President praises Chinese support

Viet Nam always bears in mind the assistance provided by Chinese advisors and experts during its anti-French resistance war, President Truong Tan Sang said yesterday, April 23.

President Truong Tan Sang receives a photo of Ho Chi Minh from a delegation of families of Chinese experts who assisted Viet Nam with its anti-French resistance.

Sang was receiving a delegation of the families of former Chinese experts on a visit to Viet Nam.

Their visit came at a time when the country is gearing up for the 60th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu victory.

Sang said he hoped both sides would facilitate the exchange of visits to educate young generations on the friendship between the two countries.

Vice Chairman of the China-Viet Nam Friendship Association, Qi Jianguo, thanked the Vietnamese ministries and localities for offering them tours of cultural and historic sites.

Qi told his host that the delegation would discuss tourism with Vietnamese agencies concerned.

The same day, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations, Vu Xuan Hong, welcomed the Chinese guests.

Qi said both associations should organise more activities to bolster people-to-people friendship, particularly the collection of documents and artifacts related to significant events in Vietnamese and Chinese history.     

German parliamentarians visit Vietnam

A delegation of the German Bundestag (parliament) Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development led by MP Dagmar Wöhrl began a four-day visit to Vietnam, starting on April 23.

The main goal of their working trip is to boost future development cooperation between Vietnam and Germany, especially in vocational training, energy generation, and the environment.

They will inspect a vocational training project funded by a German business in Vietnam, and visit one of the World Bank-funded primary schools.

They are scheduled to work with the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the National Assembly Standing Committee.

On April 25 they will visit a GIZ-funded project on marine protection in Soc Trang Province in the south, and work with the Steering Committee on the South-western Region on economic development in the Mekong Delta.

PM Dung demands all means to eliminate measles outbreaks

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has demanded that agencies concerned must ensure enough workforce, medicines and equipment to eliminate the outbreaks of measles as soon as possible.

At a working session with relevant ministries, agencies and Hanoi authorities on April 23, the PM asked the Ministry of Public Health to expand communications campaigns to raise public awareness of the disease and all necessary precautions, especially vaccination. He noted that while new cases have reduced, the number of infected patients is still large. What is even more worrying is that the measles vaccination rate remains under 50 percent in 11 provinces.

According to the Health Minister’s report at the session, a total of 3,569 measles cases were recorded as of April 23 in 61 out of 63 cities and provinces, with 37 percent of the cases in Hanoi.

Children under 10 accounted for 68.3 percent of measles patients, the report said, adding that a majority of patients (86.4 percent) were not vaccinated against the disease, while 9.9 percent of the patients had acquired just one shot of vaccine while at least two doses are required.

The disease has claimed 25 lives so far, but the number of fatalities from measles complications has amounted to 108.

Vietnam is in the stage of curbing measles and expects to eliminate the disease by 2017.

VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA