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

- Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on August 13 chaired a meeting of standing members of the sub-committee in charge of drafting documents for the 14th National Party Congress.

Participants contributed their ideas to the draft Political report prepared by the editorial team based on the detailed outline approved at the 9th meeting of the 13th Party Central Committee. Read full story

🀅 – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on August 13 hosted a reception for Japanese Ambassador Ito Naoki who has just begun his working term in Vietnam.

PM Chinh asked the ambassador to convey his thanks to leaders and people of Japan for sending the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of Japan, former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide, to attend the funeral of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.Read full story

✃ – Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan on August 13 received Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and a Thai royal delegation on the occasion of their working visit to Vietnam.

At the reception, on behalf of the State and the people of Vietnam, Xuan thanked Thailand for flying the flag at half-mast on August 1-2 to commemorate the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. She emphasized that the gesture demonstrates the close relationship and understanding between Vietnam and Thailand. Read full story

𝐆 – Minister of National Defence Gen Phan Van Giang and his Russian counterpart Andrey Removich Belousov on August 13 held talks in Moscow as part of Giang’s visit to Russia to attend the International Military-Technical Forum “Army-2024”.

At the talks, Giang emphasised that the visit by the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence aims to concretise the policy of deepening the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership agreed upon by the two countries' senior leaders during the Russian President's State visit to Vietnam in June this year. Read full story

– Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien on August 13 received a delegation of the National Immigration Administration of China, led by its deputy head Li Junjie, who are paying a working visit to Vietnam.

Chien affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam always attach importance to consolidating and developing the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China. The two countries agreed to build a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, with developing more practical defence and security cooperation as one of the six orientations.Read full story

– Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on August 13 stressed the significance of consistency in the technical approach as well as economic efficacy while developing a decree on mechanisms and policies to develop rooftop solar power.

Ha, chairing a hybrid meeting on the day, said that the building of the decree must be aligned with National Power Development Plan VIII, ensuring energy security and meeting socio-economic development requirements. Read full story

- Stronger action is needed to reduce tobacco use in Vietnam and protect people's health and lives, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Vietnam Angela Pratt has stressed.

The WHO representative made the call at a workshop on August 13 which looked at ways to provide information on the harmful effects of tobacco and the role of tax policy in preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco for central-level press agencies’ reporters and editors. She said that although Vietnam has made some progress in combating the harmful effects of tobacco over the past decade, with current trends, it is unlikely to achieve the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control’s target of reducing the smoking rate among men to below 36% by 2030./. Read full story