VNA Catholic clerics praised for contributions to national unity. President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Pham The Duyet said he highly valued the contributions by more than six million Catholics, especially priests and bishops, to the national defence and construction. The largest mass organisation leader gave the praise while receiving members of the Episcopal Council of the Vietnam Catholic Church in Hanoi on September 21, on the sideline of the recently concluded eighth Congress of the Episcopal Council on the 2001-2004 term. He reaffirmed the government's policy to build national unity, especially the unity of ethnic groups and religions. In this regard, Mr Duyet praised priests and bishops for mobilising the catholics in their dioceses to join in the communal efforts for socio-economic development. He said the catholics have been "Living the Gospel amidst the Nation." He also expressed his hope that the Episcopal Council of the Vietnam Catholic Church, together with catholics nationwide, would continue to unite with the rest of the people in carrying out national industrialisation and modernisation for the goal of a prosperous people, a strong nation, and a just, democratic, and civilised society. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cambodian MP extends sympathy to flood victims Member of the Cambodian National Assembly, Sam Rainsy, has sent a message of sympathy to Vietnam's flood victims. The message, addressed to Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh on September 19, expressed sympathies to those families who lost loved ones or property in the recent floods that have ravaged sections of the Mekong Delta. Sam Rainsy and several other Cambodian parliamentarians took the occasion to send gifts to Vietnam's flood victims through the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnam, Russia to promote scientific and technological co-operation Vietnam and Russia have agreed to further boost scientific and technological co-operation. The agreement was reached at during talks between Vietnamese Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Chu Tuan Nha and Russian Minister of Industry, Science and Technology Aleksandr Nikolayevich Dondukov. Visiting Russia from September 15-19, Minister Nha also held talks with senior officials of the Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Russian Academy of Sciences and called at a number of scientific research institutes in the country. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Organisations protest Human Rights Act The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strongly denounced the US House of Representatives for coupling the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement with the Vietnam Human Rights Act as an unacceptable move to attach political conditions to economic interests. In a recent statement, the Chamber said the move would create a dangerous precedent in the relations between sovereign nations. The so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act has distorted the reality in Vietnam and brazenly interfered with Vietnam's internal affairs, it said, further stressing that the Act has seriously violated the United Nations Charter as well as international law's basic principles on national rights, namely the right to self-determination, the right to equality, and the right to national sovereignty. It pointed out that no nation in the world has the right to impose its own rules on other nations and the United States is no exception. Vietnam has constantly developed its economy to improve the living conditions of its people both spiritually and materially, and has always protected its citizen's human rights, it stressed. The approval of the Vietnam Human Rights Act by the US House of Representatives has run counter to the recent efforts made by the governments and business circles of the two countries to put aside the past and look towards the future. The Act has caused strong protest among the Vietnamese business circles and the entire nation, the statement said. For these reasons, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry strongly condemns the Act and calls on business establishments as well as people living in the United States and the world to ask the US Senate to reject this wrong Act, it concluded. *Ho Chi Minh City Union of Scientific and Technical Associations has protested against the US House of Representatives¹ approval of the so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act¹ in a meeting on September 21. The intellectual circle of the city requested the US Senate and president, for the friendship of the two nations, and observing the international laws, not to pass the so-called act. * Da Nang province's Union of Friendship Organisations issued a statement to protest against the US House's 'Vietnam Human Rights Act' on September 21. The Union strongly condemned the act and called upon the US organisations and individuals to take appropriate actions to protest against and abolish the wrongful act. *Thua Thien-Hue province¹s Fatherland Front held a extraordinary meeting to consider the US House of Representatives¹ approval of the so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act. Representatives for social organisations and over one million people of Thua Thien-Hue province issued a statement to protest against the act. They have also called upon peace and justice loving people in the world, including American people to voice their protest against the act and to abolish it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnam, Laos to promote friendship An agreement on co-operation between the Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Friendship Associations for the 2001-2005 period has been signed. The signing was made during a September 16-21 visit to Laos by a delegation of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association (VLFA) led by President Hoang Duc Nghi. While in Laos, the VLFA delegation had a working session with a delegation of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association headed by its President Phimmasone Leuangkhamma. Both sides reviewed the two associations' activities and agreed upon their co-ordination in organising activities in 2002 to mark the 40th anniversary of both countries' diplomatic relations and the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Co-operation Treaty. The delegation was received by Sisavath Keobounphanh, Politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of the Lao Front for National Construction. Mr Sisavath spoke highly of the two associations' activities and wished that both sides would contribute to maintaining and developing solidarity, special friendship and comprehensive co-operation between Vietnam and Laos. On this occasion, the VLFA was presented with the Friendship Order and President Hoang Duc Nghi, the Freedom Order. President Phimmasone Leuangkhamma and Vice Presidents Souasy Lovanxay and Khammi Sayavong of the LVFA were presented with Medal "For Peace and Friendship among Nations" by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Associations. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Defence minister meets Chinese delegation Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Pham Van Tra warmly welcomed a delegation of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army led by its deputy director, Lieutenant General Su Shuyan, who is currently on a working visit to Vietnam, in Hanoi on September 21. Minister Tra said he hoped the visit would contribute to promoting the friendship and co-operation between the two armies and general logistics departments of Vietnam and China for peace, stability, and development. Lieutenant General Su informed Minister Tra of the outcome of the talks between the two delegations, aiming to promote co-operation, the exchange of experiences, and mutual assistance between Vietnam's and China's general logistics departments. (VNA) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
