Website for overseas Vietnamese launched

HA NOI — A website designed to link overseas Vietnamese throughout the world was launched yesterday.

Jointly launched by the Vietnam News Agency; the Foreign Ministry-supervised State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese; and the Information and Communications Ministry's Foreign Information Service, the website, www.vietkieu.info, is the largest-ever information project specifically designed for overseas Vietnamese.

It provides information about Party and the State's policies and guidelines for overseas Vietnamese, their activities in support of their homeland and outstanding overseas Vietnamese.

It also serves as a detailed database.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, who is also Foreign Minister, members of the Party Central Committee's Publicity and Education Commission, representatives of the two ministries and VNA pressed the button to officially link the web site to the internet.

Its mission is titled "Connecting Vietnamese".

Khiem said he was delighted to witness the debut of a web site that was intended to serve the community and link overseas Vietnamese on five continents.

He asked news providers to provide more specialised pages, columns, news and articles to better serve the Party and State's mass mobilisation and foreign affairs.

VNA Director General Tran Mai Huong said as the official voice of the Party and State, the agency had long provided information about overseas Vietnamese.

The agency would increase the dissemination of information in various forms to promote the image of Viet Nam and its major events to help foreigners and Vietnamese communities abroad have an accurate and complete understanding of what happens in the country.

The information would include Party and State policies.

National pages

The web site is divided into national pages so that its readers can quickly learn about the lives of the overseas Vietnamese community in each country.

The Community News column is supplemented with information from reporters, agencies for foreign affairs, overseas Vietnamese trade missions as well as overseas Vietnamese.

Readers can find an overview of each nation and its relations with Viet Nam in the Contents column of each nation.

The web site also provides systematised State documents and policies divided into such categories as nationality, investment-business and verification of Vietnamese origin.

A list of overseas Vietnamese diplomatic agencies, associations, companies, trade centres and restaurants is being updated to facilitate business transactions and personal relations.

The Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank has joined with VNA and the other agencies to build the web site. — VNS

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PM launches VNA's special news channel

HA NOI – The Viet Nam News Agency's new television news channel would win the trust of its audience, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung forecast at its official opening in Ha Noi yesterday.

The launch of V-News, which has been transmitting trial broadcasts for two months, was a significant event for Viet Nam's communication industry, he said.

"I believe the Viet Nam News Agency will build a stable, trusted channel."

The Prime Minister praised the VNA as a trustworthy news service that had contributed to the country's development and was trusted not only by the people but also the Viet Nam Communist Party and the State.

The Government took seriously the need to build a media group that would have a positive influence on the communication industry, he said.

The VNA should renew its operations, plan for the development of its personnel and invest further in the infrastructure to become such a group.

Prestige

VNA General Director Tran Mai Huong said the launch of the channel marked an important step in the agency's effort to become the country's prestige communications group.

V-News's application of modern information technology was also expected to make the new channel a trustworthy supplier and receiver of information for the Party, the State, ministries and economic sectors, enterprises, its audience and overseas Vietnamese.

"There are many difficulties ahead, but I believe our ceaseless efforts will make renewal successful," he said.

V-News is the first channel of its type in Viet Nam to provide special reports of economics, science, social affairs and sports.

It will update its news bulletins every hour and telecast a special bulletin of political commentary and analysis from political representatives, managers, businessmen, experts and VNA journalists.

With almost 1,000 reporters and sub-editors across the country and 27 world bureaux, the VNA is set to broadcast the latest political, economic, cultural and social news.

V-News plans to telecast special programmes such as "Feedback", "Breaking News" and "Reporters' Prism" to inform the public of incorrect content and to refute fabrications, false information and schemes by hostile forces that run counter to the nation's interests.

The channel is now available via Vietnam Cable and Ha Noi Cable and will be included in cable television systems in many provinces across the country as well as in satellite television packages.

The channel will also be transferred directly onto the VAN web site.

A State-owned agency that answers to the Viet Nam Government, the VNA is the country's official source of information which publishes official information and documents of the Viet Nam Communist Party and the State.

It also provides information for the Party leadership and State management and gathers and publicises information through a variety of media to people and organisations inside and outside the country. – VNS

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Party chief visits General Vo Nguyen Giap

Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh visited and congratulated General Vo Nguyen Giap on August 23 in Hanoi on the occasion of the General’s one hundredth birthday (August 25).

Party General Secretary Manh, on behalf of leaders of the Party, State, Army and people, thanked and spoke highly of General Giap’s significant contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation.

“General Giap is forever a bright example, an excellent disciple of President Ho Chi Minh, the eldest brother of the armed forces, a eminent strategist and commander-in-chief admired by international friends and a source of great pride for the Vietnamese Party, State and people,” Manh stressed.

The General Secretary wished General Giap good health and longevity and said he hoped the general would make more contributions to the Party and the country.

Following elder generations, the Party, State and people of Vietnam are determined to seize opportunities and overcome challenges to speed up national industrialisation and modernisation, to firmly build and and defend the socialist nation, Manh affirmed.

General Vo Nguyen Giap thanked the leaders of the Party and the State for their due attention and Party General Secretary Manh for his best wishes./.

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Deputy PM reiterates State’s amnesty policy

The granting of amnesty to prisoners demonstrates the Party and State’s policy of humanity and clemency for those who have showed repentance and undergone a comprehensive re-education, Deputy PM Truong Vinh Trong said Monday.

Trong, who is head of the amnesty advisory council, said that following careful consideration, the council has agreed on a list of more than 17,000 prisoners to be submitted to the State President for clemency, to mark the nation’s National Day (Sept. 2).

Of those prisoners, 27 hold foreign nationalities and 30 other offenders had been convicted on the charge of ‘infringing upon national security’ or others relating to national security, said Trong in an interview with the Nhan Dan (People’s) daily on Monday.

More prisoners are being considered for amnesty this year than ever before, as the council has supplemented the criteria for eligible applicants, including those who have committed economic and position-related crimes and have fulfilled their civil obligations by paying compensation and having their illegal assets seized.

Offenders who are the beneficiaries of social policies, old people, persons with fatal diseases and women still breast feeding babies are also to be considered if they have already served at least one quarter of their sentences.

According to the deputy PM, the Party and State’s policy is also shown in their efforts to make it easier for people who have received amnesty to re-integrate back into community.

The government has also requested the Ministry of Public Security to provide courses in vocational training and social knowledge for people who are to be released.

Local authorities have also been directed not to discriminate against former prisoners when carrying out social polices such as job placements and the provision of loans for business, hunger eradication and poverty reduction.

Since 1990, the State has granted amnesty 10 times, releasing ahead of time around 114,910 prisoners. Only 4 percent of those freed have re-offended. In 2009 the figure was 1.7 percent.

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