Day: December 22, 2021

Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has requested the ministries of Public Security, Transport, Health, Foreign Affairs, and Information and Communications to urgently perform their assigned tasks to carry out a pilot plan that will resume international commercial flights on January 1, 2022.

Earlier, in a notice, the Deputy PM concluded that in line with the strategy of safe, flexible, and effective adaptation to COVID-19, the reopening is necessary to help ease difficulties facing aviation firms, accelerate economic recovery, and facilitate overseas Vietnamese to return home on the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. However, the flight resumption must ensure effective control of the pandemic.

Minh agreed with the plan, which restores regular international passenger flights to areas with a high safety rate, which are Beijing/Guangzhou (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (the Republic of Korea) , Taipei (Taiwan – China), Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Vientiane (Laos), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), and San Francisco/ Los Angeles (USA). The plan will be done following the Ministry of Health’s pandemic prevention guidance for people on entry and begin on January 1 next year.

In preparation for the pilot plan, the Ministry of Health has been tasked with issuing medical guidelines for people entering the country on these international commercial flights, and consulting with experts, businesses and the general public regarding the matter.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the health ministry continues negotiating with other nations and territories on mutual recognition of the “vaccine passports”.

The ministries of Health, Public Security, Information and Communications, meanwhile, have been assigned to issue medical declaration software that is generally applicable to air travel to facilitate the declaration of passengers, the operation of aviation enterprises, and the medical monitoring, control and tracing of people on entry.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has asked airports, airlines, and relevant parties nationwide to make preparations to serve people’s travel demand while ensuring traffic and pandemic safety during the New Year, Lunar New Year, and spring festivals.

In a recent directive, the CAAV requested the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, Van Don International Airport, Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, Vietnamese airlines, and airport authorities to set up steering committees for the task, publicise hotlines available around the clock to deal with information related to their duties, and put in place plans to meet travel demand during the holidays.

Particularly, it told airports to tighten control over aviation security and safety, ready personnel for the tasks, and work closely with local authorities to minimise traffic congestion, especially at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Meanwhile, carriers were required to prepare for increasing flights, with the aviation infrastructure and security taken into account; devise measures for minimising flight delay or cancellation; and boost control to guarantee flight safety.

Aviation service providers were asked to augment examination to ensure security and safety for flights and passengers.

Besides, all the related parties also have to continue improving the awareness and sense of responsibility towards the COVID-19 prevention and control, the CAAV’s directive said.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Religious activities on social networks have become increasingly diverse amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, apart from proper practices, some individuals and organisations have taken advantage of the internet to carry out illegal activities, which requires state agencies to take countermeasures.

About 95 percent of Vietnam’s population engage in religious or belief-related practices. Sixteen religions with 43 relevant organisations have been recognised and licensed by the State. They gather over 27 million followers (about 28 percent of the population) and have nearly 30,000 places of worship.

Amid the strong development of the “digital life”, religious activities on the cyberspace are a sensitive issue that reactionary and sabotage forces have continually taken advantage of to drive a wedge in the great national unity and between the Party and the people.

Many activities on the internet have made use of religions or beliefs to distort the doctrines of orthodox religions and propagandise heresies and information running counter to good traditional customs. Such activities involve not only people living in the country but also those abroad, including hostile and reactionary elements as well as saboteurs.

By creating the crowd effect or scandals to attract public attention, they have spread misinformation about orthodox religions, driven a wedge to the national solidarity, and defamed the Party, the State, and the religious policy of Vietnam. In particular, they have frequently fabricated allegation on the administration’s discrimination against and suppression of religions so as to sow divisions in Vietnam and undermine the country’s prestige in the international arena. They have also colluded with some foreign individuals and organisations to slander the freedom of religion in Vietnam.

Suggesting some solutions to improve the management of religious and belief-related activities on cyberspace, Dr Bui Van Huan from the School of Politics of Bac Giang province said first of all, it is necessary to increase communications in appropriate forms to help users of social networks realise the plots and ruses used by hostile forces and not follow heresies or take part in illegal religious organisations. Religious dignitaries should play a more active role in fighting the abuse of religions and beliefs to disseminate wrongful viewpoints and information.

Second, state agencies should step up fine-tuning legal documents on religious and belief-related activities on cyberspace and effectively enforcing them.

Third, it is important to actively prevent and effectively deal with illegal religious activities on the internet while increasing measures to prevent plots and actions abusing religions or beliefs to sabotage the Party, State, and regime or taking advantage of the freedom of speech to sow divisions on the internet.

Fourth, it is also necessary to bring into play the role of the Episcopal Council of Vietnam and the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha to rectify wrong practices on cyberspace; maintain dialogue about the Catholic situation in Vietnam with the Holy See; keep regular contact with the US Ambassador and the Ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam to exchange information about the enforcement of laws on religions and beliefs in the country; and provide official information to serve the combat against hostile forces slandering the democracy, human rights, and religious freedom in Vietnam, according to Huan.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An on December 21 in Phnom Penh as part of his State visit to Cambodia.

During the meeting with the Cambodian PM, President Phuc congratulated Cambodia over the great accomplishments in socio-economic development and COVID-19 prevention and control that the Cambodian Government and people have gained, which he said helped contributed importantly to Cambodia’s strong growth and enhanced position in the region and the world.

He wished Cambodia success in the organization of the communal elections in 2022 and general 2023, which will create a momentum for the country to realise its goal of becoming an upper middle income level country in 2030 and a high income level country in 2050.

PM Hun Sen hailed the significance of the Vietnamese President’s state-level visit, which he said contributes to further consolidating the “good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive, sustainable long-term cooperation” between the two countries.

The two leaders informed each other on the socio-economic situation in their respective countries, and expressed satisfaction at the increasing effective and comprehensive development of the Vietnam-Cambodia cooperative relations throughout the past 55 years.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides have made efforts to maintain mutual visits and high-level contact and discussion, optimize bilateral cooperative mechanism. As a result, bilateral collaboration in national defence-security, trade-investment and between localities continued to make progress.

Trade and investment are the bright spots, with two way trade topping 8.63 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2021, up 84 percent year on year. Vietnam has had four more investment projects in Cambodia with total registered capital valued at nearly 90 million USD, almost four times the figure for the same period last year, raising the total valid Vietnamese investment projects in the neighbouring country to 188 valued at 2.85 billion USD, the fourth largest amount of an ASEAN country in Cambodia.

The two leaders hailed the outcomes reached at the 19th session of the Joint Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Commission for Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation held on December 19, 2021, which made a deep review of bilateral ties across the fields and outlined specific proposals to promote the ties.

They reached consensus on the directions for enhancing bilateral cooperation in the time ahead, focusing on the effective implementation of reached agreements between the two Parties and States. The two sides will maintain visits and contacts at all levels and bilateral cooperative mechanisms, and coordinate to organize activities in the Vietnam-Cambodia, Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Year in 2022 to mark the 55th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic relations.

The two leaders affirmed to further deepen cooperation in security-defence, including joint work to ensure border security and accelerate the search and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts who died during the war in Cambodia.

They agreed to promote connectivity, both hard and soft, between the two economies, especially in transport, telecoms, trade, investment, finance-banking, agriculture, tourism, energy and local cooperation. They pledged support for efforts to early complete a master plan on Vietnam-Cambodia economic connectivity to 2030, and to effectively carry out signed agreements, while coordinating to implement the pandemic-control customs clearance model for vehicles and goods at land and water border gates and continuing to study the building of border markets in border provinces.

The two leaders highly valued the completion of an agreement on border trade, and pledged to continue paying attention to facilitating business and investment activities of businesses of the two countries on the basis of mutual benefit.

They also agreed to promote partnership in education-training, justice, agro-fishery-forestry, natural resources-environment and tourism. The two sides will speed up negotiations on mutual recognition of each other’s vaccine passports/ COVID-19 vaccination certificates.

The two sides reached consensus on the full, serious implementation of treaties and agreements related to the border, including the two legal documents recognizing the result of the Vietnam-Cambodia land border demarcation and marker planting with about 84 percent of the total workload completed. The two sides will continue to conduct negotiations on the remaining 16 percent of workload, and coordinate to seek solutions to remaining issues in the spirit of solidarity and friendship towards building a peaceful, stable and cooperative borderline between the two countries.

PM Hun Sen expressed deep gratitude to Vietnam for its great support and help for Cambodia’s cause of national liberation and escape from genocide, and pledged to continue working to develop bilateral ties.

President Phuc thanked Cambodia for the precious support that Cambodian leaders and people gave Vietnam in its struggle for national independence and reunification and the present national construction. He asked Cambodia to continue creating favourable conditions for Cambodians of Vietnamese origin, especially regarding their legal status.

The two leaders appreciated the effective coordination between the two countries in regional and international forums, especially the ASEAN framework. President Phuc affirmed Vietnam’s strong support for Cambodia as Chair of ASEAN in 2022, and expressed a hope that the two countries will continue to work together to uphold ASEAN’s principled stance on the East Sea.

The two sides underlined the importance of maintaining security, safety and freedom of maritime and aviation, building trust, using no force and not threatening to use force, respecting international law and addressing disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the 1992 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. They supported the full, serious implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea ASEAN and efforts to reach an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea in accordance with international law.

President Phuc invited PM Hun Sen to visit Vietnam and the latter accepted the invitation with pleasure.

After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing and handing over of seven cooperative documents between the two Governments, ministries and sectors, along with many contracts and business agreements.

The same day, President Phuc hosted a reception for Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An.

Phuc thanked the Cambodian Government, mass organisations and people for providing support for the Vietnamese counterparts in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, including 50,000 USD donated by the Cambodia – Vietnam Friendship Association.

Men Sam An stressed that Cambodia always treasures and thanks Vietnam for assisting Cambodia in the cause of national liberation and overthrowing genocidal regime as well as in national development at present.

She vowed to do her best to keep developing the good neighbourliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive, sustainable long-term cooperation between the two countries.

The Deputy PM also agreed to step up people-to-people exchange activities and raise public awareness of the significance of bilateral traditional friendship, especially among young generations.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Vietnamese Embassy and Defence Attache Office in Ukraine, in collaboration with the Vietnamese war veterans’ association in Ukraine, on December 21 held a ceremony to mark the 77th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the 30th All People’s Defence Festival (December 22).

Guests at the event included President of the Association of Veterans of Ukraine, Major General Vladimir Popovich and Ukrainian war veterans who used to help Vietnam during the war.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Defence Attache in Ukraine Colonel Nguyen Quang Chien reviewed the 77-year development of the Vietnam People’s Army and its feats in two resistance wars against the French colonists and American imperialists.

He highlighted results of Vietnam’s defence diplomacy including the country’s participation in United Nations peacekeeping operation and the deployment of the No. 2 field hospital in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, which were recognised and appreciated by the UN and the international community.

He thanked Ukrainian veterans for their support to Vietnam during the wartime, emphasising that Vietnamese people will never forget those contributions.

Major General Vladimir Popovich congratulated the VPA on the anniversary and wished the VPA to be more elite and modern, successfully fulfilling its task of protecting the Fatherland. He highlighted the long-standing friendship between the people, army and veterans of the two countries, and the close relations between the Veterans Association of Ukraine and the Embassy, the Defense Attache Office, the Vietnamese Veterans Association in Ukraine, adding that he looked forward to stronger relations between two sides in the future.

For his part, Nguyen Van Loan, chairman of the Vietnamese war veterans’ association in Ukraine, said Vietnamese veterans always maintain the virtues of Uncle Ho’s soldiers. They have actively participated in activities organised by the embassy as well as people-to-people diplomacy, contributing to promoting relations between two associations and building a stronger Vietnamese community in Ukraine, he said.

After the ceremony, the participants watched a documentary about the 77 years of development of the VPA and sang songs praising the heroic traditions of the VPA.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrived in Hanoi on December 22, concluding his two-day State visit to Cambodia at the invitation of Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni.

The success of his visit once again affirms the Vietnamese Party, State and people’s determination to fosfter fine neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability between the two countries, contributing to consolidating political trust and further deepening bilateral all-around ties.

During the visit, President Phuc met King Norodom Sihamoni, paid a courtesy call to Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, and held bilateral meetings with Cambodian leaders.

Both sides agreed to enhance the exchange of all-level delegations, encourage people-to-people exchange activities toward mutual recognition of vaccine passports and vaccination certificates.

They affirmed commitment to respecting and fully implementing treaties on planning and demarcation of border markers and relevant border agreements.

Vietnam will support Cambodia at the highest level during Cambodia’s assumption of ASEAN Chair 2022, thus contributing to ASEAN’s unity and strengthening its central role and self-resilience capacity.

The two sides highlighted ASEAN’s common stance on the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the East Sea. They vowed to promote dialogues and trust building, exercise self-restraint and abide by international law, settle disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

They will refrain from threat or use of force, ensure the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), work towards reaching an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Cambodian PM Samdech Techo Hun Sen witnessed the signing of seven cooperation agreements in various areas. The two countries’ businesses also struck a number of deals and agreements.

Together with President of the Cambodian NA Samdech Heng Samrin, Phuc attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new building of the Cambodian legislature, which is a gift of the Vietnamese Party, State and people.

The Vietnamese leader also visited religious leaders of the host country, laid wreaths at the Monument of Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk “Preah Borom Ratanak Kaudh”, the late King Father of Cambodia, and met representatives of the Vietnamese community living and working in Cambodia.

The visit also marked the beginning of the Vietnam – Cambodia Friendship Year and the 55th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties next year, creating a new driving force for bilateral economic links.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Australia’s investment in Vietnam would grow further in the coming time thanks to free trade agreements (FTAs), heard a workshop held virtually in Hanoi on December 22.

The Australian investment in the Southeast Asian nation now remains modest, said Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, Director of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Centre for WTO and Economic Integration, citing statistics by the Foreign Investment Agency at the Ministry of Planning and Investment as showing that by November 2021, Australia had run 545 projects worth 1.94 million USD in Vietnam.

The capital accounts for only 0.5 percent of the total FDI poured into Vietnam, making Australia rank 19th among countries and territories investing in Vietnam, she added.

However, Trang said, the two countries share three FTAs, including two new-generation ones, namely the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The three deals, together with 12 others to which Vietnam is a signatory, would help to unlock opportunities to attract more Australian investors, she stressed.

Australian Ambassador Charles Thursby-Pelham said Vietnam and Australia have officially announced their enhanced economic engagement strategy, with the aim of doubling investment and becoming top ten trading partners.

To make use of the opportunities, Vietnam should study and address problems hindering Australian businesses to land their investments in the country, he said.

He also suggested Vietnam comprehensively reform the public sector, regularly review local legal regulations, and fulfill international commitments to investment and creating a fair, transparent business environment for foreign investors, including those from Australia.

Nguyen Anh Duong, Director of the Department for General Economic Issues and Integration Studies at the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said Vietnam should learn from international experience in foreign investment attraction.

For example, Vietnam can call for more investments in health care and digital technology, and push ahead with digital transformation in investment promotion amid the COVID-19 pandemic, he continued.

Phung Thi Lan Phuong, from the Centre for WTO and Economic Integration, emphasised the need to boost connectivity between Australia’s FDI firms and their Vietnamese partners, saying the Vietnamese Government and localities should play a more active role in this regard.

Source: Vietnam News Agency