Hanoi, (VNA) - The following is a list ofselected news summaries reported last night by the Vietnam News Agency.

– Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang on April 25said Vietnam’s consistent stance on China’s fishing ban in the East Sea has been affirmed clearly over the past years.

Speaking at the ministry’s regular pressconference, Hang said the ban violates not only Vietnam’s sovereignty over itsHoang Sa (Paracel) but also the country’s sovereign right and jurisdiction overits exclusive economic zone as defined in accordance with the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).  

- Vietnam once againaffirms its consistent policy of protecting and promoting human rights,considering human beings a centre and driving force of the country's renewaland development process, Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs PhamThu Hang said at the ministry's regular press conference in Hanoi on April 25.

Answering areporter's query about Vietnam’s response to the US's 2023 Country Reports onHuman Rights Practices released on April 22, Hang said though the US Departmentof State's annual human rights report has reflected Vietnam's achievements andprogress in protecting human rights, it is regrettable that it continued tomake several unobjective assessments based on inaccurate information about theactual situation in Vietnam.

– Twovessels of the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) on April 25 departed from the northernport city of Hai Phong for a joint patrol mission with the China Coast Guard(CCG) in the vicinity of the countries’ demarcation line in the Gulf of Tonkin.

This joint patrol, the first of its kind betweenthe two sides this year, will take place from April 27 to 29, spanning 255.5nautical miles across 13 points. The route starts from a point lying 48nautical miles northeast of Con Co island to another point 14 nautical milessoutheast of Tran island.

- The Ministry of Public Security on April 25 organised aconference to review its decade-long implementation of the United NationsConvention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocol to Prevent,Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

The conference also discussed ways to enhance theeffectiveness of the ministry’s work related to international treaties andagreements between now and 2030.

– Vietnamese Ambassador-designate to Thailand and head of theVietnamese delegation to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and thePacific (ESCAP) Pham Viet Hung highlighted Vietnam's commitment to achievingthe 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) while delivering a speech at the ESCAP’s 80thannual session in Bangkok, Thailand, on April 25.

Hung said Vietnam is strongly committed to thetimely completion of the SDGs. In this endeavor, Vietnam has integrated the2030 Agenda into national development strategies; performed a series ofpolicies on education and social welfare and has made significant progress,particularly in poverty eradication, clean water and sanitation, improvingaccess to quality education, ensuring universal healthcare coverage, creatingemployment opportunities, and enhancing the coverage of the social securitysystem, industrialisation, innovation and infrastructure development, as wellas building peace, justice and fine-tuning institutions.

– The Ho Chi Minh CityUnion of Friendship Organisations (HUFO) and the city's Vietnam - CubaFriendship Association (VCFA) held a gathering on April 25 to celebrate the63rd anniversary of Cuba’s Giron Victory (April 19, 1961 - 2024).

At the event,delegates recalled the historical significance of the Giron Victory 63 yearsago. On April 17, 1961, more than 1,500 US-trained mercenary troops landed atGiron beach as part of a scheme to overthrow the fledgling Cuban government.Under the direct command of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, the invasion wasdefeated on April 19, 1961 after less than 72 hours.

– A meeting took place in the Mekong Delta province of TraVinh on April 25 to introduce the project “Smart Agro-ecological Transformationof Farming Systems towards Resilience and Sustainability in Middle and CoastalZones of the Vietnam Mekong Delta (STAR-FARM)”.

The event was co-hosted by the Ministry ofAgriculture and Rural Development (MARD), the Food and Agriculture Organisationof the United Nations (FAO) and the provincial Department of Agriculture andRural Development.Read full text/.