Protestant missionaries granted with certificates

Dak Nong (VNA) – As many as 128 Protestant missionaries from central highlands Dak Nong province were granted with certificates on August 27 after finishing a training course held by t he Bible Theological Institute of the Southern Vietnam Federal Protestant Church.

This was the first training course held by the Institute in coordination with the local administration.

During the past four years, the students sat for 15 days every year to learn different subjects, including the church’s history and missionary work. They also studied the State’s laws and policies related to religions and belief freedom.

Dak Nong province has over recent years paid attention to socio-economic development in the ethnic minority area. Thus the material and spiritual life of over 40,000 Protestants, most of them being ethnic minority people, has been improved.-

Land in dispute to be seized for public projects

Hanoi (VNA) – The Hanoi authorities have asked relevant agencies to confiscate the whole acreage in dispute in Dong Da district for building public projects.

In accordance to a document signed by the municipal People’s Committee Vice Chairman on August 27, the area, which is used by the Chien Thang Garment Joint Stock Company and the Cement Transport Company, will be entrusted to the municipal Natural Resources and Environment Department and the Dong Da People’s Committee to work out plans to build public works for the local population.

The municipal People’s Committee also requested relevant agencies to track down organisations and individuals who had mismanaged the piece of land, and recommend appropriate reprimand or punishment.

Earlier, the Hanoi authorities assigned the Construction Department and the Dong Da People’s Committee to work out a project to build a street run alongside the area in order to facilitate the travel and living of the locals, including parishioners.

The project must be completed right in 2008, the authorities asked.

According to the Dong Da police, hundreds of people on August 15 occupied the area to pitch tents and hold prayers. The local police on the same day started legal proceedings against the public order disturbing case.-

VN-Laos gov’t special work committees meet

Vientiane (VNA) – The special work committees of the Vietnamses and Lao governments held their 13th session in Vientiane on Aug. 26.

The Vietnamese delegation was headed by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Duoc, Deputy Defence Minister and Chairman of the Vietnamese committee; and the Lao delegation, by Lieutenant General Chanthamon Chanthalath, Chairman of the Lao committee.

The two sides reviewed their cooperation in searching for remains of Vietnamese volunteer combatants and experts in Laos in the 2007-08 dry season.

They appreciated the joint efforts of the governmental special work committees of the two countries and the Lao authorities and people’s cooperation and assistance in the work, particularly their provision of valuable information.

The two sides approved a working programme for the 2008-09 dry season and signed a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation in the next year.

During its stay in Laos, the Vietnamese delegation was received by Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Deputy Prime Minister cum Defence Minister Douangchai Phichit.-

HCM Politics Institute’s officials honoured by Laos

Hanoi (VNA) – Bouthong Chitmani, Head of the Organisational Department of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee presented his country’s Freedom Order (Itsala), first class, to Vietnamese professors and officials of the Ho Chi Minh Politics Institute in Hanoi on August 27.

Recipients included To Huy Rua, secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party’s Central Committee and also chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information and Education, the institute’s director Le Huu Nghia, former director Nguyen Van Sau and 56 other officials and professors.

Speaking at the award ceremony, the Lao official said that his Party and government attached importance to the development of the two countries’ multi-faceted cooperation.

The institute has since 1975 helped train Laos cadres. Since 2005 up to now, as many as 947 Laos officials have graduated from the institute.-

Vietnam-Malaysia cooperation fruitfully continues

HCM City (VNA) – Malaysian Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Khairi Omar stated that Malaysia was willing to boost economic, trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam , particularly HCM City .

The Malaysian diplomat made the statement at a ceremony to mark the 51st National Day of his country and the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries held in HCM City on August 27.

Addressing the event, Le Quoc Hung, President of the HCM City Union of Friendship Organisations (HUFO), expressed his wish that as ASEAN members, the two countries would continue consolidate to make ASEAN an organisation of comprehensive cooperation, a dynamic region and an important factor to boost dialogue and cooperation in Asia and the Pacific.

The Malaysian Consul General and the HUFO President agreed that the Vietnam-Malaysia joint declaration on comprehensive cooperation signed in 2004 have been carried out effectively, particularly in economy, trade, investment, transport, oil and gas, defence, science and industry.

They said the establishment of the Vietnam-Malaysia Friendship Organisation would help the two countries to strengthen cooperation in tourism, education, culture, as well as labour.

The two-way trade turnover reached 4.35 billion USD in 2007.-

Condolences over Kyrgyz plane crash

Hanoi (VNA) – State President Nguyen Minh Triet has sent a message of condolences to his Kyrgyz counterpart, Kurmanbek Bakiev, over losses in humans in a plane crash on August 24.

The Iran-bound Boeing 737 plane of Kyrgyzstan’s private company Itek-Air crashed shortly after takeoff from the Bishkek capital’s Manas airport, killing 65 people and leaving 25 others injured.-

PM hails flourishing Vietnam-Australia relations

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam-Australia cooperation continued to blossom in various fields, especially bringing about a sharp increase in trade, investment and official development assistance (ODA).

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made the remark while receiving former Australian PM Paul Keating in Hanoi on August 27.
Australia is now among Vietnam ’s 10 biggest trade partners, and it has 174 direct investment projects worth over 1 billion USD in total in the country.

The cooperation in labour, education also made progress with more than 9,000 Vietnamese students and trainees sent to Australia .

The government leader cited the My Thuan Bridge – Australia ’s largest ever development assistance infrastructure project – as a symbol of the two countries’ relations.

The PM thanked the Australian government and people for their effective assistance to Vietnam , as well as to the community of 200,000 overseas Vietnamese residing and doing business in Australia .

He also thanked the former PM for his great contributions to the development of Vietnam-Australian multifaceted cooperation.

PM Dung asserted that the Vietnamese government would provide favourable conditions to Australian investors, and wished that the former Australian PM would further contribute to the two countries’ cooperation, particularly in ODA, and human resource training.

Former PM Keating said the development of Vietnam-Australia relations over the recent years has brought sweet fruits to both sides.

He also shared experiences in master plan design and macro-economy management.-

NA committee debates draft law on real estate

A high-class vilas in the Linh Dam Residential Area in Ha Noi. — VNS Truong Vi

HA NOI — The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee yesterday discussed the draft laws on real estate registration and guaranteed transactions, with legislators asking for more revisions to the laws before they are submitted to the NA in October.

Director of the NA Legal Committee, Nguyen Van Thuan said it would be a mistake if the draft law on real estate registration regulated transactions of all forms of real estate.

“Real estate under the current laws include land, housing, constructions, mines, forests, and bodies of water for aquaculture production. These are governed by different laws and different ministries. Therefore, applying a transaction certificate for all of them, as the draft law regulates, will be unsuitable,” said Thuan.

Thuan added that the common international concept of real estate was land and residential houses, so it would be a complicated issue if the draft law required the registration of transaction of factories and mines.

Registrations of property rights and property transaction are two different legal institutions, therefore, the processes will also be different and can not be governed by the same law and the same agency.

Other deputies also warned that the draft would cause more red tape as it requested real estate owners to have both a certificate of use rights and a permit in order to engage in civil transactions.

The draft law has six chapters and 76 articles, regulating trading, exchange, gifting, inheriting and capitalisation of real estate in Viet Nam.

Regarding the law on guaranteed transactions, deputies agreed that the draft law could confuse people and even State agencies as it’s articles overlapped with other existing laws such as the laws on Land, Housing, Maritime and Civil Aviation.

Thuan said that there was no convincing reason for the introduction of the law as it stood at the moment. —

HMAS ANZAC on visit to HCM City

HCM CITY — The Australian Navy warship HMAS ANZAC arrived at Sai Gon Port yesterday for a five-day visit to Viet Nam to mark the 35 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The warship is one of three ships in the Australian Navy to carry the name of both the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

The crew of 30 Australian navy officers and 160 sailors is headed by Captain Stuart Mayer. During its stay in HCM City, the crew will meet senior officers and sailors from the Viet Nam’s People’s Navy as well as join outdoor sports games with Vietnamese youth, including cadets at the Naval Technical College and students at the HCM City-based Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Besides entertaining activities, the crew also expects to explore the country’s natural beauty and participate in charity works. This is the second time the navy ship has visited the city. The first visit was in May 2000. —

Rural people provided with water filters to prevent arsenic poisoning

Hanoi (VNA) – Some communes of northern Ha Nam province have been provided with free-of-charge water filters to reduce the risk of arsenic poisoning for the local population.

Sixty filters were installed in the communes of Binh Luc and Ly Nhan districts where the average arsenic level in water sources reaches to 100-200ppb or even 300ppb, 30 times higher than the accepted.

Besides arsenic, the filters are also able to remove manganite and other toxicants while retaining useful minerals.

The project was carried out by the National Centre for Safe Water and Environmental Hygiene with the assistance from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in coordination with the HCTH Ltd. Co, a Swiss wholly invested company in Vietnam specialising in water treatment technologies.

Vietnam is facing an alarming threat of arsenic pollution in water sources with the toxicant found in tap water, underground water, ponds and lakes and even bottled water.

According to the Health Ministry, up to 21 percent of Vietnam’s population are exposed to arsenic in drinking water at a level above the acceptable 10ppb (or 0.01mg of arsenic per litre) recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Also according to the Health Ministry, water containing arsenic at the 300ppb level would cause serious cancers within only 3-4 years of using while the toxicant’s presence in water can be found only by testing equipment and symptoms of poisoning will not show until 5-15 years later.

Research has shown that arsenic-poisoned water is the cause of many diseases including skin cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer and inborn deformities.

Vietnam now is using mainly manual methods, including diluting arsenic-containing water to reduce the arsenic level.

HCTC has put on the market arsenic test kits and water filters under the licensing of the Hanoi Preventive Medicine Centre.-