Political News Headlines 11/4 Deputy PM Ninh to visit Sweden, Britain Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh will make a week-long tour of Sweden and Great Britain and Northern Ireland from April 9-17, to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various areas, especially economics, trade, and investment. While in Sweden, Ninh will pay a courtesy visit to Parliament Speaker Per Westerberg, and meet with acting Governor of the central bank Kerstin Jochnick, Minister for Financial Markets Peter Norman, Minister for Trade Ewa Helena Björling, and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Frank Kurt Claude Belfrage. He will visit Erickson multinational company, Volvo-Bus corporation, and the Vietnamese embassy in Stockholm. The ties of traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Sweden have developed well in all areas. Two-way trade reached more than US$1 billion in 2013, a year-on-year increase of 24% over 2012 and a twofold increase compared to 2008. Currently, more than 60 Swedish companies are operating in Vietnam, including big companies such as ABB, Electrolux and IKEA. Both countries will mark 45 years of diplomatic ties in 2014. During his trip to Britain, Ninh is scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Secretary William Hague and meet with Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Vince Cable, and Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf. He will attend a Vietnam-UK business forum and meet with representatives of Vietnamese expatriates in the UK. Vietnam and the UK upgraded their relations to a level of strategic partnership in 2010. Both countries organized various activities in 2013 to mark 40 years of diplomatic ties, especially the UK visit in January 2013 by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. The UK is one of Vietnam’s leading trade partners in the European Union, with two-way trade reaching US$4.2 billion in 2013. A number of leading UK companies, including Rolls-Royce and Prudential, are operating in Vietnam. The UK has committed official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam till 2016. It has pledged GBP74 billion in non-refundable aid for Vietnam between 2011 and 2015. Kazakhstan adopts legal assistance agreement with Vietnam Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on April 10 signed a law to ratify an agreement on mutual legal assistance in civil matters between Kazakhstan and Vietnam. The document aims to boost legal cooperation and assistance in civil cases on the basis of respecting mutual sovereignty, equality and interests. It will simplify and streamline legal assistance procedures for citizens from both nations. The agreement was signed in November 2011 during President Nazarbayev’s official visit to Vietnam. Boao Forum Annual Conference opens The 2014 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference kicked off in China’s southern province of Hainan on April 10, attracting the participation of leaders from more than 10 countries. Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam is leading a delegation to attend the event. Themed "Asia's New Future: Identifying New Growth Drivers", this year’s four-day forum is expected to discuss issues related to renovation, creativeness and sustainable development. Political-security issues, internet security and the China-US relations will be also high on the agenda. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Asian countries to seek new drivers to help the region deal with new challenges. Asian countries need to build a community of common interests and destiny and shared responsibilities, Li said. He asked regional nations to work together to further liberalise trade and facilitate investment, as well as foster regional and sub-regional cooperation. The premier also highlighted the importance of a peaceful and stable regional environment for Asia’s progress and development. Vietnam attends ASEAN-EU defence officials’ dialogue A Vietnamese delegation attended a Defence Officials’ Dialogue between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, on April 8-9. Defence and diplomatic officials from ASEAN member countries, the EU, and ASEAN’s dialogue partners focused on discussing maritime security and the role of the armed forces in disaster relief. They also exchanged measures to boost mutual understanding and trust through the ASEAN Regional Forum and to intensify cooperation in the defence industry with the EU. Representing the Vietnamese delegation, Deputy Director of the Defence Ministry’s Institute of International Relations, Colonel Nguyen Thanh Dong, delivered a speech on ensuring maritime security in the Asia-Pacific, where a number of traditional and non-traditional security issues, including territorial disputes, relational conflicts, terrorism, trans-national crime and food security are posing challenges to all surrounding countries. Territorial disputes in the East Sea and the East China Sea are complex, Dong noted, adding that to avoid clashes ASEAN has conducted many initiatives, such as setting up hotlines, pledging not to use force, and strictly obeying the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) towards the early approval of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). As a coastal country, Vietnam always takes the initiative and is ready to take part in sea-related cooperative activities. The country also maintains its consistent point of view on solving all disputes by peaceful measures with respect for international law, he added. Bulgaria PM Oresharski ends Vietnam visit Prime Minister Plamen Vasilev Oresharski on April 9 left Hue city for Sofia, concluding his four-day visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. At a reception for the Bulgarian PM in Hue, Nguyen Van Cao, Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue provincial People’s Committee, introduced his guest to local socio-economic achievements and its development potential and strength. Cao expressed hope for stronger cooperation between Thua Thien-Hue and Bulgaria in investment, garment making, energy generation, human resource training and health care. Oresharski noted both Bulgaria and Vietnam have treasured traditional friendship that can support long-term cooperation between Bulgarian localities and Thua Thien-Hue. During his April 6-9 stay, Oresharski held talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Truong Tan Sang and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung. Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in all realms, especially economics, trade, investment, science, education-training, culture, tourism, security and national defence, to realise the new economic cooperation model and look to the strategic partnership in the future. They underlined the need to support their business communities to meet, explore markets and establish partnerships in the areas of mutual concern, including infrastructure construction, food and pharmaceutical manufacturing, urban development planning, public transport development, environmental protection, and water resource management. They signed a number of cooperation documents in the areas of agriculture, cultural, and tourism. PM Oresharski also visited Danang city in central Vietnam and attended a Vietnam-Bulgaria business forum.  NA acts for better notary services National Assembly deputies yesterday (April 10) proposed speeding up the socialisation of notary services so that the quality of services can be improved.   The NA Standing Committee yesterday gathered deputies' suggestions for amendments to the Notarisation Law and Construction Law, and changes to the draft to the law on Public Investment. At a meeting in Ha Noi, a proposed draft bill to the amended Notarisation Law under revision for approval this summer, aims to revamp State-run notary offices. The new regulations would help sustain notary services in localities and make sure privately run services had similar rights and responsibilities to those presently run by the State. The deputies asked those preparing the draft to attach special importance to ethics. They suggested the law provide for higher qualifications for the appointment of notaries and stricter rules for their training. The deputies said the draft law should expand the rights of notary offices to make them more convenient for the public as well as reduce administrative work for related bodies. The NA Standing Committee yesterday gathered deputies' suggestions for amendments to the Notarisation Law and Construction Law, and changes to the draft to the law on Public Investment. The laws, according to NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, are "most significant" as they cover a wide range of socio-economic issues and have a big influence on society. The deputies yesterday agreed that a thorough review of the draft bills was necessary to make sure they complied with the Constitution and supported the interests of the people. The drafts will be submitted for approval to the NA at its coming seventh plenary session. The NA meeting would heavily focus on law making, said Hung. ASEAN One Community underlines importance of intra-bloc communication There is very little information or intra-regional communication to help people understand and prepare for next year's "ASEAN One Community," international experts have warned. Speaking at a symposium in Bangkok last weekend on "ASEAN Communication Research," Dr Kamolrat Intaratat, chair of the Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University's Communication Arts for ASEAN programme, said: "Exchange of information, knowledge, and technology among ASEAN member countries should be accelerated. Collaboration and negotiation skills need to be mastered and communications must enhance the process." From 2015 all ASEAN member countries and their citizens should be capacitated to participate in regional development, which is based on three pillars -- ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) – she said. "All ASEAN member countries and citizens, all stakeholders need to know each other to be more understanding and enhance co-operation, and the role of communication is very important." The symposium was held as part of efforts to gain knowledge about communications systems in each member country relevant to APSC, AEC, and ASSC and network all relevant stakeholders. It gathered experts from academia, the media, and from policymaking, who shared their expertise to create a master plan for Communication within ASEAN along the lines of the ICT Master Plan for ASEAN and others. Information about the communications facilities and infrastructure available in each member country was updated at the symposium. Nattha Komolvadhin, news editor of Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS) said TV is on the way out in Thailand and the internet is taking over, but in countries like Laos and Cambodia, TV remains dominant despite the internet boom. PBS broadcasts a daily 10-minute programme on the ASEAN One Community. Vu Thuy Lien, vice director of the Ministry of Science and Technology's Centre for Science and Technology Exchange, said: "The ASEAN One Community will be a very important change for each country and Viet Nam wants to boost co-operation with other member nations to become one community." The symposium asked delegate to consider three key questions: ‘Why do we need to communicate within ASEAN?' ‘How will we communicate?' ‘How can we select or use an appropriate channel and medium? A draft framework of the Communication Master Plan for ASEAN will be released soon. Around 40 experts from nine countries took part in the symposium. Congratulations sent to re-elected DPRK leaders President Truong Tan Sang, who is also Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council, on April 10 cabled a message of congratulations to Kim Jong-un on his re-election as First Chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s National Defence Commission. President Sang also congratulated Kim Yong-nam, who was re-elected as President of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA). Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent congratulations to Pak Bong-ju on his re-election as Premier of the DPRK cabinet. Meanwhile, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung conveyed his greetings to re-elected Chairman of the SPA Choe Thae-bok. The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also congratulated Ri Su-yong on his election as Foreign Minister of the DPRK. Source: VNN/VNS/VNA/VOV