☕ Afternoon briefing on August 18

Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on August 18.

- President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council, had a meeting with the Economic Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security on August 18.

He highly valued the economic security force’s timely detection and effective settlement of complex issues emerging during the international economic integration process, as well as its firm safeguarding of the country’s independence and self-reliance during economic development, thus helping stamp out threats to national security and protect economic development policies in many important areas. Read full story

- The Vietnam – Cuba Friendship Association (VCFA) on August 17 sent out a letter calling for donations to Cuban people to help them overcome current difficulties. The VCFA will receive donations till August 31. Read full story

-  The fire prevention and fighting work at all karaoke parlors and bars in Hanoi will be inspected, following a series of blazes and explosions, including serious ones, reported in the capital city in recent weeks.

The inspections must be completed before September 20 and their results submitted to the city Police to be reported to the municipal People’s Committee before September 25, the committee requested. Read full story

- Vietnam saw a year-on-year increase of 17% in exports in the first six months, but it will be hard for overseas shipments to meet expectations in the last half of the year, according to the HSBC. Read full story

- An international seminar on trend of investment in Vietnam in the new normal context took place in Seoul on August 18, with over 150 Korean investors and enterprises in different areas taking part. It was co-hosted by the Vietnam Viglacera Corporation, the Vietnamese Embassy in the RoK, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency, the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) and the Bae, Kim & Lee LLC, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Vietnam – RoK diplomatic ties. Read full story

- Vietnam has reviewed greenhouse gas emissions since 2010. However, due to the lack of requirements for reporting and assessing results, the data on emission reduction has yet to be fully compiled. Read full story

- There will be 8-10 storms and tropical depressions in the East Sea from now to February 2023, of which from three to five storms are likely to directly affect Vietnam’s mainland, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.  Read full story

- A requiem was held in Ho Chi Minh City on August 18 in remembrance of the people who died of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most Venerable Thich Le Trang, head of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the requiem aimed to ease the sorrows of the bereaved families and call on people to join hands to build a better Ho Chi Minh City and country. Read full story

- Representatives of the Association of Japanese in love with Vietnam visited and presented gifts to 10 poor Agent Orange victims, each worth 2.5 million VND (108 USD) and 5kg of rice, in the northern province of Ninh Binh on August 18. This was the 11th year the association has stood by the side of local AO victims. Read full story

- A Vietnamese cultural village will be built in the county of Bonghwa, Gyeongbuk province, the Republic of Korea, heard a recent meeting between the county’s mayor Park Hyun-guk and Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Vu Tung.

The village will be developed on a ground of 38,350sqm. It is expected to attract around 100,000 visitors and generate some 3.7 billion won (2.8 million USD) in revenue annually. The village forms part of a project planned to step up cultural exchange and accelerate cooperation between Bonghwa and Vietnam in tourism, culture and education. Read full story

- Vietnam’s top tennis player Ly Hoang Nam has passed a milestone in his career when rising to the world’s No.332 in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings. Read full story

- Canadian pop/rock band The Moffatts has visited Sa Pa, a famous tourist destination in the northern province of Lao Cai about 320 kilometres from Hanoi, and shot a music video to promote tourism.

 It is part of the boyband’s Music Travel Love project which will see the members discover the beauty of the landscape and people in each place they travel to. Read full story./.