VNA Thai prime minister ends visitThai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his entourage left Hanoi on April 26, concluding their two-day official friendship visit to Vietnam. Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his entourage paid a floral tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his Mausoleum. During the visit, Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra was received by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, State President Tran Duc Luong and held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. These talks took place in an atmosphere of mutual understanding, neighbouring friendship and fine co-operation. The two sides discussed measures to further expand and strengthen their bilateral co-operation as well as co-operation in the framework of ASEAN, regional and international forums. (VNA) **** Exhibition on Party congress resolution opens An exhibition with theme �The Party Congress Resolution Comes into Life� was opened in Ho Chi Minh City on April 26 by the city�s Department of Culture and Information. This is to welcome the success of the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the 26th Liberation Day of the south, April 30, and the International Labour Day, May 1. The exhibition has three themes: 'The Communist Party of Vietnam - Congresses and Achievements,� �Implementing the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee�s Resolution� and �Toward the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.� The exhibition depicts the process of implementation of the Party�s resolutions of the Vietnamese people in general and the people in Ho Chi Minh City in particular. **** All Vietnamese should guard against opportunism Our Party has always encouraged its members and organisations to channel their enthusiasm and creativity into the political and social life of Vietnam. So said delegate Huu Tho, head of the Party's Commission for Ideology and Culture at the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which was held in Hanoi from April 19-22. But the Party also emphasises the importance of criticism, and of combating signs of opportunism, in both political and social life, he continued. Since the doi moi (renovation) process began 15 years ago, the Party has issued many important documents highlighting the efforts that must be made to quash opportunism. But in the political arena, we have nevertheless seen signs of opportunism. By opportunists, I mean those who have hesitated in the task of maintaining set ideological goals and Party building principles, and those who have faltered in pursuit of the doi moi process, hiving off towards one of two extremes. We have also observed other examples of opportunism: those whose combative spirit has weakened, whose revolutionary vigilance has wavered, whose spirit and skill have been lacking, and those who have opted to "keep a low profile" and not stand up to people who challenge the Party's platform, statutes and the State laws. In the social sphere, opportunism has emerged among some officials, Party cadres, and public employees. They have abused their power to obtain financial gain for themselves, their families, relatives, localities and units at the expense of the national interest. Some people leave no stone unturned in their efforts to set up back-door connections to seek favour from both higher and lower rungs of power - as has been noted in the Politburo report to the second meeting of the sixth plenum of the Eighth Party Central Committee. We must expose the imminent threat posed by opportunism towards society, the Party organisation and State apparatus. People must understand and avoid such behaviour, and fight against them as soon as they begin to jeopardise the national interest and the Party's survival. It is absolutely essential that measures should be taken to prevent such opportunists from infiltrating the Party and State leadership at all levels. The entire Party - its organisations, members and even the population as a whole - must be involved in Party building and in fighting against such opportunists. Working together in this struggle is the only route to success, as President Ho Chi Minh understood when he said that "the people know many things of which their leaders are unaware." Meanwhile, leaders and managers - both individuals and organisations - must be disciplined and ethical. In particular, administrative and personnel departments, inspection and auditing agencies, and law enforcement agencies must strictly observe Party discipline and State laws, and follow to the letter the regulations governing the selection of cadres. Not only that, but they must resolutely try and punish all law-breakers regardless of their social status. As long as appropriate leaders and competent agencies are strict, they will be able to 'plug' all the infiltration and escape routes of the opportunists, and duly punish those who are manipulating the Party and society and undermining Party discipline and State law. (VNA) **** Children's opinion on their rights collected The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Central Young Pioneers' Council conducted a survey on April 24 to collect children's opinions on issues of concern to them at the Cultural House of Hanoi suburban district of Gia Lam. This is part of a movement entitled 'The Whole World for Children' launched worldwide. Under this, Vietnamese and international children will take part in a campaign to support their rights and happiness by saying 'yes' to ten fundamental principles as follows: do not abandon any child; children should be put first; take care of all children; control HIV/AIDS; stop child abuse and exploitation; listen to children; create favourable conditions for children to study; protect children from war disaster; protect the earth for children; fight against hunger and poverty and make direct investment for children. Nearly 300 street and poor children in Gia Lam wrote 'yes' in the commitment and voted for three contents they thought as the most important for Vietnamese children at present. In the coming months, millions of Vietnamese children will continue participating in the movement. The result of the commitments in the worldwide will be sent to heads of states and head delegates to the UN's special session on children due to be held from September 19 to 21. Addressing at the movement launching ceremony, UNICEF chief representative to Vietnam, Morten Giersing, said that the activity would create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese children to enjoy their rights in sharing their opinions with leaders on the protection, care and education of children. **** ADB to provide US $80 million for rural businesses The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a US $80 million loan to Vietnam's project on rural business financing. An agreement to this effect was signed in Hanoi on April 26, between State Bank of Vietnam Governor Le Duc Thuy and ADB Resident Representative John Samy. Under the agreement, the ADB will provide Vietnam with a loan for 32 years at an annual interest rate of 1.5%, including eight years of grace period bearing a one percent annual interest rate. The project aims to help the current programme to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty, encourage investment in agriculture and rural areas, and strengthen operation capacity of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development and central and grassroots people's credit funds. The project is expected to raise incomes for 72,000 households and rural businesses. The ADB has so far provided Vietnam with nearly US $2 billion for 28 projects and programmes. (VNA) _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
