VNA Daily salute to national flag at Uncle Ho�s Mausoleum The prime minister has signed a decision on a daily saluting ceremony to the national flag in front of Uncle Ho�s Mausoleum. According to the decision, the Management Board of President Ho Chi Minh�s Mausoleum and other relevant agencies: the Ministry of Culture and Information, Radio the Voice of Vietnam and the Vietnam Television Station have been assigned to make necessary preparations for the ceremony. The ceremony will start on May 19, on the occasion of the 111th birthday anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh. **** Japan's city presents Ho Chi Minh ceramic portrait The people and the mayor, Taiichiro Shoji, of Takarazuka city of Japan, have presented the Ho Chi Minh Museum a portrait of President Ho Chi Minh in order to express their admiration to the President and the Vietnamese people on the occasion of 111th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh. The portrait is two metres high and one metre wide and weights about 100 kilograms. It is made of ceramic with 40,000 different colour particles, and will last about 10,000 years. Together with other documents and artefacts on the President Ho Chi Minh in the museum, the portrait will contribute to enriching the biography and the revolutionary cause of President Ho Chi Minh. **** Photo exhibition on CPV held in Ha Tay A photo exhibition entitled �Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) through Congresses� was held from April 17 to May 5 in northern Ha Tay province by the provincial Department of Culture and Information. The exhibition provides visitors with detailed information on every national Party congress exhibiting dates, places, number of Party members, the members of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and portraits of President Ho Chi Minh and other Party general secretaries. Organisers reserved part of the exhibition floor space to show great achievements, recorded by the Vietnamese people and by Ha Tay people in particular, under the leadership of the Communist Party in the cause of national reconstruction and defence. **** Vietnam rejects Human Rights Watch's informationVietnam has rejected as false a report made by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the government arrested a political dissident. In responding to foreign correspondents wanting to know Vietnam's reactions to HRW's May 7 press release expressing the worry about the alleged arrest on April 24 and the concern that other democratic activists may have been arrested, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Phan Thuy Thanh, said in Hanoi on May 8 that the information released by the so-called Human Rights Watch was a total fabrication. When asked by a South China Morning Posts correspondent how the US's increasing criticism of Vietnam with regard to human rights issues and political rights has affected the Vietnam-US relations, Ms Thanh said that the US should be more aware of its own reputation on human rights issues within the international community. They should put an end to their criticism of other countries, Ms Thanh added. She stressed that the relationship between Vietnam and the US was one of two sovereign nations, established on the basis of mutual respect for each other's independence, sovereignty, non-interference into each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit. "Vietnam is ready to have dialogues with the US on issues of mutual concern, including human rights issues, on the basis of equality, mutual respect, respect for independence and sovereignty, non-imposition on viewpoints and non-interference into each other's internal affairs with a view to promoting mutual understanding," she said. (VNA) **** NA Vice Chairman values Heroic Mothers National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Phuc Thanh expressed deep gratitude from the Party, State and the Vietnamese people to Heroic Mothers for their great contribution and dedication to national independence when he received 51 Heroic Mothers from Hai Duong northern province in Hanoi on May 8. NA Vice Chairman Thanh inquired after the Heroic Mothers' health and wished them the best of everything and to forever be a good example for their children to follow. He also took the occasion to praise the Party Committee and people of Hai Duong province. The province has invested VND 21 billion, including VND 13 billion contributed by the people, to build more than 1,300 houses for families of war veterans and invalids who are in difficulties and have donated about 5,200 savings-books to families of priority policy beneficiaries. In addition, hundreds of units and individuals volunteered to give care and build houses of gratitude for these Heroic Mothers. **** World Red Cross Day marked in Hanoi Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem addresses the meeting.A meeting was held in Hanoi on May 8, by the Vietnam Red Cross (VNRC) to mark the World Red Cross Day with the theme of "International Year of Volunteers." Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem; President of the Presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Pham The Duyet; VNRC President Nguyen Trong Nhan; and red cross representatives of Canada, India, the United States, Britain, Australia, and Italy all attended the function. Addressing the guests, Deputy PM Pham Gia Khiem praised the generous contributions made by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Red Cross Committee, and numerous other international humanitarian organisations, to the Vietnamese victims of war and natural calamity (Agent Orange in particular). The VNCR has made great contributions to healing the wounds left by years of war so that the country may put its history behind them and move forward to embrace a brighter future. Last year, the VNCR carried out international co-operation projects worth VND 150 billion and domestic projects worth VND 500 billion. On this occasion, former Italian ambassador to Vietnam, Mario Vittorio Zamboni, handed over US $5,000 to VNRC President Nguyen Trong Nhan to help Agent Orange victims. President Nhan presented the VNRC medal "For the Cause of Humanity" to Canadian ambassador, Cecile Latour; Indian Ambassador Saurabh Kumar; Managing Director of Tetra Pak Vietnam Micheal Zacka; Nina MoCov from the Australian Red Cross representative; Lady Borton from United States' Quaker; former Italian ambassador, Mario Vittorio Zamboni; and general secretary of the Britain-Vietnam Friendship Association, Len Aldis. (VNA) **** Vietnam, Laos sign education co-operation plan Vietnam's Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Minh Hien and Laos' Minister of Education Phimasone Leuangkhamma signed a plan to begin co-operation between the two ministries on matters of education at a ceremony held in the Laos capital of Vientiane on May 8. The signing ceremony took place during a Laos visit from May 1-9 by a delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training led by Minister Nguyen Minh Hien. Under the plan, Vietnam will grant long-term training scholarships to 550 Lao people and shorter training scholarships (6-12 month) to 215 other Lao graduates. In addition, Vietnam will welcome education officials, deans of boarding schools and primary schools to study in Vietnam. Laos will receive 20 Vietnamese students and trainees to follow long- and short-term training courses at the Humanities Department of the Vientiane National University. The Vietnamese side will continue granting documents to the Lao Institute for Educational Science, and teaching materials to the National University. The two sides also agreed to a proposal suggesting that the two governments collaborate to build more boarding schools in Laos' provinces that border Vietnam. A school in Vientiane, built with the help of Vietnamese aid, is also being planned for construction in the 2001-2005 period. Minister Hien and his entourage were received by Lao Prime Minister Boungnang Vorachit who expressed the hope that the two countries' education ministries would boost bilateral co-operation in the spirit of the special friendship and solidarity between the Parties and people of Laos and Vietnam. The prime minister expressed thanks to Vietnam's wholehearted and effective assistance to Laos, which, he said, helped Laos overcome difficulties relating to low numbers of personnel in economic, science-technology, and security-national defence. He also spoke of ways to enhance co-operation between the two countries in matters of education and training. (VNA) **** Vietnam open consulate general in PanamaVietnam officially opened its consulate general in Panama city, Panama, on May 7, affirming its aspiration and determination to boost bilateral relations with Panama, especially in economy and trade. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Director of the Foreign Ministry's International Relations Department Falvio Mendez highlighted the Panama-Vietnam friendship and expressed his wish that the two countries would continue developing economic and commercial co-operation. Representatives from Panama's Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Trade, Economics, and Cannal, members of the parliament, business people of the two countries and overseas Vietnamese in Panama were present at the ceremony. (VNA) **** Vietnam, Belgium boost tertiary education co-operationThe Hanoi University of Technologies and the Can Tho University have co-operated with the Flemish University of Belgium to carry out the second phase of a Belgian-funded tertiary education project. The US $2.42 million project has been conducted since 1998 and expected to be completed in 2002. Belgium provided a non-refundable aid worth US $2.027 million to the project. In the first phase (from 1998 to 2000), colleges of the Flemish University provided lab equipment in electronics and telecommunication as well as technical physics and chemical technology to the Hanoi University of Technologies and the Can Tho University. They also provided funds to some Vietnamese professors to conduct surveys in Belgium and to 10 technicians to study in foreign countries. They provided training to 10 doctorate degree holders. In the second phase lasting until 2002, Belgium will provide lab equipment in bio-medical electronics, metallurgy-materials, and mechanics-information technology-automatics, to the two universities. (VNA) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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