Category: General

President Vo Van Thuong had a meeting with the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos and representatives of the Vietnamese businesses and community there in Vientiane on April 11 as part of his official visit to the neighbouring country.

About 100,000 Vietnamese are living, working, or studying in Laos, with nearly 40,000 of them in Vientiane capital, according to Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Ba Hung.

Highlighting the two countries’ special friendship, President Thuong emphasised that the Party and State always pay attention to overseas Vietnamese (OVs), including those in Laos, and consider them an integral part of the national great solidarity.

He highly valued the patriotism and contributions by the Vietnamese people and enterprises in Laos to the homeland’s development and safeguarding, as well as relations between the two countries.

He called on the community to exert stronger efforts to weather difficulties to do long-term and sustainable business so as to help with bilateral economic and investment partnerships.

The Vietnamese State will always pay attention to, tackle difficulties, and facilitate result-oriented ties between the countries’ businesses, the leader affirmed.

President Thuong also expressed his hope that the Vietnamese people in Laos will keep upholding solidarity, develop a strong community, contribute more to socio-economic development in Laos, and help maintain and strengthen the special and close-knit relations between the countries. On April 11 afternoon, the President and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam left Vientiane, wrapping up the official visit to Laos./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Khmer ethnic people in Kien Giang province are currently in a festive atmosphere as their traditional New Year festival called Chol Chnam Thmay is nearing.

The 2023 Chol Chnam Thmay festival will take place from April 14 to 16 (the 24th – 26th of the second lunar month).

With over 13% of its population being Khmer people (238,000), Kien Giang is home to the third largest Khmer community in the Mekong Delta, after Soc Trang and Tra Vinh provinces.

This year, all descendants in the family of Danh Nguon in Hoa Thanh hamlet of Dinh Hoa commune, Go Quao district, will return home from faraway working places to celebrate the festival. The family is busily preparing for the event, especially making “banh tet”, a traditional cylindrical-shaped dish made from glutinous rice, mung bean and pork, to present as gifts to relatives and offer to ancestors.

Nguon said after a hardworking year, his family treasures the reunion on this occasion most, and the festival is also a time for reminding descendants of the fine long-standing customs.

Danh Ut, a resident in Binh Loi hamlet of Minh Hoa commune, noted Khmer people have never celebrated the traditional New Year festival as joyfully as this year.

Chol Chnam Thmay is an occasion to educate younger generations on filial piety, meet relatives and friends, exchange greetings, review achievements in a year, and encourage charitable work.

Traditionally, people visit pagodas to offer flowers and prayers to the Buddha on the first day of the New Year and then engage in festive activities, including folk singing and dancing.

This year, Chau Thanh district has organised a boat race to celebrate Chol Chnam Thmay, attracting 25 teams with 250 members and thousands of spectators. The race is also a traditional activity every New Year festival of the Khmer community.

Danh Phuc, head of the Kien Giang board for ethnic minority affairs, said that to help locals welcome a merry festival, the board has coordinated with relevant agencies and localities to organise such activities as holding gatherings with monks, retired cadres, martyrs’ families, war invalids, revolution contributors, and reputable persons in the community, and visiting and presenting gifts to the provincial Association for Solidarity of Patriotic Monks, Khmer pagodas, boarding schools for ethnic minority students, and disadvantaged families.

He went on to say that despite difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, local Khmer people have still benefited from better life quality.

Phuc highlighted improvements in education and health care, stable political security and social order and safety, as well as enhanced solidarity among ethnic groups. He attributed those attainments partly to the timely implementation of programmes, projects, and policies on ethnic minorities, along with people’s consensus and adherence to the Party’s guidelines and the State’s laws.

As a result, many households have succeeded in developing production and business, helping to alleviate poverty in the Khmer community. Under the multidimensional approach, the household poverty rate among local ethnic minority groups has been brought down to 3.68% and the rate of near-poor households down to nearly 6%, according to the official./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

More than 236 trillion VND (10 billion USD) had been mobilised to directly serve the COVID-19 prevention and control as of December 31, 2022, according to a report by a National Assembly (NA) supervisory delegation.

Results of the NA delegation’s supervision over the mobilisation, management, and use of resources for the pandemic combat, along with the implementation of policies and laws on grassroots health care and preventive medicine were discussed at the ongoing 22nd session of the NA Standing Committee on April 11.

Presenting the report, Chairwoman of the NA’s Committee for Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh, deputy head of the supervisory delegation, said that of the mobilised sum, over 189 trillion VND came from the state budget and the rest, from donation (mainly vaccines) and sponsorship sources.

More than 15.1 trillion VND was raised for the COVID-19 vaccine fund. Meanwhile, Vietnam received nearly 160 million doses of donated and sponsored vaccines, including almost 150 million doses worth about 24 trillion VND donated by other countries’ governments.

Millions of volunteers, especially health professionals and members of armed forces, directly worked in the frontline. People of all social strata, enterprises, the Government, and international organisations contributed efforts as well as assistance in cash and in kind to the pandemic fight. The management, use, and payment for resources mobilised for the COVID-19 combat were basically carried out in line with regulations.

Based on the pandemic situation and demand in reality, donations and sponsorships were allocated in a timely manner while recipients managed and used the support properly, Anh noted.

Regarding the implementation of policies and laws on grassroots health care and preventive medicine, she said the grassroots heath network has expanded across the country. By the end of 2022, all districts nationwide had medical centres, and 99.6% of the communal-level localities had clinics, with 92.4% of the clinics having doctors.

The report also highlighted improvements in the quantity and quality of medical personnel, health service supply and quality at the grassroots level, as well as people’s satisfaction of medical personnel’s performance and service quality.

Pointing out certain problems and shortcomings, the supervisory delegation asked the Government, the Prime Minister, the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, and related parties to draft some new laws such as one on disease prevention or another on the state of emergency, or propose revisions to existing ones like the ordinance on emergencies and the health insurance law.

It also called for building a master plan on response to emergencies and continuing to implement the solutions issued by the NA and the NA Standing Committee to address obstacles to the mobilisation, management, and use of resources for the COVID-19 fight.

Regarding preventive medicine, the delegation recommended the grassroots healthcare and preventive medicine systems be consolidated, training increased for grassroots health workers, and policies promulgated to ensure appropriate salary and allowances for those at the grassroots level./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Vo Van Thuong visited former Party General Secretaries and Presidents Choummaly Sayasone and Bounnhang Vorachith, and former Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong on April 11, within the framework of his official visit to Laos.

Thuong conveyed New Year (Bunpimay) wishes from Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to the former Lao leaders.

He thanked them for their great contributions to the two countries’ special solidarity as well as their support for the comprehensive development of the bilateral friendship and collaboration.

Appreciating the great achievements that the Lao Party, State and people have gained in recent years, the Vietnamese leader expressed his belief that under the sound leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, Laos will soon overcome difficulties and develop further. The former Lao leaders showed their delight at the fine development of the two countries’ relations in all fields, and thanked for the valuable support and assistance from the Vietnamese side.

They proposed the two countries continue sharing experience, nurturing the special friendship, and improving the efficiency of the implementation of signed agreements.

They also stressed the need to maintain the dissemination and education work on the bilateral relations for the two peoples, especially younger generations. The same day, President Thuong laid a wreath at President Kaysone Phomvihane’s Monument./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang visited religious and belief organisations in the northern border province of Lang Son on the occasion of Easter 2023.

At the Lang Son – Cao Bang Diocese and My Son Parish in Lang Son city, Quang extended his greetings to local Catholic priests and followers.

He affirmed that the Party, State and Government always pay great attention to, respect and ensure human rights, including the right to freedom of belief and religion; and create favourable conditions for religious organisations to operate in accordance with the Constitution and laws.

The strong development of Lang Son province has been actively and responsibly contributed by Catholic compatriots, he stressed.

Quang expressed his hope that in the coming time, Lang Son leaders, people of all ethnic groups and Catholic compatriots will maintain solidarity, well observe the Party’s guidelines and policies and the State’s laws, and promote the cultural and historical traditions and the national great solidarity.

Bishop Chau Ngoc Tri of the diocese thanked leaders of the Party, State, Government, socio-political organisations and local authorities for always paying attention and creating favourable conditions for cultural and religious activities of Catholics in the locality.

On the same day, the Deputy Prime Minister also visited the Bac Son Evangelical Church in Bac Son district./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

A delegation of Ho Chi Minh City led by Vice Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Hieu on April 11 visited the Lao Consulate General in the city on the occasion of the country’s traditional New Year festival (Bunpimay).

On behalf of the municipal leaders and people, Hieu extended the best wishes to Consul General Phimpha Keomixay and the Consulate General’s staff.

He expressed his delight at the fine development of the relations between Vietnam and Laos, and between his city and Lao localities, adding that the ongoing official visit to Laos by President Vo Van Thuong – the first foreign trip in his position as the State leader – demonstrates the priority Vietnam gives to its great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation with Laos.

Ho Chi Minh City is always willing and makes the best efforts to continue strengthening its friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Lao localities, he added.

Thanking the Vietnamese Government and people for their support, Phimpha Keomixay pledged that she will do her utmost to further consolidate the two countries’ relations./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency