☕ Afternoon briefing on March 30

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

- Vietnam and the UK held the fourth defence policy dialogue in Hanoi on March 29 under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and The Baroness Goldie DL, Minister of State at the British Ministry of Defence, reported the Quan doi Nhan dan (People's Army) daily.

Chien said as the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their bilateral diplomatic ties this year, their strategic partnership has continued to be promoted, with defence cooperation remaining an important factor of bilateral relations. Read full story

 

- Since Vietnam and Malaysia set up their diplomatic relations 50 years ago, their ties have been expanded extensively and comprehensively across all pillars of Party, State and people diplomacy, stated Chargé d'affaires of the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Anh said that the 50-year journey that the two countries have taken is marked with an important milestone when they lifted their ties to a strategic partnership on August 7, 2015, making Vietnam the only strategic partner of Malaysia among the ASEAN countries. Read full story

- Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zambry Abdul Kadir has expressed his satisfaction that the future of Malaysia - Vietnam relations looks very promising, and that both countries will continue to engage even more closely for greater success.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic relationship (March 30, 1973 - 2023), he also described the deepening of bilateral relations over the past 50 years as remarkable and outstanding, saying through the years, Vietnam has emerged as one of Malaysia’s closest partners, economically and socially, and that the strength of the ties was reflected by the elevation of bilateral relations to a strategic partnership in 2015. Read full story

- A global problem, climate change requires a global approach based on multilateral cooperation and institutions, particularly the respect for international law and the UN Charter, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN), has said.

Vietnam’s engagement in UN resolution that urges the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to outline nations' legal obligations related to curbing climate change disasters and their impacts on vulnerable communities proves the country’s point of view, the ambassador said in a recent interview to the Vietnam News Agency right after the resolution was adopted on March 29. Read full story

- Thai Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam hosted a reception in Bangkok on March 29 for Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh.

The meeting aimed to further promote bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, justice, culture and education. Read full story

- Vietnam is expected to ship about 6.5-7 million tonnes of rice abroad this year thanks to the return of markets like Indonesia, Bangladesh, and China, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Vietnam now sees a sharp increase in rice orders from the Philippines and China. Read full story

-  Foreign small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are paying much attention to Vietnam, given the fact that the number of under-1-million USD projects accounted for nearly 70% of the total number of foreign-invested projects registered in Vietnam in the first three months of this year.

According to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in the first quarter, Vietnam attracted nearly 5.45 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), down 39% year on year. Read full story

-  Foreign investors’ continuous investment in Vietnam has shown their optimistic about the country’s economic outlook, despite the difficult situation of the global banking sector. 

Recently, VPBank announced that it has entered into an agreement with Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) - a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (SMFG) - to issue 15% of equity stake at a value of 1.5 billion USD through a private placement. The deal saw the record value in the financial sector of Vietnam so far, breaking VPBank’s own record in the 1.4-billion USD deal with FE Credit. Read full story

- The Centre for Social Research and Development (CSRD) on March 29 held a workshop in the central city of Hue to summarise the results of its project on enhancing women’s role in increasing the resilience of the coastal community and eco-system in the central region of Vietnam.

The 66,752 Euro (72,323 USD) project, sponsored by UP Transfer - Potsdam University of Germany, was implemented between 2021 and 2023./. Read full story