VNA
Building, safeguarding socialist nation - the most imperative task: Party leader Building and safeguarding the socialist nation is a crucial task of today that will require great efforts by the entire Party, people and armed forces, said Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh during a speech he delivered at the Military Politics Institute on October 20. Defending the socialist nation is to firmly safeguard independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, national security, and social order," the Party leader elaborated. He added that the task also covers the protection of Vietnam's national culture, Party, State, people, socialist regime, renovation process, and general interests. The task requires close co-ordination between national defence and national security and a win over hostile forces on all fronts by conducting both armed and non-armed activities, the Party leader noted. His visit to the institute was a prelude to its upcoming 50th founding anniversary and reception for the second time of the Ho Chi Minh Order, the second highest distinction of the State. He spoke highly of the role played by the institute over the past half century. The institute has been serving as a major education and training centre, turning out generations of political officers for the army. It has joined efforts in conducting research on military theory and practices, contributing to the fulfilment of the tasks of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) in different revolutionary stages, the Party leader noted. He praised the institute for its efforts to build the VPA into a politically, ideologically, and organisationally strong tool of the State during times of war as well as peace. Tens of thousands of former students of the institute have been serving in military units across the country, making worthy contributions to the glorious victories of the VPA, Mr Manh stressed. Regarding the tasks set for the institute in the new situation, General Secretary Manh pointed to the need to thoroughly grasp viewpoints of the Ninth Party Congress, especially those in building the entire people national defence, the people's armed forces, and the national defence. He said that being politically strong was crucial factor for the institute to fulfil all designed tasks in the present situation. The Party leader urged the institute to closely follow the situation in the world and the country, better develop its role and position as a major education-training centre of the VPA and its own characteristics of a military school to train political officers while keeping up with current advancements in educational sciences and constantly increasing the quality of training. The institute should become a reliable force of the Party and the army in the theoretical and idealogical front, and actively take part in the struggle to protect Marxism-Leninism and the Ho Chi Minh Thought as well as the Party's policy and viewpoints, the Party leader concluded. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PM attends dialogue between APEC member economies and business council Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Saturday, October 20, attended a dialogue between leaders of member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) and the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in Shanghai. Addressing the dialogue, Prime Minister Khai spoke highly of ABAC's contributions to the development of APEC. He held that globalisation is creating not only opportunities but also challenges to the development of APEC economies. APEC member economies should therefore take measures to narrow the development gap among countries, the Vietnamese prime minister said, adding that building human resources is an important part of the efforts to these challenges. He focused on the task to increase people's intellectual capacity, enabling them to catch up with new technical development. "Vietnam welcomes ABAC's recommendations, especially with regard to the building of human resources," Prime Minister Khai said. He arrived in Shanghai on October 19 for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting on October 20 and 21. (VNA) Bridging development gap among members - an urgent task of ASEAN: PM Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of Vietnam has called on other ASEAN leaders to focus efforts on narrowing the development gap between members of the Association. The appeal came during his meeting with leaders of six ASEAN members, who have been in Shanghai, China, for the on-going ninth Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting. The ASEAN, APEC leaders included King Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad of Malaysia, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore, and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand. The Vietnamese leader said the coming meeting of ASEAN leaders in Brunei should focus on economic issues, and review the implementation of the Hanoi Plan of Action and agreements reached in Singapore last year to strengthen infrastructure facilities of the regional grouping, thus bridging the development gap between member countries. With regard to anti-terrorism, Prime Minister Khai pointed out that Vietnam shares the international community's condemnation of terrorist acts, supports efforts to free humankind from terrorism, and sympathises with the US people over losses caused by terrorists in the United States on September 11. The Vietnamese prime minister held that ASEAN should co-operate in fighting terrorists, but that however, anti-terrorism activities should be conducted in conformity with the United Nations Charter and international law to avoid losses to innocent people. (VNA) Vietnam praises China's hosting of APEC Summit Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of Vietnam has congratulated China on its successfully hosting the ninth Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai on October 20-21. Speaking to President Jiang Zemin of China, before leaving Shanghai for home on October 21, the Vietnamese leader thanked the host for the hospitality and warm welcome given to the Vietnamese delegation. Mr Khai noted that the ninth Shanghai summit saw the full participation of APEC leaders. After becoming a full member of APEC three years ago, Vietnam with its economy being in a transitional period has actively joined the forum's programmes of action, presenting proposals and initiatives at APEC conferences and summits. At this year's meeting, Vietnam proposed an initiative on training and re-training human resources to support developing economies in advancing to a new economy. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Heavy rains in central provinces There were heavy and prolonged rains in large areas of central provinces and cities with an average water level over 200 millimetres, causing flood in some areas on October 20-21, according to the Hydrometeorology Forecast Centre for Central Region. As of 7 am of October 21, the water level has receded. However, according to the centre, there may be lighter rainfall in the coming days. The water levels of rivers in the area seems to subside. Due to the tropical depression and winter monsoon on October 20, there were heavy rains in Thua Thien-Hue province. Whirlwind, high and rough waves eroded its coastal areas. Twenty six households in the area will be evacuated soon. Eleven areas in Nghia Hanh district of Quang Ngai province are being eaten away by floodwater, affecting the production and life of 385 farmer households. As of the beginning of the flood season, thunderstorms have damaged 984 homes in the flooded area of Dong Thap. Thunderstorms in upstream districts collapsed 203 homes between September 28 and October 5. Meanwhile, whirlwinds have pulled down 338 homes in Soc Trang province, made 112 others roofless and damaged nearly 500 hectares of rice and vegetable crops. The localities are overcoming the consequences. _________________________________________________ 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] __________________________________________________
