☕ Afternoon briefing on March 4

Hanoi, (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s news reported by the Vietnam News Agency on March 4.

– Law building should keep up with the reality and deal with emerging issues, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a Cabinet meeting on law building in Hanoi on March 4. PM Chinh said the law building work must ensure that all resources are mobilised for development and cover all groups of people to be regulated, stressing the need to cut administrative procedures to facilitate law enforcement. Read full story

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and overseas representative agencies of Vietnam are exerting utmost efforts to protect and assist Vietnamese citizens in Ukraine to weather difficulties, an official has said. Talking to the press on March 3, Vice Chairman of the ministry’s State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (SCOV) Ngo Trinh Ha said given the complicated situation in Ukraine, Party and State leaders are paying great attention to and issued early directions on the protection of security, lives, and asset of the community there. Read full story

– Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, head of the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN) has reaffirmed the country’s commitment to work with other countries to promote the proposals outlined in the UN Secretary General's report “Our Common Agenda” (OCA). Addressing a consultation held by UN General Assembly on March 3 under the theme “protecting our planet and being prepared for the future”, Giang applauded the report which he said includes many breakthrough initiatives and future orientations that are very important for Vietnam, developing countries and the world as a whole. Read full story

– The US has delivered an additional 34 ultra-low temperature freezers to Vietnam to help the Southeast Asian country expand life-saving COVID-19 vaccine storage capacity. The freezers were handed over to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health by US Ambassador Marc Knapper in Ho Chi Minh City on March 4. They are among 111 ultra-low freezers the US Department of Defence is providing to Vietnam with a total value of approximately 1 million USD. Read full story

 
- Fourteen Vietnamese firms recently showcased their products at the "White Label World Expo London 2022", which was the UK’s largest event for professional online sellers. At the expo, Vietnamese firms and their UK partners signed three strategic economic cooperation agreements totalling 300 million GBP (400.45 million USD). Read full story

– Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang on March 3 visited Salon International de l'Agriculture (SIA) 2022 in Paris at the invitation of the National Authority for Agriculture and Sea Products (FranceAgriMer) and had working sessions with the host country's agricultural organisations. At these working sessions, Thang highlighted Vietnam's agricultural strengths and exchanged information on collaboration opportunities towards sustainable development and mutual benefits for both sides. Read full story

– As Vietnam is scheduled to reopen its borders for international tourism from March 15, Singapore has decided to launch the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) with Vietnam, restoring two-way quarantine-free travel. In an announcement on March 4, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) applications for travellers from Vietnam will open at 10am (Singapore time) on March 13. Read full story

– A ground-breaking ceremony for Sa Pa Airport was held in Cam Con commune, Bao Yen district, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, on March 3. Approved by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in late October, Sa Pa airport has a total investment of nearly 7 trillion VND (306.54 million USD), of which 2.7 trillion VND comes from the State budget. The first phase of the 370-ha airport is scheduled to be completed before 2025, serving 1.5 million passengers each year. Read full story./.