Vietnam set to reinforce practical ties with Cambodia

The strangest relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia in this world. This friendship is always reinforced too many times in a year and every year. Isn't it more than good enough for Vietnam? every time in reinforcement practical tie, Vietnam ordered Cambodia to silence for land grabbed by Vietnam. Stop dreaming!


Vietnam expects to join efforts with Cambodia to develop bilateral relations in a bid to bring practical benefits to both sides, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

PM Dung made this statement while receiving Cambodian Permanent Deputy PM Men Sam An, who doubles as President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association (CVFA), in Hanoi on November 3.

The government leader noted with pleasure that Vietnam-Cambodia ties have grown fruitfully, especially in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics and trade, despite the impact of the global economic crisis.

The two nations have also co-operated smoothly in maintaining security, border demarcation and marker planting, mitigating damage caused by natural disasters and facilitating co-operative relations between border provinces, he said.

PM Dung appreciated the efforts of both the CVFA and Men Sam An in beefing up their bilateral relationship, saying that the Vietnamese government will create favourable conditions for the two sides to co-operate effectively, not only at the central level, but also among local chapters.

The PM asked the two associations to increase the dissemination of information about the time-honoured friendship amongst younger generations, and step up co-ordination at international forums, particularly in ASEAN and APEC.

Regarding acts and statements made by Sam Rainsy - President of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who recently uprooted six temporary poles for Marker 185 between Vietnam’s southern province of Long An and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province - he proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with Rainsy’s acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.

Having expressed delight at effective co-operation in economics, trade and investment, An said the two nations need to expand co-operation into the areas of aviation, post and telecommunications and banking.

The deputy PM stated that Sam Rainsy’s recent acts destroyed a national asset and violated the laws of Cambodia , undermining its fine relationship with Vietnam .

Empowered by the President, PM Dung bestowed a Friendship Order on the Cambodian official.

The same day, Politburo member and permanent member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee, Truong Tan Sang, received the Cambodian guests.

Mr Sang applauded the CVFA’s collaboration with its Vietnamese counterpart and other partners from both countries to organise practical activities which have helped to beef up friendship and co-operation between their two peoples.

The Party official said he hoped that the two associations would work together to hold more such activities in future for the sake of Vietnam-Cambodia relations.

Also on November 3, the Cambodian delegates worked with the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Vietnam Women’s Union .

VUFO President Vu Xuan Hong took this occasion to present the union’s noblest award--the insignia ‘For peace and friendship between nations’ - to Men Sam An and four other members of the Cambodian delegation. (VNA) Read more!

Tropical storm flooding kills 91 in Vietnam

15,000 evacuated in hardest-hit area; some rescued from rooftops

HANOI, Vietnam - The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae rose to 91 in Vietnam on Wednesday as authorities stepped up rescue and relief operations in the country's central region.
In the hardest-hit province of Phu Yen, 26 more deaths were reported as information trickled in from isolated areas, bringing the death toll there to 65, disaster official Dang Thi Lanh said. An additional 13 people were missing.

Elsewhere in the region, the storm and flooding left 26 people dead and five others missing, according to disaster officials and the government's Web site.

In Phu Yen, soldiers in dozens of speed boats rushed instant noodles, water and clothes to victims in flooded areas who have gone hungry for the past several days, Lanh said. Three military helicopters were also dropping food to victims in isolated areas.

Although flood waters were beginning to recede, many areas remain inundated.

Authorities have evacuated nearly 15,000 people from Phu Yen. Some were rescued from rooftops, where they had scrambled to escape the overflowing Ha Thanh River.

In the neighboring province of Binh Dinh, two military helicopters dropped food and water to villagers still stranded in isolated areas, said Ho Quoc Dung, deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sent a telegram late Tuesday urging local authorities to use all means to bring people still stranded to safety and provide them with temporary shelters and food, the government said on its Web site.

The storm and flooding also left 52 people injured, destroyed or damaged 14,000 homes, and damaged about 12,400 acres of rice and other crops, according the national committee for flood and storm control.

Vietnam's western neighbor, Cambodia, reported a woman and her daughter died Monday night when the storm toppled trees onto their house in Mondulkiri province, about 325 miles east of the capital, Phnom Penh.

In a separate incident in northern Vietnam on

Mirinae hit the Philippines with typhoon strength over the weekend, killing 27 people before losing strength as it moved across the South China Sea toward Vietnam.

Both Vietnam and the Philippines were still recovering from Typhoon Ketsana, which brought the Philippine capital of Manila its worst flooding in 40 years when it struck in September. Ketsana killed 160 people in Vietnam.

In the Philippines, Ketsana and two later storms killed more than 900. Some 87,000 people who fled the storms were still living in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck. Read more!

Cambodia appoints former Thai PM as advisor

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was appointed as economic advisor to the Cambodian government, officials said Wednesday.

He will also be a private advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen, Xinhua reported.

King Norodom Sihamoni has formally appointed Thaksin to the posts on Oct 27 at the request of prime minister and in accordance with the country's constitution, a government spokesman said Wednesday.

Thaksin has been living in self-exile in foreign countries since he was toppled from power in 2006.

Cambodia said it will not extradite Thaksin to Thailand if he stays in the country.
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No fanfare for China's Three Gorges Dam

by Staff Writers
Beijing (UPI) Nov 3, 2009


As the water level in the reservoir on the Yangtze River approaches its final height of 175 meters, criticism of China's Three Gorges Dam continues.

The completion of Three Gorges is being met with little fanfare, unlike the elaborate celebrations Beijing staged 12 years ago to mark the diversion of the Yangtze on the spot of the future massive dam, Inter Press Service reports.

In China, critics are saying filling of the dam is worsening the drought already affecting the Yangtze's delta. And Chinese diplomats are being met with skepticism in their efforts to promote hydropower across Asia and Africa.

To construct Three Gorges -- the world's largest and most expensive dam -- 1,350 villages were submerged and 1.3 million displaced from their homes. The dam has a capacity of 18,000 megawatts of electricity.

The dam's original cost, when approved in 1992, was estimated at $8.3 billion. That figure has now risen to $27 billion by Beijing's estimate, while other predictions slate the final cost at $88 billion.

"The Three Gorges dam is a model of the past," said Peter Bosshard, the policy director of California-based International Rivers, an organization whose mission is "to protect rivers and the communities that depend on them," Inter Press reports.

"There are smarter ways of generating energy and managing floods than by building outdated mega-projects," said Bosshard.

By blocking the flow of the Yangtze, its ecosystem has been altered to the extent that rare river species of dolphin and sturgeon are now facing extinction. Commercial fisheries along the Yangtze as well as off the river's mouth in the East China Sea have declined. And landslides, pollution of freshwater supplies and a greater risk of earthquakes are among the side effects of the dam.

In September 2007 government officials admitted, "If preventive measures are not taken, there could be an environmental collapse."

Pan Jiazheng, hydrologist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, maintains that water is the only renewable energy source in China that can be developed on a large scale.

"Developing hydropower is the only viable way to make a dent in China's consumption of coal," Pan told Inter Press. "Those who argue that hydropower is not a clean energy have to ask themselves whether there is any other task more urgent for China's clean development than burning less coal."

Despite domestic and foreign criticism of Three Gorges, China is actively seeking to build hydropower projects in countries ranging from Cambodia to Pakistan to Nigeria.

"It is quasi-science to believe that hydropower equals green energy," said Zheng Yisheng, who researches environment and development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "You can't see rivers just as a source of energy and choose to ignore their ecological function as ecosystems. People need energy but they need a place to live, too."


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Vietnam Set To Reinforce Practical Ties With Cambodia

HANOI, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- Vietnam expects to join efforts with Cambodia to develop bilateral relations in a bid to bring practical benefits to both sides, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Dung made this statement while receiving here Tuesday Cambodian Permanent Deputy PM Men Sam An, who doubles as President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association (CVFA), Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

The government leader noted with pleasure that Vietnam-Cambodia ties have grown fruitfully, especially in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics and trade, despite the impact of the global economic crisis.

The two nations have also cooperated smoothly in maintaining security, border demarcation and marker planting, mitigating damage caused by natural disasters and facilitating cooperative relations between border provinces, he said.

Dung spoke highly of the efforts of both the CVFA and Men Sam An in beefing up their bilateral relationship, saying that the Vietnamese government will create favourable conditions for the two sides to cooperate effectively, not only at the central level, but also among local chapters.

The PM asked the two associations to increase the dissemination of information about the time-honoured friendship amongst younger generations, and step up coordination at international forums, particularly in Asean and APEC.

Regarding acts and statements made by Sam Rainsy - President of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who recently uprooted six temporary poles for Marker 185 between Vietnam's southern province of Long An and Cambodia's Svay Rieng province - he proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with Rainsy's acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.

Having expressed delight at effective cooperation in economics, trade and investment, An said the two nations need to expand cooperation into the areas of aviation, post and telecommunications and banking.

The deputy PM stated that Sam Rainsy's recent acts destroyed a national asset and violated the laws of Cambodia , undermining its fine relationship with Vietnam.

Empowered by the State President, Dung bestowed a Friendship Order on the Cambodian official.

The same day, Politburo member and permanent member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee, Truong Tan Sang, received the Cambodian guests.

Sang applauded the CVFA's collaboration with its Vietnamese counterpart and other partners from both countries to organise practical activities which have helped to beef up friendship and cooperation between their two peoples.

The Party official said he hoped that the two associations would work together to hold more such activities in future for the sake of Vietnam-Cambodia relations.

Also on Tuesday, the Cambodian delegates worked with the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Vietnam Women's Union.

VUFO President Vu Xuan Hong took this occasion to present the union's noblest award--the insignia "For peace and friendship between nations" -- to Men Sam An and four other members of the Cambodian delegation.

-- BERNAMA


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