State President visits Marine Police Department

Marine police need to coordinate with other forces to protect Vietnam’s sovereignty of territorial waters and its jurisdictional rights, said President Truong Tan Sang during his visit to the Vietnam Marine Police Department on March 5.

President Sang praised the efforts of officials and soldiers of the force, especially those who are on duty to defend sea and island sovereignty, maintain law enforcement and conduct search and rescue work on the country’s territorial waters.

He said to fulfill all assigned tasks, the Vietnam Marine Police Force need to promote international cooperation, especially with neighbouring countries for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region on the basis of respect for international laws.

The fourth conference of the 10th tenure of the Vietnamese Communist Party Central Committee adopted the Resolution on Vietnam’s Marine Strategy until 2020 to turn Vietnam into a strong nation in terms of sea exploitation, said Mr Sang.

To achieve the target, Mr Sang suggested the marine police force consolidate in terms of politics and ideology, improve training quality, promote the image of sea and islands and expand cooperation with other countries in the region and the world.

At the meeting, leaders of the department informed President Sang about theirs tasks performed during the past few years and orientations for its work in 2012 and the following years.

Singapore PM eyes more trade with VN

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reaffirmed his commitment to encourage Singaporean enterprises to invest in Viet Nam during his meeting with Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh yesterday, March 5.

At the meeting to welcome Minh, who started his official visit to Singapore yesterday at the invitation of his Singaporean counterpart K Sanmugam, the Singaporean leader expressed his delight at the continuing prosperous relations between the two countries, highlighting the visit of President Truong Tan Sang to Singapore last September and the upcoming visit by Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam to Viet Nam.

Minh reaffirmed Viet Nam's consistent policy to foster fruitful relationships between Viet Nam and all ASEAN member countries, including Singapore.

During the meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers, both sides provided updates on the current socio-economic situation in their countries and on progress in trade and commercial co-operations within the frameworks of multilateral forums.

The two sides agreed that the ongoing relations could be upgraded to the next level, contributing to peace and stability in the region and the world.

Minh recognised Singapore as one of the leading traders and investors in Viet Nam. The two foreign ministers also expressed satisfaction over progress within the Viet Nam-Singapore Connectivity Framework Agreement.

However, other areas should also be given higher priorities in the future, including education training, agriculture and tourism, among others, according to the ministers.

Both Viet Nam and Singapore supported efforts to build the ASEAN Community by 2015 and to deal with the East Sea situation using existing international laws and agreements.

PM sends condolences over head-on train crash in Poland

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday, March 5, extended his condolences over a recent train crash in Szczekociny, Poland, to his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk.

Two trains collided head-on in southern Poland on March 3, killing at least 16 and injuring around 60 others in the country's worst train crash for 20 years.

Senior leaders congratulate new Russian President

On March 5, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent congratulatory messages to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin who won the victory in Russia’s presidential election.

In their messages, the Vietnamese leaders affirmed that they will continue promoting cooperation with Mr Putin in his capacity as Russian President with the aim of further strengthening the traditional friendship and strategic partnership between the two countries in the future.

Vietnam contributes to human rights protection

Vietnam has stood for membership on the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2014-2016, affirming the country’s strong commitment and resolve to make its contribution to international efforts in promoting and protecting human rights.

The Government’s decision was based on achievements in the field of human rights, the State’s consistent policy of respecting and ensuring human rights and a desire of making contributions to the international community’s efforts in promoting and protecting human rights, Pham Hai Anh, Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of International Organisations, said. 

“The country has gained great achievements in ensuring and upholding human rights in all such areas as civil, political, socio-economic and cultural issues, which received recognition by the international community,” he added. 

Vietnam places importance on the role and contributions by the UN Human Rights Council in accelerating the implementation of human rights around the world, he said, adding that the country believes in its ability to undertake membership of the council, contributing to the council’s common work to raise efficiency, transparency and objectiveness in the spirit of dialogue, cooperation, equality and mutual respect. 

“We highly appreciate cooperation, positive and effective support to Vietnam from international organizations and countries during the nation’s process on socio-economic development and ensuring human rights,” he said.

He also said Vietnam hopes to continue receiving support from other countries for its effort for the membership on the UN Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 term.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA