Ex-senior Party official dies at 82

Hong Ha,
former Secretary of the Party Central Committee and former Editor-in-chief of
the Party’s daily Nhan dan, died of old age last Friday in Ha Noi. He was 82.

Born Ha
Van Truong in northern Nam Dinh City in September 1928, Ha began his
revolutionary activities in March 1945 and joined the Party in 1947. During his
career, he also held positions as director of the Party Central Committee’s
Office, head of its External Relations Commission, assistant to the Party
General Secretary, Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Journalists Association and
Vice Chairman of the Viet Nam Peace Committee. He was also a deputy of the 9th
National Assembly.

A
State-level funeral will be held for Ha on Thursday morning at the National
Funeral Hall, No 5 Tran Thanh Tong Street, Ha Noi. He will be buried at the
city’s Mai Dich Cemetery the same day.

ASEAN Foreign Ministers meet in Indonesia

A Vietnamese delegation headed by Assistant to
Foreign Minister Pham Quang Vinh attended the year’s first ASEAN Foreign
Ministers’ Meeting (AMM Retreat) opened in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara,
Indonesia, on January 16 -17.

Vinh joined other ASEAN officials in
discussions of orientations for the building of the ASEAN Community in 2015 on
the three pillars politics-security, economy and social-culture.
They also discussed measures to continue upholding ASEAN’s central role in
issues relating to the emerging regional structure with the official
participation of the US and Russia in the East Asia Summit (EAS), as well as to
boost cooperation, peace and stability within the bloc and between ASEAN with
its partners, thus improving ASEAN’s position in the global community.

The FMs exchanged views on issues of
regional and international concerns relating to situation in Myanmar, the Korean
Peninsula and the East Sea.

While hailing the election’s results
and recent progresses in Myanmar, the ministers called on related parties in the
Korean Peninsula to resume talks and affirmed that ASEAN is ready to contribute
to building a peaceful, stable and nuclear-free environment on the peninsula.
They stressed their request that security, peace and stability must be ensured
in the East Sea and the DOC - Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East
Sea be implemented by all parties concerned. They said ASEAN attaches great
importance to this document and will work for its full implementation.

On the regional connectivity, the
meeting mentioned the development of infrastructure and roads among ASEAN and
between ASEAN and China , including building a land route from Thailand through
Laos to southern China , implementing the ASEAN infrastructure fund, and
cooperating to tap tourism potential in ASEAN countries.

The meeting agreed that the
ASEAN-China senior official meeting to be held in Kunming on Jan. 24-25 will
launch a year of celebrations of the 20th anniversary of relations between the
two sides and will focus on the ASEAN-China linkage.

Lao Party officials study Hanoi leadership

Twenty senior officials of the Lao People’s
Revolutionary Party (LPRP) graduated from a refresher course on high-level
political theory in Hanoi on January 17.

The five-month course, held by the
Ho Chi Minh National Politics and Administration Institute, covered lessons on
Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thoughts and the Communist Party of Vietnam
leadership in national defence and construction.

The course attenders from Laos also
made fieldtrips to different Vietnamese localities and administrative agencies
to exchange with local leaders experiences in materialising CPV policies.

Cambodian newspaper praises Vietnam’s achievements

On January 17, the Phnom Penh Post ran an article on
Vietnam’s 11th National Party Congress, which captured the attention of the
Cambodian people, foreign observers and political analysts.

Vietnamese people are pinning their
high hopes on the Party Congress, during which a new leadership of the Communist
Party of Vietnam (CPV) will be elected, to decide orientations for the country’s
socio-economic development and political affairs.

Public opinion says Vietnam will
persist with the current reforms with a clear vision and surely achieve its goal
of becoming an industralised nation by 2020.

Vietnam is one of the rising stars
in Southeast Asia after 25 years of implementing the Doi Moi (Renewal) process.
The country hit total GDP growth of 6.7 percent in 2010 and recorded encouraging
achievements in poverty reduction.

“Vietnam will continue to pursue its
foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation, development
and diversification and multilateralisation. The country will also promote
economic integration and maintain good relations with neighouring countries.
Vietnam’s role in the region has been enhanced through its active participation
and contributions to international organisations, particularly ASEAN cooperation
and the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)” the article said.

It added that 1,377 delegates,
representing more than 3.6 million Party members will vote to elect the Party
Central Committee and Party General Secretary for the new term. The voting on
January 17 will select talented and virtuous people who will lead the country to
weather the current economic and political challenges.

VNN/VOV/VNS