During UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annans official visit to Vietnam, his spouse Mrs. Nane Annan paid a visit to Branch 7 of VWU’s TYM credit fund in Me Linh district, Vinh Phuc province. She attended a meeting with women borrowers at Center 15, Branch 7 and visited 2 women borrowers at their residence.

During the 38th session of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee (March 27 - April 5, 2006), a discussion on the draft Gender Equality Law was held in the morning of March 30.

Right after the article “Vietnamese bride was auctioned in Malaysia” was published in Tien Phong newspaper on 8th May 2006, Mme. Ha Thi Khiet – Member of Vietnam Central Party, President of the Vietnam Women’s Union, President of the National Committee for the Advancement of Women sent a letter to Mme. Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Zalil - Minister of the Malaysian Ministry on Women, Family and Community Development and Mme. Ramani Gurusamy, Vice President of the National Council of Women’s Organizations in Malaysia. Hereinafter is the full text of the letter addressed to Mme. Minister.

From 31 March – 11 April 2006, Ms. Truong Thi Khue - First Vice President of the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU) joined the delegation of Vietnamese partners of the program “Assistance for Institutional and Regional Development on Management in Vietnam” (DIREG) and representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training on a working visit to Canada.

Following the orientation workshop on March 14, 2006, a training of trainers workshop was held in Hanoi from April 5-25, 2006. It was done in the framework of the project “Building capacity and developing VWU models of supporting rural women in aquaculture”.

On Apr. 26, 2006, the Central VWU Party organized a get-together with female members of the 9th and 10th Party Central Committee.

Buddhist clerics from the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and several southern provinces flocked to HCM City on April 20 to attend a conference on the progress of an initiative for providing consultancy and support to people living with HIV/AIDS.

Managers from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Central Highlands Lam Dong province and central Khanh Hoa province gathered at a workshop on improving awareness and knowledge of HIV/AIDS in the workplace in the resort city of Da Lat on April 11.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (third from left, first row) asked relevant ministries to work with the Vietnam Elders’ Association (VEA) to provide the best possible care services for the elders.

At the official visit to Vietnam, on 6th April, the delegation of Nepali parliamentarians headed by Mme. Chitralekha Yadav visited the Vietnam Women’s Union (VWU).