Extracts. Vietnam Marks August Revolution Day Many cultural activities to mark the 56th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and National Day (September 2) are being held across the country. This is aimed at disseminating information on Vietnamese revolutionary tradition and the country's achievements recorded during 56 years of national construction, particularly in the national renovation process. The departments of culture and information of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other cities and provinces have held many art performances. They also displayed panels, posters and slogans on the national revolutionary tradition, the national construction and disseminated information on the results of the Ninth Party Congress. In Hanoi, the Vietnam Revolutionary Museum opened a showroom entitled '56 Years of National Construction and Defence under President Ho Chi Minh's Path.' The Ho Chi Minh, Army, Fine Arts, History and Ethnology museums also opened display rooms with new exhibits and artefacts. Many art troupes organised new programmes. Vietnamese films are being screened in cinemas to serve all people, including those in remote and far-flung areas. Radio and television stations have organised television singing contests. Many art and sports activities have been held in mountainous provinces, attracting many local people's participation. **** Much Expected for Global 2001 Smart Partnership Dialogue Across section of both government and the private sector business community from developing countries are meeting in Uganda's capital Kampala to map out ways of managing and increasing awareness of both positive and negative aspects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Led by high-profile government executives, including five African heads of state who arrived here on Saturday, the delegations from 23 countries are meeting for the four-day's Global 2001 Sustainable, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) Partnership Dialogue at Kampala's Speke Resort from August 18 to 21. Addressing the opening ceremony here on Saturday evening, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that African countries have lagged far behind the world's developed countries, hoping that the Smart Dialogue will find solution and measures for the continent's rapid development. The Ugandan president called for more foreign direct investment in the region so as to promote its economic progress. Over 600 participants, both members of the public and private sectors, are here on collective basis to air out their views of managing FDI, and hope to reach conclusive business dealings. Peter Kaleso, Malawian Minister for Commerce and Trade, told Xinhua that his government expects the dialogue to address issues concerning FDI be amicably resolved at the end of it. "This dialogue should come up with feasible measures and resolution that should be effected at a think tank level reached on amicable level," said Kaleso. "The issues concerning communication infrastructure be addressed urgently, for it is one of the factors that keeps off many foreign investors from African low developing economies," he said. Kaleso said that participants, especially at government level, need to brain storm on this issue, coupled with the urgency to address the risks involved in investing in much of African economies. Elly Manjale, the Executive Director of the East African Business Council, expressed interest to sell the vast untapped business potential in the region. "We are out here to woo more investment in the East African region. The vast un-exploited natural resources in the region can only be sold during such partnership dialogue," said Manjale. "Top on our agenda is to woo foreign investment in the region, targeting investment in the communication, tourism and information technology sectors," he said. Malaysian Martin Khor, Executive Director of the Third World Network, a non-governmental organization, said that what is important in the low developing countries is to re-examine global rules of the World Trade Organization that have impacted heavily on the African economies. "During this dialogue, both the African private and public sectors need to brain storm and re-examine the WTO rules, unite and call for change favorable rules in business arena," said Khor. "Most importantly, introduce rules that penalize local companies that abuse collective rules and regulations reached and various business treaties among the developing countries," he said. Dick Musisi Mpiima, the Chairman of Import and Export Association of Uganda, expects the dialogue to address matters of market and tariff barriers among the member states of the Smart Partnership. "We need to be honest to each other, resolve to remove market and tariff barriers that have hindered trade among the partnership members," said Mpiima. The Secretariat of the Global 2001 Smart Dialogue said in a statement that the dialogue is a continuous process, which affords representatives from government, business and labor across participating countries, a major opportunity for developing cooperative management skills. The secretariat said the process of Smart Partnership provides individuals and organizations opportunities for sharing experiences and aspirations, and aims to promote inter- and intra- regional cooperation and knowledge transfer. **** Nuclear Arms Key to New Russia-US Talks A top US arms official flies into Moscow this week for talks with Russian officials hungry for pledges on nuclear arms cuts that could clear the way for a deal on missile defence. John Bolton, US undersecretary of state for arms control, will meet Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov on Tuesday -- the fifth top US official to visit Moscow in a month. Russia wants to nail down the outline of a new arms reduction accord, which many experts see as vital to securing Moscow's grudging acceptance of US plans to develop missile defence. So far, Moscow has refused to revise or dump the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty which bans national missile defence. Washington says the pact is a Cold War relic that must go if it is to confront the threat posed by "rogue states". US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week failed to persuade his Russian counterpart Sergei Ivanov to drop the ABM treaty. Ivanov made it clear concessions on missile defence must be linked tightly to verifiable cuts in nuclear arsenals. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush last month agreed to link talks on the two issues, and ordered officials to step up the pace of talks on defining a new "strategic relationship" reflecting the end of the Cold War. COLD WAR LEGACY Rumsfeld last week said his talks in Moscow showed Russia remained "captured to a certain extent by the old Cold War mentality, fear and apprehension and concern about the West." Moscow complains that Washington has failed to spell out what a new relationship could entail in the security, economic and political fields. Foreign Ministry experts told the Itar-Tass news agency ahead of Bolton's arrival that Moscow wanted guarantees that warheads taken off missiles as part of a START-3 strategic arms reduction treaty would not be switched back at a later date. "The American side insists that cuts in nuclear potential should be studied separately from the issue of deployment of a US national missile defence system," one official told Tass. "But strategic stability is impossible without a tight link between defensive and offensive systems. Mr Bolton's visit to Moscow could bring answers to these questions," he said. However, many Russian officials believe a current review of the US nuclear stance, which Rumsfeld said last week should be completed in one to two months, makes real progress impossible. In addition, Moscow wants any agreements in legally binding, verifiable treaty form, unlike Washington which wants to avoid complex treaty negotiations and favours a more flexible approach including memorandums of understanding. "The system of control under agreed conditions must be retained, for it leads to an increase in confidence, including between partners," said Igor Sergeyev, defence minister until he was named as Putin's security advisor earlier this year. Some US officials concede that any Russian agreement to missile defence would include "rules of the road", which some Russian experts believe could include ceilings on the number of interceptor rockets featured in any US missile shield. SUMMIT CLOUDS Washington would prefer to win some form of Russian acquiescence on missile defence before its vigorous testing schedule begins to "bump against" the ABM treaty within months, possibly as early as next spring. But Rumsfeld made it clear last week that Washington would push ahead if no agreement was possible and give the statutory six months notice of quitting the accord, rather than violate it. Moscow expects that to happen in October or November. That could cast a cloud over a summit between Putin and Bush at the latter's Texas ranch in November, although US officials are already saying they do not expect a deal on a new security relationship or missile defence and arms cuts by then. However, Bush has made it clear that before Putin comes to his ranch, he wants his military chiefs to tell him how many warheads the United States actually needs. **** Preparations for APEC Leaders' Meeting Proceeding Orderly: Official Preparations for the Economic Leaders's Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), scheduled in Shanghai in October, is proceeding in an orderly way, said vice-foreign minister Wang Guangya Sunday. In an exclusive Xinhua interview, Wang, also chair of the APEC Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM), said that China is confident in doing a good job in organizing the series APEC meetings this year, the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) in particular, so as to make its due contribution to promoting economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. Wang said that the Chinese government attaches importance to APEC meetings this year. President Jiang Zemin and other leaders have made important instructions, on many occasions, on preparations for the meetings. To date, various APEC meetings, such as SOM I in Beijing, SOM II in Shenzhen and APEC foreign trade ministers' meeting in Shanghai, have been widely acclaimed. Wang defined the AELM and APEC 13th Ministerial Meeting, scheduled in Shanghai, as the key to the success of all APEC meetings, and China has made full preparations to ensure the success of the meetings. "We have made some substantial achievements and progress in trade and investment liberalization as well as in economic and technological cooperation among APEC economies," he said. "We have gained experience from various APEC meetings held in the first half of this year. Various departments, especially those in Shanghai, have been well prepared for the smooth operation of the meetings," he noted. Wang believes that all the APEC meetings will turn out to be a success and will yield abundant results. APEC SOM III is scheduled for August 23-24 in Dalian, a coastal city in northeast China, when senior officials from all 21 member economies discuss a series of issues under the theme: "Meeting New Challenges in the New Century, Achieving Common Prosperity through Participation and Cooperation." SOM III is aimed to prepare for AELM and the 13th APEC ministerial meeting. At the retreat due on August 22, APEC senior officials will exchange views on leaders' declaration, results of this year's meetings and proposals of relevant APEC member economies, based on already-convened APEC meetings. APEC Member economies hold that as the most important organization for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC is beneficial to maintaining peace and stability in the region, to promoting economic growth of APEC economies, and to developing good bilateral relations among them, Wang said. APEC also has to deal with the opportunities and challenges following the economic globalization and new economy, Wang said, noting that through SOM I and SOM II, APEC economies have reached consensus on a series of issues, such as initiating new round of talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO), capacity building and enhancing economic and technological cooperation. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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