Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh. VietNam News – Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh told the National Assembly on November 2 that the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group’s (Vinashin) huge debt of 86 trillion dong (around $4.7 billion) is frozen in its projects. But some projects are effective and some are ineffective. The Vinashin case continued being a hot topic at the NA session on November 2. Deputy Nguyen Thi Bach Mai from Tay... 

VietNam News – If a provisional committee is established to investigate the Vinashin case, it should be set up early and its members should be independent experts, the Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Defence and Security, Le Quang Binh, told journalists on November 1. Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Defence and Security, Le Quang Binh. Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet and some other deputies on November... 

– Procedures on registration of Vietnamese nationality maintenance will be shortened while the time for registration will be longer, Deputy Foreign Minister cum Chairman of the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs Nguyen Thanh Son told the media on November 1. Party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh met with overseas Vietnamese. According to the Law on Vietnamese Nationality, which took effect on July 1 2009, overseas Vietnamese... 

“Based on the Constitution and the Law on National Assembly (NA) Organisation, I would like to ask the NA Standing Committee to vote on the establishment of a provisional committee to investigate the responsibility of the cabinet over the Vinashin case,” proposed deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet. Vice Chair of the NA’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children Nguyen Minh Thuyet. “At the end of the ongoing NA session,... 

– The survey by the National Assembly’s Committee for Science, Technology and Environment on the project to plant five million hectares of forest shows that some foreign investors are leased forest land at places which are important in terms of security and defence and even the land that had been allocated to local residents. This report was sent to NA deputies last week, along with other reports on national projects like the Son La hydro-power... 

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard were warmly received by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Hanoi on October 31. President Triet welcomed the Russia President’s official visit to Vietnam and participation in the ASEAN-Russia Summit, and stressed that the visit should boost the traditional strategic relationship between the two countries. He confirmed that Vietnam values the chance to... 

Vietnam has proposed the Free Trade Agreement with the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, the country’s president Nguyen Minh Triet told reporters in the run- up to Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Vietnam. He said the Agreement will bring economic and trade benefits to the parties. The President said that strategic relations between two countries should be boosted by exploring oil and gas deposits in Vietnam and constructing the... 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign agreements to help build Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant and a hydroelectric power station during a visit to the Soviet-era ally starting on Saturday, Kremlin sources said. Bolstering economic cooperation has been Russia’s main focus in recent years in relations with Vietnam, site of a Cold War showdown with the United States and once the home of the Soviet Union’s biggest naval base abroad. Trade... 

VietNamNet Bridge – Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has instructed the Ministry of Transport to set up a steering board to receive Japanese technical assistance for the Hanoi-Vinh and HCM City-Phan Thiet express railway projects. At the meeting in mid-October with the Transport Ministry, Deputy PM Hai, who is also the chief of the National Steering Board for Key Transport Projects, reviewed the implementation of major transport works. Hai... 

On October 29, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung chaired the 13th ASEAN-Japan Summit and the 13th ASEAN- the Republic of Korea (RoK) Summit with the participation of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and ASEAN leaders. At the ASEAN-Japan Summit, leaders devised development strategies for the ASEAN-Japan talks and compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern. In his opening speech, PM Dung...