| Lord
Mayor of London aims to boost relationship with Ha Noi
Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met head of the UK’s most important banking and
financial centre Alderman Michael Bear in Ha Noi yesterday, March 22, not long
after the two countries signed an action plan supplementing the strategic
partnership agreement last January.
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Photo: Vietnam+ | The
Prime Minister said he was happy to see the bilateral strategic partnership,
which started last year, being realised by Bear’s visit. Lord
mayor Bear was accompanied by representatives of many large British enterprises
that are seeking opportunities in Viet Nam. “I chose
to come to Ha Noi because we have such a strong relationship with you and
because we see the potential for developing that relationship for both of our
benefits,” the 683rd lord mayor of the City of London told Viet Nam News. “My
Prime Minister has challenged me to double bilateral trade to US$4 billion a
year,” he said. Last
year’s two-way trade volume was about $2 billion. Dung
said he expected to learn about the experiences of developed market economies
like Britain, and Bear said he was willing to share. “You
have enormous potential. So we can work in partnership. We are here to develop a
partnership with you where we each take advantage of our own knowledge,” said
Bear.
Infrastructure projects, through public-private partnership across a whole range
of sectors, from transport to health and water, would be a focus of co-operation
due to the UK’s experience in these areas.
The lord
mayor also said the City of London was willing to help Viet Nam develop
financial services. “How to
build a financial centre, how to improve banking and insurance because only 20
per cent of your population has bank accounts? We can help to improve that,” he
said.
Education and training was noted as another area of potential co-operation.
Prime
Minister Dung once again affirmed that Viet Nam would create favourable
conditions for British entrepreneurs to run their businesses in the country. The City
of London, covering more than one square mile within London, is a major business
and financial centre, ranked on a par with New York City as a leading centre of
global finance.
Capital city urged to reach growth targets
Authorities and relevant agencies in the capital should strive to reach all
socio-economic targets and ensure social security, Ha Noi Party Committee
Secretary Pham Quang Nghi told the final meeting of the municipal People’s
Council’s 23rd session yesterday, March 22.
Nghi
also urged the city to make good preparations for the upcoming National Assembly
and People’s Council elections. The
2004-11 tenure marked several significant events in the capital, including its
expansion into Ha Tay, Hoa Binh and Vinh Phuc provinces, two Party Congresses
and the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.
Secretary Nghi said the city’s economic development programmes in combination
with the Government’s stimulus packages had been effectively implemented and
helped the capital achieve a relatively high growth rate.
The
capital’s yearly GDP in the 2006-10 period increased by 10.4 per cent, 1.5 times
higher than the country’s average growth rate. Transfer of economic structure
had met the demands of industrialisation and modernisation which provided
priorities for high quality industries and products. Service
sector accounted for a big portion of GDP with a yearly growth rate of 10.24 per
cent while export turnover in the period saw an annual average increase of 18.3
per cent.
Upcoming elections
Nghi
said the People’s Council had played an important role in the achievements. He
asked relevant agencies to focus on the upcoming elections on May 22 and said
that agencies should take all necessary activities immediately after the
conference. Vice
chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Vu Hong Khanh announced the relief
of Vice Chairwoman Ngo Thi Thanh Hang from her duties so that she could move to
another position. The
People’s Committee also awarded certificates of merit to 99 organisations and
over 1,000 individuals for their achievements during the tenure.
Images of General Vo Nguyen Giap on display
More than 100 photos featuring legendary General Vo
Nguyen Giap are on display at the Thong Nhat Palace in Ho Chi Minh City.
The photos, taken by journalist-photographer Tran Tuan of the Vietnam News
Agency, captured moments of General Giap in the daily life.
Addressing the exhibition’s opening ceremony on March 22, Deputy General
Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Duc Loi stressed that Tuan’s works
created a huge portrait of the legendary general who is also the “eldest
brother” of the Vietnam’s armed forces. The photos are precious documents for
the nation and for future generations, he added.
Tran Tuan said that he was lucky to go with the General during his working trips
at home and abroad and the exhibition was aimed at celebrating the General’s 101
birth anniversary.
The exhibition will run until March 26.
Spratly Archipelago liberation celebrated
A meeting was held at the Sinh Ton island (Sin Cowe
Island) on March 21 to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the liberation of the
Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago.
Presence at the meeting were Nguyen Tan Tuan,
Deputy Secretary of the Khanh Hoa provincial Party Committee; Colonel Nguyen Duc
Vuong, Deputy Political Commissar of the naval force’s zone 4, and Nguyen Duc
Thang, Chairman of the Truong Sa district People’s Committee. Speaking at the meeting, Thang said the
liberation of islands in the Truong Sa Archipelago reflected the strong
determination of the navy forces and the People’s Army in general. It was a significant victory which contributed to
the nation’s great victory, leading to Vietnam’s reunification in 1975, he
emphasized. The Khanh Hoa provincial department for Sports,
Culture, and Tourism is examining the concrete slabs of sovereignty placed on
the islands belonging to the Truong Sa districtin order to recognize them as
provincial-level relics. These concrete slabs were put up a long time ago
to affirm Vietnam’s sovereignty, says the department.
Leader
salutes Lao counterpart
Party
General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong yesterday sent a letter of congratulations to
Chummaly Sayasone for his re-election as General Secretary of the Lao People’s
Revolutionary Party (LPRP), along with greetings to the freshly elected LPRP
Central Committee. In the
letter, Trong wrote that the re-election of Chummaly Sayasone, who is also
President of Laos, to the highest post revealed the confidence the entire Party,
people and army had in the Lao leader. Trong
said he believed that, under the sound leadership of the LPRP with Chummaly
Sayasone as its General Secretary, the fraternal Lao people would enjoy greater
achievements in implementing the Resolution of the 9th Party National Congress
to step up the renewal process and successfully build Laos into a
socialist-oriented country of peace, independence, democracy, unification and
prosperity. On the
same day, Hoang Binh Quan, member of Communist Party of Viet Nam Central
Committee (CPVCC) and the head of the its Commission for External Relations, who
doubles as special envoy of Trong, met with the Lao Party General Secretary. Quan
affirmed that the Viet Nam-Laos traditional friendship, special solidarity and
comprehensive co-operation, which had been nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh,
President Kaysone Phomvihane, generations of Party and State leaders, and the
Vietnamese and Lao peoples, were valuable assets of the two Parties and nations,
and were a factor ensuring the victory of each country’s revolutionary cause. Sayasone
thanked Trong for sending his special envoy to directly convey the
congratulations on the success of the 9th National Congress of the Lao Party and
his re-election as its General Secretary. This, he
said, demonstrated the attachment, trust and fraternal sentiments between Laos
and Viet Nam. He
affirmed Laos would continue to place importance on and nurture the time-honoured
neighbourliness, special solidarity and comprehensive co-operation between Laos
and Viet Nam for prosperity of the two peoples, and for peace, stability,
co-operation and development in the region and the world. As part
of his visit, Quan held a working session with Thongloun Sisoulith, Politburo
member, Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Lao Party Central Committee’s
Commission for External Relations and Foreign Minister of Laos. Also
yesterday, the CPVCC sent a congratulatory message to the LPRP Central Committee
on the occasion of the Lao Party’s 56th birthday.
HCM
City draws up candidate roster
HCM City
has drawn up an initial list of 63 candidates for the coming election of the
13th National Assembly (NA) for the 2011-16 term.
The list
was made at the city’s second consultation conference held by the city
Fatherland Front Committee on Monday to discuss candidates to the May 22 NA
election. Of the
63 candidates, 41 nominated candidates come from the city and 22 are
self-nominated. For the
candidates’ education level, 11 have doctorate degrees; 14, master’s degrees;
35, university degrees and three, high school degrees. Among
the 41 nominated candidates, there are 14 females, four aged below 35 years old,
four non-Party members, one Hoa ethnic minority person, one Cham ethnic minority
person and eight deputies of the 12th NA. Among
the 22 self-nominated candidates, there are 20 non-Party members, three aged
below 35 years old, one female and one who has two nationalities – Vietnamese
and French. Campaign
meetings at work places and places of residence of the candidates will be held
from March 24-31. The NA
Standing Committee has assigned HCM City to elect 30 deputies for the 13th NA.
Army
shares experiences with Belarus
High-ranking military officers of Viet Nam and Belarus shared experiences in
building armed forces and discussed measures to boost co-operation in training
and ideological activities. The
discussions were held during talks between Lieut Gen Ngo Xuan Lich, director of
the General Political Department of the Viet Nam People’s Army, and Major Gen
Aleksandr Nikolaevich Gura, chief of the Main Directorate of Ideological Work of
the Belarusian Defence Ministry, in Ha Noi yesterday. Lich
said the visit by the Belarusian delegation showed the continued development of
the traditional friendship between the armies and people of the two nations. Gura
said he believed the trip would reap fine results and contribute to
strengthening co-operative relations between the two armies.
Buddhist dignitary receives Myanmar’s title
Most Venerable Danh Nhuong, Deputy Patriarch of the
Sangha Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha has received the “Doctor of
Buddhism” title from Myanmar.
The Myanmar Government, the Foreign Ministry, the Religious Affairs Ministry and
the Sangha Council presented Nhuong with the title in recognition of his
contributions to education and promotion of Vietnamese Buddhism and world
Buddhism, as well as boosting friendship between Vietnam and Myanmar.
Most Venerable Danh Nhuong, 83, contributed to uniting nine Buddhism sects into
the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. He is also the Director of the Khmer Theravada
Buddhism Academy, member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee and
Deputy of the 11th and 12th National Assembly.
On March 22, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and the Khmer Theravada Buddhism
Academy held a ceremony to congratulate Most Venerable Danh Nhuong.
Addressing the ceremony, Most Venerable Thich Giac Toan, Deputy Chairman of the
Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha affirmed that the Myanmar title
was not only the pride of Most Venerable Danh Nhuong, but also the pride of
Khmer Theravada Buddhism and Vietnam Buddhism.
The title also helped raise the position of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha as well
as the spirit of solidarity and harmonisation of Vietnam Buddhism, which was
recognised by the Buddhist community.
Hanoi busy with election preparations
The upcoming elections for the National Assembly and
People’s Council of the 2011-16 tenure is the key task of the entire political
system.
Pham Quang Nghi, Party Politburo member and
Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, emphasized this at the Hanoi’s People’s
Council meeting on March 22.
He said 2011 is the first year to
realise the resolution of the Party Congress, the year of legislative and
people’s council elections, and called for greater efforts to control inflation,
stabilise the macroeconomy and ensure social welfare. The outgoing tenure, from 2004-2011,
has extended two years more than law has decided, dealing with the expansion of
the capital. It was marked with the Thang Long-Hanoi millennium celebrations.
Hanoi saw an annual economic growth of 10.4 percent in the outgoing tenure.
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