☕ Afternoon briefing on March 21

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

- Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son held talks with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn in Hanoi on March 21.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (R) and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn. (Photo: VNA) 

Prak Sokhonn arrived in Vietnam earlier the same day to co-chair the 20th meeting of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Commission on Economic, Cultural, and Scientific-Technological Cooperation from March 21-22. Read full story

- The Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank (SHB) has teamed up with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to increase access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

As part of the agreement signed on March 20, IFC is providing a 40 million USD loan to SHB, which is the first step towards a total financing package of 120 million USD. This funding will help SHB support local businesses and enhance their participation in the global supply chain. The investment from IFC is expected to more than double the number of SME loans and outstanding loan volumes for women-owned businesses by 2025. Read full story

- A working delegation led by Vietnamese Ambassador to South Africa Hoang Van Loi paid a working trip to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province from March 16-20, as part of Vietnam’s economic diplomacy programme for this year.

During the trip, the delegation held working sessions with the Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN), the management board of the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and the railway transport conglomerate Transnet. Read full story

- The central coastal city of Da Nang is taking measures to revive the foreign direct investment (FDI) flow with a view to attracting 7 billion USD in this capital by 2030.

Da Nang aims to attract 7 billion USD of FDI by 2030 (Photo: VNA)

In the first two months of this year, Da Nang licenced 16 new FDI projects with a total registered capital of 2.55 million USD, a decrease of 53.6% in value year-on-year.Read full story

- The Mong Cai international border gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh is becoming a customs clearance gateway for agro-fisheries products between Vietnam and China.

Head of the Mong Cai international border gate management board Tran Bich Ngoc said from January 1-March 18, the total volume of goods  through the gate topped 286,700 tonnes, up 154.8% annually. Read full story

- Digital transformation is an opportunity for Vietnam to become a developed country. However, many challenges remain to ensure a rapid, smart and green digital transformation, experts have said.

According to the 7th edition of e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek and Bain, Vietnam's digital economy reached a value of 23 billion USD in 2022 and is on track to hit 49 billion USD by 2025 - the fastest in Southeast Asia. Read full story

- The blockchain-based origin tracing system iTrace247 made its debut at a seminar in Hanoi on March 21, which was held to review the Support of Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia (SRECA) project.

The system enables firms to market their images and trademarks in both domestic and foreign markets while giving consumers an insight into the farming, processing, transportation and distribution process of products. Read full story

- Vietnam ranked first at the 2023 Southeast Asian Karate Championships, which concluded in the Philippines on March 19.

Vietnam tops the Southeast Asian Karate Championship. (Source: Karate Journal)

Vietnamese athletes secured 23 gold, 20 silver and 23 bronze medals from tournaments for both seniors and juniors during the seven days of competition in Manila./. Read full story