National Assembly passes new notary legislation

More than 90 per cent of National Assembly deputies yesterday approved the revised Law on Notary at the ongoing seventh session.

The newly adopted law includes 10 chapters and 81 articles covering notaries, notary public practice, notary public institutions, notary procedures and State management of notary public activities.

The promulgation of the revised law is expected to address current limitations and create a legal basis for new developments in notary services. It is also envisaged that it will help the nation's notary services advance and conform to international practices.

Several amendments to the law cover eligibility criteria for a notary, exemption from having to undergo notary public training, notaries' responsibilities for the translation of documents, and principles of notary public practice.

There were many different opinions on Article 10, which decides eligibility for exemption from notary public training. Under the newly passed law, people exempted from training include judges, prosecutors and investigators with at least five years of experience; lawyers practising for five years or more; professors, associate professors specialising in law; doctors of law; senior judiciary inspectors and senior procurators; and senior officials, researchers and lecturers in the legal field.

The law will come into force on January 1, 2015.

During the morning session, NA deputies also discussed the revised draft law on Viet Nam People's Army Officers.

Vietnam, Mozambique increase cooperation

Vietnam and Mozambique will expand cooperation in various areas such as agriculture, education-training, science-technology, diplomacy and security.

The agreement was reached during the 3rd meeting of the Vietnam-Mozambique Inter-governmental Committee in Hanoi on June 19-20.

Vietnam has sent six agricultural experts to Mozambique for national food security programme over three years, and it is considering extending the scheme.

As of June 2014 the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has begun a research project on food crops in Mozambique, at a total cost of VND43 million from the Vietnamese government.

Both sides agreed to consider signing a protocol on Vietnam’s technical assistance in aquaculture for Mozambique.

In education cooperation, they have maintained the exchange of students through their governmental scholarship programmes. Every year Vietnam sends five students to Mozambique to study Portuguese, while the latter also sends five students to the former to mainly study agriculture.

Regarding investment cooperation, Movitel, a joint venture between the Vietnamese military-run telecom group (Viettel) and Mozambique’s SPI and Invespar companies, has gained a firm foothold in Mozambique.

Currently a Vietnamese businesses is carrying out a nearly US$500 million project in Mozambique.

Mozambique Deputy Foreign Minister Eduardo Koloma expressed his hope that Vietnam’s Binh Phuoc province will help transfer technology, increase the yield of industrial crops, and plant and process cashew nuts.

He also called on businesses of Binh Phuoc and Vietnam to invest in industrial crop plantations in Nampula province.

Vietnam, Mexico cooperate in religious affairs

A Vietnamese delegation led by head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Pham Dung, visited Mexico from June 15-19 to share experience in religious affairs and strengthen cooperation between Vietnam and Mexico.

Dung held working sessions with Eugenio Lira Rugarcia, Secretary-General of the Mexican Episcopal Conference and deputy minister for population, migration and religious affairs at the interior ministry Mercedes Del Carmen Guillen Vicente, examining religious situations in their respective countries.

Mexician officials acknowledged progress Vietnam has made in implementing its religious policy, considering it valuable experience for Catholic nations like Mexico to learn from.

They said Mexico wants to share experience in the field with Vietnam to improve the quality of religious affairs in the country.

During their stay, the Vietnamese delegation laid a wreath at Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh Monument, and visited the Vietnamese embassy and some historic relics in Mexico city.

Oregon wants to elevate ties with Vietnam

Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Cuong voiced their support for a new cooperation mechanism between the State of Oregon and Vietnam, so as to deepen bilateral ties.

Meeting in Salem capital of the Oregon State on June 18, they said the initiative will help form new areas of cooperation to fully tap both sides’ potential.

They spoke highly of the fine development in bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and the State of Oregon in recent years, especially in trade and investment, education-training, and search and rescue training.

In light of the major progress in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement negotiations, Kitzhaber and Cuong said they are confident there is a bright horizon for future expanded cooperation.

The diplomat invited the governor to visit Vietnam in the future to explore cooperation opportunities.

During the working visit to the State, Cuong attended a workshop at Portland State University (PSU) pertaining to the developing economic relations between Vietnam and Oregon and practical ideas on how to strengthen them.

He also met with Nike and Intel Groups’ leaders who affirmed that they are operating efficiently in Vietnam and planning to expand operations in the near future.

Oregon is one of the more prosperous states in the US, with a population of nearly 4 million and a Gross National Product (GNP) of nearly US$220 billion in 2013.

Hanoi, French city tighten relations

Hanoi and Toulouse city of France will enhance cooperation in a wide range of areas from cultural exchange to conservation of old quarter heritages, sustainable urban development, training and economics.

An agreement to this effect was recently signed between Vice Chairwoman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc and Toulouse Mayor Jean-Luc Moudenc.

Under the agreement, in the 2014-2020 period, the two sides will expand cooperation to other fields, including arts, culture and archaeology.

In the economic field, the two cities will create favourable conditions for their businesses to promote investment activities in aviation, digital technology, transport, agriculture, food and health.

Toulouse will be responsible for studying a possibility of developing ties between Vietnamese and French cities in the fields of economics, technology and socio-culture. Meanwhile, Hanoi will bridge relations between Toulouse and other cities in Asia .

The two cities will study a possibility of joining events in their networks, Europe’s cooperation programmes or decentralised cooperation projects in the above-mentioned period.

Hanoi and Toulouse have so far cooperated in implementing a number of projects, bringing great benefits to the community. Among those is an urban axis linking Ton Duc Thang and Nguyen Trai streets designed by Toulouse ’s urban planning agency.

Over the past 18 years, the two cities have effectively coordinated in preserving and promoting the values of their old quarter heritages.

Soc Trang asked to reduce poverty in ethnic people-inhabited areas

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang to focus resources on reducing poverty among the ethnic groups by facilitating their farming and production.

At a working session with the province’s leaders in Hanoi on June 20, PM Dung suggested the locality combine agricultural restructuring with the building of new-style rural areas, and pay more attention to the application of science and technology in agriculture in order to achieve higher productivity.

The locality was also urged to roll out suitable investment policies for rural areas while developing the processing industry for agricultural and aquatic products.

In the first half of this year, Soc Trang province, home to the largest number of Khmer ethnic minority people in the Mekong Delta, has recorded active socio-economic development, with an economic growth of 11.9 percent.

The province has implemented 163 large-scale rice fields with the participation of nearly 15,000 households.

In the period, its aquatic product output reached 49,000 tonnes, equivalent to 23 percent of the set target, while the rice yield totalled 1.5 million tonnes and industrial production value amounted to nearly 4.3 trillion VND (202 million USD).

However, the rate of poor households remains high, standing at nearly 17 percent.-