Government News 16/12 Hanoi receives Chilean President’s sculpture gift The Hanoi People’s Committee hosted a ceremony on December 15 to inaugurate an art sculptural work presented by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. The artwork, which is comprised of five pieces of stone taken from the Andes Mountains and sculptured by famous Chilean painter Vicente Fajardo, features the friendship, solidarity, and “reunification” between the two nations. Chile is one of the first Southern Latin American countries to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam in the early 1970s when the latter was about to put an end to the American war. Since then, the two countries have unceasingly developed their ties in the politics, culture, education and trade spheres. Addressing the ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Le Hong Son thanked President Michelle Bachelet and Chilean people for the gift, saying it will help step up the friendship and cooperation between the two countries. Party official conveys Xmas wishes to HCM City diocese Politburo member Le Hong Anh visited and congratulated President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam and Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh Diocese Bui Van Doc in Ho Chi Minh City on December 15 on the occasion of the coming Christmas. Anh, who is also standing member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, wished Doc, dignitaries and Catholic followers a merry and warm Christmas. Doc promised to call on Catholic followers to stay united and contribute more to the country. Cao Bang marks 70th anniversary of Vietnam People’s army A ceremony was held in the northern province of Cao Bang on December 15 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and announce Tran Hung Dao forest as special national relic site. The ceremony saw the attendance of President Truong Tan Sang. Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Huynh Ngoc Son recalled the history of Vietnam People’s Army, while underlining Cao Bang’s great contributions to the country’s revolution in the past and construction and development at present. On December 22, 1944, the VPA’s predecessor – the Vietnam Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation was founded in Tran Hung Dao forest in Tam Kim commune, Nguyen Binh district, Cao Bang province. Of the first 34 soldiers of the Vietnam Armed Propaganda Unit for National Liberation at that time, 25 were from ethnic minorities in Cao Bang, he said. On this occasion, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son handed over a certificate recognising Tran Hung Dao forest as the special national relic site to Cao Bang authorities. An art performance was held to mark the event was held. President pays visit to Cao Bang border guards President Truong Tan Sang visited and extended New Year wishes to border guards in Dam Thuy commune, Trung Khanh district in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang on December 15. He praised them for efforts to ensure social order and security in the border area and asked for building a borderline of peace, making it easier to draw more visitors to Ban Gioc tourist area. Earlier the day, the President attended inaugural ceremonies for the Phat Tich Truc Lam Ban Gioc pagoda and the four-star Saigon-Ban Goc Resort located in the commune. President hands over breeding cows to Cao Bang poor families President Truong Tan Sang handed over 50 breeding cows to poor households in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang on December 15. The recipients come from Chi Vien, Dam Thuy and Phong Nam communes in Trung Khanh district. The programme “Breeding cows help the poor in border areas”, initiated by the military-run telecom group Viettel, is to help border provinces across the country with poverty reduction. Also at the ceremony, Viettel donated 20,000 tonnes of cement to northern border localities, 2,000 of which went to Cao Bang, as part of efforts to assist them in housing renovation and animal husbandry. The President also paid a call on priest Tran Duc Hanh and Catholics in Thanh Son diocese on the occasion of the coming Christmas. He extended a merry Christmas and best wishes for a new year to them. 4th ASEAN Chief Justices’ Roundtable wraps up The fourth ASEAN Chief Justices’ Roundtable on the Role of the Judiciary in Environmental Protection concluded in Hanoi on December 14 after two days of sitting. The event, co-organised by the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), focused discussions on cooperation in environment-related issues among ASEAN’s national courts, the Jakarta Common Vision on Environment for ASEAN Judiciaries and the Hanoi Plan of Action. They also looked at how to ensure rights of locals while protecting the environment and a range of issues such as deforestation and the trafficking of timber and wildlife. Addressing the closing ceremony, Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court of Vietnam Truong Hoa Binh said the roundtable was a success with participants agreeing to increase the role of the courts in environmental protection. It offered a chance for representatives from the ASEAN courts to share experience and information on addressing environment-related disputes, he said, adding that its outcomes will make a practical contribution to the building of the ASEAN Community by 2015. The ASEAN Chief Justices’ Roundtable was established by Harafin Tumba, Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Indonesia. The first meeting was held in Jakarta in 2011. NA Vice Chairwoman tours Bac Lieu’s economic institutions Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong inspected production at the Vietnam–Australia Co., Ltd – a subsidiary of the Vietnam−Australia Company (VAC) – in Bac Lieu as part of her working visit to the Mekong Delta province on December 14. VAC leaders briefed the NA official on the company’s current production situation and its future strategic orientations. The VAC has established its shrimp breeding subsidiaries in seven southern provinces, supplying 16.5 billion baby shrimp per year for the southern markets. Its subsidiary in Bac Lieu has produced over 4.2 billion baby shrimp so far this year, with local consumption at 641,000 shrimp and the remaining 3.5 billion shrimp sold to other provinces. The VAC accounts for over 22% of the country’s shrimp breeding market shares with more than 1,000 outlets and 8,500 constant consumers. The company has recently been voted among the top five high-quality shrimp breeders in Vietnam. Politburo member Phong praised the efforts made by the VAC and its Bac Lieu subsidiary in its business production and job creation for labourers, while asking the company to focus more on combining production with environmental protection and planning production strategies to actively respond to climate change. On the same day, NA Vice Chairwoman Phong had a working session with the management board of the “Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant” project – the largest wind power project in Vietnam so far with a total investment of roughly VND5.26 trillion (US$247.22 million). The NA official spoke highly of wind power development in Bac Lieu, asking local authorities and the plant’s leaders to fully tap into the coastal localities’ potential advantages and promote eco-tourism development and aquacultures aiming to create jobs for local people and stabilise the lives of coastal residents. The project has been approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung with its funding sourced from the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and has been added to the list of power source projects in the national master plan for power development for the 2011-2020 period with a vision to 2030. Work on the first phase of the project has been completed, with 10 turbines producing over 20,000 MW for the national grid so far. The project’s 62 turbines are expected to add about 320 million KWh per year to the national grid once completed, contributing to stabilising energy security and raising the proportion of renewable energies. Source: VNA/VOV/Nhandan/VNN