VNA
PM visits HCM City Post Office
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai paid a visit to Ho Chi Minh City's Post Office
on January 30.
After praising the post office's staff for their achievements gained over
the recent past, Prime Minister Khai asked the staff to pool their efforts
to develop the sector and increase the quality and efficiency of its
services. He also asked them to reduce the postage so as to be able to
compete with other regional countries.
The prime minister said he wished the post office greater successes and
hoped that the sector would reach and exceed targets set out for this year
and the sector's five-year plan.
While there, he heard a report by the post office's director, Le Ngoc Trac,
on the sector's development since the country's reunification, particularly
during 15 years of renovation. The city's post office has rapidly developed
with the current density of telephone subscribers of about 20 telephones
over 100 people, from a very low level in the past. At present, there are
more than one million telephone subscribers in the city. The Ho Chi Minh
City's Post Office is a leading unit of the whole post and
telecommunications sector on the investment in modern technology, on the
effective combination of telecommunications, post and information technology
and on the mobilisation of all sources to industrialise and modernise the
sector, thus being able to rapidly socialise the number of people using all
kinds of the post services.
****
Child protection prime concern, says ministerChild care and protection are a
prime concern of the Vietnamese government and people, affirmed Cabinet
Minister Tran Thi Thanh Thanh, while addressing the second preparatory
meeting for the UN General Assembly's special session on child care, which
opened in New York on January 29.
She said that as the second country in the world ratifying the UN Convention
on the rights of the child, Vietnam already built and implemented its
1991-2000 national plan of action for the child with the involvement of
relevant ministries and agencies as well as the Vietnam Women's Union, the
Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Peasants Association and
other mass organisations.
Ms Thanh, who also chairs the Vietnam Committee for Child Care and
Protection, further said that in last December and early 2001, Vietnam
organised three regional forums and a national conference on child care with
the attendance of thousands of children across the country.
Many objectives have been reached in this regard such as the reduction of
newborn and under-five children mortality rates, eradication of Vitamin A
deficiency - related diseases and polio, and primary education
universalisation for children, she emphasised.
These achievements, she added, have been made possible by concerted efforts
in all areas, ranging from Vietnam's political commitment to its economic,
social and cultural measures to carry out the plan as well as international
help, including that of UNICEF, WHO, UNDP, UNFPA and non-governmental
organisations.
However, Vietnam has to encounter challenges such as malnourishment, street
children, child labour and sexual abuse, unsafe water and environment, Ms
Thanh said.
Referring to Vietnam's national plan of action for the 2001-2010 period, she
said Vietnam will boost educational development and child protection, with
top priority given to the poverty-stricken and mountain regions, while
enhancing the role of the entire community and the family as well as the
involvement of children. (VNA)
****
Vietnam gives rice to Indian quake victimsVietnam is to give 2,000 tonnes of
rice to India's earthquake victims.
The gift was announced by Deputy Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung to the
Indian ambassador in Hanoi on January 30.
The donation aims to partially help earthquake victims in India's Gujarat
State overcome the consequences of the most severe disaster that occurred on
January 26.
The Indian diplomat thanked the Vietnamese government and people for the
decision, considering it as a symbol of traditional friendship between
Vietnam and India. (VNA)
****
Tree planting festivals continue in localities
Localities are continuing to plant trees for Tet in response to the tree
planting Tet initiated by Uncle Ho. On the sixth day of Tet, all 19
districts, city and towns in Nghe An central province launched their tree
planting festivals, attracting the participation of tens of thousands of
cadres, people and school children.
The northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh this year plans to plant 6,000
hectares of concentrated forests; re-plant another 6,000 hectares and start
tending over 6,000 hectares.
Vinh Phuc northern province launched its Spring tree planting campaign on
January 29. The province targets to plant 1,200,000 scattered trees in this
Spring campaign. For the whole year, the figure is 1,300 hectares of
concentrated forests.
Yen Hung district in the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh launched
their tree planting Tet on January 18. Over 1,000 cadres, pupils and
members of the armed forces participated in the festival.
****
Rich countries should assist poor: Deputy PM
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem stressed the advantages and
disadvantages of globalisation, while delivering a speech at a plenary
session entitled ŒImpact of the Globalisation on Asia¹ at the World Economic
Forum Conference in Davos, Switzerland.
The deputy prime minister said that in order to maximise advantages and
minimise disadvantages of the globalisation, each nation has to promote its
own internal strength, develop human resources and take comparative
advantages as well as set up a suitable mechanism and policies in the
environment of globalisation.
Mr Khiem highlighted some problems faced by Asian countries and stressed
that in case of crisis or economic chaos, poor countries will suffer most.
This negative impact would make the global development unstable. Therefore,
the deputy prime minister said, developed countries and trans-national
corporations could not withdraw their responsibilities for getting involved
in the process of assisting poor countries to have the same opportunities to
develop, ensuring sustainable development on the global scale while the
human being enters the new millennium.
During his stay in Switzerland, Mr Khiem met some world economic leaders,
paid courtesy visits to the president and managing director of the World
Economic Forum, deputy prime minister of Turkey, a member of the Federation
Council and the economic minister of Switzerland, the foreign minister of
Sweden and the secretary of State in charge of science and technology of
Switzerland. He also visited some corporations, universities and research
institutes in Switzerland.
****
Prizes for writing on Party awarded
Awards for six works of the writing contest entitled 'Profound Memories on
the Communist Party of Vietnam' have been selected and presented.
The first prize went to 'The Story of Mr Ba's Early Admission to the Party'
of journalist Le Thien. Two second prizes were presented to 'Memory About
the Party' by Nguyen Le Thanh Trang and 'My Admission to the Party' by Minh
Quan. Three third prizes include 'The Memory in my Soul' by Le Minh Truc, 'A
Faithful Mirror and Always Thinking of Comrades of a Party member' by Dao Si
Quang and 'Where the Peaceful Land Lies' by Trung Quan.
The contest was launched by Dong Nai newspaper on the occasion of the 70th
anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Over 100
entries of 60 contestants were sent to the organising board.
****
Medal for young generation presented
Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee presented the 'For Young
Generation Medal' to Mr Atsunori Kamata, vice president of Japan-Vietnam
peace and friendship development council and secretary general of the
Japan's International Friendship and Culture Centre (IFCC) in Hanoi on
January 30.
Mr Kamata has made great contributions to exchange activities between the
two countries' young people. Especially, IFCC launched a campaign
'Supporting Agent Orange Child Victims' which has attracted wide response.
Since 1996, IFCC, in co-ordination with the Youth Union, have organised many
charity performances to raise money for the campaign in Japanese cities with
a total of JPY 4.8 million.
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