Vietnam participates in Francophone activities

Vietnamese Ambassador Duong Van Quang, the Vietnamese President’s envoy to the Francophone Organisation (OIF) in France, has highlighted the country’s contributions to the development of the French-speaking Community, on the occasion of the 14th Francophone Summit in mid-October.

Vietnam was one of the founders of the French-speaking community in 1970 as it signed a treaty to establish the Agency for Cultural and Technical Cooperation (ACCT) in Niger.

Since then, Vietnam has participated in all activities of the Francophone community, particularly the summits, the Ambassador said.

He highlighted the 7th Summit in 1997 hosted by Vietnam, which marked a milestone in terms of institutional building of the Francophone. At the summit, the organisation elevated the 1970 treaty to the charter of the Francophone community and established the Francophone Organisation with the election of its first Secretary General.

According to the diplomat, the Hanoi Summit also expanded francophone activities to the economic field, which created a foundation for forming the tripartite cooperation model between French-speaking countries.

Vietnam is one of countries actively and effective participating in this cooperation model, the Ambassador said, citing the example of the effective tripartite cooperation among the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Vietnam and Senegal in agriculture.

Most recently, together with African countries, Vietnam has actively involved in compiling a document called “Francophone elements in the process of implementing tripartite cooperation”, which will be adopted at the 14th Summit.

The 14th Francophone meeting will take place from October 10-14 in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Summit, on October 13-14. Heads of States and

Governments to the Summit are expected to adopt a Kinshasa Declaration.

Vietnam strives for strong ties with Nigeria, Ecuador

New Vietnamese Ambassador to Nigeria Hoang Ngoc Ho on October 2 presented President Truong Tan Sang’s credentials to Nigerian President Goodluck Johnathan.

At the following reception, Ho vowed to further boost friendship and cooperation between the two countries to match aspirations and benefits of the two peoples.

In reply, the Nigerian President said his Government and people attach importance to strengthening multifaceted relations with Vietnam.

He pledged to create all possible conditions for the ambassador to speed up cooperation projects on agriculture, healthcare, trade as well as agreements signed between the two Governments.

The same day, Vietnamese Ambassador to Chile cum Ecuador Ha Thi Ngoc Ha also presented her credentials to President of Ecuador Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado.

She pledged to bring ties between the two countries, especially in economics, trade, investment and diplomacy, to a new height in the time to come.

Ambassador Ha said she hopes Ecuador will soon recognise Vietnam as a fully-developed market economy.

At a reception given to the Vietnamese diplomat, Vice President of Ecuador Lenin Voltaire Moreno Garcés said his Government is considering positively the recognition of full market economy regulations for Vietnam.

He promised to support the ambassador in elevating the Ecuador-Vietnam ties further.

Vietnamese delegation at anti-corruption conference

Nguyen Hai Phong, Deputy Director of Viet Nam's Supreme People's Procuracy, is leading a delegation to the Sixth Annual Conference and Meeting of the International

Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from October 4-7.

The event has attracted over 1,000 officials from anti-corruption agencies representing 100 countries across the world.

During the conference, the delegates focus their discussions on law enforcement, strategies for fighting corruption and international cooperation in the field.

They will also discuss training and technical assistance programmes, as well as methods of preventing corruption through economic development.

According to Le The Chien from the Government Inspectorate, Viet Nam's delegation hopes to learn from other countries, especially Malaysia, which has developed various effective ways of combating corruption.

Chien said that Viet Nam has been promoting anti-corruption measures and currently drafting new laws, hoping to see positive changes in the near future.

In his opening speech on Thursday, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak stressed that widespread corruption was a serious threat to any country.

He said that every country needed to make more effort to control and prevent the problem.

German Governor visits VN-Germany University

Hessen State Governor Volker Bouffier joined lecturers and students of the Vietnam-Germany University at a ceremony to start the new academic year as part of his working visit to Viet Nam last Saturday.

At the event, the university branch in the southern province of Binh Duong welcomed 200 new students and presented diplomas to 24 of them for their first academic course, and 26 master's degrees.

The Hessen Governor took the occasion to present gifts to new students.

The German State of Hessen is a co-founder of the Vietnam-Germany University, which is part of Viet Nam's plan to establish four new-model universities.

Established in 2008, the Vietnam-Germany University operates following the model of German universities. It enrols 500 students each year on engineering, high-tech and natural science courses.

VN, Japan boost people-to-people diplomacy

The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan held an exchange with the Ladies’ Union of the International Friendship Exchange Council (LFEC) in Tokyo on October 5.

Addressing the function, Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung expressed his hope that the exchange will help LFEC members get a better understanding about the land, people,

art and culture of Vietnam, thus contributing to fostering the friendship and mutual trust between the two countries’ women in particular and the two peoples in general.

International Friendship Exchange Council (FEC) Executive Director Hiroyuki Yushita, who was also former Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, said that the Vietnam-Japan ties are developing well at both national and grassroots levels.

He vowed to further boost exchanges between the two countries’ people towards the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties in 2013.

Participants at the event had a chance to see films on the land, culture and people of Vietnam as well as to discuss issues of common concern.

Seminar strengthens solidarity between Viet Nam and Cuba

The Viet Nam-Cuba Friendship Association and the Cuban Embassy in Viet Nam held a seminar in Ha Noi on Friday to call for an end to the US's embargo against Cuba and for solidarity in the campaign to free five Cuban patriots.

Addressing the event, Cuban Ambassador Fredesman Turro Gonzalez said that the embargo against his country for over half a century has prevented any chance for both countries to develop friendly relations.

Gonzalez also highlighted the bonds that both Viet Nam and Cuba have formed and emphasized Viet Nam's support for the global campaign for the five Cuban patriots who were imprisoned by the US Federal Court on the charge of espionage.

Participants at the event also adopted the VCFA declaration on freedom for the five Cuban heroes, under which they affirmed their continued support for the global solidarity campaign.

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