Vietnam PM Approves Information Scheme for Seas, Island Areas

The Vietnamese Prime Minister has just ratified a scheme on ensuring the information network for seas and islands, which will be carried out between 2010 and 2015. 

 

The scheme targets almost all of islands with people living on and territorial waters under Vietnam’s sovereignty will be covered with mobile wave and provided with post, telecoms services, Internet by 2015.

 

The Vietnamese government’s move aims to boost the socioeconomic development of island as well as ensure security, defense, and research and rescue at sea.

 

Local media recently reported several Vietnamese fishing boats had been rammed and sunk by unidentified vessels while catching offshore of Vietnam’s waters, leaving many fishermen injured.

 

Answering reporters’ queries on Vietnam’s reaction to the fishing boat QNg 2203 hit by an unknown ship on July 15, Le Dung, a spokesman of Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministry, said on July 22 that the Vietnamese government had deep concerns for the safety of its fishermen at sea.  

 

The foreign ministry has sent diplomatic notes to several regional countries, including China, to ask for their help in investigating and identifying the foreign vessel, Dung noted.

 

The note to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture’s Fisheries Bureau also requested unconditional release of a Vietnamese fishing boat and 12 local fishermen detained by China on June 22, the spokesmen told reporters. (Young People, VNS, Labor)