VNA
Chairman Li Peng of China starts visit
Chairman of the Standing Committee of China' s National People's Congress
and member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of
China, Li Peng, began an official friendship visit to Vietnam on September
7.
The four-day visit is being made at the invitation of the Communist Party of
Vietnam Central Committee and the National Assembly Standing Committee.
****
PM urges Quang Binh to tap coastal potential
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has urged central coastal Quang Binh province
to use its extensive coastline and diverse land to develop an
export-oriented economy, thus helping the province to become a more
prosperous place.
The government leader gave these recommendations to the provincial
authorities during his working visit on September 6.
Prime Minister Khai said that, despite some achievements in economic
production such as an industrial growth rate of 6% and services growth rate
of 8.7%, the province is yet to produce a major hard currency earner or
build a region specialising in high quality products.
Mr Khai praised the province for its high catch of aquatic products in
recent months which was up by 26.5% year on year despite repeated natural
calamities such as long spells of drought and heavy flooding. However, Quang
Binh has not yet invested in either the food processing industry or the
construction of infrastructure facilities, thus severely hampering its
ability to develop potentially lucrative industries such as seafood exports
and tourism.
The prime minister urged the provincial authorities to give top priority to
the development of export-oriented production in the coming years.
He also recommended that they speed up their enterprises-restructuring
process and invest more in tourism and services.
Scientific research should be conducted to develop suitable crops and animal
breeding in the province's western mountainous region near the Lao border in
an effort to make the local poverty-alleviation programme more efficient, Mr
Khai said. The poverty fight is crucial to the development and security of
the province, especially in remote and mountainous areas, which are home to
a number of ethnic minority groups, Mr Khai stressed.
The development of its western area would also enable the province to fulfil
its international obligation with neighbouring Laos, which Quang Binh has
done very well over recent years through its assistance to Khammouane and
Savannakhet provinces in grassroots cadres training and economic
development. (VNA)
****
Deputy PM meets Australian army commander
Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam received Australian Army Commander
Lieutenant General Peter Cosgrove in Hanoi on September 6. General Cosgrove
and his delegation are on a working visit to Vietnam from September 5-9.
Deputy Prime Minister Cam said he highly appreciated the co-operation
between the Vietnamese and Australian armies in personnel training in the
recent past.
He expressed his hope that both armies would work to promote further
co-operation between the two sides, thus contributing to strengthening the
multi-faceted relationship between Vietnam and Australia as well as
consolidating peace and security in the region.
Lieutenant General Cosgrove said that the Australian army was willing to
discuss with its Vietnamese counterpart the orientations for future
co-operation in military development.
He praised the Vietnamese army's professional skills and said that both
sides should learn more from each other.
Earlier, Deputy Defence Minister Lieutenant General Phung Quang Thanh, who
is also Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, received
Lieutenant General Cosgrove and his delegation. (VNA)
****
Vietnam attends UN conference against racism
Assistant Foreign Minister Nguyen Phu Binh, head of the Vietnamese
delegation at the third UN World Conference against Racism in Durban, South
Africa, recently delivered a report condemning slavery, colonialism, and
fascism as the worst forms of racism in humankind's history.
Mr Binh said that the international community must be highly determined and
unite to ensure that all nations, including those that are still developing
receive the respect for their national independence and sovereignty that
they deserve.
Mr Binh reiterated Vietnam's unchanged policy to practise equality, unity
and mutual assistance among Vietnam's multi-ethnic people, and strictly ban
any action of racial discrimination and division. He said the fundamental
rights of ethnic people in Vietnam have been and continue to be ensured and
promoted through the system of policies and regulations in all fields.
Mr Binh introduced to the conference Vietnam's programmes on hunger
eradication, poverty reduction, and socio-economic development in
mountainous provinces to narrow the gap in development between ethnic
communities and the rest of Vietnam. He said these programmes and projects
are facing difficulties in funding and that Vietnam hopes to continue
receiving assistance from the international community.
"As a peace-loving country, a member of the International Convention against
Racism and other basic international conventions on human rights, Vietnam
will always stand side by side with other nations in the struggle against
racism and expressions of racial discrimination in any form," Mr Binh
concluded in his report. (VNA)
****
Efforts made to control Mekong floods
Rescue and relief operations are being intensified to help flood victims in
the Mekong river delta provinces.
Thanks to good preparation for the floods, most of the summer-autumn rice
crop in Long An province had been harvested before the floods came. The
province has also invested tens of billions of Vietnamese dong to strengthen
the surrounding banks of rice and sugarcane fields and set up higher
residential areas for people in low-lying areas to move to. As many as 2,200
households in flooded areas have been evacuated to higher ground and another
4,000 households will be moved to safer places if floodwaters continue
rising.
During the past ten days, 4,500 households in flooded and land-eroded areas
have been evacuated. Another 6,000 households are about to be moved. The
local authorities are working out plan to provide relief aid, including
money, rice, food and medicine, for flood victims.
One hundred and fifty border soldiers of Dong Thap province have brought 180
households to An Giang province's border units to avoid the flood.
The Vietnam Red Cross Society has provided VND 50 million as emergency
relief aid to An Giang, Dong Thap, Long An and Soc Trang to help flood
victims buy rice and necessities and stabilise their daily life.
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