Category: Politics

Hanoi: A national conference reviewing the performance of the People’s Councils of provinces and centrally-run cities nationwide in 2023 and launching 2024 tasks wrapped up in Hanoi on March 25.

In his closing speech, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said after one day of sitting, the event fulfilled all its set agenda. He requested collecting all feedback at the event to submit to the NA Standing Committee for consideration.

The top legislator asked the People’s Councils to continue to closely follow the leadership of the Party Committees and their standing boards and strengthen the implementation of functions of local people-elected bodies according to the provisions of law to best fulfil their tasks in 2024.

According to Permanent Vice Chairman of the NA Tran Thanh Man, over more than half of the 2021-2026 tenure, the NA and its Standing Committee have carried out a number of reforms and devised measures for better supervising and directing activities of the People’s Councils from perfecting th
e legal foundation to increasing activities that connect the NA, its Standing Committee, and their agencies with the provincial-level People’s Councils.

The People’s Councils have also exerted efforts to boost reforms and creativity during the performance of tasks. Closely following the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws, they have issued resolutions, mechanisms, and policies meeting demand in their localities, thereby substantially contributing to the realisation of local and national socio-economic development, defence, security, and external affairs targets, he continued.

The organisation of the annual conference was an occasion for the NA and its Standing Committee to enhance the momentum for reform at local people-elected bodies, Man added.

However, the official also pointed out several shortcomings, elaborating that the quality of meetings of some People’s Councils remains limited. Some have yet to take strong or effective enough measures for fully handling post-supervision opinions
.

The settlement and reply to voters’ opinions and petitions are still slow in some provinces and cities. Besides, some people’s councils haven’t released digital transformation and IT application directions on schedule while agencies’ coordination is still lax./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Dak Nong: A ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the re-establishment of Dak Nong (January 1, 2004 – 2024) was held in the Central Highlands province on March 23 evening, with the attendance of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

As heard at the event, after two decades, Dak Nong has risen from a poor and underdeveloped province to achieving a high economic growth rate. It has witnessed a 12-fold increase in regional gross domestic product, a 20-fold increase in total social investment capital, and a 13-fold increase in per capita income compared to 2004.

On behalf of the Party and State’s leaders, NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue awarded a first-class Independence Order to Dak Nong at the ceremony.

In his remarks, the leader highlighted the province’s crucial position in the Central Highlands region and the nation in terms of socio-economic development, national defence, and security.

He noted that in addition to owning two internationally recognised heritages, which are the Gong culture space and t
he Dak Nong global geopark, the province is blessed with favourable natural conditions, including climate and soil, for agricultural and tourism development as well as for becoming the hub for bauxite-aluminum industry in the country.

Lauding Dak Nong’s progress so far, he urged the local authorities to promptly implement the provincial master planning scheme for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, through specific programmes and tasks. The aim is to become a relatively developed province in the Central Highlands region, a national centre for bauxite-aluminum industry, and a hub for renewable energy in the region by 2030.

Chairman Hue recommended the province to develop resort and eco-tourism, leveraging its advantages in climate, natural landscapes, and cultural identity.

The NA Chairman said as a locality where 40 ethnic groups are living together, it needs to concentrate resources on caring for and improving the living standards of the communities, while effectively implementing land policies.

Given its
critical role in national defence and security, Dak Nong must steadfastly maintain the country’s defence, security, and border sovereignty, and ensure political stability, social order and safety, especially in rural and religious areas, he said.

The leader also stressed the importance of continuing to strengthen Party building work, with a focus on ensuring transparency, promoting anti-corruption efforts, practicing thrift and combating wastefulness./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Tien Giang: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has urged the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang to achieve harmonious development in the fields of socio-economy, culture and environment while ensuring national defence and security.

At a working session with the Standing Board of the provincial Party Committee on March 24, PM Chinh said, with unique potential and competitive advantages, Tien Giang is well-positioned to develop its industries, trade and services, acting as one of the key growth poles in the Mekong Delta.

He asked the province to effectively carry out the 13th National Party Congress’s Resolution and the Party’s policies and guidelines on orientations to the region’s socio-economic development, national defence-security; the State’s policies and laws, the Government and PM’s directions and Resolution adopted by the provincial Party Congress.

Tien Giang must pursue faster and more sustainable development, relying on sci-tech, green transition, sharing and circular economy, and e-commerce, he said
, adding that it must also reform administrative procedures, improve the local business environment by building a healthy, transparent and united administrative system.

Looking ahead, the province was tasked with effectively carrying out its master planning scheme for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, with a focus on socio-economic infrastructure via foreign direct investment and public-private partnerships.

Its rankings in indices reflecting the business and investment environment must be improved, such as the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR INDEX), alongside provincial-level digital transformation and innovation rankings.

The provincial Party Organisation was assigned to pay attention to building a strong and clean Party and political system while fighting corruption, negative phenomena and wastefulness.

Vowing to deal with the province’s proposals, delegates sugge
sted that Tien Giang should focus on overcoming challenges posed by climate change, landslides, subsidence and saline intrusion.

They also advised the province to pool all resources for strategic infrastructure development, and build major industrial hubs for manufacturing and processing, agro-aquatic product processing, and strengthening connectivity between local production and supply chains with regional and global markets./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Speaker of the Parliament of Finland Jussi Halla-aho and a high-ranking delegation of the Finnish Parliament arrived in Hanoi at noon on March 24, beginning a three-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

The delegation was welcomed at the Noi Bai International Airport by Vice Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Foreign Affairs Le Anh Tuan and Finnish Ambassador to Vietnam Keijo Norvanto, among others.

This is the first visit to a country outside Europe by Jussi Halla-aho since he took office and he is visiting only Vietnam this time, showing Vietnam’s special position in Finland’s foreign policy, as well as the good friendship between the two legislatures.

The visit also aims to mark the 50th founding anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations (1973 – 2023).

The visit is expected to help strengthen the cooperative relations between the two countries in various areas, Don Tuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the NA’s Committee for Foreig
n Affairs, spoke to the media ahead of the visit.

According to the official, over the past 51 years, the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Finland have been maintained and developed well. Finland always gives Vietnam much attention and support.

Finland has continuously provided non-refundable aid to Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic relations. Economic-trade-investment cooperation is a top priority in their relations.

Two-way trade has continuously increased, reaching nearly 380 million USD in 2023. However, it is still a modest number, especially in the context of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) taking effect in 2020.

Regarding investment, Finland currently ranks 58th out of 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with 35 valid projects worth over 47 million USD, which also remains modest rate compared to Finland’s economic potential and strengths, Phong said.

Therefore, Phong said, through this visit, leaders of the two c
ountries will discuss measures to further strengthen economic, trade, and investment cooperation, particularly how to raise trade turnover, increase Finnish investment in Vietnam, and attract more Finnish businesses to Vietnam, especially in fields where the European country has strengths and Vietnam has demand like high technology, digital transformation, education-training, and component production.

The official informed that the top legislators of Vietnam and Finland are scheduled to discuss measures to strengthen cooperation between the two legislatures, especially in exchanging experience in legislation and supreme supervision, and deciding on important national issues./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov has sent a letter of condolences to Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin.

In his letter, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov said he was deeply saddened by the news of numerous casualties and injuries as a result of a terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow.

PM Ali Asadov extended his sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who were killed and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency

Azerbaijani citizens are visiting the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Baku to commemorate those who were killed in a terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in the city of Moscow.

The citizens lay flowers in front of the embassy and pray for the souls of the dead.

An online book of condolences has been opened by the embassy.

Due to the tragedy, the national flag of the Russian Federation was lowered to half-mast at the embassy.

The death toll in a terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow has risen to 115.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency