Party leader says unity to help nation forge ahead

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh yesterday, Nov 7, reiterated that unity is an extremely precious Vietnamese tradition.

"By bringing into full play that tradition, Vietnamese people under the Party leadership fulfilled liberation goals for national reunification, and made significant and historic achievements during the renewal period," Manh told local people and authorities at Residential Area No3 in northern Thai Nguyen Province's Song Cong Town.

Manh was attending the "People's Great Unity" festival in preparation for the 80th anniversary of the National Front for the Reunification of Viet Nam (now the Viet Nam Fatherland Front) on November 18.

"The country is continuing that tradition by overcoming difficulties and challenges, and successfully executing the 10th Party Congress resolutions while preparing for the upcoming 11th Party Congress," said the leader.

Manh said Viet Nam had made positive steps in inflation control, economic stabilisation, social security and sustainable development, contributing to the realisation of national targets for socio-economic development, political stability, national defence and security and economic integration, while raising Viet Nam's status in the world arena.

Manh and other festival participants, including Viet Nam Fatherland Front Chairman Huynh Dam and Thai Nguyen People's Committee Chairman Pham Xuan Duong, reviewed the Front's tradition, and presented gifts to typical families of the "The Entire People Unite to Build a Civilised Lifestyle in Residential Areas" movement.

"If every family in each residential area maintains a civilised lifestyle, it will contribute to the national target of a wealthy people and strong nation in a society of justice, democracy and civilisation," Manh said.

In 2010, Residential Area No3 did not report any cases of social evils, domestic violence, malnourished children, truanting children or families giving birth to a third child.

Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association celebrates October Revolution

On October 7, the Central Standing Committee of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association laid wreaths at the Monument of V.I Lenin in Hanoi to mark the 93rd anniversary of the Russian October Revolution (1917-2010).

The great victory of the Russian October Revolution 93 years ago opened up a new era in the history of humankind, the transition from capitalism to socialism on a global scale. The event had a great effect on the national liberation movements in different countries around the world, including Vietnam.

Professor Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association highlighted the lessons of the Russian October Revolution as an important foundation for Vietnam to define its correct path on the road to socialism.

The lessons learnt from the experiences of the former Soviet Union after the October Revolution and the collapse of socialism in Russia are also valuable for the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people to use their experiences to build socialism in Vietnam, said Mr Thi.

Long-term strategy to cope with climate change

By adopting certain fiscal policies for coping with climate change, Vietnam has been restructuring its economy on an environmentally friendly and sustainable basis.

This view was shared by Yvo De Boer, former Executive Secretary of the UN Secretariat of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on November 5.

According to Mr Yvo, Vietnam needs to focus on five major issues to cope with climate change, including applying appropriate reduction measures; mobilising all ministries, sectors and localities to participate in natural disaster control; developing a sustainable power sector by focusing on clean and renewable energy, effectively using ODA; and creating efficient mechanisms for coordination.

Mr Hai briefed Mr Yvo and his colleagues on Vietnam’s efforts to deal with climate change-related issues. The country has gradually restructured its energy sector by replacing traditional energy resources with renewable energy and is striving to reach the goal of using five percent of renewable energy by 2015 and 8 percent by 2020.

Vietnam has issued strict regulations for factories to minimise adverse impacts on the environment. When beginning operations, all projects are required to have initial environmental assessments and this will be a compulsory annual task, said Mr Hai.

Mr Yvo said in addition to using ODA from non-governmental international organisations to carry out projects, Vietnam needs to build a model of public-private partnership (PPP) cooperation. The country should also raise public awareness of the role of energy in life and promote saving energy, researching and developing new energy resources, which is necessary for every country.

Friendship Medal granted to DPRK ambassador

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem granted the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Friendship Medal to the outgoing Ambassador from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Ma Chol Su in Hanoi on November 5.

At the event, Deputy PM Khiem highly appreciated Ambassador Ma Chol Su’s positive contributions to the traditional cooperative friendship between Vietnam and the DPRK, and hoped that wherever his next posting takes him, the Ambassador would continue to contribute to the development of the relations between the two countries.

Ambassador Ma Chol Su said he was honoured to receive the Friendship Medal from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He also thanked Vietnam’s Party, Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and related organs, for their assistance during his term of office.

He confirmed he would do his best to strengthen the DPRK-Vietnam relationship.

VNN/VOV/VNS