☕ Afternoon briefing on March 14

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

- The 15th National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee will convene their 21st session in Hanoi on March 15 to scrutinise a number of draft laws, according to the NA Office. A question and answer session will be held on March 20 and broadcast live on TV and radio channels. Read full story

- National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue paid a working visit to the northern province of Hung Yen on March 14, during which he attended the ground-breaking ceremony for Hung Yen's Industrial Park No.5, and a ceremony to celebrate the 77th Vietnam Sports Day (March 27), and visited the PVF Football Academy. Read full story

- Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Tran Thanh Man on March 13 (local time) made a host of Vietnam’s recommendations concerning an aspiration for a world of peace, development and prosperity at the plenary session of the ongoing 146th the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Manama, Bahrain. Read full story

- Based on the fine traditional relationship in the past, this is the right time to bring Vietnam's relations with Arab countries to a new height and in a more substantial and extensive manner, said Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Vietnam Mohammed Ismaeil A. Dahlwy on March 13.

Speaking at a meeting in Hanoi between ambassadors of Arab countries to Vietnam and former Vietnamese ambassadors to Arab countries, Mohammed Ismaeil A. Dahlwy said that this event was a good opportunity for them to exchange experience and discuss measures to boost relations between Vietnam and the bloc. Read full story

- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro received outgoing Vietnamese Ambassador Le Viet Duyen on March 13, highlighting the two countries’ fraternity and friendship and calling for stronger cooperation to obtain concrete results in the fields of trade and production.

President Maduro bestowed the first-class Order of Francisco de Miranda upon Duyen in recognition of the diplomat’s contributions over the past years. Read full story

- Delegations of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and the Naval Region 4 High Command on March 14 commemorated the 64 naval officers and soldiers who laid down their lives defending Gac Ma Reef in the country’s sea and island area of Truong Sa 35 years ago.
 
The incense offering ceremony took place at the Gac Ma soldier memorial site in Cam Hai Dong commune of Cam Lam district, the central province of Khanh Hoa. Read full story

- Vietnam and Australia have reached the targets set in the action plan for implementing the strategic partnership in the 2020 - 2023 period despite impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr Nguyen Hong Hai from the Centre for Policy Futures at the University of Queensland of Australia.

The two countries set up the diplomatic relationship in 1973 and promoted it into a strategic partnership on March 15, 2018. Read full story

- Vietravel Airlines is gearing up for the return of Chinese tourists, following China’s decision to include Vietnam in the list of countries to which group tours will be resumed from March 15. Read full story

- VinFast Trading and Service Ltd Co, a subsidiary automaker of conglomerate Vingroup, reported on March 14 that it delivered 774 electric vehicles (EVs) to customers in the first two months of 2023.

In February alone, the firm handed over 416 EVs, including 266 VF8 and 150 VF e34. Read full story

- Nguyen Thuy Linh, Vietnam's top female badminton player, ranked second after losing out 2-0 to her Japanese opponent Asuka Takahashi in the final match of the Thailand International Challenge 2023 on March 12.

At the tournament, Linh was the top seeded in the women’s singles. Read full story

- “Lien Xo” - the first Russian film about the Vietnam War - has started shooting at the Military Aviation and Space Defense Academy (VKS) named after Zhukov in Tver.

The film tells the work of Soviet military experts who arrived in Vietnam in 1965.  The script is based on the memories of Soviet missile officers who were called in to train the Vietnamese soldiers to work on the S-75 Dvina air defence systems. The prototypes of the main characters were Soviet officers Fyodor Ilinykh and Boris Mozhaev. Read full story

- Winners of the Vietnam Amazing Brewing Master 2023 contest were hounoured at a ceremony on March 13, which was held in the framework of the 8th Buon Ma Thuot Coffee Festival. Read full story./.