Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has hosted a cordial reception for Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Hanoi on July 22 on the sidelines of the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum.

A Vietnam-Cuba friendship exchange was held in the northern province of Vinh Phuc on July 24-25 to mark the 57th anniversary of the assault on the Moncada Barracks.

Minister of Health Nguyen Quoc Trieu attended the 10th ASEAN Health Ministers Meeting (AHMM) and related meetings in Singapore on July 21-23.

The central province of Ha Tinh should devise preferential policies to attract quality human resources, said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

Vietnam has played a positive and responsible role in organizing the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM 43) and related meetings, which yielded important outcomes, said ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan on July 23.

Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem on July 24 held separate talks with his counterparts from Mongolia, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) who have been in Hanoi to attend ASEAN related meetings.

Vietnam and Japan have agreed to establish a dialogue mechanism for strategic partnership at the deputy foreign ministerial level to exchange views on a wide range of issues in politics, security and national defence.

Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Politburo member Truong Tan Sang received the Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Hanoi on July 24.

The Pathet Lao newspaper has recently run an article reviewing Vietnam-Laos comprehensive cooperation to mark 33 years of signing the two countries’ friendship and cooperation agreement (July 18).

Party officials, military officers and war veterans offered incense to war martyrs at a newly-built memorial house in the central province of Quang Tri on July 24.

Brazil will continue to build on the good relationship that exists between the Brazilian and Vietnamese Governments and peoples, especially in economic cooperation, says Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. 

Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh on July 23 received a high-level delegation from Hanoi led by Nguyen The Thao, member of the Party Central Committee, and chairman of the municipal People’s Committee.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has spoken highly of Vietnam’s role as ASEAN Chair and said that Indonesia should learn from its chairmanship experience.

The Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association and the Centre for Russian Science and Culture held a ceremony in Hanoi on July 23 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam-Russia friendship space-flight mission.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 23 hosted separate receptions for the Foreign Ministers of the Republic of Korea (RoK), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Japan who have been in Hanoi for ASEAN related meetings and the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

Vietnam will continue to do its utmost and cooperate with other ASEAN member countries in implementing mutual tasks set for the remaining months of this year as well as in the future, said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.

Post Ministerial Conferences between ASEAN and Dialogue Partners (PMCs+1) are preparations for ASEAN-related meetings with partners in the second half of 2010.  

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh has urged the National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) to become a strong economic engine in the process of national industrialisation and modernisation.

Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh on July 22 met with a delegation of experts and advisors from China who helped Vietnam during the anti-US war. 

The successful aerospace flight of the “Union-37” spaceship with cosmonauts Pham Tuan and Victor Gorbatko aboard from July 23-31, 1980, became a historical event and the pride of the two nations’ people, said State President Nguyen Minh Triet. 

State President Nguyen Minh Triet on July 22 received Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov while he is in Vietnam to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN-Russia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem on July 22 held separate meetings with foreign ministers from Turkey, Russia and Canada, who are currently in Hanoi to attend ASEAN-related meetings.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is on a Vietnam visit to attend ASEAN meetings, in Hanoi on July 22.

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) attaches importance to strengthening its friendship and solidarity with the Communist Party of Peru – Red Fatherland (CPP-RF), a Vietnamese Party senior official said in Hanoi on July 22.

Vietnam always attaches importance to developing the traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation with neighbouring China, said Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh while receiving Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Hanoi on July 22.

ASEAN will make a greater effort to promote cooperation with its partners to reinforce the bloc’s central role in regional cooperation and improve its position in the international community, said ASEAN foreign ministers in meetings with their counterparts in Hanoi on July 22.

Vietnam wants to promote cooperation in the fields of culture, education, science and technology, said President Nguyen Minh Triet while receiving Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on July 22.

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Defence Officials’ Dialogue (DOD) opened in Hanoi on July 22, attracting more than 120 delegates from 27 ARF member countries and members of the ARF Unit under the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Central Highland province of Lam Dong should fully tap its potential for further development, with a focus on building trademark for coffee products, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Vietnam and the US should continue to develop relations bilaterally and multilaterally with a major focus on economic cooperation, while building an exemplary role model on coping with climate change and rising sea levels.