Political Headlines December 24 President: Court sector keeps up with judicial reform President Truong Tan Sang said he believes the court sector will keep up with the reform of the judicial system in line with the newly-adopted Constitution and Party’s Resolutions.   President Truong Tan Sang and officials of the Supreme People’s Court. (Photo: VNA) At a working session with the Supreme People’s Court in Hanoi on December 23 to review this year’s judicial reform and launch its tasks for 2014, President Sang hailed its efforts this year and asked for a review of the implementation of the Party’s Resolutions and State laws. At the same time, the court must improve judges’ performance by training them in professional skills and ethics, he noted. Top officials of the Supreme People’s Court reported to the President that the sector has dealt with nearly 365,000 legal cases this year, or 92.3 percent of the total, up more than 34,400 from last year. Basically, the quality of legal proceedings has improved. Additionally, it has fulfilled its role as a mediator for all sides in a dispute. In the settlement of appeal requests, the court and its provincial-level bodies have resolved over 7,400 lawsuits, a year-on-year rise of 5.3 percent. In the legislation, it has been drafting and perfecting three bills and three ordinances while providing input on other laws and legal documents. On the enforcement of criminal sentences, the first instance courts handed down verdicts to some 129,000 defendants and granted remissions to over 52,000 with good rehabilitation records. The court, however, also acknowledged that the number of cancelled or amended indictments has yet to fall as expected, especially in administrative cases. PM exhorts trade counsellors to facilitate export growth Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday (Dec 23) urged trade counselors and officials at overseas missions to work harder to expand the country's export markets and facilitate business in the industrial, farming and service sectors. In a meeting held in Ha Noi, the Prime Minister also called on the officials to increase their contributions to negotiations underway on a series of trade agreements at bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. He said they should come up with proposals tailored to the export of each commodity so as to avert protectionist barriers in importing countries. For their part, the trade counselors asked relevant ministries, agencies and localities to implement agreements reached between Vietnamese and foreign leaders. Vu Huy Hoang, Minister of Industry and Trade, said at the meeting that two-way trade volume has gone up to US$132.2 billion this year, up 15.4 per cent from 2012. Despite turbulences in several foreign markets, some sectors including garment and textiles, leather and footwear, woodwork, electronic products and spare parts have gained stronger footholds, he said. The ministry aims for an export growth of over 10 per cent next year and a trade deficit of six per cent, Hoang said. It will also work to realise international commitments and speed up negotiations for the early signing of free trade agreements, he added. South Korea supports Viet Nam youth leadership project Some 600 educated Vietnamese young people will be selected to work as local leaders in 62 poor districts across the city under a project supported by the Korean International Exchange Fund. The project, which is the focus of the Memorandum of Understanding signed yesterday, Dec 23, in Ha Noi between the Korean International Exchange Fund and Viet Nam's Ministry of Home Affairs, aims to encourage strategic co-operation between the two nations. The 600 young people, who will work as vice chairmen/chairwomen of the communal people's committees, will be selected on the basis of their college degrees and other outstanding qualifications compared with their peers. The co-operation programme will continue for five years. About 40 Vietnamese project members have also been invited to South Korea under an exchange programme. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan emphasised that the major goal of the project is to provide training and improve the management capacity of the government through the project members. He also said he hoped the Koreans would share their experiences of developing the quality of governmental staff across various sectors. NA, Government leaders greet senior Duma official Vietnam will go the extra mile for stronger friendship with Russia, with the realisation of agreements reached by the two legislatures, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung has noted. Receiving First Vice President of the State Duma and Vice President of the Communist Party of Russian Federation Ivan Ivanovich Melnikov in Hanoi on December 23, Chairman Hung made it clear that the Vietnamese NA and people always treasure the traditional cooperation with Russia and stand ready to bridge partnerships between the European country and Southeast Asian nations. Vietnam hopes for Russia’s support in developing its connections with European countries, the host said. Melnikov told the top legislator that Russia pays special attention to realising cooperation deals with the Vietnamese legislature. He applauded Vietnam’s recent socio-economic accomplishments and said the country is on the way to become the most active country in the world with ever better living conditions. He sought further bilateral coordination to roll out cooperation agreements across diverse areas, expressing hopes that the special long-standing relations fostered by various Vietnamese and Russian generations will keep going forward in the time to come. In his welcome to Melnikov the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested the State Duma of Russia help Vietnam in joint projects on oil and gas, energy and nuclear power, especially in its negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Union of Customs of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The host proposed that the State Duma offer all possible support to the overseas Vietnamese community so that they can easily integrate into the host society and make further socio-economic contributions. The First Vice President said Russia always adopts measures to step up links with Vietnam –one of its special development partners, particularly in economics, trade, investment and energy. The State Duma of Russia backs key projects and agreements signed by the two countries’ leaders, notably the legal procedures to facilitate the construction of Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant, the first of its kind in Vietnam. He also called on relevant sides to actively negotiate the FTA between Vietnam and the Union of Customs, vowing that he will do his best to make it easier for the Vietnamese community to live and work in Russia. Vietnam-Russia legislative ties lauded Politburo member and permanent member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Secretariat Le Hong Anh has voiced pleasure at the cooperation between Vietnam’s National Assembly and the Russian State Duma over the past time. At a meeting with visiting First Vice Chairman of the State Duma of Russia Ivan Ivanovich Melnikov in Hanoi on December 23, Anh said Vietnam always attaches importance to developing the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia. He said he hopes the Russian legislative body will help speed up the signing of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Vietnam and the Russia-Kazhastan-Belarus Customs Union, and the implementation of agreements signed earlier by the two countries’ leaders. Anh also spoke about receiving the State Duma’s support for cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, as well as the creation of favourable conditions for the Vietnamese people living in the country. For his part, Melnikov, who is also First Vice President of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), affirmed that KPRF, together with other political parties in the State Duma, always support their government’s policy to strengthen traditional ties and comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam and Russia and will work to make the ties more practical and effective. The same day, Melnikov held a meeting with Dao Trong Thi, President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Parliamentarians Group. Speaking highly of Russia’s ratification of a labour agreement to protect the rights of the two countries’ labours, Thi urged the two sides to design a mechanism to implement the agreement, laying a legal foundation to labour exports in the coming time. Both sides agreed to work effectively to develop the bilateral relations, step up cultural exchanges, especially educate the young generations to honour and nurture these special ties. They also reached a consensus on promoting cooperation in tourism, trade and investment between localities, as well as in education-training and youth exchanges.- President visits martyrs’ family support association President Truong Tan Sang visited and extended his New Year greetings to the Vietnam Martyrs’ Family Support Association (VMFSA) in Hanoi on December 23. VMFSA President Lieutenant General Le Van Han informed the President that in the past three years, the organisation has helped 100,000 martyrs’ families in collecting and verifying information on their fallen combatants. It has worked with relevant agencies to conduct gene identification for 400 cases and gathered identities of 1,000 martyrs who were sent on international missions, he said. The VMFSA has also presented 70 houses and 400 saving books to martyrs’ families and expanded its operation across the country, he added. President Sang praised the VMFA’s performance, adding that its activities have helped express gratitude to martyrs and their families and instil the patriotism into generations of the Vietnamese people. He asked authorised agencies and all compatriots nationwide to join hands in the work and create favourable conditions for the association to fufil its tasks. Overseas Party work needs profound changes Le Hong Anh, Politburo member and permanent member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Secretariat, has called for a strong, comprehensive and profound overhaul in Party work overseas. Speaking at a conference organised by the Overseas Party Committee in Hanoi on December 23, Anh said priorities should be given to a revamp in contents and operation methods suitable with conditions abroad. He also underlined the need to give new breath to the mass mobilisation work in an effort to help overseas Vietnamese people stabilise their lives in host countries while looking towards the homeland and contributing to the great national unity. He urged ministries, branches and organisations at the central level and Party Committees at the grassroots level to proactively partner with the Overseas Party Committee in Party building and mass mobilisation overseas during the period of international integration. The Party Central Committee’s Commission for Organisation was asked to coordinate with the Party Committees of central agencies, the Overseas Party Committee and relevant agencies to advice the Political Bureau and the CPVCC’s Secretariat on the issuance of new regulations on overseas Party Committee models suitable for the new situation. At the conference, Pham Quoc Cuong, Deputy Secretary of the Overseas Party Committee, delivered a report on the three-year implementation of the 11th Party Congress’s resolution and orientations for the 2014-2015 period. Over the past time, the Overseas Party Committee has instructed Party Committees and Party cells to lead their members and the masses to implement the resolution, the programme of action of the Overseas Party Committee’s Executive Board for 2010-2015 and the programme of action of the 27th diplomatic conference, he said. Due attention has been given to the three pillars of political, economic and cultural diplomacy, he added. Party Committees have also taken an active part in preventing hostile forces’ schemes to protect the Party and the country while promoting the image of the land and people of Vietnam to international friends. The report also pointed to bottlenecks in the overseas Party work and suggested Party Committees and organisations enhance leadership capacity, creating a significant change in the work. Ben Tre cherishes Japan’s help The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre on December 22 held a forum to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Japan and honour Japanese organisations, social activists and businesses for their help to the locality. Vo Thanh Hao, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said Ben Tre appreciates contributions rendered by Japanese non-governmental organisations and individuals to the province over the past four decades, adding he believes that the friendship between the two countries will further accelerate. Over the past 40 years, charity and social organisations from Japan have carried out many humanitarian activities in Ben Tre. Notably, the Japanese Cleft Palate Association and the Vietnam-Japan Children Supporting Association have performed thousands of operations for children in Ben Tre. Besides, many Japanese businesses, including Furukawa Automatic Systems, NIDEC, Tosok Precision, Showa and Marubeni Group, have expanded their investment in Ben Tre, making Japan the second largest foreign investor in the locality. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also supported many infrastructure projects in Ben Tre, improving the socio-economic development in poor rural areas. Addressing the function, Inui Hiroyuki, a representative from the Japanese General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City, held that the event will help further deepen the mutual understanding between the peoples of both countries. He said he hopes the Vietnam-Japan ties will develop stronger with higher efficiency in Ben Tre. During the event, the provincial People’s Committee presented certificates of merit to Japanese organisations and individuals in recognition of their contributions to the province over the past years. VNN/VNS/VNA