Central African President continues tour of Vietnam; Vietnamese diplomat visits Sichuan province to boost ties; Angola wishes to broaden multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam; Prime Minister to pay official visit to RoK; Vietnam attends ASEAN security forum

Photo: VNA

Vietnamese diplomat visits Sichuan province to boost ties

Vietnamese ambassador to China Nguyen Van Tho paid a visit to the Chinese province of Sichuan on May 18, one year after a historic earthquake rocked the province.

During his two-day visit, the Vietnamese diplomat extended his condolences to Sichuan province’s leaders and people while being received by the Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Liu Qibao.

He expressed his belief that under the leadership of the provincial party and authority, the local people will soon overcome the aftermaths of the disaster and get their lives back to normal.

Ambassador Tho said that cooperative relations between Vietnam and China have developed in all fields, especially after the leaders of both countries agreed to build a comprehensive strategic partnership in May last year.

He confirmed that both parties should do their utmost to boost economic and trade cooperation to contribute in a practical way to improving the two countries’ friendship and the cooperation between Vietnamese localities and Sichuan province.

For his part, Liu Qibao thanked the Vietnamese Party, government and people for supporting the victims of the earthquake, adding that the Vietnamese ambassador’s visit to mark the occasion was extremely meaningful to the local people.

He talked about the province’s socio-economic development and expressed his pleasure at the development of the two countries’ relationship.

He also pledged to bolster the comprehensive cooperative relationship shown between Vietnamese localities and Sichuan province.

He called on Vietnamese businesses to actively take part in the 10th Western Fair which will be held in Sichuan in October this year.

On this occasion, ambassador Tho laid a wreath at a monument for the earthquake’s victims, presented gifts to primary school pupils in An district and visited Xinan Transport University.

Angola wishes to broaden multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam

Angolan Prime Minister Paulo Kassoma has asked Vietnam to continue to share socio-economic experiences with the African country, especially in health care, education and training, agriculture, science-technology and oil and gas.

Receiving the new Vietnamese ambassador, Pham Tien Nhien, in Luanda on May 20, the Angola government leader thanked Vietnam for its solidarity and support to Angola during the past.

To the Angola people, Vietnam is an example of bravery in the struggle for national liberation and also sets an example in national construction and development, Kassoma said.

Ambassador Pham Tien Nhien reiterated Vietnam’s determination to implement agreements reached by the two governments in order to lift bilateral relations between the two countries to a new height.

Prime Minister to pay official visit to RoK

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his wife will pay an official visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK) from May 28-30.

After the visit, PM Dung will attend the high-level conference to mark the 20^th founding anniversary of the ASEAN-RoK dialogue partnership in the resort island of Jeju from May 31-June 2.

The visit will be made at the invitations of President Lee Myung-bak and Prime Minister Han Seung-soo.

Vietnam attends ASEAN security forum

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Lieutenant General Nguyen Quoc Khanh and defence and security officers from 23 other members of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) have agreed to step up talks and joint working to ensure peace and stability in the region.

The consensus, reached at a four-day ARF meeting on security policies which was concluded in Phuket, Thailand, on May 20, focused on joint efforts to flight non-traditional security threats such as terrorism and weapon proliferation.

At the same time, the senior military officers agreed that world security was generally stable as the broader international community understands the need to cooperate more to ensure global security.

VietNamNet/VNA