President hands award to Ba Dinh District

President
Nguyen Minh Triet yesterday, May 31, presented the first-class Labour Order to
Ba Dinh District in Ha Noi at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the
district.

Party
General Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong sent a basket
of flowers and a message of congratulations to the district.

Speaking
at the ceremony, Ngo Thi Doan Thanh, Deputy Secretary of the Ha Noi Party
Committee and Chairwoman of the Ha Noi People’s Council, praised the
achievements of the authorities and people of Ba Dinh District during the past
five decades.

As an
area where many of the Party and State’s leading agencies were located, Ba Dinh
District always had to prioritise political security and social order to ensure
the best service for the Party and State’s internal and external affairs, she
said.

As a
national political and administrative centre, Ba Dinh District had been selected
to implement the great and important guidelines of the Party and State on a
trial basis, she said.

Over the
past 10 years, the district’s budget collection has increased by 30 times to
VND3 trillion (US$146.3 million) in 2010, allowing it to make active
contributions together with the capital city and the nation to overcoming
difficulties and challenges caused by the global economic downturn.

More
markers erected along border with Laos

The
central province of Quang Binh and its neighbouring Lao provinces of Khammouane
and Savannakhet have jointly built 43 out of a planned 61 new border markers
along 201 kilometres of shared border.

Despite
difficulties in terrain, Quang Binh and the two Lao provinces had tried their
best to implement the project to construct new markers and upgrade existing ones
along the Viet Nam-Laos border, said Nguyen Huong Giang, Head of the Border
Department under the Quang Binh Department of External Affairs.

They
were making efforts to complete construction of the last 18 new border markers,
most of them in mountainous terrain, she said.

Uncle
Ho’s historic departure from Sai Gon remembered

President
Ho Chi Minh’s departure from the then Sai Gon 100 years ago was of historic
significance and seminal to the course of the country, a workshop celebrating
the centennial of the event heard yesterday, May 31.

Themed
“President Ho Chi Minh – A Journey to Salvage the Country,” the seminar was
jointly held by the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Ideology and
Culture, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ho Chi Minh National
Institute of Political Sciences and HCM City’s Party Committee.

Speakers
at the seminar included Party Politburo members Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung,
head of the commission Dinh The Huynh, HCM City’s Party Commission Secretary Le
Thanh Hai and Deputy Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang.

Around
140 presentations were given by many scholars, researchers, generals, police
officers and artists, including former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu.

Ho Chi
Minh’s departure 100 years ago marked the beginning of a great, courageous,
innovative but painstaking journey over three decades to find truth, said Huynh.

It was
also a long journey of the Vietnamese people to fight foreign invaders, liberate
and unite the country, and adhere to socialism, he added.

Phieu
stressed that all Party’s activities should be driven by Marxism-Leninism, as
President Ho Chi Minh’s chosen ideology, as well as his own thoughts.

Dung
affirmed that Vietnamese revolutionary course had gone through many challenges
and hardships in the last 80 years to achieve great and historic achievements
under the direction of national independence and socialism set by President Ho
Chi Minh.

In his
presentation themed “Be Steady on Uncle Ho’s Chosen Path and Continue the
National Industrialisation and Modernisation,” Dung attributed the achievement
to Vietnamese heroism guided by Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts.

Other
presentations at the seminar celebrated the late President’s great contributions
to the country, described his departure from the southern city as a historic
milestone in the country’s history, and stressed the rightness of his chosen
path.

Speakers
also brought to the seminar insights on the social and historical context of his
departure, his family’s tradition and his qualities, as well as contemporary
events that led to his seminal departure a century ago.

Cambodia, Thailand look to end row

Cambodia’s
Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong and Thailand
’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya met yesterday at the International Court of
Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands to resolve border dispute issues between
the two countries.

At the
court, Hor Namhong requested the ICJ propose solutions to put an end to armed
conflicts escalating in the disputed border area around Preah Vihear Temple.

He also
appealed to Thailand to respect Cambodia’s territorial sovereignty and withdraw
its troops from the disputed area to ensure security and peace, and conserve the
temple precinct.

Meanwhile, Kasit Piromya responded by saying that the court had no jurisdiction
to intervene in the dispute, saying that Thailand accepted the 1962 ruling that
the temple was on Cambodian territory, but the disputed border area was not part
of the ruling.

The
border dispute around the Preah Vihear Temple had escalated into a serious rift
in relations between Cambodia and Thailand in past years.

In 1962,
for the first time Cambodia submitted the problem to the ICJ after a dispute
caused tensions, including suspension of diplomatic relations between the two
countries.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News