☕ Afternoon briefing on March 15 hinh anh 1
Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on March 15. 

- The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee considered the supplementation of the State budget estimate of foreign non-refundable aid (under the task of recurrent expenditure) in 2020 as well as that in 2021 during its ongoing ninth session on March 15 morning.

According to a report delivered at the session, the aid worth over 1.43 trillion VND (62.4 million USD) was an arising amount in 2020 that was received by central agencies, but had not been included in assigned estimates yet. Read full story

- The Embassy of Vietnam in Russia will continue to closely join hands with Russian relevant agencies to safely receive Vietnamese fleeing to Russia from eastern Ukraine, Counsellor Nguyen Tung Lam from the embassy has said.

About 70 Vietnamese remain in Kherson and 24 families of 80 people in Mariupol of Ukraine, which are war zones, the Vietnamese Embassy said on March 14. Read full story

☕ Afternoon briefing on March 15 hinh anh 2An offshore wind power farm in Ca Mau. (Photo: VNA)
- The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has proposed developing nuclear energy on a small scale post 2030 in its latest version of the draft Vietnam Power Development Plan from 2021 – 2030 (PDP8) with a vision towards 2045.

The move aims to support Vietnam’s efforts to achieve zero-net emissions by 2050, as nuclear power is viewed as near-clean energy, according to the MoIT. Particularly after the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Scotland, many countries have recognised it as a clean source of power since nuclear power plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions during operation. Read full story

- Vietnam's index of industrial production (IIP) in February rose by 8.5 percent year-on-year, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The processing and manufacturing industry, which accounted for over 70 percent of total industrial output, still played a main driver of the growth. Read full story
 
☕ Afternoon briefing on March 15 hinh anh 3Ha Long Bay (Photo: VNA)
-- Vietnam has officially reopened international tourism today – March 15. At present, the whole tourism ecosystem, from aviation, travel agents to accommodation and entertainment service providers, is ready to open doors to welcome visitors back. Read full story

- The Vietnamese Government on March 15 issued a resolution on visa waivers for citizens from 13 countries namely Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Belarus.

Citizens of the above-mentioned countries will enjoy 15 days of visa-free travel in Vietnam beginning from their date of entry regardless of the kind of passport and entry purpose, on the basis of satisfying all conditions as prescribed by Vietnamese law. Read full story

- Nearly 6.4 million poor and near-poor households had access to loans from the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) as of December 31, 2021.

Total outstanding loans reached 247.97 trillion VND (10.83 billion USD), up 9.6 percent compared to the end of 2020. Read full story

- As the export of Vietnam’s timber and wooden products posted positive signs in the first two months of 2022, many firms are increasing capacity to meet the schedule of orders until the end of this year’s second quarter.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, timber and wooden exports were estimated to fetch 2.6 billion USD in the two months, surging 15.5 percent year on year. Of the amount, shipments of wooden products hit 2 billion USD, up 11.8 percent from the same period last year. Read full story
☕ Afternoon briefing on March 15 hinh anh 4Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova. (Photo courtesy of Miss Universe Vietnam 2022's organiser)
- Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova will be one of the judges who will accompany and evaluate the contestants of Miss Universe Vietnam 2022 along with other guests, according to the contest’s organiser.

Born in 1981, Glebova was crowned Miss Universe 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. She is the second Canadian to win this contest and is the Miss Universe with the most support from the Thai public ever./. Read full story
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