☕ Afternoon briefing on March 29

Hanoi (VNA) - The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on March 29 acknowledged that key transport projects are progressing more effectively.

PM Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

Chairing the 10th hybrid meeting of the State Steering Committee on key national transport projects, the government leader, who is also the committee's head, called for the engagement of the entire political system to fully address site clearance issues for the north-south expressway project for the 2021-2025 period before April 30, along with three East-West expressway and two ring road projects in the second quarter of this year. Read full story

- National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue asked NA deputy delegations to continue increasing their working capacity and enhancing their operational efficiency while delivering a speech at a conference hosted by the NA Standing Committee in Hanoi on March 28 to review operations of NA deputy delegations of provinces and centrally-run cities in 2023 and launch tasks for 2024.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue addresses the conference. (Photo: VNA)

The NA leader noted that last year, despite a huge workload, NA deputy delegations and NA deputies showed an active spirit in law building, effective supervision and timely decision making as well as a high sense of responsibility in building laws, deciding important matters of the country, and following up the settlement of citizens’ complaints and denunciations. Read full story

- Vietnam's economy grew 5.66% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, the highest for the first quarter since 2020, the General Statistics Office (GSO) announced at a press conference in Hanoi on March 29.

Vietnam's economy grew 5.66% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. (Photo: VNA)

According to the GSO, the agro-forestry-fishery, industry-construction, service sectors expanded by 2.98%, 6.28%, 6.12%, contributing 6.09%, 41.68%, and 52.23% to the total Q1 GDP growth, respectively. Read full story

- Vietnam’s total export-import turnover hit 178.04 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up 15.5% annually, resulting in a trade surplus of 8.08 billion USD, reported the General Statistics Office (GSO) on March 29.

Exports performed particularly well, with an estimated value of 93.06 billion USD, reflecting a 17% year-on-year growth. Processed industrial goods dominated exports, accounting for a substantial 88.1% share with a value of 82.02 billion USD. Read full story

- Experts gave forecasts on impacts of the global economy on Vietnam and exchanged views on how to manage the macro economy and the domestic gold market at a meeting of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council on March 28.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai (standing) speaks at the meeting of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council. (Photo: VNA)

They held that the monetary and fiscal policies employed over the past time have helped achieve set objectives and enabled the national economy to withstand shocks that seemed to be insurmountable. Read full story

- Vietnam’s tuna exports showed a gradual recovery in the last quarter of 2023 and have strongly grown again in the first months of this year, promising a surge throughout 2024 and a return as a commodity with billion-USD export value, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Amidst the overall decline in aquatic exports, tuna exports also saw a drop of 17% to 845 million USD in 2023. However, from the last few months of 2023, they have begun to recover. In January of this year, the tuna export turnover reached over 79 million USD, surging by 58% year-on-year. Read full story

 - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam on March 28 convened a technical meeting focusing on a roadmap for transition from coal-fired power generation to sustainable alternatives.

The meeting aimed to provide the latest information about policies and technologies for the transition process, the best available techniques; costs, benefits and potential impacts of the shift while discussing options for decommissioning, repurposing and transforming various types of coal-fired power plants./. Read full story