State President Nguyen Minh Triet attended a ceremony on October 2 to commend the Vietnamese team which won the first prize at the sixth professional skill contest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei last month.

Six contestants bagging gold medals received the Prime Minister's certificate of merit while others got certificate of merit from the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs.

The President called on the young people not to be subjective as there are a lot of difficulties in future. “The country’s moderinisation and industrialisation process requires great efforts from the whole society, each organisation and each individual. We should try to reach the peak of science and technology and human knowledge so that Vietnam will “be on a par with powerful nations across the five continents”, said the President.

The President asked relevant ministries and agencies to closely co-ordinate in improving the quality of teaching and learning, and developing high-quality human resources to meet the requirements of the national modernization and industrialisation process.

This year, Vietnam has become an official member of the World Occupational Skills Association and will send a delegation to attend the 39th World Skills Competition scheduled for 2007 in Japan.