Vietnam
Fatherland Front Chairman visits General Giap

The Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central
Committee (VFFCC), Huynh Dam, visited General Vo Nguyen Giap on May 18, on the
occasion of the 70th founding anniversary of the VietMinh Front and the 121st
birthday of late President Ho Chi Minh.

Photo: VOV

On behalf of the VFFCC as well as
the country’s people, Chairman Dam expressed deep gratitude to Gen. Giap for his
great contributions to the country’s liberation cause, national reunification,
construction and protection.

He added that Gen. Giap not only
contributed to the establishment of the Vietnam Independence Alliance
Association under the leadership of the Party and President Ho that led the
country’s army and people to ensure the success of the 1945 August Revolution,
helping to establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first of its kind
in Southeast Asia at that time.

Chairman Dam wished Gen. Giap would
live long to set a bright example for the youth to follow.

During the visit, Gen. Giap
expressed thanks for the kind wishes from Chairman Dam, the VFFC and the entire
people.

Turkish
ambassador bids farewell to PM Dung

Vietnam is keen to boost its bilateral ties with
Turkey and help Turkey tightens its ties with ASEAN countries.

This was stated by Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung at a reception for the outgoing Turkish ambassador, Ates Oktem,
who came to bid farewell to the Prime Minister on May 17.

During the reception, PM Dung said
there remains a lot of untapped potential for bilateral cooperation in such
fields as economics, education and technology, and he urged the two sides exert
more efforts for mutual benefits.

The PM highly appreciated Mr Oktem’s
contributions to boosting Vietnamese-Turkish ties of cooperation, particularly
in trade.

Mr Oktem said he was deeply
impressed by the land and people of Vietnam and pleased to see two-way trade
revenues hit US$850 million in 2010.

The diplomat said both countries are
working towards the early signing of an agreement on mutual investment without
double taxation.

Prime
Minister allocates rice to poor residents of six provinces

Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Tuesday allocated 11,657 tonnes of rice from the
national reserves to poor residents of six provinces who are struggling from
drought and the downtime between crops.

Beneficiaries live in the central provinces of Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue city, Thanh
Hoa, Nghe An and Quang Tri and the Central Highland province of Gia Lai.

On May
12, Prime Minister Dung allocated 4,995 tonnes of rice to residents in the
provinces of Kon Tum, Ha Giang, Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Gia Lai.

Officials trained in border issues

Key officials of districts, cities, towns, agencies,
organisations and the armed forces in the central coastal province of Phu Yen
have gained a broader knowledge of border issues.

At a training course held on May 17
in Phu Yen’s capital city of Tuy Hoa, participants were updated on the State’s
policies relating to land and maritime border issues, protocols on border and
fishing cooperative agreements between Vietnam and neighbouring countries,
Vietnam’s sea areas, sovereign rights and the national jurisdiction on the East
Sea in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as
international rules governing maritime security and criminal activity at sea.

The course dealt with several
Southeast Asian nations’ regulations on ships, vessels, foreign fishermen
violating their sovereignty.

The course also improved officials’
abillites to assist fishermen at sea, prevent acts of violation against other
nations’ sovereignty, and cooperate with other nations and territories in line
with laws.

The training course was part of the
Lasrai III programme funded by the Australian Ministry of Immigration and
Citizenship.

A similar course will be held in the
central coastal province of Khanh Hoa by the Foreign Ministry.

Lawyers ponder ways to promote image

Vietnamese
lawyers exchanged ideas on how to best promote their position and reputations by
means of communication with Canadian experts at a conference in Ha Noi.

More
than 40 lawyers from different regions in Viet Nam attended the two-day
conference, part of the Justice Partnership Programme (JPP) sponsored by the the
European Union, Denmark and Sweden during 2010-15.

Lawyer
Le Thuc Anh, chairman of the Viet Nam Bar Federation (VBF), said, “although
lawyers play an important role in the development of the country in terms of
protecting the rights of people, their role is not considered with as much
regard as it should be.”

Anh said
that the VBF, in cooperation with its 6,000 members, was planning to publish its
own newspaper next month, in order to provide readers with updates regarding the
important work they were doing.

Local
lawyers have been faced with increasing competition from international and
regional lawyers currently working in Viet Nam.

According to Stephen Hanson, senior director of principal communications at the
Canadian Bar Association, they published print and online publications for the
use of their members, thus enabling them to study and promote their own
professions while at the same time providing the public with legal knowledge
through billboards and the internet.

Most
Vietnamese lawyers said that they would welcome similar publications for
Vietnamese lawyers, pointing out that the internet however sadly did not seem to
help local people, especially those in rural and remote areas, in enhancing
their legal knowledge.

“People
are desperately in need of easily accessible legal information,” said Nguyen
Minh Tam, VBF’s vice general secretary. Tam said that the federation should
utilise television, radio and newspapers and develop interesting programmes
capable of attracting and helping people better deal with the legal system.

Tam
added that the HCM City Bar Association organised 15-30 day rural outreach
campaigns in order to provide people with simple legal knowledge.

The VBF
was established two years ago in order to represent and protect the legal
profession, set standard for lawyers, help promote skills and, most importantly,
to preserve justice in a fair, democratic and civilised society, said Thuc Anh.

VNN/VOV/VNS