VNA
Party chief meets Hanoi voters Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh had a meeting with voters of the two Hanoi districts of Ba Dinh and Tay Ho on November 13. Present at the meeting were members of the Hanoi National Assembly (NA) deputies delegation, representatives of Party committees, people�s committees, people�s councils, fatherland fronts, businesses and voters of the two districts. Mr Vu Manh Kha, on behalf of the Hanoi NA deputies delegation, reported to the participants about the agenda of the 10th session of the 10th legislature and the activities of the delegation in between the two sessions. In preparation for the 10th session, Hanoi NA deputies have held meetings with voters of all strata. At the meeting, 11 voters contributed their opinions, reflecting many issues and making proposals concerning Hanoi and the whole country. All the opinions expressed the voters� gladness at the achievements of the country over the past 15 years of renovation. Especially, currently, despite the changes in the international situation and natural calamities, Vietnam has maintained stability and development; the role and position of Vietnam has been heightened, thus consolidating the belief in the Party�s leadership and the government�s effective management. National Assembly activities have shown many changes with an atmosphere of openness, democracy, straightforwardness and impartiality. Many issues discussed are practical. Many voters asked the NA to better carry out its supervision and inspection function. They also asked for better dissemination of laws to the people. Administrative reform has made progress, but it is still at slow pace. The issues of corruption, and bureaucracy and waste are pressing. Social evils, especially drug addiction, are not decreasing. The voters also pointed out the problem of traffic jams, vocational training and job settlement for farmers in areas that are cleared for construction sites, etc. These opinions will be collected and raised at the upcoming NA session. Addressing the meeting, the Party leader praised the frank, constructive opinions contributed by Hanoi voters. He affirmed the great contributions of Hanoi in the country�s 2001 socio-economic achievements. He asked Hanoi to make more efforts in the national development for the objectives of a prosperous people, a strong country and a just, democratic and civilised society. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnamese, Philippines leaders hold talks President Tran Duc Luong of Vietnam and his Philippine counterpart Gloria Arroyo held talks at the Presidential Palace in Manila on the afternoon of November 14. President Luong and President Arroyo agreed to encourage exchanges between the private sectors and people of the two countries as well as further promote trade and investment relations and their co-operation in agriculture, science, education, civil aviation, and construction. President Luong and President Arroyo expressed their satisfaction at the development of the friendship and multi-faceted co-operation between the two countries in the recent past. The two leaders agreed to further accelerate the exchange of visits and contacts by high-ranking delegations between the two countries. They also agreed to hold the third session of the Vietnam-Philippine Joint Commission and the signing of a bilateral co-operation framework for the first 25 years of the 21st century in the near future. The two presidents informed each other of the recent situation in their respective countries and compared notes on orientation and measures to further enhance multi-form co-operation between the two countries. They were of the same view that the visit to the Philippines by President Tran Duc Luong was an event of great significance, marking a new step in the development of the friendship and diversified co-operation between Vietnam and the Philippines. President Luong lauded the achievements recorded by the Philippines as well as its policy to promote national unity and reconciliation while firmly maintaining national independence and sovereignty. He wished the Philippine people under the leadership of President Arroyo, even greater achievements in national construction and development. The Philippine leader spoke highly of Vietnam's renovation gains and expressed her belief that Vietnam will succeed in carrying out national industrialisation and modernisation. President Luong invited President Arroyo and her husband to visit Vietnam. The invitation was accepted with thanks. The timetable of the visit will be arranged through diplomatic channels. The talks took place in an atmosphere of friendship, sincerity, and mutual trust, reflecting the fruitful development of relations between the two countries. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnam, Philippines sign double-taxation avoidance accord An Agreement on Avoidance of Double-Taxation and Prevention of Income Tax Evasion between Vietnam and the Philippines was signed in Manila, the Philippines, on November 14, in the presence of Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong and his Philippine counterpart Gloria Arroyo. For President Luong, the signing of the agreement marked the start of his three-day visit to the Philippines as a guest of President Arroyo. The Vietnamese president was given a State welcome upon his arrival in Manila. Speaking at the welcoming ceremony, President Arroyo said she believed that President Luong's visit to her country would enhance the two countries' common resolve to take bilateral friendship and co-operation to a new height of development in the 21st century. The Vietnamese leader spoke highly of the efforts made by the government and people of the Philippines in maintaining peace, boosting socio-economic development, fostering national unity and reconciliation, safeguarding national independence and sovereignty, and overcoming the regional financial crisis. President Luong said he believed that the Vietnam-Philippines relations would be expanded to various domains in the future to meet the aspiration of the two peoples and the interests of the two countries, thus contributing to peace, stability, development, and prosperity in South East Asia and the rest of the world. The two presidents then held a press conference during which they affirmed their common resolve to further step up their traditional neighbourliness and multi-faceted co-operation, covering economics, trade, investment, science-technology, and education, on a par with their political relations. The Vietnamese leader paid floral tributes to Rizal, a national hero of the Philippines, at his memorial monument in Manila. In the evening, President Arroyo held a banquet in honour of the Vietnamese leader and his entourage. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnam, Brunei issue joint statement Vietnam and Brunei released a joint press statement on Wednesday, November 14, at the end of Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong's official visit to the Islamic Sultanate of Brunei. Following is the full text of the statement: 1. State President Tran Duc Luong made an official visit to Brunei from November 12-14, at the invitation of Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. This was the first visit by a Head of State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, marking an important landmark in developing bilateral ties and multi-faceted co-operation to meet the aspiration and interest of both countries for peace, co-operation, and development in the region. 2. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah congratulated the Vietnamese people on their achievements in the process of renovation and believed that Vietnam would obtain greater successes in the first decades of the 21st century. President Luong spoke highly of the socio-economic achievements the Brunei government had posted and believed that the Brunei government would gain bigger achievements in national construction and development in the new century. 3. Both sides welcomed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of a joint committee for bilateral co-operation between the governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam. The joint committee would open dialogues and consultation meetings aimed at promoting co-operation between the two countries in many areas. 4. Both sides agreed to continue consolidating and developing their bilateral relations in the interest of both peoples. In this spirit, both sides agreed to maintain high-level contacts and exchanges of visits by delegations of government agencies at different levels. They also agreed to continue broadening their exchange and co-operation in education, trade, investment, tourism, and maritime transport. 5. Both sides shared the view that economic and commercial co-operation is an important part of their bilateral ties between the two countries. The two governments would continue to accelerate and facilitate trade and investment as well as encourage private sectors to boost co-operation with an aim of promoting investment and setting up joint ventures between the two countries. 6. Both sides welcomed the signing of the Trade Agreement and the Navigation Agreement, and the MoU on Tourism Co-operation between the governments of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam. 7. Both sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern. They emphasised the importance of co-operation within the ASEAN framework in order to consolidate the unity and co-operation of ASEAN, raise its role and status as well as create favourable conditions for ASEAN to overcome all challenges in the region at present. Both sides agreed to enhance co-operation at other forums and organisations such as ASEAN plus three, APEC, ASEM, and the United Nations. 8. Both sides acknowledged that the ASEAN summit successfully hosted by Brunei had agreed upon boosting regional cohesion and raising ASEAN's competitiveness in its effort to cope with challenges encountered by ASEAN. Both sides agreed to work together to promote regional co-operation in South East Asia in the spirit of equality and partnership. 9. Both sides noted that Vietnam's admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and its active integration into the world economy would play an important role in sustainable economic development and prosperity of Vietnam as well as the region. In this spirit, Brunei supports Vietnam's early admission to the WTO. (VNA) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PM urges textiles, garments sector to be more competitive Prime Minster Phan Van Khai urged the textiles and garments sector to improve its production methods to lower price, raise quality to make Vietnamese textiles and garment products more competitive in the world market. In his speech at the congress of representatives of the textiles and garment industries in Vietnam held on November 14 in Hanoi, Mr Khai praised the efforts of the industry to gain good growth in the last ten years and urged each business to increase its competitiveness, to expand market to create more jobs to people. Participants discussed measures to expand foreign market for Vietnamese textiles and garments products, especially when the bilateral trade agreement that Vietnam signed with the United States takes effect. They also recognised the challenges the industry is facing, especially the competitiveness of Vietnamese garment and textile products. Textile and garment businesses must improve production and management capacity to take advantages of low labour cost and high skills of Vietnamese textile and garment workers to earn an export turnover of between US $4 billion and US $5 billion by 2005. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vietnam supports international co-operation to combat terrorism: ambassador to UN Vietnam has voiced its full support for the international endeavour and co-operation in combating terrorism to ensure world peace, stability and security in conformity with the UN Charter, with fundamental principles of international law, particularly ones of respect for national independence and sovereinty. So said Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Chau, permanent representative/head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the United Nations, at the General Debate of the 56th United Nation General Assembly in New York on November 13. Ambassador Chau affirmed that Vietnam persistently condemns terrorism with all its forms and manifestations which claims heavy loss of innocent lives. He said that after the tragic event of September 11, the fight against terrorism has become one of the top priorities of the international community and of the United Nations. Mr Chau expressed the Vietnamese people's heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the families of the plane crash victims on November 12. He stressed: "Though combating international terrorism has become the pressing task of the day, it must not overshadow the challenges of the 21st century. Poverty, the widened development gap, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, deteriorated environment, regional tensions, conflicts, and so on, all point to the potential instability of the world today." He called for uniform measures to settle these challenges. On bridging the development gap and eradicating hunger and poverty, Mr Chau said: "The gap between rich and poor is further widened; adverse circumstances in international relations emerged, further underscoring the disadvantage and vulnerability of the developing countries. The secretary general once said words to the effect that poverty and the gap between rich and poor are the seeds of instability and precarious development, and that today's main challenge is how to ensure that globalisation becomes the driving force of development instead of leaving one billion people in abject poverty. The common concern at present, however, is the tendency of decreasing ODA, particularly the decrease in contributions to the development organisations under the UN system which would surely hamper their activities. More than ever before, the United Nations, the international community, and developed countries in particular should further assist developing countries in the eradication of poverty, diseases, and illiteracy and facilitate their fuller and equitable participation in international economic life." Regarding the relations between peace and development, the Vietnamese ambassador noted: "Development requires an environment of peace and stability. But complex implications arising from the conficts in some parts of the world and possible intensification of an arms race are not conducive to development at all. Of particular concern is the escalation of violence in the Middle East. We join the community of world people to call for an early end to violence, the resumption of peaceful negotiation for a just, long-lasting solution in which the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the legitimate interests of all parties concerned would be guaranteed. By the same token, the embargoes imposed upon Cuba, Iraq and Libya which have caused untold sufferings to these peoples should be lifted so as to enable them to concentrate their energy and efforts on national recontruction and development." About South East Asia's situation, the Vietnamese diplomat said: "This year, South East Asia has witnessed certain complex developments, but peace, stability and co-operation remain the burning aspiration of the peoples and continue to be the main tendency. The ASEAN countries are determined to build a zone of peace, development and prosperity, to co-ordinate efforts to effectively cope with regional as well as global challenges. In that context, the success of the 34th Foreign Ministers Meeting, the eight ASEAN Regional Forum held in Hanoi last August and the ASEAN Summit in Brunei Darussalam in early November all contributed to establishing priorities and effective measures for the future of this region. These meetings reaffirmed ASEAN's determination to further promote solidarity, co-operation, dialogue and mutual understanding within ASEAN, and among ASEAN and their dialogue partners, especially China, Japan and the Republic of Korea for peaceful settlement of their differences on the basis of respect for the fundamental principles and norms of international law, particularly the ones of consensus and non-interference in others' internal affairs. The Hanoi Declaration on Narrowing the Development Gap within ASEAN and other documents were adopted on confidence-building, promotion of mutual understanding for peace and stability in South East Asia as well as in Asia and the Pacific. They welcomed the promising progress in the ASEAN-China consultation for the Code of Conduct in the Eastern Sea, reaffirming those principles in the 1992 ASEAN Declaration on the settlement of different claims over territorial sovereignty in this area." Mr Chau also dealt with the renovation process in Vietnam, saying in the course of 15 years of renovation, Vietnam has recorded great achievements in all fields. The Ninth National Party Congress had drawn necessary lessons from our own experiences, reaffirmed our resolve to continue the course, stepping up industrialisation and modernisation programmes, and mapping up the socio-economic development strategy for the year from 2001 to 2010. While trying to bring into full play our inner strength, Vietnam will create more favourable conditions to attract investment, expand further the effective co-operation with foreign partners and countries. The country will continue with the foreign policy of independence, openness, international economic integration, friendship and trusted partnership of all countries in the international community in the endeavour for peace, independence and development. On the United Nations' operations, Mr Chau said: "In order to contribute effectively to the common cause, the United Nations should speed up the process of reform, renovation and democratisation. Vietnam fully supports the central role of the General Assembly, the highest representation body of all membership; for the reform and expansion of the Security Council in both non-permanent and permanent categories, the developping countries should have fuller representation and participation in the Council's decision making. Of utmost importance is that the United Nations should design measures to concentrate resources for development and eradication of poverty, as well as for other major objectives included in the Millennium Declaration." (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] __________________________________________________
