President visits central province; Vietnam attends Sao Paulo forum; North-western region urged to fully tap its valuable resources; Vice premier calls for speeding up housing development

President Nguyen Minh Triet paid a visit to a residential area in Danang city on August 24 as part of his working visit to the central city.

The residential area, which is being built on a site of 120ha at a total cost of more than VND600 billion, is expected to be ready for its new inhabitants at the end of this year.

At the meeting, the state leader expressed his pleasure at the city’s development and presented gifts to engineers and workers at the site. Later he called at a local trade village and visited Buddhist monks and nuns at a local pagoda.

Vietnam attends Sao Paulo forum

A delegation of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations of Vietnam has attended the 15th Meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum in Mexico City.

At the plenary session, the Vietnamese delegation presented a report on Vietnam’s market-oriented economy, which was applauded and considered by the participants as one of important contributions to the forum, which took place from August 20-23.

While in Mexico, the delegation was received by Alberto Anaya Gutierrez, Secretary-General of the Mexican Workers’ Party, a co-organiser of the forum.

It also had bilateral meetings with participating delegations to discuss regional and national issues as well as measures to promote bilateral ties.

Themed “Latin American left-wing alternatives to face the capitalist crisis”, the Sao Paulo Forum drew about 300 delegates from 56 Latin American left-wing parties and organisations and 29 countries.

North-western region urged to fully tap its valuable resources

The Steering Committee of the North-western region held a ceremony on August 23 to celebrate five years of its establishment and receive the Labour Order, third class.

Addressing the ceremony, Truong Tan Sang, a Politburo member and Standing Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam highlighted the achievements made by the north-western region in different areas over the past years, and also pointed out the remaining shortcomings. He asked the Steering Committee to work with the relevant agencies to devise a strategy for fully tapping into the region’s valuable resources and speed up socio-economic development. He also urged the region to press ahead with the restructuring of agricultural and rural areas, build irrigation systems and plant with a high economic value that suit the region’s climate.

The steering committee was established in August 24, 2004 with the aim of realizing the Politburo’s Resolution 37 concerning socio-economic development, national defense, and security in the northern mid-land and mountainous areas till 2010. Over the past five years, it has worked with government agencies and a number of localities to develop 35 projects on socio-economic development, national defense, and religion. Of these projects, 22 have been approved while 17 have already been implemented. These projects have helped localities to speed up their socio-economic development, improve people’s living standards and contribute to maintaining national defense and the country’s sovereignty.

In future, the steering committee will focus on coming up with solutions to stablise the economy, curb inflation and prevent a further economic downturn. In addition, it will continue to speed up the economic restructure, maintain economic growth in each locality and in the region while ensuring political stability, national defense, security and social order. It will also improve the capacity of local leaders and enhance the quality of the political system at all levels, especially at grassroots level.

Dong Thap - an attractive destination for investors

Dong Thap province lies in the heart of the Mekong Delta region and is an attractive destination with a great potential for development of human resources, agriculture, the processing industry, services and tourism.

This was stated by deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on August 22 to promote investment and social welfare in Dong Thap province.

Mr Hung emphasised that businesses should work with local party and administration committees to overcome any difficulties, promote economic growth and ensure social welfare.

Truong Ngoc Han, Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People’s Committee, introduced the province’s potential areas and current projects. He expressed a desire to increase investment in agriculture, new technologies, the processing industry, infrastructure and urban development, housing, services, finance and banking, tourism, transportation, human resources training, medical care, information technology and telecommunications. He added that the province is focusing on social and cultural development, poverty reduction, job generation and social welfare.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan encouraged domestic and foreign businesspeople to invest in socio-economic development projects in Dong Thap and promised do his best to attract investment capital and create ideal conditions for businesses to develop projects in the province.

At the seminar, Dong Thap signed a memorandum of understanding on co-operation valued at VND3,000 billion with eight businesses, including the Northern Food Corporation, the Oil, Gas, Chemical and Fertilizer Corporation, the South-west Investment Joint Stock Company and the Huynh Gia De Company. Many businesses committed to donate money to the province’s social welfare fund.

Vice premier calls for speeding up housing development

The Ministry of Construction should study other countries’ experience to draft a strategy for housing planning and development, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, head of the central steering committee for housing and real estate, said.

He called on the ministry to send its officials abroad for the purpose.

Mr. Hai also urged the ministry to complete and submit to the Prime Minister’s Office its plans for developing official houses and expanding the real estate market.

It should coordinate with authorities in provinces and cities, especially Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, to overcome hurdles facing a program to restore and upgrade old apartment buildings, Mr. Hai said.

The central steering committee would set up a working team to monitor and speed up implementation of the housing aid program for poor people, he said.

It would also examine the progress of the second stage of a plan to build houses and residential quarters in areas vulnerable to flooding in the Mekong Delta, he said.

It would also follow up on building accommodation for workers in provinces with many industrial parks — like Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, he added.

PV