On October 15, at a reception for Ms. Michelle Bachelet who is also a former Chilean President, President Nguyen Minh Triet congratulated her on her new position at the UN and praised her selection of Vietnam for her first official visit.

Vietnam-UN relations have been developing and what Vietnam has achieved in the past few years is thanks to the UN’s valuable support. Vietnam has made headway towards social welfare and gender equality - the two areas that Ms. Bachelet is most concern about and Mr Triet urged continued UN support.

President Triet took the opportunity to extend his congratulations to the Chilean Government and its people for successfully rescuing 33 trapped miners while expressing his wish that Vietnam and Chile will soon sign a free trade agreement.

Ms. Bachelet hoped her visit would draw attention to Vietnam’s achievements in ensuring social welfare and gender equality.

At the opening ceremony, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said that in the past five years, the MoPS’s Party Committee has strictly implemented its fourth Party Congress’s resolutions. He praised the committee’s contributions to political stability, social security, civil order and national renewal, construction, and defence.

He asked the Ministry to promote its revolutionary tradition, continue to renovate, improve its operational efficiency, work with the Party and public to maintain political stability, protect national sovereignty, ensure social security and peace and develop the nation. He also urged the Ministry to develop strong and modern public security forces.

General Le Hong Anh, Secretary of the MoPS’s Party Committee and Minister of Public Security, said that over the past five years, the public security force has promoted its key role in national security, social order, and dealing with new issues arising from the national process of integration and development.

It has worked with other forces to fight “peaceful evolution” schemes and prevent revolts. Many big criminal, corruption, smuggling, drug trafficking cases and high-tech crimes have been detected and prevented, Mr Anh said.

The congress will end on October 16.

17th ASEAN Summit to take place this month

The 17th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related meetings will be held at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi from Oct. 28-30. 

The information was given by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga at the ministry’s regular press briefing in Hanoi on October 14. 

Related meetings will include the ASEAN Summits with partners such as Japan, the Republic of Korea, China, India, Russia and Australia; the ASEAN-New Zealand Summit, the 13th ASEAN+3 Summit, the 3rd ASEAN-UN Summit and the 5th East Asia Summit (EAS). The Mekong-Japan Summit will be held on October 29. 
The summits will focus discussions on topics such as accelerating the building of the ASEAN Community and implementation of the ASEAN Charter, as well as measures to strengthen relations between ASEAN and its partners in the frameworks of ASEAN + 1, ASEAN + 3 and the EAS, ensuring the central role of ASEAN in future regional structures. 

They will discuss measures to boost cooperation in responding to global challenges and exchange views on international and regional issues of common concern. 
To prepare for the 17^th ASEAN Summit and related meetings in Hanoi, preparatory meetings at ministerial and senior official levels will be held from October 26-28. 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and leaders of several countries are expected to visit Vietnam on this occasion.

In response to the “mass mobilisation” campaign, there have been many examples of effective mass mobilisations nationwide such as the campaign to encourage shifting patterns of growing plants and raising domestic animals in Lao Cai province, a programme to upgrade the infrastructure in rural areas in Bac Ninh province, and a programme to reduce environmental pollution in Long An province.

At the recent patriotic emulation congress of the mass mobilisation sector, State President Nguyen Minh Triet said that the Party and the State always attach great importance to mass mobilisation work and asked. He underlined the sector’s contributions during the nation’s struggles for independence, as well as in the socio-economic development.

To celebrate the 80^th anniversary of the Mass Mobilisation sector and honour outstanding officials, there have been many activities held across the country.

**On October 15, the Da Nang municipal Party Committee for Mass Mobilisation held a ceremony to review the sector and Da Nang’s achievements in mass mobilisation work.

At the ceremony, the city’s Party Committee for Mass Mobilisation was granted the Independence Order, Third Class.

**In Tay Ninh, Vice Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Mass Mobilisation, Nguyen Duy Viet; and Secretary of the Tay Ninh provincial Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen attended a meeting to celebrate the sector’s anniversary.

Seven individuals were awarded insignia from the Commission for Mass Mobilisation and 30 organisations and 50 individuals were awarded the province’s certificates of merit for their contributions to the mass mobilisation campaign.

The 80^th anniversary of the Mass Mobilsation sector were also celebrated in the provinces of Lang Son, Phu Yen, Thua Thien Hue, and Quang Nam.