Politics

☕ Afternoon briefing on January 9

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

☕ Afternoon briefing on January 9

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 January 9 chaired a national conference on accelerating public investment for 2025 and 2026, stressing that the legitimate rights and interests of the people must never be overlooked before, during and after project implementation.

In his opening remarks, PM Chinh underlined that public investment has consistently been identified as a key political task, with public investment disbursement results serving as one of the criteria for evaluating officials under Party regulations. Through state spending, public investment directly boosts aggregate demand and serves as an effective tool for regulating and stabilising the macroeconomy while safeguarding major economic balances. Read full story

- Ambassador Do Hung Viet, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations and President-designate of the 11th Review Conference (RevCon 11) of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), chaired a consultation for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) member states of the treaty in Amman, Jordan, from January 7–8.

Following similar regional consultations for Asia–Pacific countries in Hanoi in last October and African countries in Addis Ababa in last November, this was the third event hosted by Vietnam in preparation for the 2026 NPT Review Conference. Read full story

- The Agency of Foreign Trade (AFT) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade aims to increase total export turnover by more than 8% in 2026 compared with 2025, while maintaining a trade surplus of over 23 billion USD, up 15% year on year.

The targets were outlined by Tran Thanh Hai, AFT Deputy Director, at a conference in Hanoi on January 8 reviewing the agency’s performance in 2025 and setting out tasks for 2026. Read full story

- Vietnamese farm produce and food products have drawn strong interest at Indusfood 2026, Asia’s premier food and beverage tradeshow, which is taking place from January 8–10 at the India Exposition Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh state.

The event has brought together more than 2,200 businesses and exhibitors from over 30 countries, including Vietnamese enterprises operating in agricultural products, processed foods and beverages, along with some 15,000 international buyers from more than 120 countries. Read full story

- Air quality in some areas of Hanoi on January 8 was at unhealthy levels, prompting warnings for residents, especially the elderly, children, and those with underlying conditions such as cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, to limit outdoor activities, according to readings from Hanoi’s early air quality forecasting system (HanoiAir).

HanoiAir is an early air quality forecasting system developed experimentally by the municipal Department of Agriculture and Environment in collaboration with the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting and the University of Engineering and Technology under the Vietnam National University – Hanoi (VNU-Hanoi). Read full story

- The central city of Da Nang will step up efforts to boost MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism in 2026 through a renewed promotion programme, aiming to reinforce its position as a leading professional and appealing MICE destination in Vietnam and the region.

The Da Nang MICE Tourism Promotion Programme 2026, themed “Da Nang - Elevating your MICE experience”, will be implemented from January 1 through the end of the year. Under the programme, the city targets welcoming and supporting nearly 93,000 MICE visitors, representing an increase of about 12% compared to 2025. Read full story./.

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☕ Afternoon briefing on January 8

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