GOVERNMENT IN BRIEF 4/2 Party leader launches New Year with symbolic tree planting General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV), Nguyen Phu Trong, launched the Lunar New Year by planting trees in Hanoi's outlying district of Ba Vi on February 3, the fourth day of the traditional Tet holiday.   Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and representatives of sectors plant a banyan tree on Dong Vang hill in the capital city's Ba Vi District.  The event was to mark the 84 th founding anniversary of the CPV and 45 years since late President Ho Chi Minh planted a banyan tree on Dong Vang hill, Vat Lai commune to celebrate the first day of the Year of the Rooster 1969. The tree, which represented the beginning of a national planting campaign, has now become a cultural relic site. Talking with local residents, Party chief Trong noted his pleasure that the district Party Committee and locals have followed Ho Chi Minh's appeal for forestation, which has been developed into an annual mass campaign. As the country is on a path towards industrialisation and modernisation led by Hanoi, the tending, protection and planting of trees are crucial, he said. Ba Vi district's acreage of forest land now accounts for 25 percent of its total area and some 40 percent of the city's total forest area. Viet Nam's foreign affair achievements help creating peace and stability 2013 was a landmark year for Viet Nam in terms of external relations, with deeper ties forged with countries worldwide creating an environment of peace and stability in which every Vietnamese citizen has benefitted, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has stated.   Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh. In a recent interview with the media, Deputy PM Minh, who also acts as Foreign Minister, said Viet Nam established strategic partnerships with five countries and comprehensive cooperative partnerships with two others last year, showing the depths of its success in this area. Looking back over the past 13 years, its respective number of strategic and comprehensive cooperative partners has reached 13 and 11, including five permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members. According to the minister, this will lift bilateral political ties to greater heights, which will push their security-defence, economic-trade-investment connections forward. Deputy PM Minh cited a six-fold rise in trade with Russia since the two nations set up a strategic partnership in 2001 as an example. Trade in goods with China has also jumped four times over the past six years, and doubled with UK for three years. Trade between five permanent UNSC countries and Viet Nam now accounts for 45 percent of the total, while between them these nations inject 20 percent of Vietnam's total Foreign Direct Investment. They have also proved promising destinations for Vietnamese students, taking in 60 percent of the total 100,000 Vietnamese students learning abroad, he said. In terms of tourism, these five countries have recorded 45 percent of total foreign arrivals to Viet Nam. Such an impressive rate means that the domestic hospitality industry is at an advantage, directly and indirectly. Turning his attention to Viet Nam's cooperation with neighbours and regional countries in the defence of its sovereignty in the East Sea, Minh made it clear that the independence and sovereignty was maintained during last year, with the completion of border demarcation and relevant agreements with China. He said more border markers with Laos were built and upgraded while work on the borderline with Cambodia is expected to conclude soon. In summary, he said Viet Nam has not only sustained its friendship with countries but also ensured national security. In the East Sea, the country has come up with ways to defend its sovereignty, evidenced by the fact that the Vietnamese fishermen are still living and working in the country's exclusive economic zones as usual. Viet Nam is also serious about violations to safeguard its sovereignty in the East Sea which remains a source of dispute between the country and others, he said. Deputy PM Minh underscored Viet Nam's stance to settle the East Sea dispute by negotiations and peaceful means without using or threatening to use force, in accordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). This policy has received acclaim from the international community, including ASEAN members, he said, adding that Viet Nam is dealing with disputes through dialogue and other peaceful means while actively and proactively fully abiding by the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and working for the early formulation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). Deputy PM Minh also highlighted the amended Constitution, which was adopted by the National Assembly last November. He drew attention to the dossier's second chapter, which contains 36 regulations regarding human rights and civil rights and duties. This is a clear manifestation of the nation's consistent policy and the whole society's consensus for protecting and promoting human rights, which have been increasingly ensured in all fields from politics, economics to culture and society, Minh said. Viet Nam has been hailed for its achievements in economics, social welfare, poverty reduction, universal education, gender equality and human development index. Viet Nam has fulfilled six out of eight the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), helping the country earn the highest number of votes from the United Nations Human Rights Council members. The outcome demonstrates international community's acknowledgement and appreciation of Viet Nam's contributions to the field. The Deputy PM recommended that nations set targets on how to protect and promote human rights in each country. He suggested that countries provide information on what their governments have done and must do in the future in terms of human rights, as well as increasing dialogue and information exchange among all nations. PM tours Vietnam waste solution company Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung toured the Vietnam Waste Solution (VWS) company – a well-regarded solid waste treatment operator based in Ho Chi Minh City - on February 2, the third day of the traditional Lunar New Year. PM Dung hailed VWS’s operation model and its application of advanced technology imported from the US that, according to him, has met Vietnam’s highest requirements to treat solid waste. He said its existence is crucial as HCM City is home to nearly 10 million people, who generate a huge amount of waste per day, not to mention those in localities nearby. The Government leader reminded VWS to stringently avoid polluting the environment through its operations. He called on municipal authorities to clear any obstacles preventing the company from making progress, and told the firm that it could seek assistance from ministries when necessary. During his visit, the PM also presented gifts to workers who were on duty during the holidays. Based in Binh Chanh District’s Da Phuoc solid waste treatment complex, the 150 million USD VWS plant is the first private solid waste treatment firm in Vietnam to adopt land-filling technology. Starting in January 2007, VWS has a daily treatment capacity of 10,000 tonnes of waste. It now handles 3,000 tonnes for HCM City and 20 tonnes for the southern province of Long An per day. It is also working on a facility covering some 2,000 hectares in Long An. Vietnam-US relations 20 years after embargo ends Since the US lifted its embargo against Vietnam in 1994, trade relations between the two nations have seen positive and steady improvement. February 3, 2014 marks the 20th anniversary since the end of the US embargo and comes on the backdrop of commitments by Presidents Truong Tan Sang and Barack Obama to establish a comprehensive partnership in 2013. US former President Bill Clinton’s decision to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam removed the final barrier to move towards the normalization of bilateral ties, and opened up a new chapter in Vietnam-US relations. In the past 20 years, two-way trade has skyrocketed to more than US$30 billion in 2013 from 1994’s more than 200 million. Total US investment in Vietnam reached US$11 billion last year and ranked the US seventh among foreign investors in the Southeast Asian nation. Apart from economic-trade links, Vietnam-US relations have also grown considerably on a host of fronts including politics-diplomacy, science-technology, education-training, security-defence, healthcare, the environment, and dealing with the consequences of the war. In an interview about prospects for improved bilateral cooperative relations granted to a Voice of Vietnam Radio Washington-based correspondent, Vietnam ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Cuong said this year will offer a tremendous opportunity for Vietnam-US ties to thrive. The important thing is how to minimize differences in the two sides’ strategic visions and raise their comprehensive partnership to new heights in the future, which is in the best interests of the two peoples and for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world. Activities mark CPV founding anniversary Many activities have been held both at home and abroad to mark the 84th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. An art programme praising the Party and late President Ho Chi Minh – the founder of modern Vietnam - was undertaken on March 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. Present at the event included municipal Party Committee Secretary Le Thanh Hai, former Vice State President Truong My Hoa and veteran revolutionaries. On the occasion, A Vietnamese delegation led by Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Pham Xuan Son paid floral tributes at the Ho Chi Minh monument and Le Duan square in Moscow to commemorate the leaders’ contributions to the nation’s independence as well as the strengthening of Vietnam-Russia traditional ties. The Communist Party of Vietnam was established on February 3, 1930 by late President Ho Chi Minh. Under the Party’s leadership, the Vietnamese people have gained great victories over hostile forces and foreign invaders such as the August Revolutionary in 1945, the Dien Bien Phu historic victory in 1954 and the great Spring victory in 1975. The Party has been served as a guide over the past 84 years for the Vietnamese to stand firm on the path towards socialism and build an increasingly equal and civilised society. Congratulations on CPV founding anniversary The Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and the Cambodian People’s Party Central Committee have sent congratulatory messages to Vietnam on the occasion of the 84th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Vietnamese communities celebrate Tet abroad Overseas Vietnamese in the Macau Special Administrative Region, China, gathered to welcome the 2014 Lunar New Year (Tet) at a meeting hosted by the Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau on February 1.   Overseas Vietnamese people in Australia make "Banh Chung" (square glutinous rice cake). (Photo: VNA) A representative of the office expressed hope that the Vietnamese community there will continue to make more contributions to the development of the ties between Vietnam and Macau. The diplomat also spoke highly of their achievements in the community. Currently, about 12,000 Vietnamese people are working in Macau. Meanwhile, overseas Vietnamese people living in Australia have held many celebratory activities, such as wrapping chung rice cakes and visiting each other on the occasion of Tet, helping preserve the nation’s traditional customs. Vietnamese students at the University of New South Wales have gathered to celebrate the country’s biggest festival with the presence of Consul General in Sydney Mai Phuoc Dung. Dung asked the students to establish a Vietnamese student association in New South Wales to prepare for starting a similar organisation on a national level. On February 1, nearly 100 pupils and their parents at the first Vietnamese language teaching school in Tokyo, Japan, held a celebration for Tet. The school’s first classes started on January 18 with the aim to not only teach the Vietnamese language to the students but also organise extra-curricular activities to help them understand the culture of their homeland. Ambassador Doan Xuan Hung said he believed that the model of the school will be expanded in Japan in a near future. In 2013, the number of Vietnamese people in Japan exceeded 60,000, a rise of 30 percent over 2012, according to the Japanese Ministry of Justice. To mark the 84 th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3) and Tet holiday, a football-badminton competition for Vietnamese students opened in Moscow, Russia, on February 1. The event, which attracted nearly 200 athletes from 21 institutions, will last until February 7. VNA/VNS/VOV