Political News Headlines 31/3 Malaysian PM to visit Viet Nam Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from April 3-5, according to a Foreign Ministry statement released yesterday, March 30. The visit is being made at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Viet Nam and Malaysia have a strong bilateral relationship, with trade between the two countries reaching US$9.1 billion in 2013, up 15.25 per cent from the previous year. VFF President enjoys productive Singapore visit President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan has said his visit to Singapore, which concluded on March 30, was fruitful, significantly strengthening ties between VFF and the People’s Association (PA) as well as the citizens of both countries.   Photo: VNA During his stay, Nhan visited the National Community Leadership Institute of Singapore, the Vietnamese Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community in the country. Nhan also called in at the two most sufficient Vietnamese firms in Singapore, the Petrolimex Singapore and FPT Asia-Pacific (FAP). With 2013’s profit of 2.7 million USD, FAP is the only Vietnamese firm among nine companies recognised as capable enough of providing information technology to the Singaporean government. FAP, which has been present in Singapore for seven years, won a 2 million USD project from the Singapore Police Force last year. Speaking with a VNA correspondent in Singapore during the visit, Chief Executive Director of PA, Ang Hak Seng, said the relationship between Vietnam and Singapore is very special and his visit has deepened it further, not only government to government, but more importantly, people to people. The People’s Association and the Vietnam Fatherland Front have many similarities and these will result in many future collaborations, allowing both agencies in Singapore and Vietnam to better serve their peoples, he said. Defence Minister leaves for Seoul Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh led a high-ranking military delegation on an official visit to the Republic of Korea from March 30-April 1. The delegation will also attend the April 1-3 informal meeting of US-ASEAN defence ministers in the country. The visit is made at the invitation of Korean Defence Minister Kim Kwan Jin and US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel. Party delegation attends int’l conference in Mexico A Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) delegation led by Standing Deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, Vuong Thua Phong, has paid a working visit to Mexico to attend the 18 th international conference themed “Parties and a new society.” Addressing the event, Phong noted that 2014 is a year of both great opportunities and challenges. Although the peace, cooperation and development trend is playing a key role, complicated and unexpected situations still occur, he said. These, plus the slow global economic recovery, serious financial crisis, public debts and fierce competition among economies, have posed negative impacts to the socio-economic development in many countries. The official said that in this context, Vietnam continues sticking to, completing and developing its renewal direction approved during the 11th Congress of the CPV, striving to make Vietnam a basically industrialised country in a modern orientation by 2020 with prosperous people, true democracy, equality and a civilised society, following socialism. He said Vietnam, with its active foreign policy, has established diplomatic relations with more than 200 political parties in 11 countries, including over 100 communist and workers’ parties and nearly 80 others involving in parliaments. With the proactive operation of the party’s external relations, last year, the country set up strategic partnership with five more countries and comprehensive partnership with two others, raising the number of its strategic partners to 13 and comprehensive partners to 11, including five standing members of the United Nations Security Council, he said. Phong added that Vietnam has become more active in giving ideas and initiatives with high responsibilities in various matters including security and common development of the region and the world. Phong also hailed the Mexico Labour Party (PT) for organising the conference that attracted the participation of more than 500 delegates from 38 countries all over the world. He described the occasion as a chance for progressive left-wing forces around the world to meet and share their experience, thus fostering their solidarity. During the event, PT Secretary General Alberto Anaya Guitierrez introduced to participants a book entitled “Vietnamese Marxism – Following Marx’s Road” by late CPV General Secretary Truong Chinh. During their visit from March 27-30 at the invitation of the PT, Phong and the delegation had a working session with the Secretary for External Relations of the Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) Javier Vega Camargo. The two sides expressed their wish to set up a stronger partnership in the coming time and agreed on the need to strengthen delegation exchanges. Phong also met with PT Secretary General Alberto Anaya Guitierrez who spoke highly of Vietnam ’s regular attendance at conferences hosted by the PT. Guitierrez underscored the significance of the cooperation between PT and CPV, voicing his desire to further boost ties, fostering the relations between the two countries. Phong also led a wreath at the President Ho Chi Minh statue in Mexico City and met staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in the country. Deputy PM greets new Ambassadors of Thailand, Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh welcomed the new ambassadors of Thailand and Pakistan on separate occasions on March 28 in Hanoi. Talking to Thai Ambassador Panyarak Poolthup, the Deputy PM said he hopes the situation in Thailand will be stabilised as soon as possible. He suggested that the two countries maintain high-level contacts and exchange of visits, as well as sign a plan of action to deploy their strategic partnership which was set up in November 2013 when the situation permits. Deputy PM Minh also urged that the two countries make greater efforts to raise two-way trade to US$15 billion in 2020 and soon sign cooperation agreements in the fields of labour, sports and science and technology. At the same time, Vietnam and Thailand should continue to work closely at regional and international forums, he said. In his reception for Pakistani Ambassador Zaigham Uddin Azam, Deputy PM Minh congratulated the Pakistani Government for the country’s socio-economic achievements. He said Vietnam and Pakistan should increase the exchange of visits and make the best use of available bilateral cooperative mechanisms to strengthen the two countries’ ties. Minh proposed an early signing of new cooperative deals in the fields of security, culture and sports, as well as boosting two-way trade towards the goal of US$500 million in the time to come. The two ambassadors pledged to do their best to expand the friendly and cooperative relations between their respective countries and Vietnam. VN, Lao localities boost cooperation The northwestern province of Hoa Binh and Laos’ Huaphan province have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in cultural exchange, Vietnamese and Lao language training, trade, investment and import-export. The MoU was inked on March 28 as a result of a working session between Secretary of the Hoa Binh Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Bui Van Tinh and his visiting Huaphan counterpart Khamhung Huongvongsi. At the meeting, the two sides briefed each other on their respective socio-economic development, defence-security, and Party and political system building. They noted that the two provinces’ close relationship has contributed to tightening the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos. They also expressed their belief that the bilateral ties will further develop in the future. VNN/VOV/VNS/VNA