised by the Research Centre for the Law of the Sea under the Vietnam Research Institute, Yongsan University, and the Institute of Ocean Sciences under the RoK Ministry of Natural Resources, Land and Oceanography.

Addressing the event, Director of the Research Institute for Maritime Law under the Youngsan University Jang Seong-ki said the event offers the two countries’ scholars a chance to present historic and practical legal evidence to solve issues related to territorial waters dispute, thus ensuring peace and stability in the region.

Vo Khanh Vinh, a representative of the Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences, said the Law of the Sea of Vietnam serves as a foundation for the country to settle territorial waters dispute with other countries in the spirit of respecting international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Participants at the event agreed that the UNCLOS is an important legal basis for coastal countries like Vietnam and the RoK to affirm their sovereignty and jurisdiction in accordance with the convention. It is also a foundation for the demarcation of the seas overlapped with other countries.

NA Vice Chairwoman receives UNICEF Chief Representative

National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong received the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief Representative in Vietnam, Lotta Sylwander, in Hanoi on October 29.

Phong praised the fine relationship and cooperation between the Vietnamese NA and UNICEF in implementing programmes for reducing poverty, ensuring social welfare and promoting proper childcare.

The programmes have been carried out properly and efficiently, and have helped Vietnam improve its communications capacity, law-making programmes and investment policies for children, especially those belonging to ethnic minority groups.

The Vietnamese Party and State gives top priority in their development policy to protecting, caring for and ensuring the rights of children.

The Vietnamese NA is aware of its role and responsibilities and is committed to building a solid legal system for protecting children’s interests.

During its third session, the NA adopted the Labour Code (revised), the Advertising Law and the Law on Handling Administrative Violations, all of which include policies for children, Phong said.

The NA Vice Chairwoman also said she hopes Ms Sylwander and her organization will continue to coordinate closely with the Vietnamese legislative body to revamp the legal system for child care, protection and education, which will facilitate children exercising their rights at all levels.

The UNICEF representative praised Vietnam’s child care and protection efforts over the years, while affirming that her organization will continue to support Vietnam in improving its research and supervisory system for the care and protection of children.

Bangladesh Prime Minister to visit Vietnam

Prime Minister of the Republic of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina will pay an official visit to Vietnam from November 2-4, the Foreign Ministry announced on October 19.

The visit is being made at an invitation by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the announcement further said.

Thai media highlights joint cabinet retreat with Vietnam

Many major Thai newspapers have given wide coverage of the second Vietnam-Thailand Joint Cabinet Retreat, during which both sides agreed to raise two-way trade to US$18 billion by 2015.

Matichon, Phuchatcan, Thairath and The Nation in their issues on October 29 focused on the signing of a joint statement, a joint declaration on the Thailand-Vietnam security vision for the 2012-2016 period, and an agreement on the establishment of Thailand-Vietnam and Vietnam-Thailand business councils.

At the retreat, the newspapers said, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Yingluck Shanawatra discussed the possibility of upgrading bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership. They agreed to cooperate in rice exports, rubber development, energy, oil and gas, and transportation and strengthen links along the East-West Economic Corridor.

The two government leaders also wanted to create more bilateral and multilateral cooperation channels, at both ASEAN and international levels and establish a joint committee to accelerate these strategies.

PM Shinawatra said the retreat indicated Vietnam’s determination to strengthen bilateral ties and invited her Vietnamese counterpart to visit Thailand. PM Dung highlighted the results of cooperation, especially in the political, security, and military fields.

According to the Thai News Agency, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers of Thailand and Vietnam also met for group discussions relating to such issues as politics-security, economics, and culture-society-education.

RoK defence official welcomed in Hanoi

Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, on October 29 received Rear Admiral Sur Kyong Jo, Director of the Defence Management Reform Agency under the RoK Ministry of National Defence.

Tuan noted that 2012 is an important milestone in bilateral relations as the two countries are celebrating the 20 th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

This is also a chance for the two sides to further boost their friendship, cooperation, mutual understanding and trust in the spirit of a strategic partnership, meeting the aspiration and interest of the two peoples as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large, he said.

Tuan spoke highly of the cooperation between the two Defence Ministries over the past time, especially in holding deputy minister-level strategic defence dialogues, exchanging delegations and personnel training, thus strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the two armies and the two peoples.

The RoK defence official expressed his belief that through the visit, many practical exchange and cooperation activities will be organised by both sides in the coming time.

President Sang visits Binh Phuoc Province

President Truong Tan Sang suggested southern Binh Phuoc Province focus on tapping its advantages in land and climate, to develop plants that generate high revenues and the farm processing industry.

The President visited Binh Phuoc Province on October 28 as part of his tour of several southern provinces to inspect the local socio-economic situation.

Visiting the Ta Vat border guard post stationed in the locality, President Sang praised the work of soldiers in maintaining security, assisting ethnic residents in poverty reduction and driving socio-economic development.

He stressed that winning the support of local people is very important for the border guard force, in order to fulfill their task of defending the national border and building a border line of peace, friendship and development.

In a meeting with representatives from local farm processing businesses, the President showed great interest in their performance over recent time.

He was reported that out of 1,000 processors in the province, only 300 were generating profit. The others are struggling to cope with falling prices of agricultural products, rising production cost and a shortage of capital.

The President re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to supporting businesses, with several policy adjustments on the pipeline to assist economic recovery.

Indochina judges target crime

The Chief Judges of the Supreme People's Courts of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia have co-chaired a meeting with judges from the three countries' border localities with the aim of giving a boost to co-operation in combating transnational crime.

The three-day meeting, the second of its kind, got under way on Saturday in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

In his opening speech, Cambodian Chief Judge Dith Munthy said the meeting demonstrated a new move to show the determination of the three countries' supreme courts to boost both bilateral and multilateral co-operation in the fight against transnational crime.

He stressed the task required a high sense of political will from the three countries' administrations as well as people's involvement, adequate infrastructure, quick information sharing, and support from regional and international security partners.

According to Vietnamese Chief Judge Truong Hoa Binh, the meeting took place at a time when organised criminal gangs had stretched their operations beyond their national boundaries in a sophisticated manner that demanded closer co-operation between courts around the world.

As well as a good opportunity to review past co-operation, the meeting would also enable the three countries' court sectors to exchange experience in crime prevention and legal assistance, and discuss co-operation mechanisms for them and for their subordinates in border sharing provinces, Binh said.

Delegates will discuss a report on co-operation between the court sectors of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia and witness the signing of a joint statement at the event, scheduled to end today.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA