Political News 3/10 President Sang welcomes Japanese guest President Truong Tan Sang hosted a reception for Former Japanese Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy Iwao Matsuda in Hanoi on October 2. Iwao Matsuda who is also Head of the Vietnam Festival Organising Board in Japan introduced an innovative project to fully utilize the expertise of Japanese senior human resources to promote technological transfer and industrialisation in Vietnam. The project had received great support from the Japanese Government and relevant agencies and is expected to be launched soon, he said. President Sang commended Iwao Matsuda’s contributions to enhancing the Vietnamese-Japanese friendship and agreed with his proposal to build a coordination mechanism to realize the idea. He said he hopes the project will contribute to the realisation of the Joint Statement on the Extensive Strategic Partnership signed in March 2014 in Tokyo. Japan’s senior human resources, a valuable source of expertise will help push up Vietnam’s industrialisation process, Sang added. Vanuatu PM to visit Vietnam Vanuatu Republic Prime Minister Joe Natuman and his wife will pay an official visit to Vietnam from October 5-9 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.   This was announced by the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 2. RoK’s national day marked in Ho Chi Minh City A ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City to celebrate the 4,346 th anniversary of the Republic of Korea ’s National Foundation Day (October 3). Speaking at the event on October 2, Consul General Oh Jae-Hack highlighted the growing cooperation between his country and Vietnam in all areas, such as politics, economics, and culture, with Vietnam-RoK relations now formalised as a strategic partnership. Since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties in 1992, two-way trade has increased 56-fold and reached 28 billion USD in 2013, he added. RoK businesses have so far injected more than 32.8 billion USD into Vietnam. More than 100,000 RoK nationals live inVietnam, while tens of thousands of Vietnamese-Korean couples and families have come into being, illustrating the diverse relations between the two nations, he said. Vice Chairwoman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Hong sent her congratulations to RoK expatriates on the occasion, saying the solid political ties created a stable foundation for the development of cooperation in other fields, such as economics. She noted that the RoK was the fourth biggest investor in Ho Chi Minh City , with more than 1,000 projects worth nearly 5 billion USD. Bilateral trade exceeded 1.7 billion USD during the first eight months of the year. She expressed her belief that the cooperative ties between the city and the RoK would play an active role in strengthening the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the RoK. Hungary’s chief prosecutor visits Ho Chi Minh City Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City Hua Ngoc Thuan on October 2 received Hungarian Chief Prosecutor Peter Polt who is in Vietnam for a working visit. Thuan said Vietnamese people always treasured and considered Hungarian people as their close friends. He said the sharing of experience between the two countries’ procuracy agencies is significant to bolstering bilateral relations in the coming time. The municipal official expressed hope that following the visit, HCM City’s wide-ranging cooperation with Hungary’s capital Budapest will be facilitated. Peter Polt said his visit was part of efforts to realising his country’s look East policy, seeking to make bilateral cooperation programmes more productive. He noted that Hungarian businesses are searching for cooperation and more investment opportunities in Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City. He vowed to work harder to strengthen ties between the two procuracy sectors as well as that between the capital Budapest and Ho Chi Minh City. Ambassador presents credentials to DPRK leader Vietnamese Ambassador to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Pham Viet Hung has presented his credentials to the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the host country, Kim Yong-nam. During a reception for the diplomat in Pyongyang on September 30 following the presentation, Kim Yong-nam said the traditional friendship between the DPRK and Vietnam , initiated by Presidents Kim Il-sung and Ho Chi Minh, provided a firm foundation for bilateral relations to increasingly grow. He affirmed the consistent policy of the Party, Government and people of the DPRK to foster the long-standing ties with Vietnam , expressing his belief that with joint efforts, the Vietnam-DPRK friendship and cooperation will further flourish. He also expressed hope that the two sides will conduct practical activities to mark the 65 th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties in 2015. Ambassador Hung said he believes that the DPRK people, under the leadership of the Workers’ Party, will reap more socio-economic successes. He vowed to do his best to bolster the traditional relationship between the two countries in the interest of both people, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world. President meets former revolutionary prisoners As many as 400 revolutionary soldiers who once were imprisoned by the enemy during the resistance wars attended a meeting with President Truong Tan Sang in the capital on October 2 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day (October 10). The event provides an opportunity for the former inmates to recount their heroic efforts to survive in physical and mental hardships they endured during their imprisonment during the wars against the French colonialists and American forces. Addressing the ex-prisoners, the President hailed the sacrifices they made for the liberation of their country, and called upon them to continue contributing to the processes of nation-building and development. He also asked relevant agencies to implement the Party and State’s social policies supporting those who served their country. Austrian President applauded Vietnam's accomplishments Austrian President Heinz Fischer hailed Vietnam’s achievements in poverty reduction and socio-economic development while meeting with outgoing Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria Nguyen Thiep on October 1. Heinz Fischer said he hopes Vietnam will reap even greater successes in its path of development as a contribution to maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world as a whole. He expressed his pleasure at the positive development of the friendship and cooperation, particularly since his official visit to Vietnam in 2012. The President also appreciated Thiep’s contributions to deepening the friendship and all-round cooperation between the two countries during this three-year tenure. The ambassador thanked the Australian President and relevant agencies for helping him fulfill his mission. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, two-way trade between Vietnam and Austria exceeded US$1billion for the first time in 2013. In May this year, the Austrian Ministry of Finance and the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment agreed to extend the bilateral preferential loans agreement by another two years after 2014. The same day, Thiep was also received by the Austrian Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs' Secretary General Michael Linhart. Front President congratulates Muslims on Raya Aidil Adha festival President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan sent his greetings and best wishes to Muslim dignitaries and believers in Vietnam on October 2 on the occasion of the Raya Aidil Adha festival. In his greetings, President Nhan said the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee recognised and highly valued the Muslim community’s participation in national movements and campaigns, particularly those aiming to improve the living conditions for disadvantaged members of the community. The Muslim community’s charitable efforts in the fields of social issues, HIV/AIDS and environmental protection have contributed to a stronger national unity and the nation-building process, Nhan said. He said he looked forward to the Muslim community taking a more results-orientated approach to building a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Vietnam. The Muslim community in Vietnam has 770 dignitaries and more than 75,000 followers. There are 79 Muslim places of worship in Vietnam.- NA wants review of new budget rules National Assembly delegates yesterday said that the draft Law on the State Budget needs to be reviewed carefully towards ensuring greater spending discipline and transparency. Discussing the law on the last day of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee's 31st session in Ha Noi, deputies said that the most important thing was to institutionalise the basic principles related to financial and budgetary sectors in the 2013 Constitution. They said that the Constitution, which was adopted at the NA meeting last November, had created an important foundation for renewal and for enhancing management of the State budget. However, they said some key regulations in the Constitution had not been clearly regulated in the draft law. NA Vice Chairman Uong Chu Luu said that the draft law was mostly about budget collection, but not much about spending. "It does not match with the Constitution's Article 55 which regulates that all collection and spending of the State budget must be carried out by laws," he said. Chairman of the NA's Law Committee, Phan Trung Ly, urged that the law should solve all existing problems in planning, managing and using the State budget. "All processes must be done transparently and effectively to reflect that the State budget is united from central the grassroots government levels," he said. Regarding local budgets, most of the deputies from the NA Committee for Financial and Budgetary Affairs agreed with the proposal from localities to raise the outstanding debt ceiling - the limit on how much debt a locality can have. Accordingly, Ha Noi and HCM City would raise their outstanding debts from local budgets from 100 per cent to 150 per cent while other localities would rise from 30 per cent to 50-100 per cent. However, some deputies disagreed with the proposal, saying that extending the debt ceiling would make it impossible to control public debt. They said that only localities which could balance their budget themselves should be granted the higher debt ceiling. The others should stay with the current ceiling. NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said that the draft law should make clear that the competence of deciding on the State budget should belong to the National Assembly. "The National Assembly will have the competence to supervise the Government's use of the State budget," he said. The draft Law on the State Budget will be submitted at the upcoming eighth session of the 13th National Assembly later this month. After 10 days of working, the standing committee has discussed 15 draft laws and reports from the Government on anti-crime and anti-corruption activities. It also issued a NA resolution on the renewal of learning programme and textbooks. VN-Denmark roundtable opens Vietnamese and Danish parliamentarians gathered for their fourth inter-parliamentary roundtable in the northern province of Ninh Binh yesterday to share experiences in law making and seek measures to strengthen the relationship between the two legislatures. The Danish delegation, led by Danish politicians Mette Reissmann, is on a visit to discuss with the National Assembly the orgnisation of local government and public consultations in the law making process. "We have had some very interesting and fruitful discussions on how public consultations can support the process," Reissmann said, referring to the discussions held on issues of mutual interest since 2009. "We hope the strong and sound partnership between Viet Nam and Denmark can continue this type of open and constructive exchange of opinions and experiences not only in the political area but also in commercial and cultural affairs". Source: VNS/VNA/VOV