☕ Afternoon briefing on August 24

Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on August 24.

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on August 24 requested thorough consideration and prudence during the revision of the Land Law, which deals with a wide scope and relates to many other laws.

Addressing a Government meeting on the draft revised laws on land, bidding, cooperatives, and prices, the PM also pointed out that the Land Law is a difficult and sensitive one since it covers a wide scope, relates to many parties and different laws, and is facing many issues in reality. Read full story

- UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Catherine Pollard has hailed Vietnam's positive contributions in many aspects to the UN’s operations, including those from Vietnamese individuals that are working for UN agencies.

In a working session with Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, on August 23, the UN official affirmed her willingness to work closely with Vietnam and other UN member countries to enhance the effectiveness of the UN's activities, promote multilateralism and strengthen the representativeness of member countries. Read full story

- The Vietnam-France Friendship Association in Hanoi will continue connecting and building cooperation programmes between the two countries, and helping boost the capital city’s new 2022-2027 tenure.

The association organised the sixth congress, the 2022-2027 tenure, on August 24, during which a 35-member executive committee was elected, with Nguyen Lan Trung re-elected Chairman of the association. Read full story

- Long Bien district has become the first locality in Hanoi to give financial aid to people of poor and near-poor households to help them pay voluntary social insurance premiums in the 2022 - 2025 period. Read full story

- More doses of Moderna vaccine against the COVID-19 pandemic will arrive in Vietnam next month to be injected to children aged from six to below 12, according to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE). The institute said that Vietnam is currently running short of this type of vaccine to give the second jab for children in this age group. Read full story

- Thanks to assistance from US experts, doctors of the Binh Dan Hospital, based in Ho Chi Minh City, have succeeded in mastering urethroplasty techniques and shared experience with their colleagues from other Southeast Asian countries, heard a seminar on August 23. Read full story

- As a rapidly growing economy, Vietnam is facing many difficulties in ensuring energy security, green and sustainable development, insiders have said.

Nguyen Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said in line with draft Power Development Planning (PDP) VIII, the country will not develop new coal-fired plants after 2030. Read full story

- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Youth Volunteer Forum and ASEAN Plus Youth Volunteer Award opened in the central province of Quang Binh on August 24. The four-day event, organised by the National Committee for Youth in Vietnam (NCYV) and the Central Committee of Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMYU), brings together 50 volunteers from ASEAN countries and Japan. Read full story

- Thai Vietjet will connect Vietnam’s famous tourism island of Phu Quoc with Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi), starting October 12, 2022, offering further opportunities and flexible travel choices to its passengers while boosting tourism recovery after the travel restrictions have been lifted. Read full story

- A carton recycling initiative will be piloted in Ho Chi Minh City from August 2022 to March 2023, aiming to collect and fully recycle 3,000 tonnes of used drink cartons into new products, such as paperboard and eco-friendly roofing materials. The initiative will be carried out by the Packaging Recycling Organisation Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) in collaboration with Sweden-based food processing and packaging solutions company Tetra Pak and Circular Action. Read full story

- The establishment of a Vietnamese-language faculty at Cambodia’s Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) is beneficial to the Cambodian people and helps strengthen the two countries’ relations, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on August 23. Read full story

- The northern mountainous province of Yen Bai has completed its preparation to host a ceremony to receive the UNESCO's certificate recognising the art of Xoe dance of the Thai ethnic people as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on September 24, according to Vice Chairwoman of the provincial People’s Committee Vu Thi Hien Hanh. Read full story

- Three Vietnamese dishes – “banh mi,” “pho” and iced coffee – have been named in the CNN’s list of “50 of the best street foods in Asia” which it calls just a “small sampling of the region’s wonderful food traditions”. Read full story./.