Tin-Tức-Cập-Nhật: Summit debates ASEAN's goals

Tin-Tức-Cập-Nhật: Summit debates ASEAN's goals: "Delegation heads at the opening ceremony of the 16th ASEAN Summit in Ha Noi yesterday. Viet Nam will strive to steer the block towards..."

Tin-Tức-Cập-Nhật: Summit debates ASEAN's goals

Tin-Tức-Cập-Nhật: Summit debates ASEAN's goals: "Delegation heads at the opening ceremony of the 16th ASEAN Summit in Ha Noi yesterday. Viet Nam will strive to steer the block towards..."

Summit debates ASEAN's goals

Delegation heads at the opening ceremony of the 16th ASEAN Summit in Ha Noi yesterday. Viet Nam will strive to steer the block towards achieving its goals, the Prime Minister said. — VNA/VNS Photo Duc Tam

HA NOI — Viet Nam pledged to do its utmost to collaborate with other regional members to achieve concrete results in building the ASEAN community and to properly address emerging issues, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung told the 16th ASEAN summit, which opened yesterday in Ha Noi.

The two-day summit, being held under Viet Nam's ASEAN chairmanship, which coincides with its 15-year ASEAN membership, highlights the significance of the summit as ASEAN accelerates its implementation of the roadmap for an ASEAN community and operates on a legal basis of the ASEAN Charter.

"Given the strategic importance of ASEAN to Viet Nam, we are fully aware that Viet Nam is an inseparable part of the ASEAN family and continues to participate in ASEAN co-operation in a proactive and responsible manner to contribute to building a stronger and more closely integrated ASEAN," said Dung, the chair of the summit.

In his opening statement yesterday, Dung praised the regional states' efforts to maintain unity and close co-operation despite the impacts of complex developments in the region and the world in the last year.

"Relations between ASEAN and our partners have been enhanced, with greater substance and efficiency, and ASEAN's role as a driving force in regional co-operation frameworks has been further strengthened," said Dung.

The overall theme of "Towards the ASEAN Community: from Vision to Action" underlines the region's focus and strong sense of action for this year and beyond.

"All the member states welcome the theme ‘From Vision to Action' and every member believes that it is time to deliver on our commitments, agreements, projects and programmes that we have put together in the blueprint and in various master plans," ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told Viet Nam News yesterday.

Solutions

The summit carries an important mandate of setting forth the directions and appropriate solutions to accelerate ASEAN integration and to enhance its strength in effectively addressing regional issues as well as global challenges. In order to do these tasks well, Dung pointed out five prioritised items to be discussed at the summit.

The Prime Minister requested the member countries to speed up the implementation of the roadmap for the ASEAN Community and to bring the ASEAN Charter to life.

ASEAN should simultaneously act on three directions of accelerating ASEAN economic integration, enhancing East Asian economic and financial co-operation and actively contributing to the common efforts of the international community through the promotion of global solutions, said Dung.

The other thing that should be discussed at the meeting was how to enhance co-operation to cope with challenges and to ensure sustainable development in the region, according to the Prime Minister.

The summit is also expected to discuss measures to further promote co-operation and dialogue for peace, stability and development in the region, and broaden and deepen relations between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, thus maintaining ASEAN's central role in regional processes.

Dung stated that Viet Nam, as the ASEAN chair, had been working closely with other ASEAN members in order to achieve substantial outcomes in the process of ASEAN community building by properly and timely respond to emerging challenges. After the opening ceremony, ASEAN leaders proceeded to the plenary session where they discussed ways and means to enhance regional integration towards an ASEAN community, as well as ways to effectively implement the ASEAN Charter.

The leaders were briefed by the ASEAN Secretary General on the status of implementing the ASEAN Charter and the roadmap for an ASEAN community by 2015, and by the host minister for Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang, on the progress of ASEAN's economic co-operation. The leaders agreed that ASEAN needed to focus on concrete actions to effectively implement agreements in time by enhancing co-ordination among relevant bodies and developing proper mechanisms for monitoring and resource mobilisation.

The ASEAN leaders also gave fruitful guidance to promote ASEAN connectivity. As such, the region's intra-connectivity, including the Mekong and other sub-regions, should be prioritised, focusing on hardware connectivity such as transportation, ICT, energy and software connectivity such as facilitation for cross-border trade, investment, tourism and person-to-person exchanges. At the same time, ASEAN will strengthen co-operation with external partners to pave the way for further connectivity in East Asia.

Right before the opening ceremony, the ASEAN leaders tentatively had their first official meeting with representatives of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) to discuss the promotion of ASEAN-AIPA co-operation as well as their contributions in the ASEAN community building process.

Dung, who attended the meeting, spoke highly of the contributions of the AIPA and member states' parliaments in realising co-operation agreements and building up the ASEAN community.

The Vietnamese National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, who is the current chairman of the AIPA-31, underlined AIPA's determination to work closely with ASEAN in building the community, promoting regional connectivity and strengthening co-operation to address emerging issues that the region was facing, such as climate change, natural disasters and pandemics.

Trong suggested measures to further promote co-ordination between AIPA and ASEAN, which included creating favourable legal conditions to realise the signed agreements and promoting public awareness, as well as the contributions of parliaments and peoples to the ASEAN community's buildup. He affirmed that the Vietnamese National Assembly, during its chairmanship, would co-ordinate well with other AIPA members to play an active role in the successful realisation of the ASEAN community.

Earlier yesterday, the ASEAN Co-ordinating Council (ACC) met to wrap up the final preparations for the summit, based on the outcomes of the Ministerial Meetings of the association's economic and socio-cultural communities. The ACC adopted documents submitted by the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR). The ministers agreed on the ASEAN Community Strategy and took note of the First Report of the High Level Task Force on ASEAN Connectivity, which would be submitted to ASEAN leaders for consideration.

Regarding the list of outcome documents for the summit, the ACC reviewed and adopted two draft statements – the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Sustained Recovery and Development and the ASEAN Leaders' Statement on Joint Response to Climate Change.

Disputes settlement

After the meeting, the regional foreign ministers signed the Protocol to the ASEAN Charter on Dispute Settlement Mechanisms, which was an important step towards the completion of the legal framework laid down by the ASEAN Charter.

The adoption and signing of the Protocol as well as the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of ASEAN signified the determination of ASEAN in transforming ASEAN into a rules-based organisation and served to facilitate the implementation of the Charter and ASEAN community building.

ASEAN is building up a community based on co-operation in many fields, especially economics, said the spokesman of Ha Noi's ASEAN Summit, Tran Ngoc An, adding that despite similarities and close ties among the member countries, there remained disputes in economic co-operation.

"The Protocol will create a legal framework to help settle the disputes fairly and equally," said An.

All the foreign ministers reaffirmed their commitments to finalising the three other instruments, namely the rules for references to the ASEAN summit, the procedures for authorisation under international and domestic laws and the rules of procedures for requesting the ASEAN Secretariat to interpret the ASEAN Charter, of which the first one shall become an integral part of the Protocol.

The ministers therefore tasked ASEAN SOM leaders to complete the drafting of these instruments as soon as possible and to submit a progress report at the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in July.

The ministers agreed that the protocol would be subjected to the respective internal procedures of the member states after the adoption and inclusion of the rules for references to the ASEAN summit in the Protocol. — VNS

Mr.Thanh

President Nguyen Minh Triet receives the heads of ASEAN delegations on the occasion of the 16th ASEAN Summit.— VNA/VNS Photo Doan Tan

Ha Noi — Viet Nam would do its utmost to accomplish the role of ASEAN Chair in 2010, President Nguyen Minh Triet told the heads of ASEAN delegations at a reception to celebrate the success of the summit in the capital city yesterday.

President Triet expressed his high appreciation of the achievements of the association over the last four decades and more.

"ASEAN, as a common home for all its ten member states, is an important factor in ensuring peace, security, co-operation and development in the region. ASEAN has become a closely bonded and comprehensive regional organisation, winning high prestige internationally," he said.

"The association has entered a new period of development - to become an ASEAN community by 2015 with the ASEAN Charter as the guiding legal framework.

"The vision and objectives as well as the specific roadmap from now until 2015 have already been agreed by member states. The only remaining issue now is to turn signed documents into a reality", said Triet.

"In order to do this, it requires the absolute political determination and great efforts of all members".

He said in order to turn the idea of ASEAN Community into a reality, all member states must work together to enhance the specific traditional values of the association. These values are the strength and basis ensuring the continued success for the association.

Triet asked all member countries to do their best to consolidate the solidarity and unity within the association and to harmonise each country's interests with that of the bloc.

He also called on the association to be pro-active in the settlement of regional issues and in organising dialogue and co-operation in the region, to enable partners outside the region to participate and contribute to the handling of challenges to peace, security and development in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

"Viet Nam has enjoyed quite a few benefits since it became a member of ASEAN and the same is true for ASEAN. Viet Nam has become a part of ASEAN. A strong and unified ASEAN has an important role and position in the world, in conformity with Viet Nam's basic and long term interests. It is also the country's priority in its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multi-lateral and diverse relations and good neighbourliness", said Triet.

On behalf of the ASEAN delegations, the King of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah thanked the Vietnamese Government and people for their special hospitality given to them during their stay in Viet Nam.

He also took the occasion to send his best greetings to Viet Nam on the occasion of the 1,000th founding anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi. — VNS 

Mr.Thanh

Broken-down missing fishing boat found by Chinese patrol

HA NOI — Contact was made with the captain and the crew of the missing fishing boat QNg 66487 TS at 12:45hrs last Saturday, reported the People's Committee of the central coastal province of Quang Ngai.

The fishing boat has been missing for the last few days after its engine broke down, requiring the fishermen to use blankets as a sail. It was later spotted by a Chinese patrol ship and the nine fishermen on board were taken to the Tru Cau Island of the Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago for shelter.

That afternoon, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Ho Xuan Son met Chinese Ambassador to Viet Nam Sun Guoxiang and requested that China notify Viet Nam of the rescue so that the crew can be brought home safely.

According to the Vietnamese Embassy in China, on Saturday evening, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that China took fishing boat QNg 66487 TS and its nine crew members to an island of the Hoang Sa Archipelago.

Due to inclement weather, the fishing boat and its crew would have to stay on the island for the next few days, said the embassy.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said it was working with the Chinese to bring fishing boat QNg 66487 TS and its crew home as soon as possible. — VNS

Mr.Thanh

Call for elite force to control public security

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh speaks at the opening of the congress in Ha Noi yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Xuan Tuan

HA NOI — Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh has asked the Ministry of Public Security to build a regular, elite and modern revolutionary public security force.

Addressing the 5th Congress of the Central Party Organisation of the Public Security Force in Ha Noi yesterday, Manh praised the achievements of the Public Security Force over the past five years.

"Against the background of ups and downs in Viet Nam and internationally, the Public Security Force has contributed notably to maintaining the nation's political stability and law enforcement, while protecting the national sovereignty and enabling the renewal process to progress," Manh said.

"You're the core force when it comes to protecting national security and maintaining social order," he added.

Manh said the security force must first act as an advisor to the Party and the Government, while playing a core role in carrying out the Party's policies and enforcing State laws on social security and order. To do that, the Public Security Force must ensure that a peaceful and stable society is maintained and remember that national independence is closely linked with socialism.

Second, under the leadership of the Party and the Government, the Public Security Force must co-operate with other sectors in building a solid all-people national security and defence body that is in harmony with national socio-economic development and foreign policy strategies.

Third, the Public Security Force must promote the people's role in protecting social order and security. Manh quoted President Ho Chi Minh: "Our police are the people's police. We must be at the service of the people and the people are our mainstay." He called on people from all walks of life to give more support to the security force's activities for the safety and security of society.

Finally, the Public Security Force must help build a strong Party. Every cell and committee affiliated to the Public Security Force must be pure and strong, he said.

Manh said the entire police force must follow President Ho Chi Minh's moral example and his teachings. He quoted: "The people's police are ready to sacrifice their lives for the homeland and for the people."

Addressing the congress, General Le Hong Anh, Politburo member and secretary of the Central Party Organisation of the Public Security Force, stressed: "We have made many good and strategic proposals to the Party and the Government on critical issues arising during the process of international integration and national development."

Among the senior Party and Government officials attending the congress were Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, also a politburo member; Truong Tan Sang, Political bureau member and permanent member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee; Truong Vinh Trong, Deputy Prime Minister and Politburo Bureau member; and Ho Duc Viet, Politburo member, secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Organisation Commission.

The Party Congress of the Public Security Force closes today.­ — VNS

Mr.Thanh

Viet Kieu begin to invest in VN property market

HA NOI — A large number of Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) have started to invest in the Vietnamese real estate market.

Investments had become more diversified and stronger than ever, said Megagroup's Director Nguyen Xuan Chau.

Chau added that the trend had started around 10 years ago and really picked up over the past two years.

In 2010, he said, a series of resorts and ecological tourism projects were announced with a growing number of North American management and consultancy firms co-ordinating the projects.

To capitalise on this, Minh Viet Investment Joint Stock Company recently bought into the franchise of a famous foreign company in order to use its trademark to invest in Viet Nam's real estate market.

According to the com-pany's director Chi Edward, his company will use the trademark to do business in training and brokerage as well as managing and developing the real estate market in Viet Nam.

The company had previously invested in projects in Ha Noi, HCM City and the northern province of Quang Ninh.

As further proof, at the end of 2009, the director of Binh Thien An Joint Stock Company, Viet kieu Trinh Thanh Huy, decided to return from Russia and announced that his company was looking to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the real estate market in HCM City.

Binh Thien An is currently involved with the Thao Dien Metropolice project in District 2 of HCM City.

In the second and third quarters of this year, many other tourism developments were announced by overseas Vietnamese investors from eastern Europe.

The Vietnamese real estate market was still young. It had a huge potential to attract investment from overseas Vietnamese, Chau said.

Referring to a recent survey, experts said the new trend would create competitiveness in the market which would help develop it further.

The survey was carried out at an international real estate exhibition with the participation of 46 countries.

The results showed that investment interest in the Vietnamese real estate market had grown by 20-30 per cent since 2008.

Another survey conducted by a British company also found that in the next two years, Viet Nam would become one of the top three markets of interest in the world. — VNS

Mr.thanh

Call to boost faith in dong

HA NOI — Viet Nam should expend more effort in raising people's confidence in the dong, while co-operating with neighbouring countries on resolving overuse of foreign currencies, the Asian Development Bank said in its latest study.

Regional co-operation on monetary and financial issues to exploit economies of scale, introduce good practices and facilitate the adoption of common regulatory standards will help the country 

 tackle economic and developmental challenges posed in the transitional period, the book Dealing with Multiple Currencies in Transitional Economies: The Scope for Co-operation in Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Viet Nam, stated.

"Dealing with dollarisation and multiple currencies is ultimately an issue of national economic policy, and in this regard, Viet Nam has made good progress in de-dollarisation," Ayumi Konishi, ADB Viet Nam country director said at the book's launch in Ha Noi last Friday.

"Yet, authorities, especially the State Bank of Viet Nam, are fully aware that administrative measures alone will not be effective."

In order to de-dollarise the Vietnamese economy, it is essential to enhance people's confidence in the Vietnamese dong through sustainable and high economic growth, stabilisation of the foreign exchange rate, reforms in monetary policies, and by strengthening the capacity of financial institutions, the ADB representative said.

The study shows other countries' currencies, particularly the US dollar, are in wide use in the three Indochinese countries – Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam.

In Viet Nam, about 20 per cent of all currencies in circulation are foreign; in Laos the figure is 50 per cent; while in Cambodia it is 90 per cent.

The study highlighted the costs and benefits of dollarisation. On the plus side, dollarisation can impose discipline on governments since they cannot easily finance budget shortfalls by printing money. In addition, if dollarisation leads to a near fixed exchange rate, prices can be less volatile.

However, the use of multiple currencies reduces the control of economic authorities over monetary and exchange rate policies. It also restricts the power of central banks to act as "the lender of last resort" in the event of a banking crisis, the study said.

"Dollarisation blunts the tools for macroeconomic stabilisation, especially monetary and exchange rate policy, that a country like Viet Nam needs in order to tackle a variety of economic and developmental challenges, such as rising inflation," the book's co-editor Jayant Menon, principal economist at ADB's Office of Regional Economic Integration, said.

Meanwhile, sharing information and experiences would help the monetary authorities of Viet Nam, Lao and Cambodia find a solution to the dollarisation issue, said co-editor Giovanni Capannelli, principal economist at the ADB. — VNS

Mr.Thanh

City sets up team to oversee prices and supplies of essential products

HCM CITY — A team of city officials will oversee prices of eight essential items until the end of March next year, according to HCM City's People's Committee.

The team will work with relevant authorities to check the supply capacity of manufacturers; distribution system; number of selling points for the essential items; volume of essential items on the market; food safety and hygiene; and prices and labels.

The eight essential items include rice, meat, poultry, egg, sugar, cooking oil, processing food and fruit and vegetables.

The city will expand the distribution system of the goods to serve a larger majority of consumers.

City officials have asked 14 businesses that participate in the programme to increase their supply capacity by at least 20-30 per cent to meet demand, and relevant departments and sectors to work with industrial parks and export processing zones to create favourable conditions for these businesses to implement the programme.

The city plans to build shops that sell only eight essential goods in rural areas and at industrial parks and export processing zones.

In addition, wholesale and retail shops in the city centre and outlying districts will be set up to sell the eight essential items.

City authorities said more signs that read "Place that sells stabilised-price items" must be installed.

The Department of Industry and Trade said it would penalise or fine any business that violates programme regulations.

Meanwhile, more than a fourth of the outlets participating in HCM City's price stabilisation programme have been shut down for violating the agreement.

Fourteen manufacturers and distributors signed up for the programme – and got soft loans – and they and their agents opened 1,983 outlets where all prices are to be displayed and no unauthorised price hikes may be made.

But 562 of them have been caught flouting one or more of the rules and ejected from the programme, according to the HCM City Department of Industry and Trade.

Speaking at a meeting organised to review the programme last Thursday, Le Ngoc Dao, deputy director of the city department of Industry and Trade said it had proved effective in stabilising the market, stamping out speculation, and keeping the consumer price index down.

But with each participating company having hundreds of outlets, she admitted. "It is hard for enterprises to avoid shortcomings in management."

The department had ordered market management authorities to step up inspections of the outlets to check violations and is determined to close down violators, Dao said.

It had reported to the People's Committee about the closed outlets and posted their names on its website to inform consumers.

"Consumers discovering any difference between listed and selling prices can report to authorised agencies," she said.

The prices of many essential goods would be likely to be very volatile until year-end, she warned, referring to the market outside the programme.

Some markets and supermarkets have recently increased the prices of imported cosmetics, beverages, and other consumer goods by 5-10 per cent.

Prices of sugar, rice, vegetables and fruits have also increased sharply in recent days.

From November, around 56 seafood items including shrimp, fish, frozen cuttlefish and dried shrimp and fish wouldbe sold through supermarkets and price-stabilisation outlets, Dao said.

By the end of this month, some businesses and distributors would start selling these products at supermarkets and stabilised-price selling points 10 per cent below the market price.

Other city departments will be required to monitor prices of items not on the essential-items list, according to Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the city People's Committee. — VNS

Mr.Thanh

Euro market corners top vehicles

Some of Detroit's most exciting models aren't offered to U.S. buyers

Paris -- The first lesson I learned at the Paris Motor Show was that everything tastes better with a little more butter.
Second, European carmakers have been holding out on us Americans, keeping some of their best vehicles on their side of the pond -- and giving us a bunch of leftovers.
Even our own carmakers have been sending some of their coolest cars and crossovers abroad, allowing Europeans to fly down the autobahn in fantastic five-doors but never giving us the same Interstate opportunity.
Oh, and I'm not including all of the diesel powertrains available in Europe but not in America. Or all those wagons Europeans drive with manual transmissions. Carmakers can give you myriad reasons why these and the Paris vehicles won't come to America. Some are cultural -- Americans don't like wagons, they'll say, or market studies show there's no interest in a particular model or style. Some European carmakers don't sell in the United States.

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So the only way you're going to get to drive some of the cool vehicles on display at the Paris Motor Show is with a passport and an international driver's license. It doesn't seem fair.

Only in Europe

Take the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback, which debuted Thursday. It's up on a stand right now and its sloping roof and big wheels are inviting everyone to take pictures. Americans will never get to drive the Cruze hatchback in the States. Chevy has no plans to bring it to America.
GM isn't the only carmaker keeping its bold and beautiful vehicles overseas.
French carmaker Citroen has a number of sedans that would look just as beautiful in Peoria as in Paris. The Citroen DS4 is one of those classic-looking sedans with crisp lines and a compact stance. The little 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine provides 200 horsepower and the six-speed automatic transmission. It has paddle shifters (giving it that European feel) so it could easily be handled by stick-phobic Americans.
And, of course, the Germans are holding out too.
The Audi A1, which goes on sale early next year in Europe, will never make it the States. It should. It demonstrates that luxury and performance do not need to be tied to size. Bigger is not always better. Stamp its passport, approve the visa and let's get this car across the border.
This new immigration policy should also include the Peugeot RCZ on the approved list.
This little two-seater comes with a turbocharged diesel or gas engine and looks like it will fly. Two-seater hardtops may not make it into many American garages but more should. This would be the way to commute in style.
Typically, I wouldn't advocate a concept vehicle as something that should come from Europe to America, but the Opel Astra GTC Paris Concept is about as thinly veiled a concept vehicle as you're likely to see.
Opel won't confirm this car is going to get made, but I will come out and say Opel will build this. Most concepts don't come with factory-ready windshield wipers like this one.

Buckets of bolts

While these vehicles would do well in America, I don't think everything European is better. Europe has no pickups per se, and many popular vehicles in Europe are absolutely awful, abysmal buckets of bolts.
Please, leave them there.
Take the Ligier Microcar.
It does not matter how pretty a model stands in front of it, this car wouldn't even serve well as a bread box. The interior is cheap and the car looks like it's powered by squirrels. In fairness, I have never test-driven the Ligier Microcar, but, then again, I wouldn't want to.
And then there's the Renault Wind. This embarrassing vehicle uses a cloth strap as an interior door handle. It's just looped and stuck on the door. This little open-air two-seater -- one of the easiest designs to make look fun -- looks awful. I'm sure it's great for cruising the French countryside, and that's where it should stay.
Then there's the Lumenco SMERA, a one-seater that looks like a mobile coffin. Something this small would most likely end up on the side of the road after a few bicycles bumped it there.

Coming attractions

Carmakers, of course, have built some vehicles for Europe that will soon come to America.
The Ford Grand C-Max, in particular, will help build the mini-minivan segment begun by the Mazda5.
The Fiat 500 will arrive soon and so will the Chevy Spark, both European minicars that could do well in American cities.
And on the flip side, Jeep is bringing all of its wares to Europe, injecting a little bad behavior into our sometimes staid European friends.
But, the Jeeps, built in America, will include diesel engines, which, of course, we Americans will never get.

Mr.Thanh