VNA
PM calls for positive changes in economic restructuring Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Wednesday urged all ministries, agencies and localities to press ahead with stronger efforts to increase guidance, in order to create positive changes in economic, investment and labour restructuring. "In production, more efforts should be focused on raising the competitive edge of Vietnam's commodities," the Prime Minister said at the closing session of the three-day government meeting on the afternoon of January 30. Prime Minister Khai said "Administrative reforms should be also promoted in order to streamline the State system and its operations." He laid stress on the formation of policies and legal documents, which, he said, "should be done in tandem with decentralising responsibility and authority of each state agency and its staff members." "This is the centrepiece of Vietnam's on-going administrative reform programme," Mr Khai emphasised. He also called for bold measures to put an early end to the overlapping power and responsibilities between ministries and agencies, as well as to remove intermediate levels. (VNA) **** Government debates social issues Government ministers and provincial and municipal leaders were involved in heated debate on social issues presented by Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem on the second day of the on-going government meeting, January 29. Major social issues brought up for discussion included reducing poverty, generating employment, socialising and renewing education and health care services, combating social evils, particularly organised criminal syndicates, and preventing traffic accidents. The participants noted with joy that significant achievements have been made in poverty alleviation, which have also been recognised by the international community. However, they said, employment for people, especially those who live in rural areas, has become a pressing issue. Last year, about 1.4 million people were provided with stable jobs to help reduce the unemployment rate to 6.8% in urban areas and 25.2% in rural regions, according to a government report. It added that further efforts must be made to reduce urban unemployment to 6.2% and rural unemployment to 24% in 2002 by generating an additional 1.4 million jobs. Many participants said poverty reduction should be integrated into the labour and employment programme in order to make better use of capital. They also laid stress on the need to promote labour export and vocational training with soft bank loans or funds from the government. Some proposed that the government should continue to renovate its managerial mechanism in education and health care, saying that school children from poor families should be exempt from paying school-fees instead of paying 50% at present. They also asked the government to tighten its control of non-State educational and medical institutions, saying "Last year, 53,840 non-State social institutions were established, including 6,140 in education, 28,000 in health care, 7,700 in culture and 12,000 in sports." All participants resolved to press ahead with continued efforts to fight social evils, stressing "all drug trafficking and organised criminal syndicates must be eliminated." Many asked the government to facilitate the expansion of drug detoxification centres mainly run by provinces and cities as well as to give greater funding to expand transport links and facilities in order to reduce traffic accidents. (VNA) **** Vietnam calls for joint efforts to fight drugs The chairman of Vietnam's National Assembly, Nguyen Van An, has called on all lawmakers and legislative bodies of Southeast Asian countries to further strengthen co-operation in drug control and share experiences among themselves and with countries in other regions. He also warned against increased drug trafficking and abuse in Vietnam in recent years, despite tougher measures already taken to wipe them out of the social community. "Like other regional countries, Vietnam's National Assembly, government and social organisations have taken a series of drastic measures to combat the drug menace, but there has been no let-up in drug trafficking and addiction in recent years," he said. Mr An made the remarks while addressing the opening session of the first meeting of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organisation (AIPO) Fact-Finding Committee to Combat Drug Menace (AIFOCOM) in Hanoi on January 30. He recalled that Vietnam's National Assembly revised the Criminal Code that includes articles covering offences of drug production, transport and trafficking in 1999. It also passed a law on drug control in 2000. "More efforts should be made to raise public awareness about drug control, as well as to prevent drug abuse, production and trafficking," said Mr An, who is also AIPO President. "Other measures include promoting drug detoxification and community reintegration for drug addicts, building and reinforcing drug laws and accelerating international co-operation in this regard," he told the participants while referring to Vietnam's drug control programme. The AIFOCOM meeting drew attendance of representatives of Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar attended as an observer. At the opening session, in his capacity as AIPO president, NA Chairman An appointed Bui Ngoc Thanh, vice chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Social Affairs, as AIFOCOM Chairman. (VNA) **** Vietnam-Iraq economic co-operation praised Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh praised Vietnam-Iraq economic co-operation, particularly in agriculture, while meeting with visiting Iraqi Minister of Agriculture Abdulilah H Mohammed on January 30. Ms Binh expressed her pleasure at the encouraging outcome gained in Vietnam-Iraq bilateral co-operation programmes on wet rice cultivation, sugarcane and soya bean processing in Iraq, which, she hoped, would be further broadened. Ms Binh also asked the two countries' agricultural sectors to diversify bilateral co-operation, including joint ventures, in order to promote agricultural co-operation. "By so doing, long-term co-operation in trading farm produce between the two countries will be increased," Vice President Binh stressed. Iraqi Minister Mohammed thanked the Vietnamese government for having created favourable conditions for both Vietnam and Iraq to effectively carry out bilateral co-operation projects. He said he hoped that Vietnam-Iraq co-operation would be expanded to agricultural machinery, including small tractors, electric generators, pumps and huskers. (VNA) **** All provinces, cities to have New Year fireworks All provinces and cities nationwide are allowed to display fireworks on the eve of the Lunar New Year Festival or Tet, announced Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem. He was peaking at a two-day government meeting to launch a plan on socio-economic development in 2002. The fireworks displays are to last 15 minutes, the deputy prime minister said. (VNA) _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. 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