VNA National Assembly deputies on May 26, the fifth working day of the current ninth session of the tenth National Assembly, held group discussions on the Customs Draft Law. Some deputies said that the Customs Law should define the ranks of customs officers who are allowed to use weapons while on duty in border regions. They argued that it is unnecessary and dangerous for so many customs officers to carry weapons on the job. Other deputies proposed that the Customs Law must be absolutely clear as to what constitutes appropriate behaviour on the part of customs officers. They expressed the hope that clearer guidelines would make it possible for improved management of customs officer. Other felt that it was time for the checking of counterfeit money and copyright violations to fall under the jurisdiction of the Customs Office. (VNA) **** PM inspects river dykes in Hai Duong PM Phan Van Khai works with local authorities. PM Phan Van Khai visits a household farm at Viet Hong commune, Hai Duong. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, on May 27, inspected dykes in the Red river delta province of Hai Duong, about 60 km east of Hanoi, as part of the government's plan to mitigate natural disasters as the rainy and stormy season draws near. He was accompanied by Agriculture and Rural Development Minister, Le Huy Ngo, who is also Chairman of the Central Committee for Storm and Flood Control. The Prime Minister visited Ba Keo and Ninh Xa stone embankment and dam building projects in Nam Sach and Chi Linh districts on the right and left banks of Kinh Thay, one of the major estuaries of Thai Binh river. The projects are of important significance as they protect tens of thousands of cultivated hectares in the basin of Thai Binh, Kinh Thay, Lai Vu and Kinh Mon rivers as well as a major industrial area of Chi Linh. At a working session with the provincial authorities, PM Khai praised the local officials and people for their joint efforts to make a crucial change in economic structures in general and agricultural structure in particular. He also lauded the province for its success in building concentrated industrial parks and expanding traditional crafts and trades, thus helping improve the local people's living standards. "Hai Duong has sufficient conditions for robust economic development so that it should achieve higher gross domestic product (GDP) growth and make greater successes in the national hunger elimination and poverty reduction programme than other provinces," the PM said. He also urged the local authorities and people to pay more attention to natural disaster control, as Hai Duong has a large network of dykes along Thai Binh and Luoc rivers and instructed the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry to give more budget allocations to the province to reinforce embankments, dams and dykes before the stormy season comes. (VNA) **** Activities mark Family�s and Children�s Days Many activities have been organised to celebrate Family Day (June 28) and International Children�s Day (June 1). A �Children�s Festival� was held at the Hanoi Children�s Palace on May 27 by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Nhi Dong (Children) newspaper. National Assembly Deputy Chairwoman Truong My Hoa, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem and representatives of agencies and organisations participated in the festival. Hundreds of Hanoi children joined entertainment activities: singing and dance performance, sports competitions, an on-the-spot painting contest entitled �Life around us children� and a photo contest named �Children�s Beauty 2001.� The Hanoi Children�s Palace and the municipal Cultural House have co-ordinated to organise the tenth singing festival, �Tieng hat Hoa Mi� (Nightingale�s Singing) on May 26-27. On May 26, the Hanoi Committee for Protection and Care of Children presented gifts each worth VND 200,000 to 200 children in special difficulties. The committee also presented 25 gift-boxes each worth VND 400,000 donated by kind-hearted individuals and organisations to charity houses and orphanages. The Hanoi Cinema and Video Company also provided free film shows to children. In Ho Chi Minh City the city�s Youth Union organised the 11th Hoa Hong Nho (Little Rose) Camping Festival, for poor children with excellent study achievements, disabled children and orphans. Many vocal performances and painting exhibitions by children are being held in districts throughout Ho Chi Minh City. **** Foreign minister meets Asian, European counterpartsVietnam's Foreign Minister, Nguyen Dy Nien, met his counterparts from China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, France, Spain, Denmark, Austria and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, while attending the third Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), for Foreign Ministers in Beijing on May 24 and 25. Mr Nien exchanged views with his counterparts on measures to boost bilateral co-operation in politics, trade, economy, science, technology, education and training and co-ordination among ASEM and between ASEM and other international forums. During his working session with Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, Mr Nien praised the Chinese Government's active contributions to the success of the third ASEM. Both affirmed their leaders' determination to further develop bilateral friendship and co-operation in politics, economy and culture for mutual benefits as well as for peace and stability in the region and the world. Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Korea, Singapore, France, Spain, Denmark, Austria and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, stressed that their governments always attach importance to relations with Vietnam and its capacity as President of the Standing Committee of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and President of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). (VNA) **** Students taking final exams increase More than 1.2 million junior secondary school students will sit for their final exams on May 29 and 30, a three percent year-on-year increase. There are in four subjects: mathematics, literature-Vietnamese language, chemistry and a foreign language. Those students who did not continuously learn a foreign language will be tested in history instead. The content of the exams will include the whole curriculum of the last grade (ninth grade). Mark zero instead of two as before will be considered a deaf mark. A student with mark five for each subject on average and without any mark zero will be recognised as a graduate. Later, more than 612,000 senior secondary schools will take their final exams on June 5, 6 and 7. The number represents a 20 percent year-on-year increase. They will be tested in six subjects: literature, mathematics, physics, biology, geography and a foreign language. Again, those who did not continuously learn a foreign language will be tested in history instead. Students studying natural sciences will have exams in literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and a foreign language. Those students studying humanities will be tested in mathematics, literature, history, geography, philosophy and a foreign language. Also on June 5, 6 and 7, 118,612 supplementary education students will have graduate exams in literature, mathematics, physics, chemistry, history and geography. **** Vietnam is concerned about China's forbidding sea area for shooting exercisesVietnam has expressed deep concern over the Guangzhou Radio's announcement on May 25 that China would mark off a forbidden sea area covering co-ordinates between 14 degree 30' and 17 degree 00' to the North and between 111 degree 30' and 114 degree 00' to the East for shooting exercises from 0:0 hr on May 27 to 24:00 hrs on June 3. The sea area announced by the Radio of Guangzhou in its news edition at 12:55 hrs on May 25 totally belongs to Vietnam's Paracels archipelago and its continental shelf in the East Sea, says Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phan Thuy Thanh. "We have time and again stated clearly that Vietnam has sufficient evidence and historical and legal grounds to affirm its indisputable sovereignty over Paracels and Spratly archipelagos", Ms Thanh stresses. "Any move by any other country towards Vietnam's two archipelagos as well as its exclusive economic zones and continental shelves without the Vietnamese government's permit is a violation of Vietnam's sovereignty and its sovereign rights over these areas," Ms Thanh points out. "While actively stepping up negotiations to reach a basic and long-term solution to these two archipelagos, especially when ASEAN and China are discussing a code of conduct in the East Sea, all concerned parties should maintain stability on the basis of status-quo and self-restraint without using force or threatening to use force, and taking no action to make the situation more complicated," she says. "All concerned countries are responsible for maintaining peace and stability in the region as well as ensuring safe and smooth navigation in the East Sea," the spokeswoman adds. (VNA) **** Cambodian delegation ends visitA delegation of the Cambodian Government's Commission in charge of the search for, excavation and repatriation of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers' remains, left Ho Chi Minh City on May 25, concluding a four-day visit to Vietnam. In Hanoi, the delegation, led by Deputy Commander and Chief of General Staff of the Cambodian Royal Joint Armed Forces, General Pol Sarroeun, paid a floral tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his Mausoleum. They were received by Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung and Defence Minister, Pham Van Tra. The delegation had a working session with the relevant Vietnamese commission and signed a plan of action to implement an agreement signed between the two countries on the search for and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers killed in action in Cambodia. The Cambodian guests also visited the Command of Military Zone 7 and several well-known sites in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Lat of central highland Lam Dong province. (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] __________________________________________________
