Vietnam backs UN peace-building efforts

Vietnam’s representative at the United Nations has spoken highly of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC)’s efforts in implementing missions stipulated by the relevant Resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council.

Ambassador Hoang Chi Trung, Vietnam’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, was speaking at the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly on the PBC’s report and the Secretary-General’s report on the Peacebuilding Fund in New York on Nov. 20.

He welcomed preliminary achievements in the national reconciliation, reconstruction and reintegration made by PBC recipient countries - Sierra Leone , Guinea Bissau, the Central African Republic, Burundi and other countries.

“Now that the United Nations peacebuilding architecture is in place with an extensive workload, the challenge is how to consolidate the achievements made thus far and generate added values in the period ahead,” Ambassador Trung said.

As the PBC enters its fourth year of operation, much remains to be done in enabling the Commission to truly become one of the key international instruments for coordinating peacebuilding activities.

According to the diplomat, the Commission should redouble its efforts to improve working methods and provisional rules of procedures, as well as rationalize the institutional relationship with other United Nations bodies and non-United Nations entities.

President welcomes Piaggio chairman

Viet Nam encouraged and supported foreign invested companies, including Italian-owned businesses to operate in the country, President Nguyen Minh Triet said yesterday.

Triet reiterated the commitment while receiving Roberto Colannino, Chairman and CEO of the Italian scooter maker Piaggio.

Colannino briefed Triet of Piaggio’s business growth in Viet Nam, its expansion plans and its product diversification strategy. According to Colannino, Piaggio was pleased with its operations in Viet Nam and would soon pour in more investment to make Viet Nam’s one of its main Piaggio centres in Asia.

Triet said the Vietnamese government would like to see foreign investors to be successful in Viet Nam as they played a significant role in the country’s overall development. He hoped Piaggio would act as a bridge to bring more Italian investors to Viet Nam.

Colannino, as Chair of Alitalia-Italian Air Company, expressed his wish to co-operate with Vietnam Airlines to organise direct flights between the two countries.

Jobs for women receive priority

Priority must be given to ensuring women’s rights and increasing the number of women in government offices and management bodies, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said yesterday.

He made the request at a meeting to assess the implementation of Decree 19 on the involvement of the Viet Nam Women’s Union in state management work, held in Ha Noi.

Hung said governmental offices and women’s unions at all levels must focus on training women to improve women’s capacity and ability in the nation’s construction and development.

The Women’s Union, meanwhile, have to make recommendations to help authorities fix what goes wrong in localities.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang said authorities’ awareness of the need to create favourable conditions for women to participate in state management had improved.

There were still several problems in carrying out the decree, including communicating its content.

Teachers granted tenure

More than 700 Vietnamese teachers have been awarded the life-long title of professor or associate professor by the National Academic Award Council.

The titles were announced yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan at a ceremony at Van Mieu Temple, Viet Nam’s first university.

"The titles are an acknowledgement of the Party, Government and people for their role, efforts and achievements in their teaching jobs," Nhan said.

Of the 706, 65 were made professors, seven of them women. The youngest was Vo Van Hoang, 45, a lecturer at HCM University of Technology’s Physics Faculty. The oldest was architect Le Hong Ke, 69, an employee of the Viet Nam Urban Development and Planning Association.

Of the 641 awarded associate professorships, 133 were women, three of whom were from ethnic minorities – the Cham, Tay and Muong. Three of the associate professors are overseas Vietnamese and include maths lecturer at Rutgers University in the USA Vu Ha Van, language lecturer at Nagoya University in Japan Thai Duy Bao, and lecturer at Toyama University of Japan Tran Hai Anh, a doctor of medicine .

PV