VNA Poster exhibition opens on Party's Congress Fifty-one panel posters of 32 painters are being displayed at an exhibition opened yesterday afternoon at the Gallery No 16 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi. Organised by the Vietnam Fine Arts Association, the Fine Arts Department and the Culture and Information Department of Hanoi, the exhibition is in anticipation of the upcoming ninth Party's Congress. The posters feature the great image of President Ho Chi Minh, a beloved leader of the Vietnamese Party and people and reaffirm the vanguard role of the Communist Party of Vietnam in the struggle for national independence, in socialist construction and in the implementation of the target of a country of rich people, a strong nation and a just, democratic and civilised society. The exhibition will be open until early May. **** Central Highlands ethnic youth festival ends The two-day Cultural Festival for Central Highlands ethnic minority groups ended last night in the resort city of Da Lat, Lam Dong province. More than 2,000 ethnic minority youth from four Central Highlands provinces namely Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum, attended and brought to the the with distinctive and remarkable cultures of their regions. The annual festival aims to preserve and develop ethnic minority groups' cultural identities and to welcome the 70th founding anniversary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (March 26) and the 26th anniversary of national reunification (April 30). The organising board presented awards of the best vocalists and traditional costume shows to delegations with four A prizes, four B prizes, three C prizes and certificates of commendation. **** Hanoi sporting festival to be held The Hanoi's Youth Union has organised the fifth Sport Festival for Young People at the grassroots level. After five months of implementation, the district's sporting festivals attracted 15,000 athletes in many events. Among units with high records are those from Hoan Kiem, Ba Dinh, Dong Da, Gia Lam and Dong Anh districts and the Committee of Physical Education and Sports. The city-level festival will be held around March 26, the Youth Union's Founding Day. **** Highlanders affirm unity of VietnamThe journalists arrived in Dac Long commune of the Central Highlands, or Tay Nguyen, Kon Tum province on a sunny February day. That evening, sitting around a fire with his fellow Ba Na and Gia Rai villagers, they heard old A Lai's heart felt stories. During the years of war first against the French colonialists and then American aggressors, he said the people of the Tay Nguyen saved their very small amount of salt and food for the soldiers of Uncle Ho. They did so despite their own hunger and poverty because they cherished the hope that the national salvation war would soon end in victory for Uncle Ho's soldiers and the beginning of a peaceful, happy life in their homeland. The old man said that since following the revolutionary path chosen by the Communist Party and Uncle Ho, the minority people of the Tay Nguyen had, in all circumstances, trusted in the unity of Vietnam. But A Lai said some ill-intentioned people had coaxed, incited and forced the light-minded to cause social disorder. Their deeds should be condemned, he said. He himself had told his fellow villagers to be vigilant and not to be trapped by the agitators, who wanted to establish a so-called 'De Ga autonomous government.' The agitators did not represent any of the Tay Nguyen's minority groups but were reactionaries serving hostile outside forces, wanting to sow division among Vietnam's diverse peoples. But when agitators made nonsensical requests, most people had realised their reactionary nature and understood that they, the innocent, had been deceived. These people had immediately left for home. They then told their local administrators about the reactionaries and their organisations. The old man told his guests that the leaders of the instigators had confessed their bad deeds and promised not to repeat them. A resident of Kon Klo village, Kon Tum township's Thang Loi ward, A Blu was adamant that the treachery of the reactionaries should be unmasked. "We, the Ba Na people, pledge to follow the Party," he said. He said that thanks to the Party and the revolution, people in the Tay Nguyen now enjoyed a peaceful and comfortable life. The Ba Na man said he was confident the enemy would never succeed in shaking the loyalty of the Tay Nguyen people. He said the local people had known that it was a shameless deceit when the poorly-educated exiled reactionary, Ksor Kok, titled himself leader of the Tay Nguyen people. "We explained the treacherous schemes and tricks by ill-intentioned people to the locals so as to enable the latter not to be trapped and to stabilise their production," he told the journalists. Minority people in the Tay Nguyen, who were met by the journalists all expressed their trust in the Party, the revolution and Uncle Ho to build Vietnam into a peaceful and independent country where people of all ethnic groups join hands to work and live happily. The Tay Nguyen people asked the government to severely punish the leaders of the reactionary force and to foil the scheme to set up "the De Ga autonomous government." (VNA) **** Francophone community's anniversary markedA ceremony marking the Francophone Community's founding anniversary (March 20) was held in Hanoi yesterday evening, by the Foreign Ministry in co-ordination with the Hanoi-based Asia-Pacific Bureau of the Francophone Intergovernmental Agency (AIF). Prominent among participants were Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien and AIF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director Stephan Plumat. Mr Nien praised the community's initiatives in boosting economic co-operation among its member countries by organising conferences and seminars on economic co-operation, support for regional integration support and support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and exchanges of information and technology. He recalled Vietnam's initiative at the Hanoi Francophone Summit in 1997 and the Non-aligned Summit in South Africa in 1999 about tri-partite co-operation among Vietnam, a donor country and a developing country. This co-operation model had proved successful in Senegal, Benin and Madagascar, and will be applied in Laos and the Congo. Director Plumat praised Vietnam's role and contributions to the community's development. (VNA) **** Vietnamese life expectancy improvesVietnam has adopted a strategy to better care for and protect the people's health as part of its efforts to increase an average life expectancy from the present 67 to 71 by the year 2010. The strategy is included in a decision signed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on March 19. It is intended to provide all people with primary health care services as well as access to high-quality medical services. "Everyone will be helped to enjoy a safe life in their communities and develop both their physical and mental capabilities," the decision says. "Vietnam is striving for an average life span of 71 and to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 70/100,000, the mortality rate of infants under one to 25 per 1,000 and that of infants under five to 32 per 1,000 by 2010. "The rate of newborns weighing less than 2500 grams will be reduced to below six percent and that of malnourished infants under five to below 20%, while the average height of young people is raised to 1.6 metres upwards and the rate of 4.5 medical doctors and one pharmacist achieved for every 10,000 people". The decision also highlights measures to realise the strategy, including an increase of the State budget allocated to the medical sector, with priority given to poverty-stricken, remote and isolated areas as well as preventative medicine, traditional medicine and primary health care. (VNA) **** Five medals at ASEAN Occupation Skill Contest Vietnam has won one gold, one silver, three bronze medals and six consolation prizes at the third ASEAN Occupation Skill Contest. Pham Thanh Le was the winner of the gold medal in restaurant service. Nguyen Van Lai received a silver in arts carpentry. The three bronzes went to Dinh Xuan Thang, Dao Cong Duc and Tran Cong Tinh in civil electricity; electric welding and arts carpentry. The contest, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand from March 16-18, attracted the participation of 94 contestants from Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines took part in all 12 events of the contest which included electric welding, turning, automobile technology, cooking, restaurant service, industrial electricity, water pipelines, civil carpentry, interior decoration carpentry, garments, electronics and information technology. The Vietnamese delegation, including 24 contestants, was led by Doctor Duong Duc Lan, deputy head of the General Department of Vocational Training of the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs. **** Heavy rains and whirlwind hit Phu Yen Heavy rains and whirlwind hit Phu Yen province on March 18, 19 and 20, submerging 3,185 hectares of rice and damaging about 270 hectares of crops and 22 hectares of shrimp raising farm in Tuy An district. Whirlwind hit Xuan Binh and Xuan Hoa village in Song Cau district, pulling down 23 houses and injuring six people. Many rural roads were damaged, blocking traffic. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
