1. ASEAN Charter
On 6th March 2008, President Nguyen Minh Triet signed to ratify the ASEAN Charter. On 14th March, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem signed the letter of approval of the ASEAN Charter and sent to the Secretary General of ASEAN and other ASEAN foreign ministers.
With its ratification, Vietnam has become the 5th ASEAN country ratifying the ASEAN Charter after Singapore, Brunei, Laos and Malaysia. This is a significant event demonstrating commitment of Vietnam to the regional integration process and contributing to further cooperation and development of ASEAN.
The ASEAN Charter provides legal foundation and an institutional framework for the Association to enhance regional linkages, and first and foremost realise an ASEAN Community by 2015.
The ASEAN Charter is an objective indispensable need and an important turning point of the Association after 40 years of existence and development. The Charter reflects the maturity of ASEAN, the vision and strong political will of its members, notably the determination of ASEAN Leaders to build a stronger ASEAN of greater and tighter cohesion on the legal basis of the ASEAN Charter for the sake of peace and development of the whole region and of each member country.
Vietnam has proactively participated in and made active contribution to the drafting of the ASEAN Charter since its inception.

2. Outbound Delegations
- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to attend the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit from 30th and 31st March 2008.
The 3rd GMS Summit will be convened in Vientiane, Laos on 30th and 31st March 2008. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will head the Vietnamese delegation to this Summit.
“Enhancing Competitiveness through Greater Connectivity” is the theme of this upcoming Summit. The Summit will focus on 6 major topics as follows:
- Enhancement of transport connectivity
- Facilitation of trade and transport
- Cooperation between public and private sectors to push GMS trade and investment
- Training of human resources to increase competitiveness
- Management of sustainable environment to enhance competitiveness
- GMS cooperation and development

 In addition, the Leaders of GMS countries will hold dialogues with the GMS Youth Forum and meet with the participants of GMS Business and Trade Forum.

- Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan to visit Japan from 23-28/3/2008.

 From 23-28 March2008, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan will head a Vietnamese delegation to visit and work in Japan. The visit aims to advance educational cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, especially in the fields of training Principals and Doctors and building educational coordination program.

On the visit, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan will meet Japan’s Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura (25/3), Minister of Science and Technology Policies Fumio Kishida (24/3), and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Kisaburo Tokai (24/3).

3. Inbound Delegation
- Prime Minister of the Czech Republic to visit Vietnam (20th – 23rd March 2008)
At the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of Czech Republic Mirek Topolanek will pay an official visit to Vietnam from 20th to 23rd March 2008.

This visit is to strengthen the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between the two countries especially in economic, trade, and investment areas and implement the agreements concluded during the trip to Czech by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
 
Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek will hold talks with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and meet with General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, President Nguyen Minh Triet and Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong.

- Hungarian Foreign Minister Goncz Kinga on a visit to Vietnam from 19th to 21st of this month
At the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem, Foreign Minister of Hungary Goncz Kinga is visiting Vietnam from 19th to 21st of this month. This trip comes at a time when the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and Hungary have well developed in various fields.

During this visit, the two sides will exchange views on directions and specific measures to further promote the bilateral ties and on the regional and international issues of mutual concerns.

- Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic to visit Vietnam from 24th to 25th of this month

At the invitation of Deputy Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem, Foreign Minister of Serbia Vuk Jeremic will pay a working visit to Vietnam from 24th to 25th of this month.

This visit is to enhance Vietnam-Serbia cooperation and exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern.

4. Question and Answer:

Question: Please provide information about the settlement of the strike by Vietnamese labors in Jordan?

Answer:
Since the middle of February, 2008, over 200 Vietnamese labors at W& D Apparel Factory (Hoa Son Company) in Jordan have been on strike due to disagreement about the factory’s owner payment calculation. After the strike occurred, the factory has recalculated the payment but only 85 labors agreed to return to work, 176 others did not accept the new calculation and continued their strike. The strike labors prevented other workers from returning to work, thus causing a contradiction between the two groups and on 19 February 2008, Jordan’s police had to intervene.

The Vietnam’s Government follows this incident very closely and has instructed Vietnamese relevant agencies to take measures to solve this case in order to protect the legitimate rights of the Vietnamese labors. Immediately after being informed about the strike, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt to send a Counselor to Jordan to work with relevant Jordan’s agencies and Vietnamese labors to study the situation and settle the case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalid and Social Affairs have sent a joint working delegation to Jordan. The delegation has met the Vietnamese labors, working with Jordan’s relevant agencies and the factory’s management board to know the situation, feelings and aspiration of the labors, and discussing solutions. However, the number of labors who registered to return to work was still small whereas the issue became more complicated because some anti-Vietnam elements, especially Nguyen Dinh Thang, Director of the so-called “Boat People SOS Committee” had interfered in, manipulating and inciting some Vietnamese labors to continue the strike in an attempt to politicize this incident, using it to slander and smear policies of the Vietnamese State and undermining the Vietnam- Jordan relations.

At present, Vietnam is actively coordinating with Jordan’s relevant agencies to solve the case in accordance with Vietnam’s and Jordan’s laws, guaranteeing the legitimate rights of the Vietnamese labors. For those who wish to stay for work in Jordan and are accepted by the factory’s employers, we are asking Jordan’s relevant agencies and the factory’s employer to take their aspiration into consideration and facilitate their continued stay for work. For labors who wish to end their work in Jordan, we will coordinate with Jordan’s side to arrange to bring them home soon. If necessary, Vietnam may arrange chartered flights to repatriate them so as to realize the State accountability for citizen protection.