Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivers a speech at the national conference in Nam Dinh province on October 19

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted that there is no such thing as the end for the building new-style rural areas programme while addressing a national conference held in the northern province of Nam Dinh on October 19.

In his speech, the Government leader affirmed that the programme, carried out since 2010, has made historic breakthroughs, giving a facelift to rural areas across Vietnam, raising the stature of farmers, considerably improving their lives, and continuing to restructure agriculture in a modern and sustainable manner.

Over the last more than nine years, this programme has successfully capitalised on the combined strength of the political system and the people, he noted.

He attributed its success largely to people’s contributions, adding that tens of thousands of kilometres of rural roads have been constructed without any pennies spent thanks to locals’ donation of their land, money and work.

However, PM Phuc also pointed out shortcomings of the programme and suggested solutions.

He stressed that all localities must not be complacent about what they have achieved, but have the consistent viewpoint that building new-style rural areas is just the beginning and it doesn’t have an end point.

The PM also requested localities nationwide to launch an emulation movement on building new-style countryside for 2021 – 2025.

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, the programme has helped turn many rural areas into good places for live.

Data show that the new-style countryside building target has been reached almost two years ahead of schedule. As of October 2019, 4,665 communes or 52.4 percent of the total nationwide have been recognised as new-style rural areas, 2.4 percent higher than the target set for 2020. Among them, 63 communes have satisfied advanced criteria.

Eight provinces and centrally-run cities have had all of their communes winning the recognition, namely the provinces of Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Dong Nai and Binh Duong, and the cities of Da Nang and Can Tho.

Meanwhile, 109 district-level localities in 41 provinces and cities have gained the title.

In particular, with all of their communes and district-level localities meeting all criteria, Dong Nai and Nam Dinh have completed the task.

The annual per capita income in rural regions rose three-fold, from 12.8 million VND (over 550 USD at the current exchange rate) in 2010 to 35.9 million VND in 2018. The income gap between rural and urban areas also dropped from 2.1 times to 1.8 times during the period. The household poverty rate in those areas has also declined sharply, about 1.5 percent each year on average, to 7.38 percent now.

Rural socio-economic infrastructure has been improved considerably, thus gradually meeting people’ daily and production needs and keeping up with local development demand. After more than nine years, over 206,740km of rural roads have been constructed or upgraded across the country. Cultural and social aspects have also received more attention./.

Party delegation pays working visit in India

The Vietnamese delegation in a meeting with Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs Vijay Thakur Singh

Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of Phu Yen province’s Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Council Huynh Tan Viet led a delegation from the Vietnamese Party Central Committee to pay a working visit to India on October 15-19.

The visit, made at the invitation of the Indian Government and in the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding inked between the two sides in 2013, aimed to promote relations between the Communist Party of Vietnam and political parties in India. Besides, it is expected to boost the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations across the fields of politics, security – defence, economy – trade, culture and tourism.

During their stay, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ram Madhav, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Doraisamy Raja, and representatives of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In addition, they had meetings with Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs Vijay Thakur Singh.

At the events, the Vietnamese delegation thanked the Indian Government, political parties and people for supporting Vietnam in the struggle for independence in the past, and the current national construction. They called on the Indian side to be more active in supporting Vietnam’s stance in the East Sea issue, and find a suitable place to put up President Ho Chi Minh’s statue in New Delhi.

The Vietnamese side suggested India remove bottlenecks in the bilateral trade, including India’s restriction of importation of materials for incense stick making and anti-dumping investigation on several Vietnamese products, among others.

The Indian side, for its part, expressed wishes to enhance relations with the Vietnamese Party and Government, and described Vietnam as a top priority in India’s Look East Policy.

They said delegation exchange through the MoU will create a trustworthy political basis to develop the comprehensive strategic partnership in a deeper and more practical fashion.

The Vietnamese delegation also visited some cultural and historical relic sites in India to learn experiences in preservation and restoration work as well as tourism development./.

Vice President visits embassy in Jakarta

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh meets with the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia.

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh, now in Indonesia to attend a ceremony for the President and Vice President of the country to take their offices, on October 20 met with the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Indonesia, the ASEAN Secretariat and the Vietnamese mission to the regional group.

At the meeting, Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Quang Vinh reported to Thinh on their activities as well as the situation of the Vietnamese community in the country.

Over the recent past, the bilateral strategic partnership and cooperation have vigorously developed in all the fields, the diplomat said, stressing that Thinh’s visit affirms that Vietnam attaches importance to its strategic partnership with Indonesia, manifests support to the country in weathering all the difficulties an challenges, and attaches importance to the role an position of Indonesia in ASEAN and the international arena.

For his part, head of the Vietnamese mission to ASEAN Tran Duc Binh said the mission is currently focusing on the preparations for Vietnam to take over the ASEAN chairmanship for 2020. The diplomat expressed his belief that with its rich experiences, Vietnam will have a successful chairmanship, contributing to the acceleration of the relations between the bloc and partners as well as to the development of the ASEAN Community.

Thinh spoke highly of the achievements of the Vietnamese offices in Indonesia which she described as contributing to the strengthening and deepening of the bilateral strategic partnership.

She informed the participants of the situation in Vietnam and the outcome of the recent 11th plenum of the Party Central Committee. The Vice President also pointed out difficulties and shortcomings such as the low national competitiveness, unsustainable economic growth, and social problems.

As for the extremely complicated development in the East Sea, Thinh stressed the Party and State’s consistent advocate of resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty while maintaining an environment of security and peace for national development.

On the Vietnam-Indonesia relations, the Vice President highlighted that next year, the two countries will mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, and they are also negotiating on the demarcation of the exclusive economic zones in the East Sea.

In conclusion, Thinh expressed her belief that with their rich experiences at international and regional forums, as well as in the context of the fine relations between Vietnam and Indonesia, Vietnamese offices will continue closely cooperate with one another, thus helping strengthen the bilateral effective and intensive relations and making active contributions to the national development./.

Work needed to improve quality of legal documents

Measures must be taken to improve the quality of Vietnam’s legal documents, said policy researchers and businesses at a conference on October 17 in Hanoi.

Participants urged policymakers to improve feasibility, logic and consistency to avoid half-baked regulations that unnecessarily complicated business operations or even contradicted existing laws.

A major sticking point in the process of policy-making has been a lack of transparency and feedback from parties that are affected by those policies, said legal experts. As a result, many legal documents were produced without a comprehensive evaluation of the potential socio-economic impacts they could have.

“The quality of legal documents has a significant impact in strengthening businesses’ ability to compete, along with consumer experience,” said Dau Anh Tuan, head of the legal department under the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the conference’s organiser.

“Policymakers must aim to remove legal barriers on market integration, to ensure trade liberalisation and to fight the influence of interest groups,” Tuan said.

“Compiling documents which impact the entire society and business sector must not be fast-tracked, and must gather feedback from all affected parties.”

Mark Grillin, head of the Vietnam Business Forum’s tax and customs working group, said policymakers’ first priority in drafting a legal document is to identify its objectives.

Contingencies and alternatives should be carefully studied to maximise effectiveness.

They must work together with affected parties to ensure a good understanding of how legal document would impact their activities. Close cooperation between policymakers and affected parties will help to produce policies that do not favour certain groups at the expense of everyone else.

The list of affected parties must also be expanded to include other stakeholders in supply chains and supporting industries, not just primary players.

The transparency of tax-related legal documents is a matter of utmost importance, said Nguyen Tien Vy, vice-president of the Vietnam Beer and Beverage Association.

Vy quoted a study conducted by the Central Institute of Economic Management that showed a change in the country’s tax law would affect not just the beverage industry but also its 21 supporting industries and millions of consumers.

Below-par legal documents are also a hurdle to overcome as the country pushes for further integration into the global economy with numerous international trade agreements./.

National ASEAN 2020 Committee convenes fourth meeting

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh speaks at the event

The National ASEAN 2020 Committee convened its fourth meeting in Hanoi on October 18 under the chair of Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and its Chairman Pham Binh Minh.

As Vietnam will take over the ASEAN Chairmanship from Thailand in early November 2019, Minh asked the committee, its sub-committees and Secretariat, ministries, agencies and localities to do their best to complete preparations for the event.

Due to many important Party and State events next year, he urged members of the committee, sub-committees and Secretariat, ministries and agencies to give priority to tasks regarding ASEAN Chair Year 2020, adding that it is both the responsibility and benefit of the Vietnamese country and people.

Deputy Foreign Minister and Secretary General of the committee Nguyen Quoc Dung reviewed work done by sub-committees and the Secretariat over the past time, particularly tasks worked out at the third meeting, saying that it has basically met requirements.

He requested completing the website of the ASEAN Chair Year 2020, the communications plan and major activities for the year, including a ceremony to transfer the role of the ASEAN Chairmanship, a ceremony to launch ASEAN Chair Year 2020, and ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat.

The focus of the discussions was a comprehensive review of the past and upcoming tasks, especially the launch of an overall plan on Vietnam’s assumption of ASEAN Chairmanship 2020 and detailed plans on agenda, logistics, reception, communications – culture, security and health care.

On the occasion, the sub-committee on communications and culture and the ASEAN Secretariat 2020 debuted the logo and identity of ASEAN Chair Year 2020 as approved by the committee, which will be also introduced to ASEAN member states and partner countries at the 35th ASEAN Summit and related meetings in Thailand from October 31 – November 4./.

NA Vice Chairwoman attends IPU-141’s closing ceremony

NA Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong (L) meets with First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic in Belgrade on October 17

Permanent Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Tong Thi Phong met with First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic and attended the closing ceremony of the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-141) in Belgrade on October 17.

At the meeting with Ivica Dacic, the Vietnamese NA Vice Chairwoman expressed her delight at Serbia’s achievements in national development.

She affirmed that Vietnam treasures the time-tested friendship with Serbia and appreciates the European country’s support for Vietnam’s struggle for national liberation in the past, as well as national development efforts at present.

Phong said she hopes the two countries will enhance cooperation in economy – trade, culture, education – training, and sports, on the basis of their own potential and strengths.

For his part, First Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Dacic shared his guest’s view on the traditional bilateral friendship, noting that he hopes his country’s relations with Vietnam will be strengthened via mutual visits at all levels.

He added he will soon pay a visit to Vietnam to discuss measures to foster bilateral ties.

Later on October 17, Vice Chairwoman Phong attended the closing ceremony of the IPU-141, which adopted the Belgrade Declaration on strengthening international law.

The declaration highlighted the importance of a rules-based peaceful world order and the role of multilateral institutions with the United Nations being the foundation to resolve common challenges and disputes among countries. It also stressed that regional cooperation is a critical element in enhancing the law-based world order, thus helping to peacefully settle disputes and promote sustainable peace.

The IPU-141 also adopted a resolution entitled “Achieving universal health coverage by 2030: The role of parliaments in ensuring the right to health”. The resolution underscored the importance and necessity of universal health coverage, especially of women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and other vulnerable groups in society.

The high-ranking NA delegation of Vietnam, led by Vice Chairwoman Phong, took part in all activities of the IPU-141 and actively gave opinions at sessions of the IPU Executive Committee and Governing Council, the Forum of Women Parliamentarians, the ASEAN Plus 3 mechanism, the IPU’s Asia-Pacific geopolitical group, the IPU Committee on Democracy and Human Rights, and the IPU Committee on UN Affairs.

Vice Chairwoman Phong delivered a speech at the plenary session of the IPU-141, which was themed “Strengthening international law: Parliamentary roles and mechanisms, and the contribution of regional cooperation.”

On the sidelines of the IPU-141, the Vietnamese delegation had bilateral meetings with officials of the host country and partners, including the IPU President and Secretary General, and heads of the delegations of Laos, Myanmar, Australia, Cuba and Belarus.

The participation in the IPU-141 continued to help improve Vietnam’s stature in the international arena through playing an active role in resolving regional and global challenges, and directing other countries’ attention to regional security issues relevant to Vietnam’s benefits, especially when it will serve as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, ASEAN Chair in 2020, and Chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) for 2019-2020./.

Vietnam seeks stronger cooperation with Japan to address war consequences

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh

A delegation of the Defence Ministry, headed by Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, is visiting Japan from October 15 to 18 in a bid to boost cooperation in war aftermath alleviation in Vietnam.

As part of the trip, the delegation met with leaders of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, Foreign Ministry, National Police Agency’s Security Bureau, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and a number of related Japanese enterprises.

At these working sessions, the sides discussed their joint work in easing war consequences in the past time and ways to increase the collaboration in the coming time.

Deputy Minister Vinh took the occasion to thank relevant Japanese agencies and organisations for supporting Vietnam in carrying out projects on bomb and mine clearance and dioxin detoxification. He highlighted Japan’s provision of official development assistance to the newly established National Action Centre for Toxic Chemicals and Environmental Treatment (NACCET), in the form of machinery and equipment serving the survey and assessment of chemical pollution level.

Vinh, who is also head of the National Steering Committee on the Settlement of Post-War Unexploded Ordnance and Toxic Chemical Consequences (Steering Committee 701), said such cooperation builds trust and consolidates Vietnam – Japan extensive strategic partnership.

He asked Japanese public agencies and organisations to continue working together with their Vietnamese counterparts, particularly the Steering Committee 701, in implementing projects addressing the problems of unexploded ordnance left by war and toxic chemical, while studying the possibility of a long-term cooperation plan.

Joint work in communications campaign to raise local and international awareness of the two countries’ collaboration efforts in the field is also necessary, he added.

During the visit, the delegation held a consultation with the Japanese Defence Ministry on matters related to Vietnam’s Chair of ASEAN next year. The Vietnamese side asked Japan to join and support Vietnam’s initiatives, and coordinate with the Vietnamese Defence Ministry for the successful organization of relevant conferences and activities./.

Role models in building new-styled rural areas honoured

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (second, left) presents the third-class Independence Order and the certificate recogniging Dong Nai province's completion of building new-style rural areas to local officials at the ceremony on October 18

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a ceremony in the northern province of Nam Dinh on October 18 to honour role models in the emulation movement “The whole nation joins hands to build new-style rural areas” in the period of 2011-2020.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc presented the Independence Order, third class to Nam Dinh and Dong Nai provinces, which are the first two provinces to complete the task of building new-style rural areas in 2019, and the Labour Order, first class to 19 ministries, departments, provinces, cities and central agencies.

At the ceremony, 13 provinces and cities that made great efforts in building new-styled rural areas, 93 districts and towns meeting all criteria of new-style rural areas were awarded the Labour Order, third class.

In addition, 175 outstanding communes were awarded the Prime Minister’s certificates of merit.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc warmly praised collectives and individuals for their outstanding contribution to the emulation movement “The whole nation joins hands to build new-style rural areas” in the period of 2011-2020.

The movement has created a driving force for socio-economic development, he noted.

On the occasion, the PM officially launched the emulation movement “The whole nation joins hands to build new-style rural areas” in the period of 2020-2025.

After more than nine years of implementation, the new-style rural development programme has achieved important results, fundamentally changing the appearance of the country’s countryside and significantly improving the material and spiritual life of people in rural areas.

The goal of 50 percent of all communes recognized as new-style rural areas by 2020 has been fulfilled ahead of schedule, as so far, 4,554 communes across the country (51.16 percent of the total) have earned the title, up 34.01 percent compared to late 2015. Ninety three district-level units in 37 provinces and centrally-run cities (13.7 percent of the total) have been recognised by the Prime Minister to have satisfied all the criteria./.

10 years of new-style countryside building programme reviewed

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (standing) speaks at the national conference held in Nam Dinh province on October 19

A national conference was held under the chair of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in the northern province of Nam Dinh on October 19 to review 10 years implementing the national target programme on new-style rural areas.

At its seventh session in August 2008, the 10th-tenure Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 26 on agriculture, farmers and rural areas.

This resolution set the target that material and spiritual lives of rural residents will be unceasingly improved, with faster progress in disadvantaged areas. Besides, agriculture will be developed towards commercial production and high productivity, quality, effectiveness and competitiveness that can firmly ensure national food security in both short and long terms.

It also aims to build new-style rural areas with modern socio-economic infrastructure, with 50 percent of all the communes to be recognised as new-style countryside by 2020.

To realise this resolution, the Government approved a national target programme on building new-style rural areas for 2010 – 2020. It also launched an emulation movement calling on the whole nation to join hands in the work.

Statistics show that thanks to efforts by the whole political system and society, great achievements have been obtained over the past decade.

Notably, the new-style countryside building target has been reached almost two years ahead of schedule. As of October 2019, 4,665 communes or 52.4 percent of the total nationwide have been recognised as new-style rural areas, 2.4 percent higher than the target set for 2020. Among them, 63 communes have satisfied advanced criteria.

Eight provinces and centrally-run cities have had all of their communes winning the recognition, namely the provinces of Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Hung Yen, Thai Binh, Dong Nai and Binh Duong, and the cities of Da Nang and Can Tho.

Meanwhile, 109 district-level localities in 41 provinces and cities have gained the title.

In particular, with all of their communes and district-level localities meeting all criteria, Dong Nai in the south and Nam Dinh in the northern region have completed the task.

The annual per capita income in rural regions rose three-fold, from 12.8 million VND (over 550 USD at the current exchange rate) in 2010 to 35.9 million VND in 2018. The income gap between rural and urban areas also dropped from 2.1 times to 1.8 times during the period. The household poverty rate in those areas has also declined sharply, by about 1.5 percent each year on average.

Rural socio-economic infrastructure has been improved considerably, thus gradually meeting people’ daily and production needs and keeping up with local development demand. After more than nine years, over 206,740km of rural roads have been constructed or upgraded across the country.

Additionally, cultural and social aspects have received more attention. The rate of collected solid waste has been increasing, from 44.1 percent in 2011 to 63.5 percent at present.

Over the last nine years, more than 2.4 quadrillion VND have been mobilised for building new-style countryside, with 27.7 percent from the State budget, 57.6 percent from loans, 4.9 percent contributed by businesses, and 9.8 percent donated by people.

Aside from reviewing the 10-year programme implementation, the conference on October 19 was also meant to set up orientations and tasks for carrying out the work in the years to come.

Prior to this event, a ceremony was held on October 18 to honour prominent collectives and individuals in the work between 2010 and 2020. On this occasion, PM Phuc also launched an emulation movement on building new-style rural areas for 2021 – 2025./.