Italian President to visit Viet Nam

Italian President Sergio Mattarella will pay a State visit to Viet Nam from November 5-8.

The visit is made at the invitation of President Truong Tan Sang. 

Belgian president of Senate visits Viet Nam

A delegation of Belgian Senate, led by Senate President Christine Defraigne, has started an eight-day official visit to Viet Nam yesterday at the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung. 

Condolences to Russia over plane crash

President Truog Tan Sang has sent his condolences to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the deadly crash of a Russian passenger plane.

The Airbus A-321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia, crashed early on Saturday after it took off from Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh, heading for Russia's Saint Petersburg. 

Panama fosters friendship with Vietnam

Panama has continuously attached significance to fostering its friendship and co-operative ties with Vietnam, President Juan Carlos Valera said.

President Juan Carlos Valera made the statement during a reception in Panama on October 30 for Vietnamese Ambassador to Panama Vu Ngoc Minh, who presented credentials to him.

The President said Panama was willing to support Vietnam in all respects, and expressed his wish to foster ties with Asian nations, adding that Vietnam is a gateway to the region.

Valera also pledged to create favourable conditions for the ambassador’s work with the host government, as well as authorities at local levels.

For his part, Minh vowed to do his utmost to enhance the Vietnam-Panama relationship in terms of economics, trade, culture, science and technology, agriculture and others, as well as strengthen mutual understanding between the two peoples.

The same day, Minh attended events for the country’s 112th National Day celebration.

Previously, he had a working session with Chairman of the Panama-Vietnam Friendship Association Ivan Alexis Ruiz on consolidating the solidarity and friendship between the two nations.

The year 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Vietnam and Panama’s diplomatic ties.

Two-way trade between the two nations amounts to 267 million USD.

Documents on Vietnam-China land border carried out effectively

Vietnamese ministries, sectors and seven provinces that are contiguous to China have made efforts to effectively implement three legal documents on land border between the two countries, heard a conference in Hanoi on October 30. 

The event reviewed the five-year implementation of the protocol on border demarcation and marker planting, the agreement on border management regulations, and the agreement on border gates and regulations on management of border gates since 2010. 

It gathered officials from such ministries as the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Transport along with those from the border provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Dien Bien and Lai Chau. 

According to reports at the conference, relevant ministries, sectors and the provinces have worked closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to advise the Government about and steer the settlement of problems arising in border management and protection, the boosting of local socio-economic development, and the improvement of border residents’ material and spiritual life. 

Particularly, they have issued papers guiding the implementation of the documents and brought into play their role in the State management of border and territory. 

They have also fulfilled post-border demarcation and marker planting tasks such as disseminating the legal documents; building embankments along border rivers and streams; opening and upgrading certain border gates; promoting economic, trade and tourism cooperation; and enhancing friendship exchanges between the countries’ border communities. 

Vietnamese and Chinese relevant agencies have also joined in regular meetings and coordinated effectively in border and territory management and protection, reports said, adding that connections between their border localities have also been strengthened, contributing to local socio-economic growth, peace and friendship. 

Closing the conference, Deputy Foreign Minister and Chairman of the National Border Committee Ho Xuan Son requested relevant agencies to continue concerted efforts in managing and protecting border, firmly safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity, consolidating security, defence and order in border areas and intensifying all-round collaboration between the countries’ border authorities and people, ultimately fostering the Vietnam – China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.-

Vietnam seeks closer judicial cooperation with Indonesia

A delegation of Vietnam’s Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform is on a working visit to Indonesia from October 28 to November 1 with the aim of bolstering the countries’ mutual understanding and judicial cooperation. 

At a working session with the Supreme Court of Indonesia on October 30, deputy head of the steering committee Le Thi Thu Ba said Vietnam’s judicial reform is intended to ensure pure, strong, democratic and strict justice, and it focuses on reforming court activities. 

She also presented the country’s judicial and law system, the role of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, current difficulties in judging activities, reform challenges and orientations. 

Chief Justice Muhammad Hatta Ali introduced the role, organisation and functions of his country’s court system, recent reforms and problems needed to be handled in the time ahead. 

He also mentioned procedure-related issues, mechanisms for selecting and appointing judges, those for ensuring courts’ independence, transparency and credibility, existing challenges and renovation trends. 

Earlier, the Vietnamese delegation had working sessions with Indonesia’s Department of Justice and Human Rights, the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court’s Judicial Training Centre.-

Romanian county keen to further ties with Vietnamese localities

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan asked for furthering bilateral ties while receiving President of the Tulcea County Council of Romania Teodorescu Horia in the city on October 30.

Quan said the visit would strengthen ties between Ho Chi Minh City and Tulcea county as well as Vietnam and Romania since its establishment 65 years ago.

Last year, two-way trade between Ho Chi Minh City and Romania hit 39 million USD. In January-October, Ho Chi Minh City exported 13.5 million USD worth of goods to Romania, mostly coffee, pepper and vegetables while importing pharmaceutical materials, animal feed and fertilisers worth more than 7.4 million USD.

The host called on Romani to appoint an honorary consular and open a commercial office in Ho Chi Minh City to foster bilateral connections.

Horia said his visit was to expand links with Vietnamese localities in the fields of trade, investment and tourism.

Tulcea is eyeing the opening of an eco-tourism centre in the southern province of Ben Tre which already established ties with the county, he added.

Mayor of Japanese city meets HCM City vice chairman

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem hosted a reception on October 30 for Katsube Osamu, visiting Mayor of Ichinoseki city, Iwate prefecture of Japan.

Osamu is in Vietnam to attend the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam-Japan educational exchange between Ichinoseki city and Foreign Trade University (FTU) in Ho Chi Minh City.

Liem said the city is keen on promoting all-around links with Japanese localities, ranging from investment, trade to culture and education.

Over the past 20 years, about 100 Vietnamese students have won scholarships for further study in Japan, he said, adding that the educational exchange is part of the city’s ongoing breakthrough programme on manpower improvement via training at home and abroad.

He hoped that Ichinoseki and Ho Chi Minh City would work closely together on support industry and agriculture using technological advances.

The host also committed all possible support to Japanese business operations in the city over the long run.

Katsube Osamu hopefully stated that both cities would further tighten relationship, not only in education but also in other fields of shared interest.

He informed his host that after discussing with the municipal Investment and Trade Promotion Centre, the delegation has gained an insight into the city’s economic landscape and policies for investment attraction.

He expressed his belief that Ho Chi Minh City would go a long way on its policies.-

Vietnam attends international meeting of communist, workers parties

A delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam joined 58 parties from 48 countries at the 17th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties (IMCWP) taking place from October 30 to November 1 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The meeting focused on outstanding international issues, escalating armed conflicts and tension in different parts of the world.

Participants at the event shared information on the development of communist and workers’ parties, highlighting the need to operate joint actions among parties and progressive forces. 

The meeting adopted its Working Group’s regulations to boost consensus and effective coordination between the parties. 

In addition, participants approved a master plan to foster co-ordination in joint activities, including encouraging solidarity with Cuban, Palestinian, Venezuelan, Syrian and Ukrainian people.

The Vietnamese delegation, led by Tran Dac Loi, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, made active contributions at the meetings and met with numerous international delegations to discuss measures to enhance bilateral relations.

Banquet celebrates 61st National Day of Algeria

Algerian Ambassador to Vietnam Mohamed Berrah hosted a banquet in Hanoi on November 2 to mark the 61st National Day of the North African country (November 1, 1954). 

Outstanding guests included Assistant to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister Duong Chi Dung and representatives of local ministries and sectors, diplomatic corps, and international organisations. 

Addressing the event, the Algerian diplomat voiced his delight at the development of the solidarity and friendship between the two countries’ peoples. 

He congratulated Vietnam on its election to the United Nations Economic and Social Council for the 2016-2018 tenure, adding that he hopes Algeria will also become a member of the council so that the countries could coordinate effectively in this important organ. 

He emphasised that his nation is willing to consolidate its cooperation with Vietnam for the sake of shared interests and wishes their multifaceted affiliation will further flourish.-

Deputy FM learns about Australia’s largest Vietnamese community

Deputy Foreign Minister and Chairman of the State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) Vu Hong Nam paid a visit to Australia from October 29–November 1 to learn firsthand about the Vietnamese community in the country.

The deputy foreign minister visited Cabramatta, a suburb southwestern Sydney that is home to about 40,000 Vietnamese people, the largest community in Australia.

He took a tour to a Vietnamese market and met with several Vietnamese families. The COVA official expressed his hope that local Vietnamese society would stay united and support each other while preserving national identity and culture and strengthening the two countries’ relations.

Earlier, Deputy Foreign Minister Vu Hong Nam visited New Caledonia, a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean more than 1,200 kilometres east of Australia. He spoke with representatives from about 4,000 Vietnamese residents in the territory and local authorities.

Nam briefed the people on Vietnam’s socio-economic status and objectives in the coming time, as well as newly adopted policies regarding overseas Vietnamese affairs.

He affirmed that Vietnam’s government would help the overseas Vietnamese community protect and uphold Vietnam’s culture, including the mother tongue.

Meanwhile, local authorities in New Caledonia spoke highly of the successes and contributions of their Vietnamese residents to the territory’s socio-economic development.

Furthermore, New Caledonia wished to expand economic and trade ties with Vietnam, they said.

Hung Yen closes Party Congress, sets resolution

The Party Committee of northern Hung Yen province closed its 18th Party Congress on November 2, electing 53 officials to its executive board for the 2015-2020 tenure. 

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Do Tien Sy was re-elected for the new tenure. 

The Congressed adopted a resolution for 2015-2020, including strengthening Party building, rallying resources for socio-cultural development, cracking down on corruption and ensuring social welfare for all citizens. 

In order to turn Hung Yen into an industrialised locality, the provincial Party Committee set the strategic tasks of ramping up industrialisation, socio-economic infrastructure and personnel work while focusing on three breakthrough steps, including attracting investment in hi-tech and high added-value industries; rallying resources for socio-economic and urban infrastructure, particularly transport; and improving personnel quality via transfer of roles in sectors and departments. 

The province targets an economic growth of 7.5-8 percent, export value of 5 billion USD, the average gross domestic product per capita of 75 million VND (3.400 USD), the rate of poor households below 2 percent, among others. 

By 2020, it expects to have 2-3 industrial parks and 10 industrial clusters, record a 40.5 percent urbanisation and build Hung Yen city into a second-grade and major urban area in the Red River Delta. 

It also set to ensure education and health care improvement, towards achieving a fully-developed culture and providing better care for the elderly and war heroes. 

On the Party building, more focus will be given on building strong and healthy Party units and continuing the resolution “Some urgent issues on current Party building” in tandem with the campaign “Studying and following moral examples of President Ho Chi Minh”.

Measures to increase State budget collection vary: official

Multiple solutions could increase State budget collection to make up for the central budget deficit of over 31 trillion VND (1.39 billion USD), said Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai at the monthly press conference of the Government in Hanoi on October 29.

She explained that the shortfall mainly stemmed from the plunging prices of crude oil. The Ministry of Finance would direct tax and customs agencies to recover special consumption tax debts, which could reach 34 trillion VND (1.53 billion USD).

Curbing ministries’ and localities’ expenses could help, she said.

From the outset of this year, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive asking ministries and localities to reduce their expenditures by 10 percent, she noted.

In the light of the global economic downturn, State budget collection has seen improvements, with domestic collections accounting for 74 percent of the budget collection proportion.

Revenue collection from State-run agencies, foreign investors and domestic manufacturers is increasing, while that of crude oil and import-export is declining, Mai added.

The State budget collection for 2015 is estimated at over 911 trillion VND (nearly 41 billion USD), surpassing the previous year by 16.4 trillion VND (73 million USD).

According to Chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Van Nen, State budget collection should increase by 103 trillion VND (4.6 billion USD) next year to over 1 quadrillion VND (46 billion USD).

Vietnam, Cambodia target advanced border province co-operation

Vietnam and Cambodia reached consensus on co-operation orientations at border areas at the central and local levels during their eighth meeting on border province co-operation and development, which took place in Ho Chi Minh City on October 28.

Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung told the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the event that the two countries agreed to continue to work on policies and legal frameworks in trade, finance, transport, telecommunications, health care, national defence and security.

They would also support each other in education and training at border localities, facilitate trade along the border and work to better manage the border.

They also consented to create optimal conditions for people-to-people exchanges and economic development in border localities, said Trung.

According to the official, Vietnam and Cambodia would build and implement agreements reached on border demarcation and marker planting while raising public awareness about the work.

At the same time, they would co-ordinate with each other to counter extreme elements that aim to sabotage the relationship, in the interests of the two countries’ peoples, especially border residents.

Trung said the joint communiqué issued at the meeting hailed the efforts of border authorities and residents in this regard.

However, he noted, the document also pointed to a range of infrastructure difficulties, particularly with roads to auxiliary border gates and limited resources.

It also stressed the need to draft more agreements to implement co-operation plans, the deputy FM said.

The official described the meeting as an important co-operation mechanism that helped build relations between the two countries, as well as their border provinces.

The event, together with the 14 th session of the Vietnam-Cambodia Committee on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Co-operation, has proven the two countries’ efforts to boost their relationship, Trung stressed.

Thanks to such mechanisms, the collaboration between Vietnamese and Cambodian border provinces has made big strides and brought about pragmatic outcomes, he noted.

Meanwhile, Prum Sokha, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Interior said meeting participants considered all issues, from trade and investment to people-to-people exchange, with special emphasis on economic co-operation.

Through the meeting, the two sides gained a deeper understanding about each other and how to address the shortcomings, he affirmed.

Vietnam welcomes UN resolution calling end to embargo on Cuba

Vietnam welcomes countries’ cast of votes approving the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution on appealing the end of the embargo on Cuba, Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Le Hai Binh has stated.

His statement was in reply to reporters’ queries in Hanoi on October 29 about the UN’s adoption of a non-binding resolution calling on the US to lift its embargo against Cuba.

Binh affirmed Vietnam’s stance that maintaining the embargo against Cuba is inappropriate and should be shortly removed to totally meet the legitimate aspirations and interests of Cuban and US citizens, contributing to the development as well as the maintenance of peace and stability in the Americas.

Provincial, municipal Party congresses to wind up in November

The organisation of Party congresses of centrally-run provinces and cities is scheduled to end on November 2 this year.

As of October 29, 63 out of the 68 provincial and municipal Party organisations had convened congresses for the 2015-2020 tenure.

The functions were held according to Politburo Directive No.36-CT/TW on promoting democracy, solidarity, safety and economy.

The 63 Party organisations elected 3,276 members to their executive committees.

Provinces with females holding over 15 percent of elected positions include southern Kien Giang province (25 percent), Ho Chi Minh City (21.74 percent) and northern Son La province (21.82 percent).

Meanwhile, those registering 10 percent of young officials are Da Nang, Kon Tum, Lao Cai, Phu Yen and Dien Bien.

The Party organisations of Lao Cai, Phu Yen, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City had the higher ratios of female and young officials elected than those stipulated in the Politburo’s Directive No.36-CT/TW.

However, no female officials participated in the standing committees of the Party organisations of Thai Binh, Khanh Hoa, Binh Dinh and Hau Giang provinces.

The 63 Party organisations elected 59 secretaries of provincial and municipal Party committees.

The Politburo will assign officials to assume the roles as Secretaries of the Central Military Commission, the Central Police Party Committee, the Ho Chi Minh City municipal Party Committee and the Hanoi municipal Party Committee for the 2015-2020 tenure.

The Party organisation of Hanoi will convene its congress early next month.

VNS/VNS