Press digests – April 14

Chinese party delegation busy in VN

Receiving a Chinese delegation led by Hu Chunhua, CPC Politburo member and Secretary of the Guangdong Party Committee, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong highlighted the outcomes of the economic and trade cooperation between Guangdong and VietNam’s localities, voicing his hope that the visit will further enhance the development of the collaboration and exchanges between the two sides.

For his part, the guest affirmed that the Party, Government and people of China always attach importance to and hope to expand the traditional friendship and strategic cooperative comprehensive partnership between Viet Nam and China, pledging to further the collaboration between Guangdong and Vietnamese localities.

NA Standing Committee starts 27th session

The 27th session of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee convened, focusing on building draft laws on various issues such as security-defense, economics and education.

During the meeting, members of the committee will discuss 13 draft laws and raise their opinions on supervising lawmaking programs and adopting several important resolutions.

The same day, the committee’s members contributed their opinions on issuing a draft law on curriculum reform and the content renovation of textbooks for general education after 2015.

Deputy PM: UK firms can excel in VN

The Deputy PM Vu Van Ninh confirmed that Viet Nam has paid a great deal of attention to improving the environment for its sustainable development and investment at a business forum in London, as part of his ongoing visit to the UK.

He called on the UK business community to contribute their voices to convince the country’s government to acknowledge Viet Nam’s market economy regulations at an early date.

He also expressed his belief that a free trade agreement between Viet Nam and the EU will be reached this year.

Earlier, Mr. Ninh attended a meeting with the Viet Nam-UK Network which was established during the UK visit of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in January last year.

China, VN strengthen trade links

Viet Nam and China aim to achieve a bilateral trade turnover of US$60 billion and reduce Vietnamese import surplus from China by 2015.

The information was revealed at a seminar discussing ways to strengthen economic and trade cooperation between Viet Nam and China’s Guangdong province.

At the seminar, Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh spoke highly of economic and trade cooperation which have played a crucial role in the comprehensive relations between Viet Nam and China.

The seminar gave both sides a good chance to connect and strengthen trade exchange and mutual understanding between the business communities and bolster cooperation in economics, trade and investment between Viet Nam and China in general and among Viet Nam’s localities and China’s Guangdong province in particular.

Education Minister in Singapore to discuss bilateral cooperation

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan met his Singaporean counterpart Heng Swee Keat to discuss the operations of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), as well as ways to foster bilateral cooperation in education.

The Minister proposed that Singapore continue helping train English teachers for Viet Nam, and holding more conferences to share the country’s experience with Vietnamese experts and lecturers in the fields of biotechnology, logistics, e-commerce and university and college management.

Minister Luan also affirmed that Viet Nam is eager to study the education model of Singapore, as it is working towards comprehensive education reform.

Long An rice, dragon fruit certified in US

Chau Thanh dragon fruit and Cho Dao fragrant rice from the Mekong Delta province of Long An have received certified trademarks from the United States Patent and Trademarks Office (USTPO). The certificates will be valid for 10 years.

The trademark protection certificates will ensure three rights for their holders. They will prohibit any production units with the same business line in the country using the trademark; have the right to transfer the rights use to any partner in the country; and have the right to request legal enforcement agencies to protect their trademark if any one violates the copyright.

Ho Chi Minh City announces socio-economic overall plan

Ho Chi Minh City announced its master plan for socio-economic development through 2020, with a vision towards 2025, focusing on stepping up its connection with surrounding localities as well as the inter-disciplinary and inter-regional collaboration for the city’s fast and sustainable growth.

Under the plan, the country’s biggest economic hub will strive to become a multi-functioning economic, social and cultural centre with modern infrastructure system by 2020. It plans to develop facilities for the education and training, science-technology, healthcare, and sports sectors in accordance with national and regional standards up until 2030.

The city targets GDP growth ranging from 10-10.5% between 2011 and 2015, 9.5-10% in the 2016-2020 period and 8.5-9% in the five subsequent years. The GDP per capita will reach US$8,430-8,822 by 2020.

Belgium backs VN’s planning reform

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung and Belgian Ambassador to Viet Nam Angelet Bruno signed a specific agreement for the project “Capacity Development for the Planning Reform (CDPR)”, with a total budget of €4.3 million.

The project aims to improve the preparation and implementation of a socio-economic development plan through improved planning and budgeting for pro-poor and pro-growth policies and interventions.

It will focus on strengthening the capacity of central level, provincial and selected local authorities and, monitoring and evaluating plans and budget estimation through an improved legal framework and training of trainers.

Real estate sector ranks second in FDI attraction

In the first quarter, the nation approved five FDI projects in the real estate sector with a total registered capital amounting to over US$288 million. The figure made up 8.6% of total pledged FDI capital, ranking second among the sectors with FDI involvement.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing and processing sector came in first with 141 projects worth 2.3 billion USD, or 70% of the total FDI capital.

Rice exports earn high revenue

From January 1 to April 10, 2014 Viet Nam shipped 1.324 tons of rice to overseas markets, earning a staggering US$622.334 million.

In the first ten days of April alone, more than 108,900 tons were exported, reaping US$50.956 million.

By Thuy Dung