Viet Nam lobbies US to recognise market economy

A senior Vietnamese official on Monday urged the US to remove trade barriers when receiving Deputy Assistant to the US President, Caroline Atkinson, in Ha Noi.

Atkinson was also asked to recognise the country's full market economy status.

Head of the Party Central Committee's Economic Commission Vuong Dinh Hue also requested that the US grant the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) to Viet Nam and its implementation of the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in order to intensify the two countries' partnership, particularly in economics.

He also wished the US to assist and support Viet Nam in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, especially regarding market access for Viet Nam's garments, textiles and footwear.

Further, Hue expressed his hope that Caroline Atkinson, who is also Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, will help resolve existing difficulties between the two countries to boost bilateral economic, trade and investment ties.

The two sides also exchanged views on each other's economic situation and cooperation in economics, finance and energy.

Swedish legislator praises ties with Vietnam

The Speaker of the Swedish Parliament, Per Westerberg has applauded the time-honoured relationship between Vietnam and Sweden and expressed his delight at the positive development of bilateral ties.

A Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) delegation led by Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu paid a working visit to Sweden from December 9-10 to promote the friendship and parliamentary cooperation.

At a reception for NA Vice Chairman Luu, parliamentary speaker Per Westerberg said he is impressed by the process of national reconciliation, solidarity and post-war reconstruction in Vietnam.

Both nations need to continue stepping up delegation exchange and economic and tourism cooperation for the sake of peace, friendship and prosperous development in each nation, he said.

At the talks with Luu, Swedish Minister for Justice Beatrice Ask briefed him on organizational structure, functions, tasks and operational experience of Sweden’s parliament, court, Ministry for Justice and the relationship between the Parliament and executive bodies and political organizations.

She also highlighted the important role of the media in increasing the operational efficiency of State agencies and promoting transparency in the fight against corruption.

Swedish partners also learnt more about the main contents of Vietnam’s revised constitution and hailed the renewal of Vietnam’s law-making process and judicial system.

NA Vice Chairman Luu praised Sweden’s support for Vietnam in the past struggles for national independence and unification and the current national construction and development.

He also congratulated the Swedish people on their significant achievements in ensuring political stability, and boosting economic development, cooperation and friendship with countries and international organizations.

Luu also featured briefings on the renewal process in Vietnam, affirming that the country builds a law-governed state and a socialist oriented market economy and respects human rights.

NA Vice Chairman Luu conveyed top Vietnamese legislator Nguyen Sinh Hung’s invitation to the Swedish parliamentary speaker to visit Vietnam for the 132 nd General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) slated for 2015.

During meetings with Swedish officials, the two sides shared experiences in building a law-governed State, dealing with budget affairs and supervising legislative activities while voicing their willingness to further strengthen relations between the two legislatures in the lead up to the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties (1969-2014).

During its stay, the NA delegation also visited the Vietnamese Embassy and overseas Vietnamese in Sweden during which Luu answered many questions of Vietnamese nationals’ concern.

Vietnam attends int’l maritime security conference

Vietnamese People’s Navy Commander Admiral Nguyen Van Hien is in the Indonesian capital Jakarta to attend a two-day conference on maritime security and safety from December 10.

Hien joined naval admirals from countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Iran, and Indonesia. The conference hopes to highlight the importance of defending marine safety and security—including the East Sea—through cooperation and global partnerships.

The delegates emphasised Southeast Asia’s strategic advantages, connecting countries along the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

They underscored the maritime security’s indispensability to coastal nations in the current context of globalisation, population growth, and limited natural resources.

They acknowledged a variety of challenges facing regional countries, such as increasingly intense natural disasters threatening great losses of life and property, and agreed to cooperate more closely on rescue missions and climate change adaptation.

HCM City seeks scientific, tech cooperation with US

Apart from economics, Ho Chi Minh City wishes to cooperate with the US in science and high technology, said Secretary of the municipal Party’s Committee Le Thanh Hai.

Hai made the statement at a December 10 meeting with US Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Caroline Atkinson, who is on a working visit to Vietnam.

Noting with pleasure the fruitful relationship in various fields between Vietnam and the US, he said HCM City, with its available conditions, hopes to promote its linkage with the US.

Over the past years, US investment in the city has grown significantly, focusing on such areas as services, finance, banking and insurance, the official said.

Hai also used the occasion to introduce his guest to HCM City’s socio-economic situation, saying over the past three years, the city has made all-out efforts to maintain its growth rate despite the global economic downturn.

In reply, Caroline Atkinson said her visit to Vietnam is of significance, particularly in the context that the two countries have elevated their relationship to a comprehensive partnership.

The US wants to develop the comprehensive partnership more strongly with the early completion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, she said.

US companies that operate in different fields are willing help implement projects in Vietnam as part of the comprehensive partnership, she added.

President holds sitting with Govt Inspectorate

President Truong Tan Sang has stressed the need to further foster the role of inspection to increase the efficiency and power of State management so as to effectively prevent corruption.

President Truong Tan Sang has a working session with the Government Inspectorate on December 10. (Photo: VOV)

He made the remarks at a working session with the Government Inspectorate on December 10 in Hanoi.

Inspector General Huynh Phong Tranh briefed the President on the activities of the inspection sector over the past two years.

He affirmed that the sector’s activities from central to grassroots levels have gained significant results, contributing to detecting and addressing infringements, as well as reorganising several activities of State management.

The work to solve complaints and denunciations has shown progress, while anti-corruption efforts are gradually gaining the trust of the public, he added.

In the past two years, the sector has carried out more than 390,000 inspections, detecting infringements totalling 82.1 trillion VND, proposing the punishment of 2,946 collectives and 5,443 individuals.

To raise the effectiveness of corruption prevention, the sector asked for a roadmap for the amendment and supplement to the Inspection Law and personnel training for the sector.

President Sang noted that social problems will occur more as the population and economic integration increases.

Therefore, he asked the Government Inspectorate to continue consultations to the Party and State, and intensify its operations.

The sector needs to work closely with other offices, ministries and sectors to actively deal with difficulties, and raise its position and effectiveness to meet the aspiration of the Party, State and people.

Binh Dinh urged to develop

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung asked the coastal province of Binh Dinh to support fishermen in creating wealth from a sea-based economy.

The Chairman had a working session with the provincial authorities after attending the 7th session of the provincial People's Council yesterday, Dec 10, as part of his trip to the central coastal provinces.

As one of the five localities in the central key economic zone, Binh Dinh needs to drastically streamline administrative procedures to facilitate investors' operations, the Chairman stressed.

It also needs to address the widening gap between the rich and the poor, inadequate transport infrastructure and a lack of high-quality human resources, and to call for local residents' active participation in building new-style rural areas, he said.

In 2013, Binh Dinh's GDP was estimated to grow at 8.56 per cent, though its poor population accounted for 9.78 per cent of the total number of inhabitants.

For 2014, however, the province has set a target GPD growth rate of 8.6 - 9 per cent and to reduce the population living below the poverty line to 7.94 per cent.

During his trip, Chairman Hung visited Nhon Loc Commune, An Nhon District, and listened to discussions about building new-style rural areas.

He also presented gifts to families that lost members in the recent floods in Phu Phong town, Tay Son District.

Japan’s Ambassador to Vietnam Hiroshi Fukada hosted a reception on December 10 to salute the 80th birth anniversary of the Emperor, which is also his country’s National Day (December 23).

Addressing the event, Ambassador Hiroshi Fukada showed his delight with great strides in the two countries’ relations, emphasing the organisation of various events to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2013.

The solid development of Vietnam-Japan relations was built up on the foundation of friendship and mutual trust, the diplomat said, underscoring the need to continue fostering the ties in the future.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc noted that Vietnam and Japan have increasingly become each other’s important strategic partner, evidenced by robust developments recorded in all fields and reinforced political trust.

He said he believes that the two countries’ strategic partnership will continue growing in a broad and sustainable manner for the sake of the peoples and peace, stability, prosperity, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Vietnam joins efforts to ensure maritime security

Commander of the Navy of the Vietnamese People’s Army Admiral Nguyen Van Hien, together with his foreign counterparts, is attending a symposium on international maritime security in Jakarta.

Under the theme “Cooperative Strategy and Global Partnership to Enhance Maritime Domain Awareness”, the event, on December 10-11, is organised by the Indonesian Navy (TNI AL).

As many as 350 researchers and analysts from countries grouped in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Indian Oceans Naval Symposium (IONS) and the Western Pacific Naval Symposium (WPNS) also joined the event.

In his opening remarks, Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Navy Admiral Marsetio described maritime security as an impulse to step up cooperation in ensuring maritime security, including that in the East Sea.

The symposium forms part of the Indonesian Navy’s efforts to develop its fleet into a world class navy on par with navies in developed countries, he said.

Presiding over the event, Commander of the Indonesian Navy’s Western Fleet Rear Admiral A. Octavio affirmed the geographically strategic location of Southeast Asia which serves as a bridge linking countries along the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.

He also highlighted the increasingly vital role of seas and oceans to coastal nations and the world in general in the context that globalisation, regional growth and swelling populations have resulted in a high demand for natural resources.

At a time when countries along the Indian Ocean and the Pacific are facing more natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, storms, floods and landslides that have caused serious human and property losses, it is an urgent need for countries and navies in particular to partner with each other in rescue work, natural disaster mitigation and climate change response, he said.

Speeches delivered at the symposium focused on issues regarding maritime security and ways to enhance regional and international cooperation in ensuring maritime security, including the maintenance of maritime security in the East Sea.

HCM City, Guangdong boost all-around cooperation

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem on December 10 received visiting Vice Governor of China’s Guangdong province Zhao Yu Fang.

The two sides discussed measures to enhance their cooperation, especially in tourism, culture, education, infrastructure, transport, mechanics and agriculture.

Liem lauded Zhao’s visit to HCM City and her presence at a periodic conference reviewing the connection between Vietnam’s localities and Guangdong over the previous year and a trade forum , which, he said, will help foster trade exchanges between the two localities as well as the two nations.

He stated that the city and Guangdong province hold many similarities and potential to intensify ties in trade, tourism, industry and agriculture.

The city will create all possible conditions for the two sides’ businesses to expand their investments and operations, he added.

Zhao said that her province has been twinned with the city since 2009, adding that their cooperation agreements in economics, trade, investment and tourism have benefited both sides.

She emphasised that it is time for the two sides to speed up cooperation to lift their ties to a new height.

Vietnam, Uruguay enrich cooperation

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has stated that the Vietnamese Government is keen to carry economic, cultural and science-technology cooperation with Uruguay forward so as to match each side’s potential.

The statement was made while Deputy PM Ninh, who was on a working visit to Uruguay from December 8-10, met with the host President Jose Mujica.

He thanked the Uruguayan Government for recognising Vietnam’s full market economy, saying that it is a manifestation of Uruguay’s support to Vietnam during the country’s renewal and global integration in the new setting.

Mujica made it clear that Uruguay pays attention to embracing friendship and all-around partnerships with Vietnam in its “Look Asia” policy.

The deputy PM also held talks with Uruguayan Vice President and Senator Danilo Astori, during which both sides were unanimous on expanding economic-trade-investment connections while assisting each other in farming, telecommunications, education, science-technology, culture and sports.

They talked in depth on ways to bolster bilateral ties in the coming time by facilitating all-level visits, effectively deploying a political consultation mechanism between the two foreign ministries, promptly establishing the inter-governmental committee on economics, trade and investment while continuing with negotiations on cooperation agreements in specific fields.

Both host and guest were committed to making it easier for bilateral exports-imports and tapping each side’s role as springboards into Southeast Asia and South America.

The two leaders pledged mutual support at international organisations and multilateral forums like the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, Non-Aligned Movement, and the Forum for East Asia–Latin America Cooperation.

During the visit, Ninh also witnessed the signing of two Government-level cooperation documents, including a framework agreement on trade and investment and an agreement on double taxation avoidance and tax evasion control.

Uruguayan Foreign Minister presented a diplomatic note announcing the Uruguayan Government’s decision to recognise Vietnam as a market economy.

On December 9, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam and Deputy Finance Minister Do Hoang Anh Tuan met with representatives of Uruguayan firms to introduce business opportunities in Vietnam.

According to statistics of Uruguay’s customs office, in January-October this year, two-way trade grew by 23.3 percent from the same period last year to 71.9 million USD. Of which, Vietnam’s exports hit 22.8 million USD, up 16 percent, mainly in footwear, garments and synthetic fibre, seafood, toys, farming machinery, wooden furniture, ceramics and handicrafts.

The country’s imports from the South American country soared 27 percent, predominantly in seedlings, leather, timber, milk and dairy products, egg, honey, beef, animal by-products, pharmaceuticals, wool and chemicals.

VNN/VNS/VNA