Hanoi (VNA) - The following is a list of selected news summaไries reporte🅺d last night by the Vietnam News Agency.

– Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who is also Chairman of the Coordinating Council for the Southeastern Region, chaired the council’s third conference in the southern province of Tay Ninh on May 5.

The focus of the event was the implementation of the recently approved master planning scheme for the southeastern region for the 2021-2030 period with a vision until 2050.Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 5 sent a letter to the Ministry of Public Security’s traffic police force, praising their dedication to ensuring traffic safety and order during the five-day April 30 - May 1 holidays, despite grappling with a surge in vehicle traffic and scorching hot weather nationwide.

In the letter, he noted a significant decline in traffic accidents, fatalities and injuries compared to the same period last year, attributing this success to the force's vigilant presence on the roads. Read full story

– Vietnam is highly interested in Funan Techo canal project and respects the legitimate interests of Cambodia in accordance with the 1995 Mekong Agreement, relevant regulations of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the traditional and friendly neighbourliness between the two countries, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said on May 5.

Answering a reporter’s question about Vietnam’s response to Cambodia’s recent statements about the implementation of the project, Hang said Vietnam always treasures and gives top priority to its fine neighbourliness, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term sustainability with Cambodia in its foreign policy, wishing that the bilateral relationship would continue to deepen and become more practical and effective in various sectors for the benefit of the two countries’ people. Read full story

- Vietnam attaches importance to its strategic partnership with France, which has been developing extensively and intensively across various fields, including defence, Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang affirmed at his talks with visiting French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu in Hanoi on May 5.

At the talks following a welcome ceremony for the French minister, Giang highlighted the significance of the guest's current visit in stepping up the bilateral defence cooperation, considering it evidence of the spirit of "closing the past and looking towards the bright future." Read full story

– Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien met with visiting French Secretary of State for Veterans and Memory Patricia Miralles in Hanoi on May 5.

Chien said Miralles's ongoing visit to Vietnam is of importance, reflecting the spirit of reconciliation, "closing the past, looking towards the brighter future," and the development cooperation between the two countries and their people. Read full story

– More than 200 overseas Vietnamese and French friends gathered with various organisations at the Place de la République in Paris on May 4 to express their support for Vietnamese-French Tran To Nga and Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims of Vietnam in a lawsuit against chemical companies that supplied herbicides to the US military during the war in Vietnam.

The activity took place ahead of the May 7 hearing at the Paris Court of Appeals, which continues the trial of the 82-year-old woman's lawsuit against Bayer-Monsanto and 13 other companies that manufactured or marketed the AO/dioxin used by the US military during the war in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. Facing these chemical industry giants, lawyers William Bourdon and Bertrand Repolt will defend Nga and millions of victims of this toxic substance in Vietnam./. Read full story