Political News 23/7 Vietnam awards Friendship Orders to Belgian diplomats Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on July 22 presented Vietnam’s Friendship Order to two Belgian diplomats in recognition of their contributions to the friendship between the two countries. The diplomats are Steve Stevaert, Minister of State and President of the Belgium-Vietnam Alliance (BVA) and former Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Piet Steel. The BVA, which was set up in 2011, has coordinated with the Association of Vietnamese in Belgium to hold various activities to boost the cooperation between the two countries, including fund-raising events to support flood and Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam. Piet Steel served in Vietnam from 1990 to 1993. During his term, he helped with the establishment of a scholarship fund for Vietnamese students majoring in agriculture. Steel also worked to help Vietnamese graduates get Belgian government scholarships to study in Belgium. On the occasion, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg Pham Sanh Chau also granted certificates of merit to several former Belgian ambassadors to Vietnam. Party officials visit Nicaragua to foster ties A delegation led by Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Foreign Relations Hoang Binh Quan visited Nicaragua from July 19 – 22 at the invitation of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front Party (FSLN). During their stay, the Vietnamese guests had a meeting with FSLN Politburo member and Speaker of the Nicaraguan Parliament Rene Nunez, who informed them about his country’s achievements in poverty alleviation and social policy implementation. Nunez affirmed that Nicaragua always cherishes its friendship and cooperation with Vietnam and expressed his hope for expanded bilateral partnership in economics, trade and investment. The Nicaraguan leader also voiced his wish that the two countries’ legislative bodies will intensify their friendship and cooperation in the future. For his part, Quan congratulated the FSLN and the Nicaraguan people on their accomplishments and briefed the host on Vietnam’s socio-economic development. He stated Vietnam ’s resolve to enhance its ties with Nicaragua , especially in economics, trade and investment. Hoang Binh Quan also held talks with Secretary of the FSLN’s International Relations Jacinto Suarez, during which both sides pledged to continue implementing effectively their cooperation agreements. The two sides exchanged their views on international issues of mutual concern and agreed to continue supporting each other at regional and international forums. The Vietnamese delegation attended a ceremony marking the 35 th anniversary of the success of the Sandinista Revolution (July 19, 1979 - 2014). The event in capital Managua drew the participation of some 100,000 people and officials from 35 countries, including Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, El Salvador President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, and Cuban Vice President Ramiro Valdes. Sri Lanka, Viet Nam step up security co-operation Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked Sri Lanka to work closely with Viet Nam to fight crimes, especially those involving e-commerce and credit, as per their signed agreements. Receiving Secretary to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Law and Order, Nanda Mallawaarachchi, in Ha Noi yesterday, Phuc asked for closer bilateral collaboration to ensure security and safety for high-ranking delegations, as well as for trade, investment, studies and tourism activities in each country. He thanked Sri Lanka for backing Viet Nam's bid for a seat on the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council from 2014 to 2016, UN Economic and Social Council from 2016 to 2018, and on the UN Security Council from 2020 to 2022. The host suggested mutual support at regional and global forums for peace and stability in the region and the world. Nanda Mallawaarachchi informed Phuc of the outcome of his working session with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security. He expressed the hope that ties between the two ministries would go a long way for the sake of both nations. Armenia wishes to boost cooperation with Hanoi Armenian Ambassador to Vietnam Raisa Vardanya has said that her country always wishes to boost multi-faceted cooperation with Hanoi, especially in urban development. At a July 22 working session with Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen The Thao, the ambassador suggested the establishment of a cooperation committee between Armenia and Hanoi to foster bilateral ties. She said she wants to become an honorary citizen of Hanoi, a beautiful city for peace. The Hanoi mayor agreed with Vardanya’s proposal for the cooperation committee, saying that it will open up new opportunities for both sides to strongly develop their relations. Hanoi wishes to attract investment from and boost collaboration with Armenia in priority areas such as culture, education and training, tourism, trade and high technology, he said. He expressed his hope that Armenia will create favourable conditions for goods from Vietnam and Hanoi in particular to enter its market. Senior leaders receive newly-accredited ambassadors Diplomats should strengthen all-around cooperation with other countries and help the world learn more about Vietnam, its land, people and culture. National Assembly (NA) Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung was speaking at a July 22 meeting with Vietnam’s newly-appointed ambassadors and heads of representative agencies abroad. The top legislator said he hopes Vietnamese diplomats, with their diplomatic expertise, will promote cooperation and enlist the support and assistance from international friends for national construction and development. “In the global complicated context full of opportunities and challenges, the diplomats need to utilize beneficial cooperation opportunities and overcome challenges. Vietnamese diplomatic agencies should protect and care more for overseas Vietnamese and pay greater attention to the teaching of Vietnamese to them.” Hung emphasized. He also expressed his conviction that the diplomats will garner the support from other countries’ parliaments for Vietnam’s hosting of the 132nd General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132) in Hanoi next year. The diplomats pledged their best efforts to foster diplomatic and parliamentary relations between Vietnam and other countries thus contributing to Vietnam’s construction and defense.    Meeting with the diplomats on the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged them to make positive contributions to the national construction and defence and socio-economic development. "The country’s current targets focus on maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for the national development and ensuring  national independence, sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity." Dung said. He said the diplomats should pay attention to forging friendship and mutual understanding between Vietnam and the rest of the world and take advantage of international support for Vietnam's stance, especially in safeguarding the national sovereignty. At the same time, they should work harder to expand export markets, boost Vietnamese investment overseas and attract foreign investment to the country, particularly in clean and high technology. Promoting culture, education, science-technology, security and defence partnership with the host countries is also among their tasks, he added. Hai Phong needs to focus on human resource training President Truong Tan Sang has told authorities of Hai Phong city to arrange its network of vocational schools along with its colleges and universities to improve the quality of human resources to aid its economic model shifting and integration. The port city needs to review appropriate personnel placement and seek assistant sources to ease difficulties for businesses with poor performance, he said during his working session with municipal key officials on July 22. Hailing its efforts in making economic recovery and maintaining social order and security, the President stressed the city’s strategic position in the northern economic key economic area – the main gateway to the north – in the course of intensive international integration. In regard to assistance to develop key projects in Hai Phong, he suggested the city maximise social involvement, particularly from private firms, in addition to such solutions as bond issuance. He asked the city to pay more attention to accelerating sea-based economy and assisting island localities, like Bach Long Vi district, in providing fishing logistics service and rescue operations. In the first six months of this year, Hai Phong registered a GDP growth of 7.2 percent. It saw an increase of 14.6 % in goods handled at Hai Phong port and a 7.1% rise in tourist arrivals while luring US$ 637 million in foreign direct investment (FDI). The city is dealing with potential shortages of safe water, climate change, sea water level rise, and pollutions stemming from urban wastes, rural areas and industrial parks. Earlier, President Sang visited and presented gifts to the High Command of Navy. He praised the staff and soldiers for overcoming difficulties to safeguard the sea and island sovereignty as well as protect law enforcement authorities at sea and fishermen. As part of his visit, he inspected the production and business at Bridgestone company in the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. On July 21, he visited the island district of Bach Long Vi, 133km from Hai Phong. Peace Committee delegation visits Laos A delegation of the Vietnam Peace Committee led by its president Pham Van Chuong held a working session with a delegation of the Lao Solidarity and Peace Committee led by its president Khamphanh Simmalavong in Vientiane on July 22. Both sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual concern and discussed measures to carry out the foreign policy as well as high-level agreements between the two countries. Acknowledging the two committees’ effective operations in recent times, they agreed to increase the sharing of information and experience, and assist each other in realising the foreign policy of each country, so as to elevate Vietnam-Laos relations to a new level. President Chuong said the Vietnam Peace Committee will work closely with its Lao counterpart to maintain and further develop the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries. The Vietnamese delegation also paid courtesy visits to senior Lao Party and government leaders, and visited several wartime relics in Xiang Khouang. Source: VNA/VNS/VOV