VNA
Irrigation experts praised for promoting development President Tran Duc Luong has praised Vietnamese irrigation experts for their contributions to restructuring the nation's agriculture sector, saying they have effectively served the cause of rural socio-economic development. President Luong was speaking during a visit to the Institute of Irrigation Science under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on December 15. President Luong said the institute should focus on research projects that will enhance production and living standards of the people in remote and mountainous areas, coastal areas, islands and former revolutionary bases. He said people in these areas have made great contributions to the country's revolutionary cause for national liberation but they still have not received due benefits from the national renovation process. The main task of scientists and experts is to help people in these areas have a stable life, develop their production and improve their living standards. President Luong said he hoped that agricultural and irrigation scientists would develop their network so as to promote agriculture, forestry and fisheries and to create a sustainable agricultural infrastructure for farmers. He urged irrigation experts to further improve their knowledge in order to make more efficient exploitation of water resources and mitigate the damage caused by natural calamities. He also told the scientists at the institute that advanced technology should not only be applied to national projects but also small-scaled projects. President Luong was accompanied by director of the President's Office Nguyen Canh Dinh and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Huy Ngo. **** 55th anniversary of the War of Resistance marked Activities were organised in different localities to celebrates the 55th anniversary of the National War of Resistance. In Hanoi, a big meeting was held on December 16 by the city�s Party Committee, the People�s Committee, and the Hanoi liaison board of those who took part in the resistance. Delegates to the meeting recalled the burning atmosphere in the first days of the anti-French resistance war. On December 19, 1946, in response to the appeal by Uncle Ho, Hanoi started the nationwide war of resistance. The fights were fierce in every street of Hanoi. After two months of fighting to contain and pin down the enemy�s forces, the Thu Do (Capital) Regiment was ordered to secretly withdraw to keep their strength intact and prepare for a prolonged resistance war. Addressing the meeting, Mr Nguyen Phu Trong, Politburo member and secretary of the Hanoi Party�s Committee, spoke highly of the revolutionary enthusiasm and the heroic fighting spirit of the fighters who participated in the resistance against the French colonialists, thus beautifying the heroic tradition of Hanoi and setting a bright example for the younger generations. Meetings on the occasion were also held in Thai Nguyen and Yen Bai northern provinces. **** Deputy PM concludes US visit Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung who headed a government's delegation concluded his working visit to the United States, which also included its three big cities of New York, Washington and San Francisco on December 14. Deputy Prime Minister Dung visited San Francisco on December 13 and 14 where he was given a warm welcome by the city's mayor Willie Brown. He also attended a seminar on prospects for Vietnam-US economic and trade ties. While there, he visited the telecommunications company, Intel, in the Silicon Valley. In their meetings with Deputy Prime Minister Dung, leading officials of San Francisco and the business circle in California expressed their keen interest in co-operation with Vietnam, particularly in trade and commerce. They also expressed San Francisco's wish to expand co-operation relations with Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam in order to make use of the advantages of the city and the state in which a large number of Overseas Vietnamese live. Deputy Prime Minister Dung together with Mayor W Brown, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Xuan Gia and General Director of Viet Nam Airlines Nguyen Xuan Hien attended a ceremony to inaugurate a North America representative office of Vietnam Airlines in San Francisco. The mayor of San Francisco said he hoped that a direct air route linking his city with Vietnam would be opened soon. The inauguration of the representative office, together with the signing of a contract on Vietnam's purchase of four Boeing 777s from the US mark a new stage of co-operation between the two countries in civil aviation and the development of the two countries' economic and trade ties. **** US visit promotes bilateral relations: deputy PM The most prominent outcome of the recent visit to the Unites States by a Vietnamese government delegation is that it help promote Vietnam-US relations, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Mr Dung granted an interview to a based Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Washington at the end of his visit to the US from December 9-14. He said that in meetings with the leaders of the US government and Congress, business people, scientific workers and students, the delegation reaffirmed Vietnam's policy to build a relationship of friendship and co-operation with the US. These interactions are in the interest of each country and for peace, stability, co-operation and development in southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, on the basis of respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, equality, and mutual benefits. Vietnam and the US have agreed to give priority to carrying out the Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) so as to further economic-commercial relations between the two countries, while expanding and strengthening co-operative ties in science-technology, education, environmental protection, and the settlement of humanitarian issues left over from the war, Deputy Prime Minister Dung noted. He emphasised that Vietnam had stressed the need for the US to annul the Jackson Vanik Amendment for Vietnam, to put an end to the intent to approve the so-called 'Vietnam Human Rights Act,' and the bill relating to Vietnam's catfish. Vietnam also asked the US not to foster and provide shelter to anti-Vietnam terrorist groups. "Vietnam protests any scheme to abuse democratic, human rights, or religious issues to interfere in internal affairs," stressed Deputy Prime Minister Dung. He affirmed the need to narrow disputes and co-operate in settling humanitarian issues left over from the war through dialogue. (VNA) **** Thai parliamentarians visit A delegation of the Thai House of Representatives' Labour Committee, led by its chairman, Premak Pearyua, visited Vietnam from December 14-16. The Thai delegation had a working session with Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Social Affairs Bui Ngoc Thanh, and Minister of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Thi Hang. The two sides exchanged views on labour and employment in each country and ideas for further co-operation. National Assembly Deputy Chairman Vu Dinh Cu received the delegation on December 15. He highly praised the development of positive relations and co-operation between the two countries and the two legislative bodies. He said he hoped Thailand would share experience and co-operate with Vietnam in labour and labour export, particular in information technology and the expansion of the labour market. (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] __________________________________________________
