Over 4.7 million voters to cast ballots in HCMC

A total of 4,757,638 voters are expected to cast their ballots in Ho Chi Minh City to elect deputies for the National Assembly and People’s Council at all levels for the 2011-16 term.

The figure was released at a meeting on May 19.

Chairman of the Municipal Election Committee Pham Phuong Thao said all preparations for the elections which will take place at 2,673 polling stations on May 22 have met schedule, adding authorities should create favourable conditions for the media to cover the elections.

Hanoi also has more than 4.7 million voters who will cast their ballots to elect deputies for the NA and People’s Council at all levels for the 2011-16 term.

Uncle Ho’s 121st birthday celebrated

A commemorative house of President Ho Chi Minh was inaugurated in Pac Bo village in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang Thursday on the occasion of the 121st anniversary of his birth.

The village is where Ho Chi Minh stayed for some time after returning from abroad in 1941 after a 30-year journey to seek a way for national salvation.

Addressing the launch ceremony, Truong Tan Sang, Politburo member and Standing member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat said the commemorative house carried an important spiritual meaning not only for Cao Bang people, but also people nationwide.

The inauguration of the house allows the education of generations, especially the young, to have better understanding of Ho Chi Minh thought as well as the revolutionary tradition, he said.

Uncle Ho’s birthday was also marked abroad.

A celebration was held at Thailand-Vietnam Friendship Village in Nakhon Phanom province Thursday with the participation of a large number of the Vietnamese community in Thailand .

The same day, the Vietnamese Embassy in China organised an incense offering ceremony to mark the 121st anniversary of the birth of President Ho Chi Minh and 100 years since he left the country to seek national salvation (June 5).

The Cambodian-Vietnamese Association in Phnom Penh held a ceremony on the occasion.

The same day, Vietnamese Nguyen Du school in Vientiane , Laos organised a knowledge contest on President Ho Chi Minh, to express respect to Uncle Ho and contribute to fostering Vietnam-Laos relations.

Major Laos newspapers on May 19 posted a number of articles and photos highlighting President Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary morality and his great service.

The Paxaxon, the organ of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, ran an editorial in praise of his teachings as well as his support for the Lao revolution, while the Vientiane Mai (New Vientiane), ran an article titled, “President Ho Chi Minh lives forever in our revolutionary cause”.

Entitled “Ho Chi Minh Though and Thrift,” the Lao Phatthana of the Lao Press Association introduced Uncle Ho’s teachings on the practice of thrift.

Canada’s new PM applauded

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday sent a message of congratulations to Stephen Harper on his re-election as Canadian Prime Minister.

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem sent a message of congratulations to John Russell Baird on his election as Canadian Foreign Minister.

VN, Indonesia agree to boost defence cooperation

Vietnam and Indonesia have agreed to further boost defence and security cooperation during their defence ministers’ talks in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday.

Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh and his Indonesian counterpart Purnomo Yusgiantoro agreed to soon implement the memorandum understanding on defence cooperation signed in October 2010.

General Thanh, who paid an official visit to Indonesia, where he also attended the fifth ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM-5), stressed that naval cooperation would lead the two countries’ defence cooperation and invited Indonesian naval experts to visit Vietnam to discuss the launch of joint patrols and set up a liaison channel between the two navies.

He expressed his hope that naval forces of the two countries would sign an agreement on the field this year.

Purnomo Yusgiantoro agreed with Thanh’s view points and affirmed that Indonesia would set up a working group in charge and send the Deputy Naval Commander to work with the Vietnamese Navy on the issue.

On cooperation at multilateral forums, General Thanh affirmed that Vietnam has always supported Indonesia as the ASEAN Chair, saying Indonesia ’s successes are of the whole bloc, including Vietnam .

On the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand , the two sides shared the same view that it was unfortunate for the process of building the ASEAN Political and Security Community affecting the bloc’s internal connectivity and solidarity.

General Thanh said also a member of ASEAN, Vietnam has hailed the two countries’ ceasefire agreement.

He expressed his wish that no conflict recurrence would take place and the two countries would continue implementing the commitments reached at the informal meeting of ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Jakarta on Feb. 22, 2011.

Vietnam has supported ASEAN in playing its role in assisting Cambodia and Thailand to settle those disputes peacefully and backed Indonesia in the role as the ASEAN Chair to proceed efforts and assistance on the basis of abiding by fundamental principles of the ASEAN Charter, especially consultation and consensus, General Thanh said.

Vietnam wished that Indonesia , as the ASEAN Chair, would soon send observers to help solve border disputes between Cambodia and Thailand and continue to contribute actively to the process, Thanh added.

The Indonesian Minister said Indonesia is willing to send observers to the disputed area when gaining an agreement from Cambodia and Thailand . He agreed that ASEAN problems must be solved on the grounds of ASEAN’s principles and on the basis of the ASEAN Charter.

Regarding the East Sea issue, General Thanh said that despite disputes over sovereignty in coastal areas and in the waters, all concerned countries share a common aspiration of maintaining peace and stability for cooperation and mutual development.

He reiterated Vietnam ’s viewpoint, “Disputes must be handled by peaceful measures and based on international laws, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. ASEAN member countries and China need to fully observe the Declaration on Conducts of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), which was signed by ASEAN and China in Cambodia in 2002. ASEAN and China should move to compile the Code of Conducts in the East Sea (COC).”

Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro stated that Indonesia wishes that the East Sea would be stable with security and maritime freedom ensured.

He said his country included the issue on the draft joint declaration of ADMM-5 and expected the concerned parties would have their COC in the future.

The same day, Vietnamese military officers paid a courtesy visit to the Indonesian Vice President.

Firms become takeover targets

Prolonged stagnation of Viet Nam’s stock market has lowered the value of many stocks, making a number of companies into attractive takeover targets.

According to the Viet Nam Association of Financial Investors (VAFI), current prices of most stocks are very cheap compared with their asset value, offering lucrative investment opportunities for both value-driven investors and investors who seek out a singular opportunity to take control of companies.

VAFI said an underground trend of acquisitions was developing on the stock market. This trend can be seen in conflict at a recent shareholder meeting at Fideco Corp (FDC), which specialises in financial investment and property development.

The firm had to hold a shareholder meeting again to reach an agreement on its business plan for this year. Agreement on the plan could not be reached at the initial meeting as several large investors blocked approval, in what some analysts say was a bid to exert more control over the company’s policies.

After the conclusion of its recent meeting, two new members of the FDC management board were appointed, one of which – who holds 1 million shares – was nominated by a group of major investors.

The developments seen at FDC shareholder meetings are not isolated. Descon Construction Corp (DCC) has also seen groups of shareholders jockey for a controlling position. Recently, a group of investors from Binh Thien An Real Estate Co, who only held a 21.6 per cent stake in DCC, successfully took control of the company. These investors also nominated their representatives to DCC’s management board.

With the Binh Thien An investors spending just VND60 billion (US$2.9 million) to gain leadership in DCC, which has a charter capital of VND250 billion ($12.2 million), the move was considered as extremely lucrative. DCC’s Preche property project in HCM City alone is worth about $25-30 million.

Observers said the motives behind these take-overs were simply to gain control of valuable company assets. In the case of Fideco Corp, it owns profitable properties including Fideco Tower, housing and office buildings and industrial zone projects in southern cities.

Both FDC and DCC have valuable assets but are held back by inefficient business operations, according to To Hai, general director of Viet Capital Securities Co.

Hai said developments at DCC and FDC should be a warning that inefficient companies are at increasing risk of take-overs.

However, Hai also said the likelihood of the success of such take-overs was still unknown as buyers were often purely financial investors and there was still a gap between expectations and actual implementation.

Hai said if investors who made acquisitions wanted to liquidate assets, it would be difficult to succeed on the back of the current market downtrend.

But if these investors intended to restructure their companies, they had to understand that this restructuring can be a lengthy process.

More border markers erected along Laos border

The central province of Quang Nam and its neighbouring Se Kong province of Laos had jointly built 28 out of 60 border markers along 142 km of their common borderline by May 18.

After one year implementing the Prime Minister’s Directive on accelerating the building of more border markers and upgrading of existing markers along the Vietnam-Laos border, the joint working team of Quang Nam and Sekong have demarcated 44 out of 60 locations for new border markers, as well as clearing land mines at 19 locations and along more than 83 km of roads serving the building of border markers, in addition to the construction.

It was a difficult mission with the majority of the sites situated over 1,000m above sea level in mountainous terrain.

Despite all these difficulties, Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dinh Van Thu pledged to work closely with Se Kong province of Laos in demarcating the locations of the remaining border markers, as set for 2011.

So far the joint border marker team has completed profiles of 18 new border markers and handed them over to border guard forces for management.

Vietnam addresses 17th Sao Paulo Forum

A delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has the honour to deliver a speech at the opening session of the 17 th meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum in the Nicaraguan capital city of Managua .

Nguyen Manh Hung, Deputy Head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, who led the Vietnamese delegation, was selected from guests from 12 participating countries to address the meeting, highlighting President Ho Chi Minh’s Thought on “Solidarity, solidarity, great solidarity – Success, success, great success”.

The delegation was also received and feted by Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua and General Secretary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (SNLF), who expressed his wish to further promote the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries, states and peoples.

The 17 th meeting of the Sao Paulo Forum opened on May 18 with the participation of 500 delegates from 42 political parties of 32 countries, and domestic and international guests.

The meeting focused discussions on issues in the Latin American region in order to increase cooperation among Latin American leftist forces in implementing national reforms, people’s welfare, democracy and continuing to win victories in upcoming elections in their countries.

The event coincided with the 116th anniversary of the birth of Nicaragua ’s national hero Augusto Cesar Sandino and the 50th anniversary of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).