PM Dung invited to attend Mekong-Japan summit in Tokyo; Danish Queen affirms stronger ties with Vietnam; VFF delegation visits the RoK; Vietnam attends ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated this at a reception in Hanoi on November 2 for Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, Mitsuo Sakaba, who conveyed PM Yukio Hatoyama’s invitation to Mr Dung to attend the summit slated for Tokyo later this week.

He said that the initiative will help raise Japan’s role in cooperation with the Mekong River and ASEAN countries, bringing benefits to both sides and contributing to peace and development in ASEAN and Asia as a whole.

He proposed that the Japanese government support these countries in studying and developing projects to jointly exploit, use and protect the Mekong River water in an efficient and sustainable manner.

Mr Dung and Mr Sakaba compared notes on a number of big cooperation projects between Vietnam and Japan, including those to build the Terminal No2 of Noi Bai International Airport, a road to Nhat Tan bridge, and Lach Huyen port.

Ambassador Sakaba said the Japanese government hopes that both sides at the summit will release the Tokyo statement detailing specific cooperation areas, especially in environmental protection and infrastructure construction.

According to the ambassador, PM Hatoyama proposed that the summit be held annually, with the second to take place in Vietnam in 2010.

Danish Queen affirms stronger ties with Vietnam

Denmark will continue to promote mutually beneficial cooperation with Vietnam in various areas, especially in economics and trade, says Danish Queen Margrethe II.

The Queen made the statement during a reception in Hanoi on November 2 given by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

She said she was happy to visit Vietnam and impressed with the important achievements made by the Vietnamese people during the Renewal process.

Mr Manh briefed the Queen on Vietnam’s recent socio-economic developments and its efforts to realize the goal of building an industrial nation by 2020.

He expressed his pleasure at the fruitful cooperation between Vietnam and Denmark in recent times, particularly in investment, trade, development aid, culture and tourism, as well as in addressing climate change. He said Vietnam hopes to receive continued support from international friends, including Denmark, for its national development.

The Party leader said he believes that the Queen’s visit will help promote “the partnership for development” between Vietnam and Denmark to new heights, and cooperation between Vietnam and the European Union, especially when Vietnam assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2010.

VFF delegation visits the RoK

A delegation from the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee led by its President Huynh Dam left Hanoi for Seoul on November 1, beginning an official visit to the Republic of Korea (RoK).

The visit aims to strengthen the strategic cooperation partnership for peace and development between the two countries.

Vietnam and the RoK agreed to raise their relationship to the strategic cooperation partnership during a visit to Hanoi last month by RoK President Lee Myung-bak.

Vietnam attends ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting

A delegation from the Vietnamese Defence Ministry, led by Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh left Hanoi on November 2 for Thailand to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting.

The delegation will attend the opening ceremony of Thailand’s International Defense and Security exhibition and then pay an official visit to India.

Their trip was made at the invitation of Thailand’s Minister of Defense, Prawit Wongsuwan, and India’s Minister of Defense, A.K. Antony.

Party Commission marks 60th anniversary

The primary task of our foreign affairs in the near future is to continue to maintain a stable and peaceful environment for national development, said Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

Only when such an environment is created, can we successfully carry out the Renewal process as well as national industrialisation and modernisation to firmly build and defend the Socialist Vietnamese State, said Mr Manh at a ceremony in Hanoi on November 1.

The ceremony was held to mark the 60th anniversary of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations.

Mr Manh noted that foreign affairs play a very important role in Party and State activities, meeting strategic tasks of the country’s revolutionary cause in different periods, from national liberation and unification in the past to national construction and defence at the present.

He analysed major challenges to the world, including sectarian, religious and territorial conflicts and terrorism, and said that in the face of these challenges Vietnam must persistently continue its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development.

He asked the Commission to work closely with relevant agencies to keep a close watch on any global developments, analyse and provide accurate forecasts and make timely recommendations to the Party Central Committee, its Political Bureau and its Secretariat.

He urged the commission to actively oversee the implementation of high-level agreements signed between Vietnam and other countries and strive to promote people-to-people diplomacy.

The Party leader reminded the Commission to work closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly Committee for External Affairs and other ministries and agencies, and improve its staff’s qualifications to meet the requirements of the new era.

In his speech, Hoang Binh Quan, a Party Central Committee member and head of the Commission, reviewed its 60-year history and said many generations of the Commission have worked tirelessly to make a significant contribution to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation.

Recognising its outstanding contributions to the nation, the Party and State have awarded many high distinctions to the Commission and its officials, including the Gold Star Order (in 2003), the Ho Chi Minh, the Independence Order and the Labour Order. The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and State have also conferred the Issala Order, first class, on the commission.

PV