VNA
President Ho Chi Minh commemorated in Thailand
The Vietnamese Embassy and other Vietnamese representative offices in
Thailand held a ceremony to commemorate President Ho Chi Minh at his temple
in May village, Muang district, Nakhon Pathom province, some 600 kilometres
northeast from Bangkok and visited the Martyrs' Cemetery in Udon Thani
province from January 27-30 (January 4-6 lunar calendar).
Ambassador Do Ngoc Son paid Tet visits to some Vietnamese families in the
provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Pathom, Sakon Nakhon and
Udon Thani. He thanked the Vietnamese community in Thailand for their help
to the flood victims in 2000.
****
Tree planting festival held in localities
Localities across the country are launching their tree planting festivals
for the Spring of the Year of the Snake.
Yen Bai township in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai launched a
tree planting festival on January 29. Yen Bai at present has a total of
275,317 hectares of various kinds of forests, achieving a forest coverage of
40%. The province plans to increase the figure to 48% by 2005.
All six districts and towns of Tuyen Quang northern mountainous province
launched their tree planting festival on January 29. Provincial leaders
joined the people in the two villages of Hoang Khai and Nong Tien and
planted a total of 700 longan and lychee trees.
Thai Binh northern province launched their tree planting festival on January
31. The province planted 1,133 hectares of protective forests in 2000, took
care of 2,500 hectares and planted 3.5 million scattered trees, half of
which were fruit trees.
In the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh, the tree planting festival
was launched on January 31.
Officials and soldiers of the Military Zone 1 participated in their tree
planting festival which was launched on January 27. On the first day, over
300,000 trees were planted.
****
Government holds regular meeting
The government held its regular meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on January 30
and 31.
The content of the meeting included discussion and adoption of a project on
the Son La hydro-electric power plant and discussion on the Customs Bill.
Cabinet members heard reports on the socio-economic development situation in
January 2001 and the investigation and settlement of public complaints in
the fourth quarter of last year, and the year 2000 as a whole.
Concerning the welcoming of Tet (Lunar New Year), Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai said that thanks to due attention of the Party and State and high
community consciousness, every individual and every family enjoyed a happy
Tet. Activities of people during Tet have shown that Vietnam¹s economy had
made progress with an increasing purchasing power. The prime minister
expressed the government¹s concern over traffic accidents, killing many
people. Mr Khai called for an urgent programme in the future.
At the meeting, the cabinet members passed a report on the investigation and
settlement of public complaints presented by Inspector General Ta Huu Thanh.
They praised the efforts of branches and localities in this filed,
especially the establishment of working groups from the government and
localities to examine and supervise the settlement of complaints.
The government discussed an assessment report on the Son La hydro-electric
power plant project presented by Mr Tran Xuan Gia, minister of planning and
investment, on behalf of the State Assessment Council. The cabinet members
approved the project.
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai concluded that all necessary conditions should
be urgently prepared for the start of the construction of the plant by 2004.
The government would submit the project proposal to the Politburo and the
National Assembly for approval.
Also at the meeting, Mr Nguyen Duc Kien, director of the General Department
of Customs, briefed the government members on the Customs Bill.
Mr Tran Xuan Gia reported the implementation of the plan in January, 2001.
Despite the long Tet holidays, a high growth rate was maintained in
industrial production. The agro-forestry sector had been in favourable
conditions and progress had been made in harvesting the autumn rice crop and
transplanting the winter-spring crop.
The service sector made encouraging progress during Tet.
****
Thai King's privy councillor visits
FM Nguyen Dy Nien meets Mr Siddhi Savetsila.
Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh received the Thai King's Privy Councillor
Siddhi Savetsila in Hanoi on January 31.
Siddhi Savetsila is making a friendship visit to Vietnam from January
31-February 2 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien.
He is accompanied by his wife, a number of officials of the Privy Council
and the Foreign Ministry.
Vice President Binh praised the role of the Thai King and the Royal Family
in boosting Vietnam-Thailand relations and expressed her hope that the
Vietnam-Thailand friendship, neighbourliness and co-operation would be
further developed for the common development of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, ASEAN.
Siddhi Savetsila expressed joy at Vietnam's achievements in the programme of
national renovation.
The same day, Siddhi Savetsila exchanged views with Foreign Minister Nguyen
Dy Nien .
He and his entourage toured some historical and cultural sites in Hanoi and
Ha Long on February 1. (VNA)
****
UK government to loosen statutes on aid
The government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain will loosen its
statutes on development aid on the world scale from April 2001.
This was revealed in a white book published by the Department for
International Development (DFID). The book, entitled �Eradicating Poverty
for the World: How to Make Globalisation Bring Benefits to Poor People,¹
outlines the UK¹s future policy on development aid.
The white book also reiterates the commitment made by the British government
in the process of international development and puts forth an agenda on the
management of globalisation in a bid to bring benefit to the poor.
Commenting on the new white book, the British ambassador to Vietnam, W
Morris, said he believed that challenges of globalisation were also problems
Vietnam is facing. He also expressed his belief that Vietnam has sufficient
conditions to make full use of the process of integration as well as
promptly obtain important targets of development such as hunger elimination
and poverty reduction and educational universalisation for all people.
DFID has expanded its activities in Vietnam. Its plan this year is to
continue to co-operate with the World Bank to carry out a US $150 million
project for improvement of Vietnam¹s rural communications infrastructure,
for hunger elimination and poverty reduction for six northern provinces and
a national project for HIV/AIDS control.
****
Vietnam re-elected vice president of UNDP-UNFPA Executive Council
Vietnam has been re-elected vice president of the Executive Council of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA).
The election was held at the organisations' first session for 2001, that
opened on January 29.
The session elected Guatemala, president, and Ukraine, Ethiopia and New
Zealand, vice presidents of the Executive Council. It reviewed
implementation of the Council's programme over the past year and approved a
plan of action for the new term, including the UNDP's global and regional
co-operation framework as well as national programmes in several countries.
UNDP and UNFPA have shared leadership as the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board
which is responsible for forming policy and conducting development
assistance programmes and projects in almost all countries in the world.
Vietnam became a full member of the United Nations in 1977 and has since
benefited much from the UNDP/UNFPA's major assistance programmes. Beginning
with the first national programme implemented between 1977-81, UNDP has
helped Viet Nam in many key fields with projects for technical assistance,
technology transfer, pre-feasibility studies, education and training,
administrative reform and preventing natural calamities. (VNA)
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