Politics

☕ Afternoon briefing on December 25

The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

☕ Afternoon briefing on December 25

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

- Party General Secretary To Lam has highlighted groundbreaking actions and spreading results as the guiding motto for 2026, marking a shift from the “start-up and runway” phase in 2025 to a period of acceleration in the development of science, technology, innovation and digital transformation.

The Party chief, who is also Head of the Central Steering Committee for the Development of Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, made the remarks while chairing the committee’s conference on December 25 to review its performance in 2025 and set key tasks for 2026. Read full story

- State President Luong Cuong, Head of the Central Steering Committee on Judicial Reform, chaired its third meeting in 2025 in Hanoi on December 25 to review judicial reform during the 2021–2026 period and discuss orientations and key tasks for the 2026–2031 period.

At the meeting, participants also discussed the committee’s draft working programme for 2026, and the proposal on reviewing and evaluating the institution of public defenders. Read full story

- Minister of National Defence Gen. Phan Van Giang held talks with Minister of Defence Industry of Azerbaijan Vugar Mustafayev in Hanoi on December 25.

Giang assured his guest that Vietnam always attaches importance to consolidating its traditional friendship with Azerbaijan, a relationship nurtured by the late Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Heydar Aliyev, successive generations of leaders, and people of both nations, and elevated to a Strategic Partnership in May 2025. Read full story

- Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra has approved a proposal put forth by the Ministry of Home Affairs for a four-day New Year holiday in 2026.

Under Official Dispatch No. 12729/VPCP-KGVX dated December 25, civil servants and public employees will have a four-day break from Thursday (January 1) to Sunday (January 4, 2026). To offset this, the working day on Friday (January 2, 2026) will be shifted to Saturday of the following week (January 10, 2026). Read full story

- E-commerce is evolving from a domestic retail channel into a strategic infrastructure for export expansion, forming a “digital runway” that enables Vietnamese enterprises to reach global consumers directly, bypassing traditional distribution chains.

With Vietnam’s total foreign trade turnover projected to near 920 billion USD in 2025, the role of e-commerce in supporting exports is no longer theoretical. The challenge now lies in accelerating execution capacity to transform digital channels into a new growth driver. Read full story

- Building on the strong recovery in 2025, when Vietnam welcomed an estimated 21.5 million international visitors, the tourism sector has set an ambitious target of attracting 25 million foreign arrivals in 2026.

The target was announced at a conference reviewing the tourism sector’s performance in 2025, held on December 24 by the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Read full story

- Early on the morning of December 25, the first visitors reaching the summit of Fansipan in the northern province of Lao Cai were delighted to witness a rare and spectacular natural scene as ice coated the peak in white.

With temperatures hovering between 1 and 3 degrees Celsius, frost and ice covered the summit area, creating an ideal condition for tourists eager to admire icy scenery, clouds and experience a Christmas atmosphere amid a sea of cold mist. Read full story./.

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