VNA
Party leader reaffirms role of young people Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh reaffirmed the special role of Vietnamese young people in the revolutionary cause and the future of the nation and asked them to better promote the tradition of national building and defence of previous generations. He was addressing the tenth conference of the Central Committee of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU), which opened in Hanoi on January 21. Mr Manh praised the voluntary and creative spirit of young people in their study, work and youth activities which made a contribution to the national building and defence, especially the efforts made by the Youth Union cadres in launching various movements among young people which help educate and train a well-developed young generation for the future. Mr Manh mentioned the negative lifestyle of a number of young people and stressed that it is the responsibility of the Party, Youth Union and people to unite and train young people so as to promote their potential. With a view to implementing the important targets set out by the Ninth Party Congress, Mr Manh asked the Youth Union to focus on some key tasks: - Strengthening the cultivation of revolutionary ideals and political spirit so as to ensure the political stability and firmness among young people to face negative impacts; fostering knowledge in national tradition, patriotism and determination in overcoming difficulties to build Vietnam into a prosperous people and strong country, equal, democratic and civilised society; building a healthy and cultural way of living, fighting against egoistic pragmatic symptoms and materialism which could lead to irresponsible acts in the family and society; mobilising young people to participate in useful activities and commending excellent examples in study and work. - Launching more movements to create opportunities for young people to join in socio-economic development, especially volunteer and emulation activities and to help needy people and work in remote and isolated regions; setting up models of young people doing business to promote young talents. - Building Youth Union into a strong force, firm in political awareness and strong in organisation from the central to local levels; expanding youth activities in private and foreign invested businesses and religious and remote areas; paying more attention to the training of Youth union officials as supplementary sources for the Party and the administration at all levels. - Constantly renovating the operation of the Youth Union and resolutely dealing with phenomena of red tape and bureaucracy; considering the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union as a political and social organisation like any other political and social organisation and a reserve force of the Party, a school of socialism and the pioneer organisation of the young force to improve to a higher level. General Secretary Nong Duc Manh had a cordial and frank talk in over two hours with Youth Union cadres and answered questions and proposals raised by them concerning the Partyıs youth work, the tasks of the youth in the new period, the setting up of Youth Unions in businesses, the building of youth law and policy, ideological education for youth and job creation for young people after graduation. **** Construction sector must enhance competitiveness: PM Prime Minister Phan Van Khai attended a conference held by the Ministry of Construction to review the sectorıs activities in 2001 and deploy its tasks this year in Hanoi on January 21. After hearing a report delivered by Nguyen Manh Kiem, the minister of construction, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai spoke highly of the achievements recorded by the sector in recent time. He said that Vietnam had opportunities this year. Vietnam is seen as a politically and socially stable country, which creates confidence for international financial organisations and foreign investors. It is a great opportunity. However, the countryıs economy in general and the construction sector in particular still faces many limitations such as high input cost and low competitiveness. So, the sector must be aware of the short comings to overcome in the future. The prime minister pointed out that the demand and scale of construction of Vietnam will be great in the coming five or ten years. The construction sector must renovate itself to enhance the State management, avoid waste in capital construction, enhance competitiveness, improve the efficiency of businesses, export more building materials, improve the quality of construction works and pay attention to personnel training. Last year, the construction sector fulfilled the implementation of VND 101.82 billion capital construction assigned by the State. The domestic building materials can meet the local demand; the growth of construction was 7.5% and consultancy, 10%. Fifteen million metres of housing were built. Many businesses used to be sub-contractors have become main contractors such as the Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation (Lilama) and Song Da Construction Corporation. This year, the sector set a growth target of 14.5% for building materials, 8% for construction, 9% for consultancy, 29-30% for export, building 17 million square metres of housing and implementing 100% of the Stateıs capital construction. **** People's Procuracy opens national conference The People's Procuracy sector opened its National Conference in Hanoi yesterday to review its last year's activities and carry out its task this year. President Tran Duc Luong attended the conference. According to the report of the Supreme People's Procuracy, last year, the procuracy ordered the whole sector to focus on law observation among administrative, economic and social fields. Under this, the sector has carried out procuracy work on about 2,800 units, issued about 2,500 protests to units and agencies under inspection, recovered nearly VND 122 billion worth of assets for the State budget, prosecuted 48 cases and handled administrative penalties against about 2,000 people. Procuracies, acting in their prime role as prosecutor and judicial controller, worked well with the public security and court sectors to uncover and investigate a number of important corruption, smuggling and drug trafficking cases. Last year, the sector, in co-ordination with concerned agencies, uncovered about 1,800 important cases, of which, the Procuracy decided to prosecute 1,595 cases and the court sector brought to trial nearly 1,400 cases. Serious cases on corruption, smuggling, drugs and social evils have been investigated and prosecuted in time. Some cases have even been put on trial in a mobile manner in a bid to educate and prevent the law-breakers, thus winning support from the public. The progress to settle cases of procuracies at all levels has made some advances and the quality of practice of procuracy right has been improved. The sector also paid more attention to the civil cases, law enforcement as well as people's complaints and denunciations. During the three-day conference, delegates will discuss and evaluate the sector's activities last year and work out measures to realise its tasks this year. **** Vietnam - Laos military solidarity monument built in Laos A monument dedicated to Vietnam-Laos combat solidarity was inaugurated at a ceremony held in northern Oudomsay province of Laos last Sunday, January 20, coinciding with the 53rd anniversary of the Lao People's Army. This monument, the third of its kind, built in Laos, with the first and second erected in Xiangkhouang and Attopu provinces, is in praise of the solidarity between the two nations. Among those present on this occasion were a special working delegation of the Lao government led by Somphan Phengkhammi, member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, and a special working delegation of the Vietnamese government, headed by Lieutenant General Le Van Han, deputy chairman of the General Political Department of the Vietnam People's Army. Minister Somphan Phengkhammi highlighted the contributions and sacrifices made by Vietnamese army volunteers, who stood side by side with Lao soldiers in the struggle for Laos's national liberation, independence and freedom. The monument has been built on a 7,500 square metre area where are erected statues of twin soldiers of Vietnam and Laos with guns in their hands. The statues, 3.5 metre high, are placed on a 1.5 metre high foundation. Behind them is a 16 metres structure shaped like Laos's traditional tower. (VNA) **** Vice president praises UNICEF co-operation Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh has praised the assistance from the Hanoi-based United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Hanoi and its chief representative Morten Giersing to Vietnam's child protection and care. She was receiving Morten Giersing in the capital on January 21, as the latter paid her a farewell visit before ending his tenure of office in Vietnam. Ms Binh pointed to the need to settle many issues relating to child protection and care in Vietnam, and the need for further assistance from UNICEF. She said she hoped that Morten Giersing would maintain his commitment to Vietnamese children. The UNICEF chief representative, Morten Giersing, acknowledged Vietnam's great efforts in the field of child protection and care, saying that the country has achieved encouraging results. He expressed belief that the co-operative ties between UNICEF and Vietnam would be strengthened in future. (VNA) **** US business people visit Vietnam A 17-member delegation of the US Association of Garment and Leather Shoes and the law firm ST&R met with representatives of Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Trade and Ministry of Industry in Hanoi on January 21. The delegation is led by vice president of the association, Fawn Evenson. The US guests also met with representatives of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Textile and Garment Corporation, the Leather Shoe Corporation and the Vietnam Leather Shoe Association. The guests were briefed on business opportunities, Vietnam's policy on foreign investment, trade policy, working conditions at textile and garment, and shoe enterprises and workers' income. Later, the US business delegation made a tour of several textile and garment establishments. The US delegation will visit some garment and shoe establishments in Haiphong and Ho Chi Minh City, before completing the tour. (VNA) **** ASEAN forum promotes tourism A Vietnamese delegation led by Pham Tu, deputy general director of the Vietnam Administration of Tourism (VAT), attended an ASEAN Tourism Forum 2002 (ATF-2002) that opened in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, on January 21. The forum aims to provide opportunities for tourism businesses from ASEAN countries to exchange experiences and explore ways to promote co-operation among themselves, as well as with their colleagues from the three dialogue partner countries of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. A Vietnam News Agency (VNA) correspondent in Jakarta reported that ASEAN countries will hold an annual conference of tourism ministers in Jakarta on January 24 to discuss a draft agreement on tourism co-operation. The conference will be followed by a ministerial tourism meeting between 10 ASEAN member countries and these three Northeast Asian nations (China, Japan and RoK), scheduled for January 25-28 in Jakarta. The meeting aims to strengthen co-operation in tourism, particularly in human resource development in information technology utilisation. (VNA) **** E-trade action plan developed An initial meeting of the project 'E-Trade Bridge' is being held in Hanoi on January 21 and 22. The meeting is held by the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade), in co-ordination with the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO). The E-Trade Plan is part of the government's Trade Promotion Strategy, supported by the United Nations Development Programme, which aims to increase merchandise export to grow at least 14% per year, to reach about US $50 billion by 2010. The meeting aims to identify the current situation of E-trade in Vietnam, review international experiences in developing E-trade and propose an E-trade action plan for Vietnam. E-trade application in Vietnam has met many difficulties, such as a lack of communication infrastructures and too few IT experts. The country has between 25,000 and 30,000 experts in IT and E-trade. About 1,500 enterprises have websites and thousands of others have placed advertisement pages on the Internet since 1999. However, only seven per cent of enterprises have engaged in E-trade. (VNA) **** Indian national day marked The Union of Friendship Organisations, the Foreign Service and the Vietnam-India Friendship Association of Ho Chi Minh City this evening, January 21, held a ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-India diplomatic ties (January 7) and the 52nd National Day of India (January 26). Present at the ceremony were Huynh Dam, member of the Party Central Committee and President of the municipal People's Council and President of the city's association, and Indian Consul General in the city S K Madal. Addressing the ceremony, Le Quoc Hung, director of the city's Foreign Service, noted that Vietnam-India relations, with many similarities in history, culture and struggles for national liberation and built and fostered by India former leader Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh, have developed fruitfully over the past 30 years. He further said that India has supported and co-operated with Vietnam in many fields, including science, technology, education and trade, thus contributing to accelerating the national industrialisation and modernisation process in Vietnam. The delegates engaged in a musical programme with songs praising the Vietnam-India friendship and folk songs of the two countries. (VNA) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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