US 7th Fleet Commander visits Vietnam

Lieutenant General Tran Quang Khue, Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, received the visiting Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk, Commander of the US 7th Fleet, in Hanoi on Aug. 5.

Lieut. Gen. Khue hailed Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk and his entourage’s visit, and expressed his hope this visit would contribute to boosting relations and mutual understanding between the two navies, armies and peoples.

Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk expressed his joy at visiting Vietnam to learn about the country’s history, its land and people and the Vietnam People’s Army.
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New leaders receive more congratulations

President Truong Tan Sang, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung continued to receive congratulatory messages from foreign counterparts on their elections during the ongoing first session of the 13th NA.

Cuban First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee and President of the State Council and Council of Ministers, Raul Castro Ruz sent congratulatory messages to President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

In the messages, the Cuban leader expressed his determination to continue boosting the traditional friendship and cooperation between Cuba and Viet Nam.

Emperor Akihito of Japan extended congratulations to President Truong Tan Sang, expressing his sincere and best wishes. He also wished prosperity for Viet Nam.

On this occasion, President Sang received greetings from his counterparts: Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Myanmar President Thein Sein, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, Panama President Ricardo Martinelli, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov, East Urugayan President Jose Mujica, Sudan President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir; and UNICEF Representative to Viet Nam Lotta Sylwander.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Kim Hwang-sik cabled a greeting message to Prime Minister Dung, expressing his wish to continue close cooperation for the development of friendship between the two countries.

Prime Minister Dung also received congratulations from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Myanmar President Thein Sein, Panama President Ricardo Martinelli, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Tunisian Provisional Prime Minister Beji Caid Essebsi, East Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, and Sudan President Omar Hassan Ahmad al- Bashir.

Meanwhile, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung received greetings from Japanese Senate President Takeo Nishioka, who expressed his hope that relations between the two countries would be further developed through the exchange between the two parliaments.

The Japanese top senator expressed thanks to Viet Nam for great assistance to Japan after its eastern earthquake.

Indonesian Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, Taufik Kiemas sent a congratulatory message to Chairman Hung on this occasion.

VN, Thai links continue to develop

Co-operation between Viet Nam and Thailand had ceaselessly developed in many fields, from central to local levels, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Ngo Duc Thang said yesterday.

Thang was speaking to mark the 35th anniversary of the setting up of diplomatic ties between the two countries - on August 6, 1976.

The two sides had also promoted close co-operation in the region and the world, especially since Viet Nam joined the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on July 28, 1995, Thang said.

He said the two countries had established a comprehensive co-operation framework in politics, economics, trade, investment, culture and society, education, training, sports, tourism, defence and security, formal diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy, as stated in the Joint Declaration on Viet Nam-Thailand Co-operation Framework in February, 2004.

He added that a series of important agreements had created conditions for the two countries to continue developing their co-operative ties, especially the Agreement on August 9, 1997, which was considered a model in dealing with disputes in the region and the world.

Last year, total trade between Viet Nam and Thailand reached more than US$7.5 billion, a year-on-year rise of 21 per cent. Thai businesses were currently engaged in more than 230 projects in Viet Nam.

With about $6 billion invested in Viet Nam since 1988, Thailand is one of 10 countries and territories that have posted large investments.

Ambassador Thang said the friendly and comprehensive co-operation fostered by the two countries would develop more finely in line with regional and world development trends.

He said all co-operative fields would be strengthened for the happiness and prosperity of the two nations as well as for the common prosperity of ASEAN. This would make further contributions to the establishment of the ASEAN Community, especially the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The diplomat said that, first, it was necessary to quickly speed up the signing of a bilateral labour co-operation agreement, which would bring multifaceted benefits to the two governments and peoples as well as promoting bilateral and multilateral co-operation activities in the East-West Economic Corridor, on the trans-Asia road project, the Greater Mekong sub-region and the Ayeyarwady- Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy.

He said the two countries should step up joint projects among localities, creating conditions for co-operation in other fields, such as culture, education and science-technology.

Yesterday, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan received Thailand-Viet Nam Friendship Association Vice President Prapansak Bhatayanond during his working visit to Viet Nam.

Doan said she highly valued the role of the association in the development of relations between the two countries, describing it as a bridge between people and enterprises.

Prapansak Bhatayanond said the increase of cultural exchanges would be the basis for further developing long-term relations.

German Ambassador receives friendship title

Outgoing Ambassador of Germany to Vietnam Rolf Schulze was presented with the insignia “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” from the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO).

Handing over the insignia to Ambassador Rolf Schulze at a ceremony in Hanoi on August 5, VUFO President Vu Xuan Hong affirmed that the decoration was made in recognition of the ambassador’s contributions to boosting friendship between Vietnamese and German people.

During Rolf Schulze’s term of office in Vietnam, friendship exchanges between the two peoples were strengthened by diverse activities.

Ambassador Rolf Schulze promised to continue to contribute actively to expanding the friendship and cooperation between Germany and Vietnam.

Celebrations for 35 years of Vietnam-Thailand ties

A meeting was held in Hanoi on August 5 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Thailand diplomatic ties.

Addressing the function held by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations and the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Organisation, Ta Quang Ngoc, Chairman of the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Organisation, reviewed the friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past 35 years, highlighting significant steps of development in bilateral economic ties and trade.

The two countries increased economic links within the frameworks of sub-regional cooperation and ASEAN. Along with promoting bilateral cooperation in politics, economics, culture, science-technology, people-to-people relations have been boosted, bringing practical efficiency in recent years.

Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Anuson Chinvanno noted the similarities in culture, lifestyle and thinking of Thailand and Vietnam, describing them as an important foundation to help rapid development in bilateral cooperation in many fields to benefit the two countries’ people, particularly in trade, investment and tourism.

Vietnam was Thailand’s fourth most important trading partner among ASEAN countries and ninth in the world.

Thais continued to invest in Vietnam, bringing the total investment in the neighbouring country to US$5.8 billion. Thailand now ranked tenth among countries investing in Vietnam.

Additionally, in 2010, about 400,000 Vietnamese people visited Thailand and about 240,000 Thai visitors arrived in Vietnam.

Also on the same day in Hanoi , the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association and the Thailand-Vietnam Friendship Association held their second joint meeting to review each society’s operations and propose joint activities to promote the relations, increase friendship and mutual understanding between the two people and the two countries.

The associations agreed to maintain and accelerate activities on the occasion of major holidays and festivals of the two countries, promote tourism, arrange fact-finding visits. They said they will work to encourage language study for both countries’ students, and organise business groups to survey roads in order to promote potential in goods transport and tourism of routes in the East-West Corridor from Thailand to Vietnam via Laos.

Later on the day, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan met a delegation of the Thailand-Vietnam Friendship Association led by First Vice Chairman Prapansak Bhatayanond.

She highly valued the role of both countries’ friendship associations in developing bilateral relations, serving as a bridge of friendship and cooperation between the people and businesses of the two countries.

French UMP officials visit Vietnam

A delegation from the Union for a People’s Movement Party (UMP) of France, led by Secretary Chenva Tieu, who is in charge of foreign relations with Asia, has paid a working visit to Vietnam from August 1-4.

The UMP delegation was received by Nguyen Manh Hung, Permanent Deputy Head of the Commission for External Relations of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee.

The two sides discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern along with measures to promote the relations between the two ruling parties.

The UMP officials had working sessions with representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Vietnam Agriculture Science Institute on ways and means to strengthen the two countries’ ties.

Australia places priority on economic ties with Vietnam  

Australia’s Trade Minister Craig Emerson has named Vietnam among several Asian countries as his priority in fostering economic relations.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on August 4 cited the minister as saying that he would be putting most of his efforts into developing relations with China, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia .

He says he wants to develop relations with a smaller number of countries, rather than spend most of his time in a plane flying around the world.

Emerson is leading a delegation of more than 80 Australian businesses on a tour of Chinese cities from August 4-9, aiming to explore new opportunities for Australian exports and investment in the country.
 
PM urges faster rural development

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered localities to speed up the national target programme on building new rural areas in an effort to complete basic planning for communes this year.

Although the programme had significantly improved infrastructure, created new farming production models and led to higher incomes, implementation has been slow.

Dung said some State officials and members of the public were not sufficiently aware of the programme's importance and the role of the community in building new rural areas.

To enhance the programme's efficiency, he asked localities to improve the activities of the steering committees that oversee the programme.

The major mission for this year is to complete planning for new rural areas at the commune level.

He said that, in the meantime, communities needed to improve production, eliminate dilapidated houses, and organise job training courses for farmers and training officials on building new rural areas.

Other priorities include the improvement of healthcare and the cultural life of rural people.

Launched last year, the programme aimed to have 20 per cent of the country's communes meet new rural requirements by 2015, and 50 per cent by 2020.

Dung said that building a new rural model was an urgent mission and a strategic policy for the sustainable development of Viet Nam.

About 70 per cent of the population earns a living from agriculture, accounting for 20 per cent of the annual gross domestic product and 30 per cent of export turnover.

PV