State
President meets voters in HCM City

State President Nguyen Minh Triet met voters in
district 1, Ho Chi Minh City to announce the results of the eighth session of
the 12th National Assembly.

Photo: Vietnam+

At the meeting, voters in HCM City said the NA
session has made many changes as it has promoted democracy and devised policies
to meet the people’s expectations.

Voters agreed on the overall goal of the
socio-economic plan for 2011 and asked the NA to strengthen supervision of the
activities of ministries, agencies and localities. This supervision was
requested for implementation of administrative reform, investment projects and
stronger anti-corruption work.

Voters also addressed some urgent issues in
certain localities such as the execution of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal
project, the East-West corridor and “death” holes on main roads.

President Triet praised opinions given by HCM
City’s voters and highlighted the country’s socio-economic development
achievements and shortcomings. He emphasized that the Party and the State are
launching a campaign to stamp out corruption and expressed a wish that the most
concrete and urgent issues will be resolved soon.

In the afternoon, President Triet met voters in
district 2, HCM City.

Professor suggests ways to raise Vietnam’s
competitiveness

Prof. Michael E. Porter from the Harvard Business
School has highlighted the importance of organizational structure to the
implementation of policies and the need for the establishment of a national
competitiveness council to increase Vietnam’s competitive position.

Prof. Porter made these remarks at a reception
given by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on November 30.

He also made a number of suggestions on how to
increase the nation’s labour productivity, develop subsidiary industries,
restructure State-owned enterprises and enhance the equitization process.

The Vietnam Competitiveness Report 2010 was
compiled by a number of domestic and foreign agencies with specific
recommendations that can be added to Vietnam’s socio-economic development
strategy in the next decade, he said.

PM Dung spoke highly of Prof. Porter’s attendance
at a seminar on the Vietnam Competitiveness Report 2010 and his lecture in
Vietnam.

Vietnam is assessing its socio-economic
development during 2001-2010 and devising its strategy for the 2010-2020 period
with rapid and sustainable development targets, said the Vietnamese PM.

Vietnam welcomes the Vietnam Competitiveness
Report which provides figures, analyses and recommendations to complete the
national socio-economic development strategy for the 2010-2020 period, he said.

The PM went on to say that the nation attained an
annual average growth rate of 7. 2 percent from 2001 to 2005 and 7 percent in
the 2005-09 period and the figure is expected to be 6.7 percent in 2010.

However, PM Dung said, there remain shortcomings
and weaknesses in the economy, citing that slow competitiveness of the economy
has failed to meet the national integration need for rapid and sustainable
development.

The PM said the socio-economic development
strategy for 2010-2020 period targets an average growth rate of 7-7.5 percent
with ensured social justice, social welfare and environmental protection.

More success against HIV/AIDS in Vietnam

Vietnam will allocate more money for the prevention
of HIV/AIDS, considering it an investment in humans and the country’s
sustainable development, said Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan at a conference
reviewing the 20-yearfight against the epidemic.

The conference was held by the Ministry of Health
and the National Committee for Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Drugs, and
Prostitution in Hanoi on December 1.

Addressing the event, Ms Doan stressed that the
Vietnamese government pledges to mobilize forces and work closely with
international organizations to attain the Millennium Goal of preventing and
repelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2015. She also highlighted the need to
intensify research on the disease and called on sectors to continue their
efforts to raise public awareness.

Vice President Doan praised medical staff and
individuals who had silently devoted themselves to the fight against drug
trafficking and HIV/AIDS, saying many of them even sacrificed their own lives
during this fight.

At the conference, Health Minister Nguyen Quoc
Trieu said since the first case of HIV was detected in Vietnam, the country has
constantly strengthened medical supervision and guidance related to the
epidemic. Many provinces and cities have devised suitable HIV-prevention models
within local communities, he said.

So far, more than 2,000 drug addicts have been
treated with Methadone and 44,000 AIDS patients have received antiviral medicine
for treatment. Each year, tens of thousands of drug addicts and prostitutes are
given information, condoms and clean syringes.

The HIV epidemic has shown signs of declining
since 2008, Mr Trieu said. The country has basically curbed the expansion of the
epidemic, slashing the HIV infection rate to 0.3 percent. However, he warned
there are still many dangers that can lead to new outbreaks of the disease.

Vice President Doan also pointed out some
existing problems such as the shortage of necessary legal policies,
discrimination against HIV-infected people, and poor service in treating
patients as well as limited human resources.

In the last two decades, Vietnam has discovered
nearly 230,000 people who contracted AIDS via drug injection and unsafe sex.
48,000 have died of the disease. Ho Chi Minh City has recorded the highest
proportion of infections (23 percent), followed by Hanoi (8percent), Haiphong,
An Giang, Son La, and Thai Nguyen.

VNN/VOV/VNS