Weekly digest – August 31-September 5
Grand meeting marks National Day
A grand meeting was held on September 2 at Ba Dinh Square, Ha Noi, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the August Revolution and the National Day.
On behalf of Party and State leaders, State President Truong Tan Sang delivered a speech during which he remarked September 2 as the day that charted a new era of national independence and socialism in Viet Nam’s history.
He said he believes that Viet Nam will definitely attain more achievements in its process of making its people wealthy, its country strong and its society democratic, fair and civilized.
Gov’t convenes August regular meeting
PM Nguyen Tan Dung on August 31 presided over the August regular meeting to discuss eight-month socio-economic performance and budget collection.
In the two-day meeting, the Cabinet will listen to and comment on reports on socio-economic development in the first eight months and forecast for the whole year; socio-economic forecast for 2016; State budget estimate for 2016, as well as implementation of SOEs restructuring.
Venezuela, VN expand cooperation
Viet Nam attaches importance to further deepening relations with Venezuela for the sakes of the two countries and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the two regions and the world as well.
State President Truong Tan Sang made the above statement during his talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro Moros in Ha Noi on Monday.
Both sides also agreed to lift up the two-way trade value to US$1-2 billion in the coming years, expand cooperation in security and defense through experience sharing and training.
VN to boost biofuel distribution & consumption
PM Nguyen Tan Dung issued a directive to strengthen distribution and consumption of biofuel.
The document targets to realize the PM’s Decision No. 53/2012/QD-TTg, dated November 22, 2012 detailing a roadmap for application of ratios for blending biofuels with traditional fuels.
In some localities, customers still ignored E5biofuel due to weak dissemination on the new energy, the lack of retail stations, and difficult production and distribution.
New railway routes to be built
The PM has approved adjustments to Viet Nam’s railway transport development plan to 2020 with a vision toward 2030.
Accordingly, the future railway system will be developed in a synchronized manner with advanced transport services delivered at high quality, safety standards and reasonable prices.
It is planned to meet around 3-4% of passenger transport demand and 4-5% of cargo transport demand; develop long-distance transport services; speed up large-volume transport services; as well as expand regional and international transport links.
A boost for Vietnamese exports
The PM has approved a project to promote Vietnamese enterprises to join international distribution channels by 2020 as part of efforts to boost Vietnamese exports.
Under the newly-approved project, by 2020, Vietnamese exports would be shipped directly to large-scale distribution channels inEurope, North America, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asiaandcountries which signed FTAs with Viet Nam.
Top legislator begins U.S. official visit
National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung left New York for Boston, beginning his official visit to the US after attending the 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament.
The visit is made at the invitations of President Pro Tempore of the US Senate Patrick Leahy, Speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner and US Senator John McCain.
During the 4th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, the Vietnamese top legislator delivered a speech at the opening session, in which he affirmed the Vietnamese NA’s active and responsible participation in implementing Sustainable Development Goals.
22 million students enter new school year
More than 22 million school students at all education levels on September 5 participated in the opening ceremony of the new academic year of 2015-2016.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the total number of students is around 22.21 million.
Of the figure, about 4.42 million are preschool children, 15.08 million are high-school students, 350,000 are vocational students and 2.36 million are undergraduates.
The nation has 43,874 schools, including 14,203 kindergartens, 15,277 primary schools, 10,878 secondary schools, 2,767 high schools, 313 vocational schools, 217 colleges and 219 universities.
VN becomes official member of Int’l Hydrographic Organization
The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) held a ceremony to raise Viet Nam’s flag in Monaco, marking the country’s official admission to the IHO as the 84th member.
Viet Nam’s membership in the IHO marks a new stage in the development of the country’s navy force and the hydrographic sector.
The country pledges to fully adhere to the Convention on the IHO and exert every effort to actively and responsibly contribute to ensuring maritime security and safety in the region and the world.
Budget collection outstrips target in first eight months
Total budget collected in the first eight months was valued at VND 618 trillion, accounting for 67.8% of estimates and up 7% against the same period last year.
As of late August, domestic collection made up 71.9% of forecast and represented a year-on-year growth of 16.5%.
The MoF attributed the increases to adjustments to tax policies for minerals and petrol environmental protection charges.
By Thuy Dung
