VNA Books published to welcome Party Congress Publishing houses are now publishing books, mainly on late President Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Vietnam, in anticipation of the forthcoming National Party Congress. The Book Publishing Company of Zone II has launched a campaign to publish books in southern provinces from April 10 to May 10. The company plans to publish about 100 book titles with more than 200 copies, mainly about late President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam revolution's history, Vietnam Communist Party's history and many other books for research. Of the books to be published, there are many new book titles such as the Simplified Ho Chi Minh Dictionary, Wise Ho Chi Minh and Karl Marx, Engels, Lenin, Ho Chi Minh Development Philosophy. The Ho Chi Minh Book Publishing Company has also launched a book publishing campaign from April 16 to 30. Many big bookshops of the company reserve a special room to display the main books in the book publishing campaign, particularly three sets of books including Ho Chi Minh Complete Works CD-ROM, Party Congress Complete Works Document and 12 volumes Ho Chi Minh Complete Works. **** Families ask for return of their 24 relatives A Vietnam Red Cross delegation made a two-day Cambodia visit that ended on Thursday, April 12, at the request of families of 24 Vietnamese citizens who are being detained there. The delegation, led by Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) Deputy Chairman Nguyen Dinh Huong, met with Cambodia Red Cross Society Chairwoman Bun Rany Hun Sen and Cambodian Royal government's representative Om Yin Tieng to discuss the issue. The VNRC head delegate gave Cambodia's government and Red Cross Society a letter from VNRC Chairman Nguyen Trong Nhan and petitions sent by family members of the detained citizens, seeking the early return of the 24 people. He proposed that Cambodia's government and Red Cross create favourable conditions for the 24 to reunite with their families and stabilise their lives at the earliest possible opportunity. This proposal was based on the traditional spirit of co-operation, friendship and neighbourly relations between Vietnam and Cambodia, and humanitarian policies in line with bilateral agreements and international legal responsibilities recognised by the two. Mr Huong also informed the detained Vietnamese of their families' earnest hope for their return and of the Vietnamese government's undertaking not to try any of them. The VNRC, in co-operation with local authorities, would help them to re-integrate into the community, he said. (VNA) **** BBC holds seminar on Party congress The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has held a seminar on Vietnam's upcoming Ninth National Party Congress in London. Participants, who are scholars and journalists, discussed points mentioned by the draft political report to be presented to the Communist Party of Vietnam's Ninth Congress, focusing on Vietnam's socio-economic situation and its renovation path. Addressing the seminar, Vietnam's Minister Councillor in London Nguyen Trung Thanh highlighted the significance and basic contents of the Congress. He also put stress on the Vietnamese Party and people's determination to bring into full play the entire people's strength, go on with the renovation process, accelerate the industrialisation and modernisation programme towards the targets "a wealthy people, a prosperous country, and an equitable, democratic and civilised society." The Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam is to open on April 19. (VNA) **** US helicopter crash victims repatriated The United States on April 13, flew home the remains of seven Americans killed in a helicopter crash in Quang Binh province last weekend. The Americans were part of a team searching for information about American servicemen Missing in Action (MIA) during the Vietnam War. The bodies were taken home following a memorial service organised by the American Embassy in Hanoi the day before. The crash, which occurred just outside Thanh Trach village in Quang Trach district - about 450 kilometres from Hanoi, also killed nine Vietnamese crew members and officials. American Ambassador Doughlas Peterson told representatives of Vietnam's Foreign Ministry and the External Relations Department of the National Defence Ministry that he highly appreciated the co-operation of Vietnam's central and local government offices concerned in helping to solve questions relating to the crash. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defence Ronald Rumsfeld, Deputy Commander of the US Armed Forces in the Facific John Kelly and Ambassador Peterson have all sent their condolences to Vietnam's government and families of the victims. They expressed gratitude for the help the Vietnamese government and people are giving to the US in the search for the missing American servicemen. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien has also sent condolences to the families of both Vietnamese and American victims as well as the US government. The Vietnam Foreign Ministry has said that relevant agencies are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash. (VNA) **** Double happiness for Khmer people The ethnic Khmer people in the Mekong delta this year will celebrate their Chol Chnam Thmay festival, which falls on April 14-16, with double joy as they got a bumper rice crop and shrimp season. The ethnic Khmer community believe that 2001 will be a happy and prosperous year as rice and shrimp will bring in a fortune for them. Last year, the Mekong delta provinces successfully carried out two Government-funded projects to improve the living standards of the ethnic Khmer people. One project was on supporting ethnic communities in special difficulties with a total investment of VND 6.37 billion (US $440,000). Under the project, the government provided nearly VND 2.37 billion (US $163,000) as non-refundable aid to more than 6,000 families and a VND 3.66 billion loan with an interest rate of 0.3% a month to 3,000 others to develop household economy. Another project was on socio-economic development in highlands and remote areas capitalised at VND 81.82 billion (US $5.65 million) and carried out in 228 communes. Of the investment, VND 33 billion was poured into building residential areas for 49 communes. According to statistics released by the office in charge of ethnic affairs in the south, there are 1.04 million Khmer people living in the Mekong delta. In Can Tho, the capital province of the Mekong delta, the provincial People's Committee and the provincial committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front have sent greetings to the Khmer community. The province has dispatched 12 delegations to visit and present gifts to 27 local Khmer pagodas. The Can Tho University, in collaboration with the office in charge of ethnic affairs in the south and the ethnic affairs boards of Can Tho, Kien Giang, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces have organised festive activities for and presented gifts worth a total of VND 10 million (US $700) to Khmer students. A special envoy of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during his visit to the delta presented US $300 to Can Tho University students to welcome their Traditional New Year. (VNA) **** Spokeswoman rejects remarks about religious suppression Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh on April 13, rejected allegations by the so-called Geneva-based Vietnam Human Rights Committee about Vietnam's "legalisation" of the "systematic suppression of religions." The allegations were a "deliberate distortion" and what the committee had been attempting was useless, the spokeswoman said. Ms Thanh's statement was made in reply to a question raised by Hanoi-based AFP correspondent on Vietnam's reaction to the committee's remarks. She said the rights to belief and religious or non-religious practice for Vietnamese citizens had been stipulated clearly in Vietnam's laws and had been guaranteed ever since. Over the past 20 years, the number of Catholics had nearly doubled, while the number of new or upgraded churches, pagodas and shrines had kept increasing. She said that in Vietnam there were about 14,000 Buddhist pagodas; 6,000 Catholic churches; 500 Protestant churches; 1,000 Cao Dai churches; 200 churches of the Hoa Hao sect; 89 mosques and tens of thousands of temples and shrines. Ms Thanh added that these numbers had kept rising as religious sects opened more schools of their own to train their clergy and sent more of their followers overseas for further training. She said Christmas celebrations and annual pilgrimages to the Huong Buddhist Pagoda were joined by tens of thousands of Catholic and Buddhist followers, and that the La Vang Catholic festival, organised in 1998 and 1999, had been attended by thousands of Catholic followers. Ms Thanh said such facts made a nonsense of the Vietnam Human Rights Committee's remarks. The committee continued pursuing a useless task of making deliberate distortions against Vietnam, she said. Responding to a question raised by the South China Morning Post about Vietnam's limiting the number of entries into the country ahead of the Vietnam Communist Party Congress next week, Ms Thanh said nothing had changed concerning the procedures for visa applications to Vietnam. She reiterated that procedures for entering into and departing from Vietnam were being conducted normally, in accordance with Vietnam's laws. (VNA) **** Vietnam, Slovakia plan future co-operation Vietnam and Slovakia have agreed to the framework and programme on economic, commercial, cultural, educational, scientific and technological co-operation for the 2001-2003 period. Documents to this effect were signed during the second session of the Vietnam-Slovakia Inter-governmental Commission held in Bratislava from April 9-12. The Vietnamese delegation to the session, headed by Deputy Trade Minister Le Danh Vinh, and the Slovak delegation, headed by Economics Ministry's Department General Director Zeman Milan, reviewed the implementation of the commission's plan set at the first session held in Hanoi in April 1997. The two sides agreed that bilateral economic and commercial co-operation has actively developed but has not matched the two countries' potential and traditional relations. The two economies should seek measures to create opportunities for Vietnamese and Slovak entrepreneurs to do business for mutual benefits. They agreed to hold the third session in Hanoi in 2003. While in Slovakia, Mr Vinh was received by Slovak Minister of Economics Harach Lubomir. He met with Slovak entrepreneurs and had talks with Vietnamese entrepreneurs in Slovakia. (VNA) **** Thai fishermen's return finalised The authorities of Kien Giang, Vietnam's southwestern province, have co-operated with Thailand's Consulate in Vietnam in finalising procedures for the repatriation of 45 Thai fishermen and four trawlers that illegally entered Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for fishing operations. The local authorities have decided to give warnings to the four trawler captains, fine each owner of the trawlers VND 50 million, and seize fishing gear as well as about four tonnes of illegally-netted aquatic products. The fishermen and their trawlers, that came from Pattani province of Thailand, were seized on March 18, 2001, while illegally operating in the waters off northwestern Tho Chu island of Phu Quoc island district, Kien Giang province. An official repatriation will be held upon the Thai side meeting all aspects of the local authorities' decision. (VNA) **** Nhan Dan Online has 80 million hits Eighty million people have accessed Nhan Dan Online as of April 13, 2001 since the paper officially launched its website on June 21, 1998. This is according to the statistics provided by the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation¹s Data and Communications Company. An average of 160,000 people visit Nhan Dan Online everyday. Of these, 130,000 people access the Vietnamese language edition, while the remaining 30,000, the English language edition. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
