Japan-VN Friendship Council member honoured

The Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) has presented an insignia “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” to Hosoya Kumiko, member of the Japan-Vietnam Council for Peace and Friendship (JVPF).

Addressing the presentation ceremony in Hanoi on Dec. 3, VUFO Vice President Tran Dac Loi thanked Kumiko for her active support to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims and disadvantaged Vietnamese children and provision of scholarships to boarding school ethnic students over the past 15 years.

Kumiko has written a diary about her visits to 29 families of AO victims and AO victims at the Peace and Friendship Villages in Hanoi and the AO Victims Rehabilitation Centres in the northern province of Thai Binh, central Da Nang city, the southern province of Tay Ninh and Tu Du Hospital in HCM City during 16 times of visiting Vietnam.

She also made a DVD recording memories of AO victims in Thai Binh province.

Kumiko said she would like to convey to younger generations of Japanese an image of the life of Vietnamese AO victims that she had witnessed with her own eyes.

She also promised to provide further assistance to the victims.

Also on this occasion, Hiramatsu Tomoko, a member of the JVPF delegation, presented a book on former Vietnamese Vice State President Nguyen Thi Binh to VUFO Vice President Loi.

The 300-page book, which was published in Japan in November 2010, praised Binh with illustrated pictures of the Japan-Vietnam friendship and the consequences of the war in Vietnam./.

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Vice President calls for HIV/AIDS investment

Investment in HIV/AIDS prevention and control was investment for development, said Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan.

Addressing a conference to review 20 years of HIV/AIDS prevention and control in Vietnam held in Hanoi on Dec. 1, Vice President Doan emphasised the necessity of promoting information dissemination on HIV/AIDS through various channels, along with scientific research and international cooperation in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

To achieve the Millennium Development Goal to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015, the Vice President said all ministries, branches, localities and all forces involved in the fight should raise awareness of the pandemic and show no discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS.

She took the occasion to highlight the achievements of the fight over the past 20 years.

The Ministry of Public Health built an HIV/AIDS prevention and control plan in 1987 and officially announced its fight against the pandemic since the country’s first HIV/AIDS case was announced in Ho Chi Minh City in December 1990, said Doan.

However, she said, the fight still faces difficulties in legal policy, discrimination in the community and a lack of qualified people working in the field.

For his part, Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the conference aimed to draw lessons and work out plans for future activities.

The conference was also an opportunity to commend organisations and individuals on their outstanding contributions to the fight, said the minister.

For the purpose, Vice President Doan presented the first class Labour Order to the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC) and the third class Labour Order to eight units and nine individuals.

She also handed the Friendship Order to Earmon Murphy, Country Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS in Vietnam , and Mitchell Wolfe, former Country Director of the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Vietnam .

The country now has 228,680 people infected with HIV/AIDS, including 48,368 people who have died of the disease.

To prevent the spread of the fatal disease, in 2010, 43 cities and provinces distributed safe syringes and needles and 60 cities and provinces distributed free condoms./.

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VN, RoK promote cooperation in trade unions

Trade unions representatives of Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have committed to the promotion of ties and exchange visits of high-level delegations and information of mutual concern.

During their talks in Hanoi on September 7, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL) Nguyen Hoa Binh and Vice President of the Federation of Korea Trade Unions (FKTU) Kim Ju Young agreed to help grassroots trade unions to set up and increase friendship and cooperation based on each locality’s situation and in accordance with the laws of both countries.

The two countries’ trade unions will jointly hold symposiums and share experiences in personnel training, they said.

Vice Chairman Binh stressed the VGCL will give top priority to the protection of legitimate rights of labourers, including improvement of negotiation skills and the building of healthy, sustainable labour relations of trade unions officials.

While in Vietnam, the FKTU delegation led by Vice President Kim Ju Young is scheduled to visit the labour federations in Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Ninh and Dong Nai provinces./.

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