VNA
President extends condolences to US
President Tran Duc Luong on September 12, sent a message of condolence to US
President George Bush over the terrorist attacks in New York city and
Washington DC.
The president stressed that the Vietnamese government and people were
extremely shocked by the tragedies that occurred in the US on the morning of
September 11, and expressed profound sympathy for the US government and
people, especially for the families of victims.
Vietnam condemns terrorist acts that cause death and sorrow to civilian
people, President Luong said.
The same day, Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien extended his condolences to US
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
****
More favourable conditions for HUT: PM
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai affirmed that the government, the Ministry of
Education and Training, relevant sectors and localities and particularly,
Hanoi city should work out concrete measures to create more favourable
conditions for the Hanoi University of Technology (HUT) to develop.
Prime Minister Khai paid a working visit to the Hanoi University of
Technology, the first Hero College in the country, on September 12.
The prime minister praised the college for its achievements recorded over
the past 45 years in training and scientific research in the service of
national construction and defence, particularly in the renovation process.
In face of challenges and competition in the international arena, in order
to ensure success for the national industrialisation and modernisation,
there is no way but to strengthen the training of personnel of high
knowledge who can conduct scientific research and receive technological
transfer, Mr Khai added. He also asked the college to pay more attention to
the urgent demand of science and technology, production and application. The
college should promote its unity strength, creativity and tradition of a
Heroic Unit to overcome all difficulties and fulfil tasks assigned by the
Party and State. He also urged the college to focus on training for teaching
staff, attraction of scientists and pay more attention to living and
learning conditions of students and make a strong change in training
quality.
****
EU's support for ASEAN and Vietnam assured
European Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy has stressed the EU's desire to
promote economic and commercial ties between the EU and ASEAN, including
Vietnam.
Pascal Lamy, on a visit to Vietnam for the third ASEM Economic Ministers'
Meeting, was speaking during a reception given by Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai in Hanoi on September 12.
The EU commissioner affirmed that, in the changing global economy, the EU
will continue with its policy on opening markets to help Vietnam increase
its exports to the EU market on the basis of equality, and mutual benefit.
Mr Lamy said he hoped that besides opening markets for investment and
commerce, Vietnam will continue to open markets for services which will
enable the country to raise the capacity of its available labour force.
For his part, Prime Minister Khai asserted that Vietnam, while integrating
into the regional and international community, has made progress in economic
development over the past years. The country, however, remains poor and
therefore still needs assistance from the international community, including
EU member countries.
He expressed his hope that Mr Lamy, together with the EU, would continue
supporting Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organisation and further
boost commercial relations by creating more favourable conditions for
Vietnamese goods to enter the EU market, particularly Vietnam's traditional
goods that EU member countries have long imported. (VNA)
****
Fatherland Front condemns so-called
Human Rights Act
The Presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee has released
a statement strongly condemning the US House of Representatives' endorsement
of the so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act as an erroneous move.
The statement, passed by the Presidium's enlarged meeting held in Hanoi on
the morning of September12, describes the act as distorting and slandering
Vietnam's real situation.
"The so-called Vietnam Human Rights Act is a rude intervention in the
internal affairs of a sovereign country," the statement says, adding "The
act also runs counter to the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of
international law and practice and hurts the Vietnamese people's patriotism
and their sense of national dignity."
"The United States, which provoked an aggressive war in Vietnam, trampled on
the Vietnamese people's fundamental rights, and left long-term and serious
consequences to Vietnam, is not in a position to preach human rights," the
statement emphasises.
Regarding the House's approval of the Vietnam-US bilateral trade agreement,
the statement says it is a righteous move, meeting the aspiration of both
the Vietnamese and American people. (VNA)
****
Outward-looking policies stressed at ASEAN consultation meeting
The fourth consultation meeting between the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and its dialogue partners, China, Japan and the Republic of
Korea (RoK) was held in Hanoi on September 12.
The meeting was co-chaired by Trade Minister Vu Khoan of Vietnam, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Sun Zhenyu of China,
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma of Japan, and Trade
Minister Hwang Doo-yun of the RoK.
Ministers at the meeting stressed the need to increase foreign investment
and persistently exercise outward-looking policies. They spoke highly of the
implementation of the regional economic integration programme, considering
it an effective tool to boost ASEAN trade and investment.
The meeting approved the Asia E-Learning Initiative project to exchange
information on new technologies and promote the e-learning trend. The
participants welcomed the success of the first meeting of the e-ASEAN plus
three working group in Cambodia last May.
The aim of the meeting was to promote technical co-operation in the
information technology (IT) domain between ASEAN and its three East Asian
dialogue partners.
Regarding the forthcoming round of talks of the World Trade Organisation,
the ministers expressed confidence that the agenda of the talks would be
made on the principle of balancing the interests and obligations of WTO
members. They were of the view that issues of developing countries should be
seriously considered and stressed the need to provide further technical
assistance to strengthen developing countries' capacity in the course of
implementing WTO obligations.
The ministers expressed support to negotiation efforts by Cambodia, Laos and
Vietnam to join the world largest trade organisation and hoped that China
would become a WTO member at the organisation's ministerial meeting in Doha.
In a press briefing held after the meeting, Minister Khoan said the
ministers affirmed the efficiency of the six on-going projects. Those
projects cover the domains of raising the competitiveness of ASEAN small and
medium-size enterprises, training programme on practical technology for
environmental protection, Asian common skill standard initiative for IT
engineers, conformity assessment development programme in industrial
standards, software development in the Mekong basin project, ASEAN satellite
image archive and environmental study.
Mr Khoan also announced Japan's proposal of a new initiative in the
electronics field and China and the RoK's proposal on the establishment of a
new fund for narrowing digital device gap among ASEAN members and their
three dialogue partners.
Chinese Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Sun
Zhenyu noted that China highly valued China-ASEAN co-operation on the basis
of equal footing and mutual benefit.
Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Takeo Hiranuma urged ASEAN
countries to restructure their economies to cope with challenges posed by
the current slowdown of the world economy. He said that Japan is a leader in
the field of IT, and that his country is ready to share its experience with
ASEAN. He added that Japan is to provide 300 new personal computers to
Myanmar and Vietnam in the next three years to strengthen IT skills for
those countries. Similar assistance will be provided to Cambodia, Mr Takeo
told the briefing.
RoK Trade Minister Hwang Doo-yun stressed the need to map out effective
measures to increase investment from East Asian nations to ASEAN and narrow
the digital device gap between them.
Trade volume between the ten ASEAN countries, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, and their East Asian partners, Japan, China and the RoK, rose to
more than US $201.7 billion last year from US $158 billion in 1999 or a
year-on-year increase of 27.5%. (VNA)
****
Soldiers rescue flood victims
Three soldiers of the Tinh Bien border gate station in An Giang Mekong river
delta province saved three people who were in a junk being swept away by
floodwater on September 8.
Since the beginning of the flood, border guards of Tinh Bien and Dong Duc
border stations in An Giang have rescued 15 people swept away by floodwater.
Public security staff and border soldiers of border districts of Moc Hoa,
Vinh Hung and Tan Hung of Long An Mekong river delta province have helped
flood-hit households repair 500 houses collapsed and damaged by flood and
evacuated 400 households to higher ground.
Soldiers in Kien Giang province have also helped move 355 households to
safer places and provided them with food and medical care.
****
Dong Thap provides rice to flood victims
Dong Thap province has bought 125 tonnes of rice worth VND 300 million to
distribute to 2,500 hungry households in six flood-hit districts of Tan
Hong, Hong Ngu, Tam Nong, Thap Muoi, Cao Lanh and Thanh Binh.
At present, about 36,000 affected families, including 500 of those enjoying
priority policy, are facing difficulties and in great need of relief aid.
The province is calling for support to help these people overcome the flood
aftermath.
****
Vietnam, Denmark's trade unionists discuss co-operation
The Vietnam Confederation of Labour (VCL) and the Danish Labour Organisation
(DLO) have exchanged experiences in training trade unionists and in
protecting workers' rights.
During meetings between VCL Vice President Do Duc Ngo and DLO President Hans
Jensen, the Vietnamese guest was briefed on Danish social welfare and social
insurance policies. Both sides also agreed on measures to accelerate future
co-operation.
Visiting Denmark from September 3-12, the VCL delegation met a number of
Danish parliamentarians and representatives of the Esbjerg City Council.
The VCL delegation also called at the Labour Ministry, the DLO Trade
Unionists' Training School and a number of economic establishments in the
country. (VNA)
****
Fire on board Chinese ship extinguished
A fire on board the Chinese merchant ship Yu Ping 2239 was extinguished
about 20 minutes after it started at 2.25 pm on September 11 while anchoring
at Central Vietnam's Da Nang seaport.
No injuries were reported while the damage assessment is under way.
The fire was discovered by a Vietnamese border guard at Da Nang seaport. The
officer immediately guided a nearby Chinese merchant ship to move to a safe
area while a Vietnamese ship close by immediately began the
fire-extinguishing operation. Minutes later, the effort was joined by other
border guards and a fire squad.
The 100-tonne freighter was specialising in freight forwarding
transportation. At the time the accident took place there were 11 crewmen on
board. (VNA)
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