Japan’s election observers arrive in Cambodia

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Japan’s governmental election observation mission arrived in Cambodia on July 20 for monitoring the country’s election scheduled for July 27.

The 23-member mission, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Kimura Hitoshi, will stay in Cambodia for 10 days to observe the final days of the election campaign and the vote day, according to the Cambodian Election Commission.

The Japanese government is one of the largest donors for the fourth parliament election of Cambodia with nearly 3 million USD.-

Digital marketing takes off as latest trend to hit country

Digital marketing was at the top of the agenda in a seminar on July 18 hosted by the Vietnam Marketing Association and attended by economists, officials and industry experts.

The internet and radio are providing advertising opportunities in Vietnam , according to Ralf Matthaes, managing director of TNS, a market research company, who spoke on digital media at the seminar.

More than 20 million people in Vietnam use the internet, the 17 th highest usage in the world, he said. That figure is expected to reach 30 million by 2010.

Ralf said that more than 60 percent of urban Vietnamese surf the web at least once a week.

About 100 companies in the country currently advertise through SMS on mobile phones. At least 48 million people own mobile phones in Vietnam , a figure that is expected to double by 2010.

Global revenue from SMS advertising on mobile phones was only 878 million USD last year, but is expected to reach 4.36 billion USD by 2011.

Visitors to social netwoking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, have grown 34 percent in the past year to 530 million worldwide, Ralf added.

There are 1.3 billion internet users in the world, of which 39 percent are Asian.

Ralf said the internet was a highly underutilised medium in Vietnam with great potential, with only 5 percent of companies using digital marketing.

Online advertising is expected to grow when in-home internet accounts in Vietnam increase from the current 21 percent to 30-35 percent penetration.

The development of social online networks, such as Facebook and MySpace, are also potential sites for advertisers and marketers, he said.

Also discussed at the meeting was the prevention of spam, a pressing concern among businesses, speakers said.

Do Ngoc Duy Trac, a security expert from the Ministry of Information and Communications, said the ministry would issue a decree on spam prevention and protection of business internet users.

The decree will call for strict penalties for violators, including revocation of investment licenses.-

Viet-It Affairs online makes debut

An online portal named Viet-It Affairs has made debut, aimed at providing full and systemised information for both Italian investors and Vietnamese businesses.

The website in the Italian, Vietnamese and English languages is not only a venue for businesses, but also provides effective and reliable information on investment for foreign investors who want to invest in Vietnam as well as for Vietnamese businesses interested in the Italian market.

Viet-It Affairs also provides the two countries’ business circles with information on culture, tourism, finance, trade, exhibitions, and consultancy.

The website, developed by Time&Mind in collaboration with the Italia-Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and the Turin-based non-profitable centre for Vietnamese studies, is the first of its kind in Italy.

Syrian Deputy FM ends Vietnam’s visit

Faisal Makdad, Deputy Foreign Minister and special envoy of the Syrian President, has wrapped up his three-day visit to Vietnam that had begun on July 17.

While in Vietnam, the Syrian official had met with Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan, held talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung and visited some economic and cultural establishments in Hanoi .

During the meetings, the two sides informed each other about their socio-economic situations and discussed measures to boost bilateral friendship and multifaceted cooperation. They also exchanged views on international and regional issues of mutual concerns.

The Syrian Deputy FM highly appreciated Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements over the past 20 years, while the Vietnamese officials expressed wish to expand traditional relations and cooperation with Syria.-

Deputy PM: UNSC approves Vietnam-drafted statement on children

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had adopted the UNSC Chair’s Statement prepared by Vietnam in addition to introducing orientations for new actions related to healthcare, education, and technical assistance to address long-term consequences of armed conflicts to children and speed up the implementation of related legal documents, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said.

Talking with the New York-based Vietnam News Agency correspondent following the UNSC’s open debate on “Children and armed conflicts” on July 17 where he worked as chairman, Deputy PM Khiem said child issues and armed conflicts were considered as significant by the UNSC because those matters caught the international community’s concern.

Around 2 million children were reportedly killed and 6 million others seriously injured or permanently disabled in armed conflicts besides falling victim of fighting, kidnappings, rapes, sexual slavery, and other cruel forms of tortures in the past decade alone, said the Vietnamese deputy PM.

“The UNSC’s effective operation will help prevent and put an end to armed conflicts and completely root out such situations,” Deputy PM Khiem said.

At the open debate held under the initiative of Vietnam , UN agencies, countries and non-governmental organisations re-evaluated the effectiveness and outcomes of deployed measures and discussed directions for their future cooperation in order to protect children more effectively in armed conflicts, he added.

Also at the debate, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon delivered a speech on the issue on behalf of 40 nations and leaders of many international organisations, Deputy PM Khiem said.

He affirmed that his Chair of the open debate reflected Vietnam ’s respect and sense of responsibility to the UNSC, the leading agency tasked to maintain global peace and security.

Deputy PM Khiem unveiled that he had separate meetings with the UN General Secretary, UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Swaziland Moses Mathendele Dlamini, and US Ambassador to UN Zalmey Khalizad on the sidelines of the debate.

He went on to note that the country’s initiative to highlight the theme “Children and armed conflicts” at the open debate and its joint preparations on contents and organisational work has been highly valued as active contributions to the UNSC’s operation by the UN General Secretary and other member countries.
The Deputy PM stressed that through those preparations and the Vietnamese representative’s speeches to the UNSC and contacts with the world media, Vietnam ’s peace-loving tradition and its policy of giving special care to and protection of children were indicated strongly.

This was of more significance when Vietnam is preparing to report to the Committee for the Convention on the Right of the Child on its implementation of the Convention in the country, Deputy PM Khiem added.

He talked about the UNSC’s operation in the second half of the year, mentioning debates on issues already mentioned in its agenda, i.e those related to peace and security in different regions and discussions on issues possibly arising in the world.

Deputy PM Khiem referred to the situation in the Middle East, Darfur, and Kosovo, nuke issues in Iran , the Democratic Republic of Korea, and developments in Myanmar as those of great concern, in addition to the situation in Zimbabwe and Georgia .

In the coming time, Vietnam will continue to partake in the UNSC’s activities in an active, initiative, constructive and responsible manner and work with other countries to seek practical solutions to issues arising in the UNSC’s operation on the basis of the UN Charter in respect of legitimate interests of all nations and for the sake of peace, cooperation and development, Deputy PM Khiem said-

Vietnam-Russia friendship meeting held in Moscow

A friendship meeting to highlight the solidarity, cooperation and development between Vietnam and Russia was opened in Moscow on July 19.

The President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association, Vladimir Buianov, expressed his pleasure at the development of the two countries’ friendship and multi-faceted cooperation in recent years.

He emphasised that the year 2008 was marked with mutual visits of the two countries’ representatives and the signing of many cooperation agreements.

The association has so far established their branches in nine cities of Russia and it has launched a lot of activities to strengthen ties with Vietnamese organisations and introduce renovated Vietnam to the Russian people, the chairman said.

The President of the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations, Tran Thi Bich Thuy, affirmed that the Vietnamese people are always grateful for the Russian friends’ assistance during their past struggle for national salvation and current construction.

She said that Vietnam will try its best to further develop friendship and cooperative relations with Russia .

A memorandum of understanding on training cooperation was signed between the College of Foreign Languages under the Hanoi National University and the Moscow Institute of Economics and Law during the meeting.

Vice chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Vietnamese ambassador to Russia Bui Dinh Dinh, President of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Russia Le Ngoc Huong and representatives of Vietnamese agencies in Russia were present at the meeting.

President of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association Vladimir Buianov and other officials of the association also attended the event.-

India, Pakistan hold dialogue on Kashmir

– India and Pakistan opened a new round of peace talks on Kashmir in the latter’s capital of Islamabad on July 18, news reports said.

The talks of the India-Pakistan working group will focus on trade and transport between the Indian and Pakistani parts of Kashmir, the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

The talks were originally scheduled to take place on July 10, according to news reports.

However, it had been delayed due to a bomb attack aimed at the Indian embassy in Kabul on July 7, killing 58 people, including three Indian diplomats, and injuring 150 others.–

Singaporean FM: Myanmar ratifies ASEAN charter

Myanmar has ratified a charter by Southeast Asian nations that aims to create an economic group of half a billion people, Singapore’s foreign minister said on July 18.

Myanmar will announce it next week officially, Singapore ’s Foreign Minister George Yeo was quoted as saying on Singaporean Foreign Ministry’s website.

Only Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia have not ratified the charter. But foreign minister Yeo said he was confident the charter would be fully ratified by the end of the year.

ASEAN signed the charter in November last year, with the aim of creating an economically, socially and politically integrated group by 2015.

ASEAN’s members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-

ASEAN to set up permanent representative committee

Hanoi (VNA) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will establish a committee of permanent representatives (CPR) by January 2009, Singapore’s Channel News Asia (CNA) reported on July 19.

This was announced by Singapore ’s Foreign Minister George Yeo at the final meeting of the 41st ASEAN Standing Committee.

The CPR will take over much of regional level coordination that is under the purview of the ASEAN Standing Committee, CNA said.

The ASEAN Standing Committee is a committee that carries out the work of ASEAN in between the ministerial meetings. –

Russia to sell modern jet fighters to Malaysia

Hanoi (VNA) – Russia’s Arms Exporter Rosoboronexport said it was keen to sell the fifth generation Sukhoi fighter aircraft, the multi-role Su-35 Flanker, to Malaysia, Malaysia’s Bernama news agency reported.

Two potential Asian countries, India and Malaysia, were on the state-controlled arm exporter’s list.

The Su-35 fighter jet, powered by two 117S engines, is capable of engaging several air targets simultaneously using both guided and unguided missiles and weapon systems.

Malaysia had procured 18 Sukhoi Su-30MKM from Russian manufacturers, of which six aircraft were delivered last year and the balance 12 to be supplied in two shipments by end of this year, according to Bernama. –