Legislators discuss term reports of leaders

The National Assembly held a plenary discussion on March 25 to present opinions on the 2007-2011 term reports of the State President, Government and Prime Minister.

Most of the deputies showed approval of the term reports of the State President, Government and Prime Minister, which, they said, fully assessed the progress and accomplishments as well as the shortcomings, weaknesses, reasons, lessons and directions of settlement.

Lawmakers conveyed to the State President and Prime Minister the voters’ thoughts and aspirations on an array of issues, including those related to the fight against corruption and waste, the settlement of economic wrongdoings, loss of natural resources, environmental pollution and land management.

“The Prime Minister’s foreign affairs activities have achieved successes and strongly accelerated the country’s integration into the region and the world. Vietnam has integrated into the international economy as 25 nations worldwide have recognised our market economy,” Nguyen Dang Trung, a deputy from Ho Chi Minh City , said while commenting on the government leader’s report.

He highlighted the Prime Minister’s most outstanding performances in external affairs and economic development, and said the efforts to urge the international community to recognise Vietnam ’s full market economy are in line with the world’s current development trend.

The achievements recorded in foreign affairs have created very favourable conditions for the nation’s development process, especially in the economy, the legislator noted.

Deputies Tran Quoc Khanh (Hanoi), Duong Trung Quoc (Dong Nai), Nguyen Dinh Xuan (Tay Ninh), Do Manh Hung (Thai Nguyen) and Tran Hoang Tham (HCM City) all emphasised the Government’s instructions in stabilising the macroeconomy, curbing inflation, maintaining growth and improving the economy’s efficiency.

During the 2007-2011 term, the Government managed and operated socio-economic development activities amid complex changes in world economic and political situations, which strongly affected the country’s economy.

The Government and the Prime Minister have always defined stabilising the macroeconomy, guaranteeing stability of the economy and curbing inflation as decisive conditions to ensure sustainable growth, they stressed.

On social security policies, deputies Nguyen Dinh Xuan (Tay Ninh) and Do Manh Hung (Thai Nguyen) said international opinion and the domestic people highly valued the Party and State’s move to quickly evacuate thousands of guest workers from Libya before the war broke out. “This showed the Party and State’s care and responsibility to Vietnamese citizens in all parts of the world,” they added.

US veterans hand over files on 180 VN soldiers

Viet Nam Veterans of America (VVA) has provided five more files of information relating to more than 180 Vietnamese soldiers who died during the American war.

Jack G. Devine, Vice President of the not-for-profit corporation, presented the files to the president of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations, Vu Xuan Hong, yesterday.

According to Devine, the information was collected after a film describing a VVA delegation tour of Viet Nam a year ago was screened in the US, drawing the attention of US veterans.

He said his delegation would continue making films on its working visits to Viet Nam to help US audiences, especially war veterans, understand more about Viet Nam and to strengthen mutual trust.

Speaking at a reception for the VVA delegation, Hong emphasised the important role of the US war veterans in implementing the “Veterans’ Initiative” project during the past 15 years.

The project has provided Viet Nam with information relating to about 9,700 Vietnamese soldiers killed or missing in action. This helped in the collection of the remains of nearly 1,000 Vietnamese soldiers.

The information exchange had helped ease the pain of the war and boosted relationships between war veterans and the people in both countries, Hong said.

The two sides pledged to step up the exchange of information in the search for soldiers missing in action.

Party, State and people put faith in youth

The Party, State and people of Vietnam always put all their faith in youth – the future masters of the country, the backbone of the nation and the creative vanguard force in national construction and defence, the Party leader said.

The remark was made by Party General Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong at a meeting to mark the 80 th founding anniversary of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in Hanoi on March 25.

To translate the Party’s Resolutions into detailed revolutionary actions in youth movements, he urged the youth union to pay attention to political and ideological education, among young people, to contribute to training the competent young generation to succeed in the glorious cause of the Party, implementing industrialisation and modernisation for the goal of a rich people, a strong, democratic, equal and civilised country, advancing to socialism.

Trong stressed the need to combine activities of the Youth Union with the country’s common tasks, asking youth union organisations to focus on young human resource development.

The Youth Union has to serve as an important bridge between young people and the Party and State in order to promote the implementation of the policies and laws of the Party and State, create conditions for young people to develop in a healthy socio-political environment, as well as build the Youth Union and youth organisations, so they develop in a comprehensive manner and are capable of assuming the core role in movements of young people and students, the Party General Secretary said.

He urged the Youth Union to expand external activities, renew people to people diplomacy and increase understanding and solidarity with foreign youth organisations.

At the meeting, State President Nguyen Minh Triet conferred the Gold Star Order, the highest decoration of awarded by the State, on the HCM Youth Union, in recognition of its contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and nation.

Viet Nam - Morocco trade offers potential

Trade ties between Morocco and Viet Nam have seen substantial development during the past several years, although there is still huge potential to boost two-way trade even further.

The comments were made by representatives from the two countries at a meeting yesterday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations.

Recent visits of the two countries’ leaders, including that of Moroccan Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi in 2008 and then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai’s visit to Morocco in 2004, have bolstered ties between Viet Nam and Morocco, according to Do Ba Khoa, chairman of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations.

He said economic and trade relations between Viet Nam and Morocco had gained remarkable achievements.

“In particular, two-way trade turnover in 2010 reached US$32 million,” said Khoa.

“The establishment of the Viet Nam-Morocco Joint Committee in 2008 and numerous talks and conferences on trade and economic co-operation are among the efforts we have made to boost two-way trade.”

Moroccan Ambassador to Viet Nam El Houcine Fardani said that despite the successes, trade exchange had not yet met the expectations and potentials of the two countries.

“There are obstacles to expanding trade between Viet Nam and African countries such as the geographical distance, high import taxes and inadequate links between banks that can facilitate payments and transactions,” he said.

“But these obstacles should not divert us from our goal to develop our relations both in trade and in technical co-operation and education, as there is actually a real potential to be exploited.

“We believe that the business communities in both countries should play a greater role in developing trade.”

The ambassador also called on the Vietnamese business community to consider the Moroccan market for investment, especially that Morocco has initiated major structural projects for the modernisation of key economic sectors.

The Viet Nam-Morocco Friendship Association and its counterpart in Morocco would be established later this year, said Fardani.

Trade representatives at the meeting also said the two countries hoped to boost collaborations in tourism and cultural and youth exchanges.

DPRK youth delegation on visit

Party Central Committee Secretary Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan yesterday received Ri Yong-chol, first secretary of the Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League Central Committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, who was heading a youth delegation to Viet Nam.

At the meeting, Ri Yong-chol congratulated Viet Nam on the success of its 11th National Party Congress and expressed his pleasure in visiting the country on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

He spoke highly of the role of Vietnamese young people and the youth union, which he said had contributed greatly to the country’s construction and defence. He said the DPRK Youth League hoped to boost co-operation with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Ngan hailed the visit, and said it would help cement relations between the two youth unions. She also said she hoped young people in the two countries would continue to work closely together to enhance bilateral friendship and mutual understanding.

Thanh Hoa city has new leader after re-election

Dao Trong Quy, deputy secretary of the Thanh Hoa City Party Committee, won the re-election on March 23 for the post of chairman of the city People’s Committee after the previous election in January was abrogated for wrong procedures.

The re-election result was approved by the northern Thanh Hoa Province People’s Committee, according to its Decision 899/QD-UBND issued yesterday.

At the election on January 14 Quy was the only candidate and was elected chairman of Thanh Hoa City People’s Committee after two consecutive votes within the same day.

Quy won only 42.1 percent of the first vote and the municipal People’s Council decided to hold the second. This time, Quy won 65.8 percent.

This is an additional election for a chairman of the city People’s Committee for the 2004-2011 term.

Meeting and awards to past Youth Union leaders

The Ho Chi Minh City Mausoleum in HanoiCentral Youth Union last Thursday held a meeting for 80 past union leaders at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum’s Square in Hanoi.

They are leaders from local youth unions all over the country like capital Hanoi, the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang and Ho Chi Minh City.

The delegates were also awarded the March 26 Award for their outstanding leadership.

Eighty representatives symbolize eighty years since Youth Union was established (March 26 1931).

On the same day, the central Youth Union also organized a reunion with those who have worked at local unions, attracting more than 1000 participants.

They toured around the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and took part in an interactive program called Burning with enthusiastic flame, where they interacted with union leaders through times under colonial period as well as the post-war era.

Party General Secretary asks young people to study more

Party General Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong has urged young people to study and train hard for the good of the country’s development.

Trong was speaking yesterday on the 80th anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, President Nguyen Minh Triet, the Viet Nam Fatherland Front’s President Huynh Dam and representatives of the Party, State, ministries, institutions and organisations also attended the event.

Trong urged the youth union to pay close attention to political and ideological education and to help train the younger generation to succeed in order to build a strong, democratic and civilised country.

He said the Party, State and people of Viet Nam put great faith in the country’s youth – the future masters of the country, the backbone of the nation and the creative vanguard in national construction and defence.

Trong also called on the youth union to focus on human resource development.

The Youth Union was an important bridge between young people and the Party and State, he said. In order to promote the implementation of the Party and State’s policies and laws, it was important to develop a healthy socio-political environment and a strong Youth Union, he added.

Trong urged the Youth Union to expand its external activities, renew people-to-people diplomacy and increase understanding and solidarity with foreign youth organisations.

At the meeting, President Triet conferred the Gold Star Order on the Ho Chi Minh Youth Union for the second time in recognition of its contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation.

The Youth Union First Secretary, Nguyen Van Thuong, said: “The young generation today will keep up the honourable tradition of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the youth of Viet Nam by successfully completing our mission for the cause of the country’s industrialisation, modernisation, international integration, construction and protection.

Thuong added that the union would focus its activities on promoting political and ideological education among young people and encouraging young people to be involved in socio-economic development programmes.

The Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union currently has representation in 63 provinces and cities. It has 6.5 million members in 32,000 branches nationwide.

Ceremony marks 50th anniversary of Vietnam, Morocco diplomatic ties

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Vietnam-Africa Friendship and Cooperation Association (VAFCA) jointly held a ceremony on March 25 to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Morocco diplomatic ties (March 27).

Addressing the event, VUFO General Secretary Do Ba Khoa and Morocco Ambassador to Vietnam El Houcine Fardani reviewed the development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past 50 years.

During the period, the two countries’ leaders have regularly exchanged visits, engaged in discussions on orientation and measures to effectively extend cooperation in numerous areas, especially trade, investment, culture and tourism.

With joint efforts, the two sides have reaped remarkable achievements in trade, with the two-way trade recording a turnover of nearly US$32 million in 2010.

Vietnam and Morocco desire to see a boost in exchanges and mutual understanding as well as bilateral trade ties in the future, the two diplomats stressed.

Since its founding, VAFCA carried out a wide range of activities, contributing to bolstering friendship and cooperation between people of Vietnam and African countries, including Morocco.

Belarusian military delegation concludes Vietnam visit

A high-ranking Belarusian military delegation led by Major General Aleksandr Nikolaevich Gura, Chief of the Main Directorate of Ideological Work of the Belarusian Defence Ministry, left Hanoi on March 25, successfully concluding its official visit to Vietnam.

During the visit, the delegation held talks with a high-level political delegation of the Vietnam People’s Army, visited the War Martyrs and Heroes Memorial, and the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the People’s Army Newspaper, the People’s Army Television and the Vietnam Military History Museum.