PM seeks closer ties with US; ASEAN promotes inter-parliamentary cooperation; Conference on post-financial crisis begins in Danang; Vietnam-Israel relations develop well
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Vietnam wants to promote bilateral cooperation in various pursuits with the US in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and benefit, and common development, says Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Receiving Lesten Crown, Chairman of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, in Hanoi on March 8, Mr Dung proposed that the US administration offer free trade area preferences, remove trade barriers for Vietnamese goods imported to its market, and assist Vietnam in coping with climate change and rising sea levels.
Briefing his guest on Vietnam’s socio-economic development, Mr Dung said Vietnam has maintained political stability and achieved positive results in economic development. He said Vietnam is a market economy which is integrating deep into the global economy. As a WTO member, the country has developed bilateral trade ties with the US, European Union and many other countries and international organisations in the world.
Mr Dung affirmed that the US is one of Vietnam’s big trading partners, with two-way trade last year reaching US$15 billion, a 10-fold in crease from 2001. It is also one of the largest foreign investors in this Southeast Asian nation.
The PM assured his guest that the Vietnamese government encourages foreign investors, including those from the US, to do long-term business in the country.
He also highlighted progress made in bilateral cooperation in education, training, national defence, security and diplomacy, as well as in addressing climate change.
Mr Dung noted that the US-waged war killed approximately 2 million Vietnamese people, hundreds of thousands remained missing, and some 2 million suffered from the Agent Orange used by the US army during the war. The vestiges of this deadly toxin are still lingering on millions of Vietnamese and many are still victims of unexploded mines in their daily life.
He called on the US to take specific action together with Vietnam to overcome the war aftermath through searching for personnel missing in action, clearing bombs and mines, decontaminating chemical-sprayed areas and training human resources.
Over the past years, Vietnam has cooperated effectively with the US in searching for US personnel missing in action, said Mr Dung.
For his part, Lesten Crown expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s impressive achievements and said the country is an attractive destination for US investors. He proposed that Vietnam continue to offer incentives for US investors, including those from Chicago, to operate efficiently in the country.
He promised to transfer Mr Dung’s proposals to the US administration and confirmed that the Chicago Council will do its utmost to expand cooperation between the US and Vietnam.
Defence Academy to boost national profile
The government will create favourable conditions for the Vietnam National Defence Academy to develop into Vietnam’s leading military training and research centre, says Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Mr Dung made the statement at an opening ceremony of a training course on national defence and security for senior military commanders from provinces and cities in Hanoi on March 9.
He praised the academy for its efforts to run such frequent courses and update its curricula to meet the country’s requirements for national defence and security in the new period.
He asked the school to increase lecturers’ qualifications, update teaching methods, improve the quality of research, and closely link theoretical research to practical activity.
Vietnam-Israel relations develop well
Vietnam-Israel relations have developed well in many areas, especially agricultural cooperation, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said while receiving newly accredited Israeli ambassador to Vietnam Amonon Efrat in Hanoi on March 8.
Mr Dung proposed that the diplomat work closely with relevant Vietnamese agencies to increase cooperation in economics, trade, investment, development assistance and personnel training in agriculture.
He said he is looking forward to receiving the Israeli President in Hanoi and asked the ambassador to work with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make the president’s upcoming visit a success.
Ambassador Amonon Efrat affirmed that during his term in Vietnam, he will focus on promoting cooperative ties between the two countries with priority given to accelerating the signing of agreements on investment protection and promotion, double tax avoidance and maritime affairs.
Conference on post-financial crisis begins in Danang
ASEAN lawmakers and international experts gathered in Danang city on March 8 to set a new course for sustainable development in the post crisis period.
The conference, chaired by the Vietnam NA Committee on Foreign Affairs, drew the participation of eight ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly member states and international organisations like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations Development Programme.
During the two-day event, delegates will focus on the impact of the crisis on socio-economic development, ASEAN countries’ measures to deal with it, the role of the legislative bodies in coping with the crisis, economic restructuring, effective governance, hunger-elimination and poverty-reduction in the post-crisis stage.
The conference is on the initiative of the Vietnam National Assembly (NA) which was approved by the AIPA-30 General Assembly in Bangkok in August 2009. It is one of the NA’s activities as AIPA-31 chair.
Conference reviews externally-oriented information work
A national conference on externally-oriented information work, including publicizing information on sea, islands, and land demarcation, opened in Danang on March 8.
Addressing the two-day conference, Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem highlighted the urgent need to expand and improve externally-oriented information work in terms of both content and form.
Participants in the event outlined the duties and solutions in 2010, emphasizing better adherence to the related directive of the Party’s Central Secretariat. Accordingly, information campaigns on Vietnam’s seas and islands, including the country’s marine strategy, will be conducted effectively on schedule. They also stressed more efforts in the theoretical struggle against distortions by domestic and hostile forces.
In 2009, Vietnam’s relevant press and information agencies did good work promoting the land and people of Vietnam as well as development, and successfully refuted slanderous allegations from political opportunists, especially in the fields of democracy, human rights, religion, freedom of press, and territorial sovereignty.
They also helped to raise Vietnam’s status in 2009, when the country successfully defended its Universal Periodic Review on human rights at the United Nations.
The externally-oriented information work made progress in publicizing the results of the planting of border markers along the Vietnam-China border and the Vietnam-Cambodia border as well as the increase of markers on the Vietnam-Laos border, winning public support.
ASEAN promotes inter-parliamentary cooperation
The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) Conference opened in Danang City on March 7, drawing representatives from 8 ASEAN member countries, the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The conference is part of activities during the year the Vietnam National Assembly is assuming AIPA Chair for the 2009-2010 term.
The focus is on the overview and impact of the global economic downturn and the role of legislative bodies in building laws on sustainable development targets to cope with the post crisis period.
The four-day conference aims to further enhance inter-parliamentary cooperation among member countries for the sake of peace, political stability and economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of the regional and world communities.
PV
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