Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh (R) receives Cuban Minister of Justice Oscar Manuel Slivera Martinez in Hanoi on June 15. (Photo: daibieunhandan.vn).

Vietnam supports judicial cooperation with Cuba

The National Assembly of Vietnam always supports Vietnamese and Cuban ministries and agencies to strengthen all-round cooperation, including in the field of judiciary, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh told Cuban Minister of Justice Oscar Manuel Slivera Martinez.

Receiving the visiting Cuban minister in Hanoi on June 15, Dinh welcomed the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice’s proposal to develop a technical assistance project for the Cuban Ministry of Justice in the field of law-making to help Cuba implement its 2019 Constitution.

Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of Cuba must become an exemplary role model in cooperation between the two countries, said the legislative leader, cited VOV.

Dinh on this occasion thanked Cuba for its heartfelt support and invaluable assistance to Vietnam during the latter’s past struggle for national liberation and construction, as well as in the current cause of national construction and defence.

He congratulated Cuba on successfully organizing its general election to elect new legislature and State apparatus leaderships, and affirmed that Vietnam follows with keen interest Cuban developments.

Minister Oscar Manuel Slivera Martinez for his part affirmed Cuba wishes to strengthen its long-standing relationship with Vietnam that has stood the test of time over the past decades.

He expressed his belief that the two legislative bodies of Cuba and Vietnam would increase visit exchanges, cooperation and experience sharing in professional fields, especially in legislation.

He proposed that the National Assembly of Vietnam continue to support the ministries and agencies of the two countries to ramp up cooperation and support Cuba in law and judicial making.

Vietnam places Côte d’Ivoire among top trade partner in Africa: minister

Vietnam always considers Côte d’Ivoire one of its top trade partners in Africa, stated Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien when hosting President of Côte d’Ivoire’s National Assembly Adama Bictogo in Hanoi on June 15.

Vietnam can completely supply the African nation goods that it needs, Dien told his guest, suggesting the two nations accelerate their negotiations of a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and a preferential trade agreement (PTA) as well as develop a better cooperation plan.

Côte d’Ivoire can serve as a bridge to help Vietnam and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) study the possibility of negotiating such agreements between the sides, the minister noted.

He went on recommending the two nations step up the exchange of all-level delegations and business delegations, encourage their firms to join trade expos in the other side, and consider promoting joint work in agricultural and food processing and mining.

In addition to rice, he suggested Côte d’Ivoire increase the import of goods of its demand and Vietnam’s strength such as textiles, footwear, household items, construction materials, machinery, and electrical equipment.

In response, Bictogo said that Côte d'Ivoire always considers Vietnam an important partner in the Asia-Pacific region, and wishes to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially economy and trade, according to VNA.

At the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Expressing his delight at positive progress made in the sides’ economic and trade ties with average annual bilateral trade reaching over 1 billion USD in the past five years, the top legislator lauded the Vietnamese ministry’s role in promoting the countries’ cooperation activities. He pledged tight collaboration with the ministry to carry out Dien’s proposals.

Bictogo said his nation is currently an important transit market, bringing goods to many countries in West Africa such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. This could facilitate Vietnam's strong products like farm produce, textiles, footwear, and household goods, to access many member markets of ECOWAS), the official added.

Côte d'Ivoire is one of the two leading rice export markets of Vietnam in Africa. In 2022, Vietnam exported 656,000 tonnes of rice worth nearly 295 million USD to the nation.

It is also one of the major suppliers of raw cashew nuts to Vietnam, with the latter’s spending on purchasing the product from the former usually accounting for 20-30% of its total raw cashew nut import value.

Vietnam becomes seventh most searched country worldwide

The volume of international searches for Vietnamese tourism soared by 10% to 25% during the period from early March to June, making it the seventh highest growth rate worldwide, according to a report released by the Google Destination Insights.

The top countries on the list were Turkey, Greece, Croatia, India, Italy, Spain, Vietnam, the United States, Japan, and the UK.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam was the only nation to feature among the top group in the world, while other regional countries were ranked quite far behind, with Thailand in 15th place, Indonesia in 16th, Malaysia in 18th, the Philippines in 20th, and Singapore in 26th.

The main searches for details about Vietnamese tourism come from the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore, India, Thailand, France, Germany, the UK, and the Republic of Korea (RoK), VOV reported.

Cau Vang (Golden Bridge) in Da Nang.

Furthermore, the 10 most searched Vietnamese destinations were Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, the central city of Da Nang, Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang, Hoi An City in the central province of Quang Nam, and Nha Trang in the southcentral province of Khanh Hoa.

In the opening five months of the year, Vietnam welcomed 4.6 million international visitors, reaching nearly 57.5% of the planned annual target.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) predicted that with strong growth momentum, the country’s tourism may attract 10 million foreign tourist arrivals this year, a figure which would surpass the previously set target of receiving eight million.

Vietnam keen on promoting education-training cooperation with Belarus: official

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha hosted a reception in Hanoi on June 15 for visiting Belarussian Minister of Education Andrei I. Ivanets, during which the host affirmed that Vietnam pays great attention to the special traditional friendship with the European country, and bilateral partnership in education and training.

Ha noted that Belarus has helped Vietnam train many officials and experts serving the country’s national construction and development, especially in the fields of science and technology, cited VNA.

An overview of the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Underlining that the two sides have yet to optimise their cooperation potential, the Deputy PM said that the upcoming visit by the Belarusian PM is expected to help beef up bilateral ties in a more comprehensive and deeper manner, especially in economy, culture, environment, climate change, security and defence. Particularly, education will still be one of the priorities in bilateral cooperation.

A new education cooperation agreement will be signed between Vietnam and Belarus, which is hoped to bring practical benefits to people of both sides and motivate the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the time to come, he said.

Ha expressed his hope that Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and Belarus’ Ministry of Education will promptly finalise cooperation programmes and frameworks between the two countries with diverse forms such as delegation exchanges and experience sharing in general, tertiary and post-graduate education, along with the formation of joint science research groups and the exchange of students.

For his part, Ivanets affirmed that there is plenty of room for the two countries to further promote their education-training cooperation.

To date, 40 cooperation agreements have been signed among universities of Vietnam and Belarus, he said, expressing his belief that a new education cooperation deal to be signed between the two Governments will contribute to further promote bilateral collaboration in the field.

Photo and video-making contest launched to promote images of happy Vietnam

On June 15, the Authority of Foreign Information Service (AFIS) under the Ministry of Information and Communications held a press conference to launch a photo and video-making contest themed ‘Happy Vietnam’.

The contest is open for Vietnamese people at home and abroad as well as international friends, who are encouraged to submit entries on the land and people of Vietnam, reported NDO.

Photo and video-making contest launched to promote images of happy Vietnam.

Speaking at the press conference, the Head of the AFIS Pham Anh Tuan said that the contest aims to promote vivid images of the land and people of Vietnam, as well as the country’s achievements in ensuring human rights and its effort to “leave no one behind”.

Entries should be submitted to http://happy.vietnam.vn no later than September 15, 2023.

Two first, two second, two third, 20 consolation prizes and other prizes worth more than 400 million VND will be awarded to the best entries.

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