National Emulation Congress closes
The sixth National Emulation Congress closed on November 24, after four
working days full of responsibility and renovation spirit.
Addressing the congress, Party General Secretary Le Kha
Phieu said "recalling heroic examples during the
resistance war against the invaders and struggles for
national liberation and defence and looking at heroes
and emulation fighters at this congress, we love and
believe even more in the Vietnamese people, Vietnamese
nation and in socialism, for which the Party and people of Vietnam
sacrificed and struggled in the past 70 years. We also believe more in
the Vietnamese people's intellect, talents and will not to be inferior to
anybody as well as their ability to keep pace with friends and successful
implementation of the national industrialisation and modernisation."
The Party leader also called on each individual and each unit to
contribute more useful activities for the happiness of others, for the
future generations, for their own lives and joys, for a more beautiful
and stronger country, for better residential areas and for a country free
from social evils, corruption and harassment of its people.
In reply, the chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee,
Hoang Van Nghien, on behalf of nearly 80 million people
from 61 provinces and cities and Overseas Vietnamese
expressed determination to strongly respond to and turn
the Party leader's appeal into practical actions and the
people's patriotic emulation movement into the mass
revolutionary movement.
The National Emulation Congress was closed with the song 'As if Uncle Ho
was with us on the Great Victory Day'.
In the afternoon of the same day, the city's Party Committee, People's
Council, People's Committee and the Fatherland Front of Hanoi held an
evening party for the success of the Emulation Congress.
Also on the occasion, the Hanoi People's Committee presented 60 provinces
and cities with drum sets used in the festival to celebrate 990th
founding anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi so that all the provinces and
cities can raise emulation drumbeats to the new millennium.
****
US president's visit, a new significant step forward:
FM Nien
Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien has said that US President Bill Clinton's
visit to Vietnam marked a new significant step forward in the process of
improving the Vietnam-US bilateral ties.
In an exclusive interview with Radio the Voice of Vietnam, FM Nien also
affirmed that the acceleration of bilateral ties, first of all economic,
commercial, scientific and technical relations, up to the potentials of
both countries, conforms to the interests and aspiration of the two
peoples.
Asked to comment on the visit, the FM said during meetings with the US
President, Vietnamese leaders reiterated that Vietnam is ready to join
hands with the US in building a new co-operative relationship on the
basis of respect for each other's independence, sovereignty,
non-intervention in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual
benefits, regarding this as the fundamental principle for further
improvement and development of bilateral relations as well as settlement
of past issues.
Vietnamese leaders also affirmed that the US must be aware of its
responsibility for the great losses caused by the war to the Vietnamese
people as well as for healing the war wounds, FM Nien stressed.
They renewed Vietnam's consistent position that the search for American
servicemen missing in action (MIAs) is a humanitarian issue and affirmed
that Vietnam will continue to co-operate with the US in this regard. They
also requested the US to co-ordinate with Vietnam in searching for
Vietnamese missing in the war, he added.
Asked about the US president's view on the visit, FM Nien said President
Clinton expressed his pleasure at and appreciation of developments in the
bilateral ties over the past eight years, saying that the improvement of
relations laid the ground for future bilateral ties. He thanked Vietnam
for its close co-operation in the MIA issue.
He said President Clinton also expressed his support for Vietnam in
economic development and pledged to help Vietnam join the World Trade
Organisation (WTO). The US President said that the Vietnam-US bilateral
trade agreement (BTA) would give Vietnamese businesses access to the US
market to expand trade and develop Vietnam's economy. He was also
committed to provide Vietnam with US $2 million per year to implement the
BTA in the next three years.
Regarding the settlement of war consequences, FM Nien said President
Clinton gave Vietnam computer disks containing 360,000 pages of documents
which could help seek information about Vietnamese missing in the war. He
also pledged to give one million more pages of documents for this
purpose.
The US President also affirmed that the US was responsible for further
assisting Vietnam in defusing unexploded ordnance. He pledged to provide
information about the sites where the US had stockpiled Agent Orange, and
laid emphasis on the importance of bilateral co-operation in studying and
determining the harmful effects of Agent Orange on human health and
ecological environment. (VNA)
****
Lao Party delegation ends Vietnam visit
A delegation of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central
Committee's Office led by its director Bouasone Bouphavanh, who is also
LPRP Central Committee's member, paid a working visit to Vietnam from
November 15-24.
The Lao delegation had working sessions with the office of the Communist
Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPV CC) and signed an agreement on
co-operation between the two offices during the 2001-2005 period.
It was received by Pham The Duyet, permanent member of the Standing Board
of the CPV CC's Politburo, in Hanoi on November 23.
The Lao guests also visited the provincial and municipal Party Committees
of Vinh Phuc, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Da Nang and some industrial
establishments. (VNA)
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NA discusses renewal of education issues
National Assembly deputies discussed in groups plans to renew the curricula
and text books in schools and the
universalisation of junior secondary education during the tenth working day
(November 24) of the eighth session of the tenth
legislature.
NA deputies agreed that the target for the 2000-2010 period was to provide
junior secondary education to most citizens who
reach 18 years of age, thus helping to develop human resources for the
industrialisation and modernisation process.
Encouraging mass organisations and individuals to provide financial and
material assistance, and teachers to organise
informal classes for poor people was among ten measures to accelerate the
process of junior secondary education
universalisation.
NA deputies will continue working on November 27. (VNA)
****
ASEAN should fully utilise its internal strength, says PM
The ASEAN leaders at the informal summit.
ASEAN should turn to good account the internal strength of each member
country while making full use of external
assistance and co-operation, especially from its dialogue partners and
international organisations, said Vietnamese Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai at the fourth informal summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore
on November 24.
He added that with the ASEAN Vision 2020 and the Hanoi Plan of Action
(HPA), the association has exerted efforts to
implement the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and build an ASEAN investment
area through projects on setting up
systems of road and railway transport, electric power lines, gas pipelines
and programmes on ASEAN electronics, tourism
and so on.
However, Mr Khai continued, ASEAN has faced many challenges from the
globalisation process and the development of a
knowledge-based economy. These are the widening gap between rich and poor
and the danger of backwardness, especially
in information technology.
Prime Minister Khai spoke of four concrete measures to solve those problems.
First, ASEAN should implement the HPA in the spirit of "Solidarity and
Co-operation for an ASEAN of Peace, Stability and
Equal Development" and should have a mid-term review at the seventh ASEAN
Summit in Brunei in 2001 in order to
successfully implement the plan.
Second, ASEAN should find out effective measures to narrow the gap of
development among its member countries as well
as among different areas in each country and in the region, focusing on the
establishment of triangles, quadrangles and
development corridors, especially the Mekong river sub-region and the
East-West Corridor. ASEAN should have a joint
statement expressing its determination to narrow the gap of development for
an ASEAN of sustainable and equal
development and submit it to the 34th ASEAN Meeting of Foreign Ministers
(AMM-34) to be held in Hanoi in 2001.
Third, ASEAN should make the best use of outside assistance for its
development, first of all in information technology.
PM Khai stressed that, for the time being, all ASEAN member countries
should concentrate their efforts on successfully
implementing a framework agreement of e-ASEAN, thus helping boost their
co-operation in all areas.
Fourth, in order to maintain peace and stability in the region, ASEAN
should strengthen unity and co-operation on the basis
of respect for its fundamental principles, especially the principles of
non-interference in each other's internal affairs and
consensus, and promote close and reliable relationship as well as expand
interaction between different levels, particularly top
levels, through exchange of visits, including informal visits, and
establishment of hot lines.
Also at the meeting, PM Khai made Vietnam's proposal for further cultural
exchanges, considering contacts between the
ASEAN peoples as active measures to better mutual understanding and trust,
thus helping promote closer relations among
member countries.
Addressing the meeting between ASEAN and its three dialogue partners -
China, Japan and the Republic of Korea
(ASEAN+3 meeting) - PM Khai stressed that measures should be taken to
further co-operation in information technology.
To this end, PM Khai said, Vietnam asked other East Asia countries to
support its proposal for the establishment of an
ASEAN information technology centre with the involvement of China, Japan
and the Republic of Korea (RoK).
He also officially requested China, Japan and the RoK to continue taking
part in projects of the HPA, especially in ASEAN's
preferential areas such as narrowing of development gaps, poverty reduction
and hunger elimination, development of human
resources in the banking, financing, scientific and technical sectors,
development of the Mekong river basin and East-West
corridor, and helping less developed ASEAN member countries in regional and
global economic integration.
On cultural co-operation, PM Khai said that with a view to making full use
of the great potentials of East Asian countries'
culture, Vietnam made a proposal on rotary organisation of an East Asia
tourism fair to promote cultural exchange and
mutual understanding, and turn East Asia into an attractive tourist
destination. (VNA)
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