Aside from geopolitics, important economic domains such as agriculture, minerals, the domestic market, basic knowledge, technology and labour and management always play a pivotal role in boosting sustainable economic development and creating competitive advantages.

Corruption and wastefulness prevention is a long-term, hard and complicated fight which can not be carried out overnight as it needs effective prevention measures. In the current situation, determination to combat, detect and tackle these social evils in time is also regarded as a prevention measure.

The Ministry of Education and Training has committed itself to dealing with negative phenomena and the fabrication of academic achievement figures in education and training. The move is necessary for Vietnam to rectify and purify the education system for the sake of national development.

President of the Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chavez began his two-day official visit to Vietnam on July 31 at the invitation of Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet. The visit aims to consolidate friendship and further explore cooperation between the two countries.

The Vietnam Sugar and Sugarcane Association proposed that the Government stop importing an additional 150,000 tonnes of sugar from now till the end of the year after local sugar processors complained that there were large volumes in stock and they could face losses due to the illegal import of sugar at lower prices.

Over the past two weeks, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked various departments to rid themselves of illegal activities and meted out punishment to several senior officials who were found guilty in corruption cases.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently named Vietnam as one of the countries committing serious violations of human rights. This is an unacceptable accusation made by hostile forces in a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

G8 leaders put forth a statement on the situation in the Middle East, which Russian President Vladimir Putin described to be “balanced”. The statement expressed the deepening concern of G8 leaders about the current situation in the Middle East, in particular the rising civilian casualties and the damage to infrastructure.

The UN Security Council on July 15 unanimously adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) after the country unilaterally tested seven missiles two weeks ago. Immediately, Pyongyang rejected the resolution and warned that it would carry out further missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster its military strength.

State leaders of the seven industrialised nations and Russia (G8) began their summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia on July 15 to cope with new global challenges. The summit is expected to heighten Russia’s role in the richest nations club in the world despite existing differences on sensitive issues between Russia and the remaining seven.