Seal opening ceremony opens at Tran temple
Nam Dinh (VNA) - The seal opening ceremony at the Tran temple in the
northern province of Nam Dinh took place on the night of February 27,
attracting the participant of nearly 50,000 visitors.
Seal opening ceremony opens at Tran temple
Nam Dinh (VNA) - The seal opening ceremony at the Tran temple in the northern province of Nam Dinh took place on the night of February 27, attracting the participant of nearly 50,000 visitors.
National Assembly Vice Chairman Huynh Ngoc Son and Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan attended the event and directly opened the seal.
The event opened with a seal parade, and then the seal was distributed to nine pagodas, temples and visitors.
Under the Tran dynasty, the ceremony was held annually to kick off administrative activities, including rewarding and conferring titles.
The cultural and moral values then were passed from generation to generation, helping educate patriotism tradition of the Vietnamese ancestors. Visitors also come here to pray for gook luck and happiness.-Enditem
VN Ambassador to Czech Republic presents credentials
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s newly-appointed ambassador to the Czech Republic, Do Xuan Dong, on February 24 presented his credentials to the country’s President Vaclav Klaus.
Talking with the new Vietnamese ambassador, President Vaclav Klaus spoke highly of Vietnam’s economic performance, especially the country’s stable economic growth amid the global economic crisis.
Ambassador Dong expressed his gratitude to the Czech people for their help during his country’s struggle for independence as well as the current process of national construction.
The two sides agreed to boost bilateral ties between Vietnam and the Czech Republic, especially in the fields of economics and trade, while praising contributions made by the Vietnamese community in the European country.
On the same day, Ambassador Dong attended a concert at the invitation of President Vaclav Klaus at the Presidential palace.-Enditem
Grenade blast damages Thai bank, injures one
Hanoi (VNA) – A grenade exploded outside a branch of Thailand ’s largest bank in the capital of Bangkok on February 27 night, injuring a person.
A police officer at the scene said a male motorcyclist threw the grenade into the Bangkok Bank branch on a major downtown street, Silom Road , in the district of Bangrak.
The blast shattered the glass entrance doors and windows of the bank. It also damaged a nearby telephone booth and two cars.
Dozens of policemen were deployed to the spot to investigate the case. Around 30 minutes later, the police found and defused an unexploded grenade at another branch of the bank.
The incident happened just a day after Thailand’s Supreme Court issued a verdict, paving the way for the confiscation of over 46 billion THB (1.4 billion USD), or more than half of the total assets of Thai ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra which worth 76 billion THB (2.3 billion USD).
Thaksin’s so-called Red Shirt supporters targeted the bank in the past, feeling it is closely associated with ruling class figures they blame for having the former leader ousted by a military coup in 2006.
Last week, the Red Shirts also blockaded the bank’s headquarters, forcing it to close its doors on the day the Supreme Court announced the verdict.-Enditem
Poetry festival opens to celebrate Hanoi’s birthday
Hanoi (VNA) – The 8 th Vietnam Poetry Day opened at Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam ( Temple of Literature ) on February 28, the fifteen day of the first lunar month.
Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi and poet Huu Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association, the organiser of the festival, lighted the sacred flame to kick off the festival.
The flame was taken from Phu Tho province’s Thuong Temple , which is dedicated to the Hung Kings - the founders of Vietnam . It represents a respect for the traditional values in the creation of modern literary works.
This year’s Poetry Day is a “grand festival” held nationwide to mark the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and expected to attract the largest number of participants so far.
On February 27, a ceremony to commemorate writers who laid down during the nation’s resistance wars against French and US aggressors was held at the Hanoi-based Quan Su Pagoda.-Enditem
Condolences to Chile over earthquake losses
Hanoi (VNA) - State President Nguyen Minh Triet on February 28 sent a message of condolence to his Chilean counterpart, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, over great losses in humans and property caused by a powerful earthquake a day earlier.
The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem, who is also in his capacity as the ASEAN Chair, extended condolences to the Chilean Foreign Minister, Mariano Fernandez.
A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Chile early February 27, killing at least 85 people. President Michelle Bachelet Jeria declared a "state of catastrophe" in the country.
The earthquake triggered a number of tsunami alerts and warnings across the Pacific Ocean . According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, the earthquake generated tsunamis carrying waves as high as 1.5 metres and traveling at 800 km per hour to the north and south.
Tsunami warnings were issued over a wide area, including Chile , Peru , Ecuador , Colombia , Panama , Costa Rica , Antarctica, the US state of Hawaii as well as far-off countries, including New Zealand , Australia , Japan , the Philippines , and dozens of other Pacific islands such as Tonga and Samoa .
However, Dr. Nguyen Tu Son, from Vietnam ’s Institute of Geophysics , rejected any effects of the earthquake, saying that Vietnam is far away from the epicentre and encircled by a lot of islands.
By the afternoon of February 28, Vietnam has yet to receive any warnings from tsunami warning centres around the world, Son added.-Enditem
Vietnam chairs ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Vietnam ’s Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang presided over the 16 th unofficial meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers, which took place in Putrajay , Malaysia , from February 27-28.
This was the first ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in 2010 to define major plans, orientations and measures to strengthen links in and outside of the bloc.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister Hoang emphasised ASEAN’s first priority to fully implement economic cooperative commitments and programmes within the bloc with a view to establishing an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
The AEC not only helps ASEAN take the best use of its advantages but also is an essential step to strengthen its prestige and position in the world, he said.
At the meeting, ministers discussed ASEAN’s economic cooperative orientations for 2010, focusing on implementing its important agreements such as the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) and a protocol to implement the seventh package of commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services.
The ministers also discussed issues relating to the implementation of commitments in the framework of free trade areas (FTA) between ASEAN and its regional partners.
They applauded Vietnam ’s proposal for building a draft on the Leaders’ Declaration on Restoration and Sustainable Development at the 16th ASEAN Economic Leaders’ Meeting to be held in Hanoi from April 7-9.-Enditem
Vietnam Spring Newspaper Festival opens in France
Paris (VNA) – The Vietnam Spring Newspaper Festival 2010 opened at the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in Paris on February 27.
Nearly 200 local officials, Vietnamese and French readers as well as representatives of Vietnamese and international news agencies were present at the opening ceremony of the festival, the first of its kind held abroad, which, a Vietnamese official said, marks a new advance in the integration and development of the Vietnamese communication sector in the international arena.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Qui Doan said that the event provides an opportunity for the Vietnamese media to give a rundown on the country’s achievements in a foreign country.
The festival is also a meeting place for Vietnamese journalists and the public, including overseas Vietnamese and French readers, he added.
More than 500 newspapers, including Spring and Tet (Lunar New Year) editions, are on display on a 200 sq.m campus, making a strong impression on the French audience and bringing in warm feelings on the homeland’s spring to overseas Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese community in France will also wallow in an atmosphere of the traditional Tet festival and other national spring festivals through documentary films to be screened during the nine-day festival.
The Spring Newspaper Festival is the first in the series of cultural activities to be held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in France this year in order to mark the 1,000 th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi scheduled for October.-Enditem
NA Chairman starts official visit to Indonesia
Jakarta (VNA) – National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong and his entourage left India’s city of Bangalore for Jakarta on February 28, starting his official visit to Indonesia.
The visit is made at the invitation of Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Marzuki Alie.
A welcoming ceremony for Chairman Trong and his delegation was held at the Halim Perdana airport with the participation of representatives from the Secretariat of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Vietnamese Embassy.
Late on the same day, the NA Chairman met staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese permanent delegation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Earlier, during his visit to India , Chairman Trong attended a business forum in Bangalore , Karnataca state, on Feb. 27 to bolster strategic partnership between the two countries.
Addressing the event, Trong called on Karnataca’s businesses to increase their investment in Vietnam , focusing on information technology and personnel trainings.
At the event, Karnataca’s Commerce and Industry Chamber R.Kumar Khatri said more and more Indian enterprises wish to invest in Vietnam, adding that
through Vietnam , India will get more favourable opportunities to approach other markets in the Southeast Asian region.
Vietnam with its dynamic economic and socio-political stability has become an attractive investment destination, he said.-Enditem
VN businesses in Germany mark 20 years of development
Berlin (VNA) – Vietnamese businesses in the German state of Brandenburg held a meeting in Potsdam city on February 27 to celebrate 20 years of their development.
The first-ever meeting, jointly held by the Thang Long-Vietnam Business Association in Brandenburg, the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany and the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Women and Family of Brandenburg, offered a chance for Vietnamese businesses to meet exchange experiences, and review their economic and trade activities over the past 20 years as well as define their future plans.
At the meeting, Brandenburg Minister Labour, Social Affairs, Women and Family Guenter Baaske and Potsdam Vice Mayor Burghard Exner spoke highly of efforts made by the Vietnamese community in general and businesses in particular. They said they admire Vietnamese businesses’ industriousness and solidarity that help them overcome difficulties and gain successes.
They affirmed that the Vietnamese community in Brandenburg is one of the foreign communities that integrated successfully into the German society. It has become a dynamic and important economic part of the state, making great contributions to the local economic and cultural development.
The meeting was an important event in the series of activities held by the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany during the “Vietnam Year in Germany 2010”, which aims to mark the 35 th anniversary of the Vietnam-Germany diplomatic ties.-Enditem
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