Government News 18/4 PM urges German state’s further investment in Vietnam   Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Rheinland-Pflaz Deputy Minister-President Volker Wissing  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged Germany, especially Rheinland-Pflaz state, to further boost trade and investment with Vietnam to further lift two-way trade.  During a reception in Hanoi on April 17 for Rheinland-Pflaz Deputy Minister-President and Minister for Economic Affairs, Transportation, Agriculture and Viniculture Volker Wissing, the PM assured the guest that the Vietnamese government always offers all possible support to German localities and firms to do business in the country.  He affirmed that the Vietnamese government supports strengthening ties between Vietnamese and Rheinland-Pflaz corporations and asked for reinforcing people-to-people exchange and tourism cooperation on the back of existing potential and advantages.  The host believed that Rheinland-Pflaz state will play an important role in reinforcing the multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in the time ahead.  Wissing, for his part, said the delegation is accompanied by local corporate representatives to seek cooperation opportunities in economy, culture and education in Vietnam.  The state wants to promote joint work with Vietnamese localities and businesses, including the exchange of traditional goods, he said.  He suggested further stepping up cultural and educational ties with Vietnam and expressed his belief that both sides will reap more successes in the near future. Government, Fatherland Front boost ties to enhance national unity Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting on April 17 to review the coordination between the Government and the presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front The Government and the presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee reviewed their coordination in 2017 at a meeting in Hanoi on April 17, agreeing to bolster ties to enhance the great national unity bloc. According to a report delivered at the meeting, the coordination between the two sides continued to be strengthened last year. They worked together to effectively implement joint works, especially communication activities among ethnic minority and religious people, organisation of the great national unity festivals, promotion of new-style rural area building and poverty reduction, and raising support for disaster victims. Supervision and social criticism activities have been carried out in a more effective manner. Meanwhile, coordination in building the Party and administration and fighting corruption became more substantive. Speaking at the meeting, President of the VFF Central Committee Tran Thanh Man appreciated Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Government’s strong support, which he said has created favourable conditions for activities of the VFF and its member organisations from central to grassroots levels. He expected that the Government and the presidium of the VFF Central Committee will work together more strongly to listen to the voice of people from all social strata, ensure the timely settlement of problems, and attract resources to the care for people. He also asked for stronger ties to further disseminate law to people, perfect mechanisms and policies to step up patriotic emulation movements, and call on the intelligentsia, entrepreneurs, prestigious persons in ethnic groups, religious dignitaries, and overseas Vietnamese to support the country’s development. PM Phuc recognised the fruitful coordination between the Government and the presidium of the VFF Central Committee last year. Notably, they paid special attention to the poor, vulnerable groups and disaster victims, thereby helping to gain people’s trust. He also highly valued efforts by the VFF and member socio-political organisations to join the Government in performing socio-economic development tasks. However, the Cabinet leader also pointed out certain shortcomings in understanding people’s aspirations and settling local problems, noting that the handling of people’s opinions and petitions remains slow and fails to meet people’s expectations. To fix these shortcomings, he said in 2018, the two sides’ collaboration should focus on intensifying the great national unity bloc and social consensus. They also need to continue communication activities to encourage people to adhere to the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and law, while stepping up patriotic emulation movements to help foster economic growth and ensure social welfares. The PM told both sides to promote democracy, people’s supervisory role, and social feedback, and collaborate to make people-oriented policies and law. Meanwhile, administrations at all levels also have to work more substantively with the VFF and its member organisations. PM pins hope on stronger trade ties with Indonesia Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has expressed his belief that trade between Vietnam and Indonesia will strongly grow in the time ahead, soon reaching 10 billion USD.  At a reception for Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Hanoi on April 17, the leader stressed that Vietnam and Indonesia are major trade partners of each other.  He noted with pleasure the positive growth of the two-way trade over the past time, at 6.5 percent during 2012-2016 and 16 percent in 2017 to hit 6.5 billion USD.  Highlighting rosy signs of the bilateral investment ties, PM Phuc said Vietnam wants to cooperate with Indonesia in various realms. He told his guest that Vietnam is pushing the improvement of the domestic business environment, urging Indonesian investors to expand their operation in the country.  For her part, Minister Retno Marsudi briefed her host on outcomes of the third meeting of the Vietnam-Indonesia Bilateral Cooperation Committee, which took place in Hanoi the same day.  She called on the two countries’ leaders to maintain the exchange of visits in order to step up bilateral cooperation across fields, and the Governments to create the best possible conditions for businesses of both sides to cooperate with each other.  Host and guest shared the view that the fruitful collaboration between Vietnam and Indonesia will contribute to consolidating and promoting cooperation and solidarity within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to which both countries are members. Vietnamese, Russian parties forge ties Tran Quoc Vuong, a Politburo member and head of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Inspection Commission (right), and Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov, Chairman of A Just Russia.  The Party, State and people of Vietnam always prioritise consolidating the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, and attach importance to friendship and cooperation with Russian political parties, including A Just Russia.  The statement was made by Tran Quoc Vuong, a Politburo member and head of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee’s Inspection Commission, at a reception for Sergey Mikhailovich Mironov, Chairman of A Just Russia, in Hanoi on April 17.  Vuong applauded the trip to Vietnam by the Russian party’s delegation and the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the CPV and A Just Russia, which, he said, has opened up a new period of cooperation between the two parties pragmatically and effectively.  Mironov said the Russian party always places importance to enhancing relations with the CPV and wishes to constructively contribute to developing the Vietnam-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership.  On April 16, Mironov held talks with Hoang Binh Quan, head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, during which they noted the active development of the relations between the two parties through meetings and information sharing, and signed a MoU on cooperation between the two parties.  The same day, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu hosted a reception for the Russian delegation.  The Russian guests also visited a number of socio-economic establishments in Hanoi and the northern province of Quang Ninh. HCM City Party Committee reviews socio-economic development   Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan The Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, tenth tenure, convened its 16th meeting on April 17 to discuss the local socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2018 and a mid-term review plan. Nguyen Thien Nhan, Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, chaired the meeting. During the event, delegates focused their discussion on the implementation of the National Assembly’s Resolution No.54 to pilot special mechanisms and policies for the city’s development, how the city handled complaints over actions of local governmental officials in breach of the Party’s regulations and the State’s law in the first three months, and the five-year implementation of the city’s action plan on climate change response and enhancement of natural resources management and environmental protection. They also evaluated their mid-term performance over the last two and a half years. In his remarks, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said the mid-term review will give a comprehensive assessment of the leadership and management in enforcing the resolution of the municipal Party’s Committee’s Congress for the 2015-2020 tenure. It aims to evaluate what have been achieved since 2015 and outlined shortcomings and lessons learned from that. Solutions for the shortcomings will also be proposed, he added. Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem delivered a report on the city’s first-quarter socio-economic and cultural development, saying the local economy continued to expand against the same period last year with positive signals in the fields of industry, agriculture and services, business climate improvement and better support for enterprises. The city’s GRDP hit over 260.3 trillion VND (11.45 billion USD), up 7.64 percent year-on-year, while the total social investment amounted to 65.3 trillion VND (2.87 billion USD), up 8.5 percent. More than 8,000 new businesses were registered with the total capital exceeding 100 trillion VND (4.4 billion USD) and the foreign direct investment was estimated at 1.28 billion USD, he added. The municipal People’s Committee set ten key tasks for the second quarter, including continued enforcement of Resolution No.54, improving the local economy’s competitiveness and business climate, developing mechanism for capital mobilisation for development, accelerating trade and investment promotion overseas to seek new markets, and ensure social welfare. Top Iranian legislator hails friendship association’s contributions Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Ardeshir Larijani (R) meets VIFA President Dang Nhu Loi  Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Ardeshir Larijani appreciated contributions made by the Vietnam-Iran Friendship Association (VIFA) to boosting people-to-people diplomacy between the two nations at his meeting with VIFA President Dang Nhu Loi in Hanoi on April 17. The Speaker told Loi that during his meetings with senior Vietnamese leaders, they put forth important proposals, including opening Persian language classes for Vietnamese students, creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese students to learn in Iran, opening a direct air route between Vietnam and Iran, and developing more tours between the two countries. He expressed his hope that the VIFA will maintain its active participation in friendship, exchange and cooperation activities, thereby helping to further develop the bilateral friendship and cooperation between Iran and Vietnam. Loi briefed the Iranian leader on the VIFA’s activities since its establishment nine years ago, with its target of tightening solidarity between the two countries and fostering bilateral economic ties – an important foundation of Vietnam-Iran relations. He hoped that in the time ahead, the Parliament of Iran will adopt more legal documents to develop bilateral trade cooperation, friendship and people-to-people diplomacy, including activities of the VIFA and the Iran-Vietnam Friendship Association. Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Ardeshir Larijani has been on an official visit to Vietnam from April 15-18 at the invitation of Chairwoman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. Communist Party of Vietnam official pays working visit to China Nguyen Van Binh, Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (L) meets Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan in Beijing on April 17.  The Vietnamese Party, State and people always attach much importance to and want to join hands with their Chinese counterparts to consolidate the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with China, said Nguyen Van Binh, Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Binh, who is also Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and Head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for Economic Affairs, made the statement while meeting with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan in Beijing, China, on April 17. He suggested both sides continue carrying out the common important perceptions of senior leaders of the two Parties and nations as well as already-signed documents, maintain and increase high-level meetings, and improve efficiency of practical cooperation in various fields. On this occasion, Binh congratulated China on successfully organising the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress and the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He expressed his hope that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese people will realise the targets set by the 19th National Congress of the CPC. The Vietnamese Party official also congratulated Wang on his election as Vice President of China. For his part, Wang affirmed that the Party, Government and people of China always treasure ties with Vietnam and stands ready to join hands with the Party, State and people of Vietnam to develop the bilateral relations. He wished that the two sides will continue to exchange high-level delegations, consolidate political trust, promote strategic connections and well control differences in an effort to develop relations between the two Parties and nations in a stable and healthy manner in the coming time. During his stay in Beijing, Binh had meetings with officials of the Central Policy Research Office, Development Research Centre of the State Council and State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.  At these meetings, the two sides shared measures to boost reform, innovation, global integration and socio-economic development in each country. Binh is leading a CPV delegation on a working visit to China from April 15-19 at the invitation of the CPC’s Central Committee. Apart from Beijing, the delegation will also visit Shanghai. Russia’s Irkutsk welcomes Vietnamese firms   Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk province Sergey Levchenko and Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh (right) Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk province Sergey Levchenko suggested to Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh at a meeting in Moscow on April 17 that Vietnam and Russia should increase business exchange. The governor said in doing so, difficulties in bilateral trade will be promptly addressed, thus promoting Vietnamese products and attracting Vietnamese investors to Irkutsk.   He informed the Ambassador that Irkutsk and Vietnam’s northern province of Quang Ninh are due to sign cooperation agreements in various fields.  The Governor expressed his hope for stronger cooperation between Irkutsk and Vietnam as well as Quang Ninh province in particular in the near future.  Noting with pleasure the increasing number of Vietnamese students in Irkutsk, Levchenko committed to creating the best possible conditions for the students in the time ahead.  For his part, Ambassador Manh applauded efforts made by Irkutsk and Quang Ninh to reach cooperation agreements, saying that it is in line with the Embassy’s plan to promote bilateral cooperation at local levels.   Manh pledged to do his utmost to connect Vietnamese and Russian businesses in their search for investment and cooperation opportunities.  Levchenko told the Vietnamese News Agency that Irkutsk boasts substantial potential for investment and economic development, naming the province’s advantages such as the largest area of forest in Russia, the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world – the Baikal, and rich mineral reserves.  Besides, science-technology, aviation, hydroelectricity and food production are also strengths of the province.  Irkutsk is one of leading localities in investment attraction in Russia, he said, noting that in 2017 alone, the province lured over 9 billion USD.  The Governor appreciated the contribution of the Vietnamese community to Irkutsk’s development, and the relations between Vietnam and Russia.  Highlighting great cooperation potential between the two sides, Levchenko said Irkutsk always welcomes Vietnamese friends. HCM City pledges to support Iranian businesses Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan (right) and Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Ardeshir Larijani. Ho Chi Minh City commits to creating favourable conditions for Iranian enterprises to cooperate with partners in the city, and run long-term business in the Vietnamese southern metropolis, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan told visiting Speaker of the Parliament of Iran Ali Ardeshir Larijani on April 17.  Nhan stressed that HCM City treasures Iranian people’s sentiments towards Vietnam and the city, and stands ready to work together with Iran to further the bilateral friendship and cooperation across fields, thus bringing pragmatic interests to both sides.  He said the visit to Vietnam by the Iranian top legislator, which takes place on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties, has contributed to increasing mutual understanding and enhancing relations between Iran and Vietnam, including HCM City.  For his part, Larijani said Iranian people were impressed by Vietnam’s struggle for national liberation and reunification.  The Speaker, however, pointed out that economic ties between Vietnam and Iran have yet to match potential and aspirations of the two countries.  Vietnam and Iran share a lot of similarities, with substantial potential for cooperation, especially in maritime transport, seaport construction, oil and gas, liquefied gas, woodwork and agriculture, he said.  Lauding strong development and potential of HCM City, the guest urged the city and Iran to step up information sharing and collaboration, particularly in economy. VNN