VNA First General Secretary Tran Phu�s birthday commemorated The 97th birthday of Vietnam Communist Party�s first General Secretary Tran Phu on May 1 was commemorated in Ha Tinh central province. Leaders of Ha Tinh province and Duc Tho district burned incense in memory of the late General Secretary Tran Phu and his parents at their tombs on Hoi Son hill. They also offered incense at the late General Secretary Tran Phu�s Memorial House in Tung Anh commune, Duc Tho district. **** Liberation Day celebrated abroad Many activities were held abroad to mark the 26th Liberation Day, April 30. The Vietnamese Embassy in Russia, in co-ordination with big trading centres and mass organisations of Vietnamese people in Russia held cultural activities to mark the occasion. A song and dance performance entitled �Homeland Songs� with the participation of artists from the Central Song and Dance Theatre was held on May 1. A mini-football tournament of the Vietnamese Students� Association in Russia was held on April 29. The Vietnamese Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, organised Vietnam�s film show. Socio-political activists and local people attended the shows. The Chile-Vietnam Cultural Institute in co-ordination with the Argentina-Vietnam Cultural Institute held many activities and seminars, film shows and handicraft exhibitions at the National Library in the capital city of Santiago de Chile, Chile. **** Pakistan's chief executive arrives in Hanoi Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Lieutenant General Pervez Musharraf arrived in Hanoi today to begin an official friendship visit to Vietnam. The visit is being made at the invitation of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. Lieutenant General P Musharraf is accompanied by minister of science and technology, Professor, Doctor Attaur Rehman and other senior officials. **** Korean people ask for investigation on massacres of Vietnamese civilians Fifty two organisations in the Republic of Korea have asked their government to start official investigation into the announcement that Korean soldiers acted in an inhuman manner against Vietnamese civilians during the war in Vietnam. This was stated in the joint declaration marking the 26th anniversary of the April 30 victory which led to the liberation of south Vietnam for national reunification, according to a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Seoul. Korean newspapers quoted an official of the Korean Committee of Justice on the Vietnam War as saying that the committee would continue to closely co-operate with local and international civil-rights groups to actively address the matter that Korean soldiers massacred Vietnamese civilians during that war. The Korean Committee of Justice organised the first seminar on the Vietnam war in December 2000. **** Vietnam plays important role in Mekong sub-regional development: ESCAP official A senior Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) official has affirmed Vietnam's important role in developing the Mekong sub-regional economies under an ESCAP-initiated Mekong Sub-regional Development Programme. Vietnam is a locomotive driving the Mekong sub-regional economies forward on the tough road ahead to keep abreast with the level of developed countries in the region and the world, the ESCAP Industrial and Commercial Department Director Nibhon Debavalya said. ESCAP has helped Vietnam develop its economy since Vietnam promulgated its Law on Foreign Investment and will go ahead with its activities in the country in the belief that Vietnam will harvest successes, said Mr Debavalya, who was interviewed by a Nhan Dan newspaper correspondent on the sidelines of a recent seminar on "Promoting and Deploying Foreign Invested Projects for Vietnam's Northern Provinces". He said an Indochina investment project for 2000-2001 under the Mekong sub-regional development programme with funds from Japan's government has made active contributions to drawing foreign investment into the three Indochinese countries. Apart from challenges, Vietnam has a great potential and many opportunities to develop its economy, of which the most important factor is abundant, well-trained and skilled labour forces, according to the official. He said Vietnam's renovation and its development of a socialist-oriented market economy has been on the right track and has brought about encouraging achievements. Vietnam is making great efforts in the course of joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said, adding that facts in Vietnam show that the country will be able not only to overcome all difficulties and obtain great achievements in the process of renovation, but also raise its prestige on the international arena. **** Two Chinese fishermen returned home Two Chinese fishermen Liu Yongguang and Zhu Weizhen have been returned to their homeland, Guangxi province. China's relevant agencies and families of the rescued pair, Yongguang and Weizhen were rescued at sea, 50 nautical miles east of Haiphong, expressed their gratitude towards the Vietnamese agencies and people at a ceremony held on April 28 at the Mong Cai bordergate in northern coastal Quang Ninh province. 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