Vietnam’s is keying in on sustainable development policies that target environmental protection and a plethora of social welfare programmes, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia running in Singapore from June 24-25.
The Vietnamese representative said the targets needed to be achieved to fall into line with the rapid development of the regional economy in general and Vietnam in particular.
At a luncheon that ran within the WEF framework and focused on Vietnam, Deputy PM Hung spoke of Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements as well as the country’s potential, policies and strategies for development.
On the sidelines of the WEF, the Vietnamese senior official also met with the WEF's Managing Director to discuss the possibility of Vietnam hosting the WEF on East Asia for 2009.
The WEF applauded the country's development and said that Vietnam’s bid would be considered carefully in the near future.
Deputy PM Hung also met with Singaporean PM Lee Hsien Long, who said that Vietnam’s socio-economic development was a model for all developing countries and that he was confident Asia's second fastest economy would maintain its high growth rates and expand its presence among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the region and the world at large.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) have signed an agreement to co-sponsor a pilot project that aims to bring low-cost telephone and Internet broadband services via WiFi technology to central province of Quang Ngai.
Private US partners including the World Resources Institute, SRA, Solitech and Intel, as well as State-own Vietnam Electricity (EVN), also committed to support the initiative, the US Embassy in Vietnam said in a press release on June 25.
The parties agreed in principal to develop a WiFi-based community broadband network built off of EVN’s fiber network in three communes and to provide 300 VoIP phones and services applications for a wide range of public and private uses.
The project will kick off this July and continue operations through December 2007.
(Source: VNA) | 
