Vietnam commits to promoting multilateralism

Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Dang Dinh Quy addresses the debate 

Head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations Dang Dinh Quy reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to promoting multilateralism and supporting the UN’s central role in ensuring peace, security, and sustainable development.

He was addressing the UN General Assembly’s open debate on maintaining international peace and security, promoting multilateralism and the UN’s role on November 9.

He said in the context when international peace and security are facing more complicated traditional and non-traditional challenges, the international community need to maintain and raise the efficiency of multilateralism as history proved that unilateral and bilateral measures could not address global issues.

Quy emphasized that all member countries, especially ones playing an important role, need to continue renewing strong commitments and taking real actions to ensure the international system is based on rule in which all issues are addressed on the basis of fairness and equality.

Multilateral institutions, first of all the UN, need to continue with reform to improve their efficiency and transparency and really attach to people, he said.

The Ambassador asserted Vietnam’s support for the UN Secretary-General’s reform efforts and stressed the importance of outlining an appropriate action plan for the UN reform.

As a proactive, active and responsible member of the international community, Vietnam will continue working for a world of peace, prosperity, fairness and sustainable development, Quy said.

In his opening remarks, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said multilateralism has brought for immense achievements, such as the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, and peace-keeping activities.

As the world is coping with unprecedented challenges stemming from the rise in new conflict multiply, extremism, force population movement, climate change advances, and deepened inequality, the UN official called for maintaining multilateralism and collective problem-solving actions, strengthening commitments to retaining the rule-based world; and using more effectively intermediate reconciliation mechanisms to address conflicts.

School funded by Vietnamese Party leader handed over to Laos

Sithanasay High School, built with funding presented by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, was inauguated on November 11

Sithanasay High School, built with funding presented by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong to Laos on the occasion of his visit to the country in November 2016, was inaugurated and handed over to Bolikhamsay province on November 11.

Addressing the event, deputy chief of the CPV Central Committee’s Office Hoang Cong Hoan said that the inauguration of the school is evidence of the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, State and people of Vietnam and Laos.

The school’s modern equipment is expected to enhance the teaching and studying quality of 900 teachers and students.

Empowered by Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, Hoan officially handed over the school to the Lao side.

He also conveyed the Vietnamese leader’s wish that the school will reap more achievements in education and training.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor of Bolikhamsay Bounmabu Chaleun expressed deep gratitude to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong, affirming that the gift shows Vietnamese and Lao leaders’ great attention to Laos’ human resource training, while reflecting special ties between the two Parties and States.

Construction of the school started in December 2017 with a total cost of 30 billion VND (1,28 million USD). Covering 2,126 square metres, the school has one four-storey building with eight classrooms, two experiment rooms, one hall, eight rooms for management board and teachers.

Russia’s Tula Oblast boosts cooperation with Vietnamese localities

Scene at the meeting 

Tula Oblast is willing to step up cooperation with Vietnamese localities in all fields, said Governor of the Russian region Aleksey Dyumin.

The official made the statement at a meeting with Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh, who made a working trip to the region on November 8 and 9. 

Both host and guest agreed that the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership has been grown extensively in the areas of economy, trade, tourism, culture, humanitarian aid, and education.   

Dyumin said trade turnover between his region and Vietnamese localities reached 1 million USD last year, an annual increase of 50 percent. However, the figure still fell short of bilateral potential for cooperation, he stressed.

The governor suggested the sides boost their joint work in the sectors of garment-textile, tourism, medicine, and mechanical engineering. He pledged to create the best conditions possible for Vietnamese businesses to invest in the region.

He requested the Vietnam Embassy introduce the country’s strengths and propose Vietnamese key products for export to Tula Oblast.

For his part, Manh reviewed progress in Vietnam-Russia ties, particularly recent meetings between senior leaders of the two nations and the positive impacts of the free trade agreement signed between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union. 

In the first nine months of 2018, Vietnam-Russia trade grew 30 percent, he said, pointing to the fact that compared to such number, trade between Vietnam and Tula Oblast remained modest.

The diplomat recommended Vietnamese localities and the Russian region increase the exchange of business delegations to seek trade-economic and investment opportunities.

Manh asked the local authorities to consider the establishment of twin relations with Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh as they share lots of similarities. 

He urged the oblast to actively participate in activities of the Russia Year in Vietnam and Vietnam Year in Russia in 2019. Vietnam also expects to see more students trained at universities in Russia and Tula in partcicular, he said.

The ambassador expressed his hope for further support from Tula Oblast’s authorities toward the Vietnamese expatriate community here.

Lauding Manh’s proposals, the governor directed relevant agencies to make a list of potential cooperation fields and carry out procedures for the establishment of twin relations with a Vietnamese locality.

Earlier, the diplomat toured a number of Vietnamese-run garment workshops. Insufficient statistics showed that there were about 30 workshop of its kind in Tula, creating jobs for nearly 2,000 Vietnamese with average monthly incomes ranging between 600 and 1,000 USD.

He also visited Russia’s biggest turkey producer Krasnobor, which is exporting its products to Vietnam.

Party, State leader attends solidarity festival in Dak Lak province

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Nguyen Phu Trong joins a great national solidarity festival in Dur Kmal commune, Krong Ana district of Dak Lak 

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Nguyen Phu Trong joined a great national solidarity festival with locals in Dur Kmal commune, Krong Ana district, the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, on November 11.

Dur Kmal, which was a revolutionary base in the resistance war against the US, is home to nearly 7,500 people from seven ethnic groups, 50 percent of whom are minorities. In 2000, the commune received the title of Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.

So far, the majority of local residents have accessed to sanitary toilets, clean water and power services. The ratio of poverty in the locality has been reduced to 11.1 percent.

At the festival, which marked the 88th founding anniversary of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the leader expressed his delight as the local community has promoted the heroic tradition, continuing to implement the Party’s policies and directions with great outcomes, especially in socio-economic development, culture, education and new-style rural building, thus improving locals’ living conditions.

He lauded the solidarity and mutual support of the local community in escaping poverty and improving infrastructure system as well as locals’ incomes.

The leader declared that the Party and State always give optimal conditions for localities to develop through providing resources, experiences and supporting them in personnel training and science-technology application.

Highlighting the significance of fostering the national great solidarity bloc, the leader expressed his belief that with strong unity, Dur Kmal will reap more successes in all fields.

On the occasion, Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong presented gifts to outstanding households who have showed goof performance in the movement of solidarity in building new-style rural areas and civilized urban areas. The Vietnam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee also offered presents to policy beneficiaries in the commune.

Earlier, on November 10, the Party and State leader worked with the provincial Party Committee on the mid-term results in implementing the provincial Party Organisation Congress’s resolution for the 2015-2020 tenure.

So far, Dak Lak has shown strong performance in economic development with growth of 7.8 percent per year. The province’s agro-forestry-fisheries sector recorded the highest growth in the region, at 6.2 percent. Meanwhile, 40 out of 152 communes and one out of 15 districts have finished the new-style rural building programme.

As many as 99.1 percent of children under five years old have accessed pre-school education, while 98.9 percent of communal healthcare facilities have met national standards.

Underlining the strategic position of Dak Lak in the Central Highlands region, the leader hoped that the Party Organisation, administration and people in the province will continue fostering their solidarity to complete all 19 targets set in the resolution.

He reminded the locality to strengthen friendship and cooperation with Mondulkiri province of Cambodia, while giving proper solutions to unplanned migration, focusing on forest protection and promoting its advantage and strength in forestry.

The leader asked Dak Lak to prepare personnel plans as the 2015-2020 tenure is nearly over. The province should enhance collaboration with regional localities and ministries in economic development, while paying more attention to Party building and anti-corruption, making the province a development centre of the Central Highlands region, he stressed.

Also on November 11, Politburo member and Standing member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat Tran Quoc Vuong attended a national great solidarity festival in Dong En residential area of Kim Binh commune, Chiem Hoa district of northern Tuyen Quang province.

A similar festival took place in Kinh Cau hamlet, Kim Hoa commune, Cau Ngan district of Mekong Delta Tra Vinh province with the participation of Politburo member and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Politburo member and Deputy Minister of Defence Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich joined in the festival in village 6, Chinh Ly commune, Ly Nhan district of northern Ha Nam province the same day.

Earlier on November 10, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong joined locals in Ba Vi commune, Ba Vi district of Hanoi in their unity festival.

PM requests VietinBank to boost transparency, financial capacity

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank) to boost its transparency, financial potential and management capacity in line with international standards.

At a ceremony held in Hanoi on November 11 to celebrate VietinBank’s 30 years of construction and development, PM Phuc also suggested the bank invest more in research and development (R&D) and human resources, and enhance the quality and diversify financial-banking services to meet customers’ demand. 

The government leader praised VietinBank’s achievements over the past three decades and recommended it continue making efforts for self-improvement.

He took this occasion to urge the entire banking sector to ensure its lending capacity for important fields of the national economy like agriculture, high-tech industry, export, and supporting industry, while backing the development of startups and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Le Minh Hung said the most important goal set for VietinBank towards 2020 is to become the biggest and most effective bank in Vietnam and is able to compete with major banks in the region.

Le Duc Tho, Chairman of VietinBank’s Board of Directors, said the bank will continue its restructuring process to diversify its business operations, promote its core values as well as boost quality, competitiveness, and IT application. 

On the occasion, PM Phuc presented to the bank the government's first-class Labour Order and emulation flag.

Founded as a small state-run organisation in 1988, VietinBank has grown strongly and now is operating seven subsidiaries, 155 branches, and nearly 1,000 transaction offices nationwide. It has established two branches in Germany, one fully-funded bank in Laos and one representative office in Myanmar.

From 718 billion VND (30.78 million USD) in its early days, the bank’s total assets increased by 1,500 times to hit 1.1 quadrillion VND (47.16 billion USD) in 2017. The same year, its outstanding loans reached 840 trillion VND (36 billion USD), about 1,400 times higher than that recorded in its establishment period. Its annual pre-tax profits, meanwhile, grew 22 percent on average. 

During the past three decades, the bank contributed nearly 37 trillion VND (1.59 billion USD) to the State budget and more than 7 trillion VND (301 million USD) to charity and social welfare activities.

Prime Minister attends great national unity festival in Bac Giang

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets delegates at the great national unity festival in Noi Ninh village 

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a great national unity festival in Noi Ninh village, Ninh Son commune, Viet Yen district of the northern province of Bac Giang, on November 10.

The event was held in one of 49 ancient quan ho (love duet) villages recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation on the occasion of the 88th anniversary of the Traditional Day of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) (November 18).

Addressing the event, PM Phuc lauded Bac Giang province, particularly the VFF-provincial chapter, for the effective implementation of a campaign related to new-style rural area building, as well as its socio-economic development achievements.

In the time ahead, Noi Ninh village and other localities in Bac Giang should focus on addressing shortcomings during the civilised residential area building and socio-economic development process such as environmental pollution and social crimes, especially drug-related crime, he suggested.

He asked local people to support each other as there are a lot of poor people and those living in difficult circumstances in Bac Giang.

The Government leader also took the occasion to require local authorities across the country to maintain close coordination with the VFF to speed up the implementation of patriotic emulation campaigns and movements and increase the efficiency of a sustainable poverty reduction movement and another on the building of new-style rural areas and civilised urban areas.

On this occasion, Phuc presented flowers and gifts to Noi Ninh residential area, and planted a tree at the village pagoda.

Cuban leader’s Vietnam visit spotlighted on Cuban media

Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (L) and President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel 

The Vietnam visit by President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel made headlines in all newspapers and on official websites of the Caribbean nation on November 8-9.

Right on the first day he arrived in Hanoi, the Cuba News Agency (ACN) and major news outlets such as Granma, Juventud Rebelde, Cubadebate and Prensa Latina ran articles highlighting the Cuban leader’s activities and meetings.

Website Cubadebate cited his posts on his Twitter account as saying that he appreciated his meetings with Vietnam’s high-ranking leaders and affirmed both sides’ commitments to raise the level of economic relations to the level of political ties.

“Much to learn from our Vietnamese brothers, winners of wars, embargos and consequences of underdevelopment, with exemplary work, creativity and discipline,” Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on Twitter.

Vietnam is the fifth leg of the Cuba leader’s tour to European and Asian nations. Earlier, he stopped over in France and paid official visits to Russia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and China. Laos will be the last leg of this tour.