Press digest – July 24

VN asks China to clarify incident in Guangxi

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Le Hai Binh had asked the Chinese side to clarify the incident on July 23, 2014 in Guangxi that caused the death of three Vietnamese women and injured two others.

He announced a number of Viet Nam’s upcoming diplomatic activities and answered some questions raised by Vietnamese and foreign reporters.

When asked about the information that Finland has seized a consignment of military equipment from Viet Nam to Ukraine, Mr. Binh said that the  equipment were meant for mending and repairing within the framework of the national defense cooperation between Viet Nam and Ukraine.

VN co-hosts ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting

At the 20th ASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting, Deputy PM, FM Pham Binh Minh highly spoke of the development in the ASEAN-EU cooperative relations, confirming that the two sides need to bring into full play achievements and potentials towards Strategic Partnership relationship.

The Deputy PM highly valued the EU’s issuance of the Declaration on the East Sea and suggested ASEAN and the EU promote their role in highlighting principles on settling disputes, exercising restraint, avoiding the use or threat to use force, seriously complying with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS and the DOC.

VN, RoK enhance cooperation in culture, education

At a reception for Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission Choi Sung Joon, Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai has said Viet Nam treasured the relationship with the Republic of Korea, especially in culture and education.

He highly valued the working visit of the Korea Communications Commission delegation to Viet Nam, including the cooperative program between the RoK’s Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) and the Viet Nam Television (VTV) to establish a channel about education.

National July CPI only increases 0.23%

The national Consumer Price Index (CPI) in July increased 0.23% against the previous month and 4.94% year on year.

Of the 11 commodities used to calculate the CPI, prices of traffic reported the highest price hike rising by 0.44%, followed by housing and construction materials 0.43%.

Da Nang launches e-government system

The Da Nang City Department of Information and Communications has recently inaugurated an e-government information system.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said  that the system, along with the city’s new administrative center that will be launched in the near future, will enable Da Nang to operate the ‘one-stop’ administrative mechanism rapidly and turn the place into an ‘intelligent city’ soon.

VN's trade with Asia-Pacific up nearly 11%

Trade between Viet Nam and the Asia-Pacific reached US$86 billion in the first half, up 10.7% against the same period last year and accounting for 61.8% of the total.

Viet Nam earned US$32.26 billion from exporting to the Asia Pacific, a year-on-year increase of 12% and making up 46% of the year’s plan.

Viet Nam’s imports from the Asia-Pacific are estimated at US$53.8 billion in the reviewed period, up 10.1% and accounting for 78.31% of the total.

JICA helps improve VN’s food safety control

A conference was held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho to review a Japan-funded project on strengthening the capacity of inspection system for ensuring safety of agro-fishery food in Viet Nam.

The project has been implemented between December 2011 and November 2014 with funding of US$4.66 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

USAID assists VN in climate change adaptation

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged to provide Viet Nam with one of the latest state-of-the-art technical tools, aimed at assisting Viet Nam best adapt and cope with climate change.

The Climate Impacts Decision Support Tool (CIMPACT-DST) - an integrated platform for climate adaptation planning – aims to predict and evaluate negative impacts caused by climate change and give consultation for urban zoning plans.

VIA, Microsoft launch mobile app contest

Viet Nam Internet Association (VIA) in partnership with Microsoft Viet Nam launched a mobile application development contest.

The competition aims to provide aspiring and professional software application developers the opportunity to showcase their technical savviness by creating software applications having significance for the fields of computing, IT, business and marketing.

By Thuy Dung