Politics

☕ Afternoon briefing on December 28

The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.
☕ Afternoon briefing on December 28 ảnh 1

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 onDecember 28 asked the transport sector to pay more attention to infrastructuredevelopment, considering this as a key, priority task in 2024.

☕ Afternoon briefing on December 28 ảnh 2Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

Addressing an online conference held by theMinistry of Transport in Hanoi, which was connected with sites in 62 otherprovinces and centrally-run cities, the government leader hailed the sector’sefforts in fulfilling its tasks and targets in 2023, contributing to thecountry's socio-economic development. Read full story

- Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings hasforecast Vietnam’s growth in the medium term at around 7%, with many favourablesigns.

In a report released recently, the agency saidVietnam’s cost competitiveness, educated workforce compared with peers, andentry into numerous regional and global free trade agreements (FTAs) shouldbode well for continued strong FDI inflows, particularly in the context ofongoing global supply chain diversification. Read full story

- Vietnam’s total trade with European and Americanmarkets is estimated to decrease by 9.5% year-on-year to around 208 billion USDin 2023, but the country still enjoys a trade surplus of 125 billion USD.

According to the Ministry of Industry andTrade’s European – American Market Department, Vietnam’s trade surpluswith European countries is estimated to reach around 33 billion USD and thefigure with American nations is 92 billion USD. Read full story

- Ho Chi Minh City’s Saigon Hi-Tech Park(SHTP) on December 28 signed a cooperation pact with the US-based engineeringsimulation software provider Ansys, Inc. to develop human resources for thecountry’s semiconductor industry.

☕ Afternoon briefing on December 28 ảnh 3At the signing ceremony of the cooperation pact between the Saigon Hi-Tech Park and Ansys, Inc. (Photo: VNA)

Accordingly, Ansys will provide educationalsoftware tools and related training programmes to local universities withsci-tech strengths through the firm’s innovation space. Read full story

- Savings interest rates have set a new recordlow of only 1.9% per year for a 1-2-month term.

Vietcombank has announced a new interest rate listthis week that surprised the market. Accordingly, the bank’s interest rate forshort-term deposits from 1-2 months is currently only 1.9% per year, a decreaseof 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous week. This is the new bottomof deposit interest rates in the market. The interest rate for long-termdeposits of 12 months or more at Vietcombank remains at 4.8% per year. Read full story

- Vietnam remains committed and focused onenhancing the development of hydrogen energy production and hydrogen-sourcefuels in regions with potential and advantages in renewable energy, close tomajor consumer markets.

This is to establish a comprehensive hydrogenenergy industry ecosystem from production to storage, transportation,distribution, and utilisation of hydrogen, Minister of Industry and TradeNguyen Hong Dien said at a recent government meeting on Vietnam's hydrogen andoff-shore energy development. Read full story

- Suffering from declined overseasshipments, export businesses in some industries now need more assistance fromthe Government to navigate difficulties and challenges, insiders have said.

Together with public investment andconsumption, export is identified as one of the three drivers of Vietnam’seconomic growth. Read full story

- The Vietnam Institute of Education Sciences and the NationalForeign Languages Project Management Board on December 27 held a conference topublish this year’s report on the teaching and learning of foreign languages inVietnam.

According to the annual report, the Ministry of Education andTraining completed the development and issuance of curriculums for foreignlanguages in the 2018 general education programme. Read full story

- Vietnam expects to form a nationwide network of digitaltransformation with the participation of all-level state agencies,organisations, businesses and people, according to a recently-approved project.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed adecision to approve the project on consolidating apparatus organisation, andimproving state management and law enforcement capacity in digitaltransformation from central to local levels by 2025, with a vision to 2030. Read full story

- The south-central province of Binh Thuan held theclosing ceremony of the Visit Vietnam Year 2023 in Phan Thiet city on December27 evening.

With the theme of “Binh Thuan – GreenConvergence”, the programme includes over 200 events and activities in 41provinces and cities nationwide, of which more than 30 have been organised inthe host locality./. Read full story

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