Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.
- General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam on May 20 called for a comprehensive review, classification, and decisive mobilisation of idle and underutilised resources so that Vietnam can achieve double-digit economic growth and build a new growth model.
Chairing a working session in Hanoi with the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Policies and Strategies and relevant agencies on assessing national development resources in connection with growth targets and the establishment of a new growth model, the top leader said Vietnam is entering a new development stage with important foundations already in place. Read full story
- National Assembly (NA) Chairman Tran Thanh Man has demanded the NA's Committee for Economic and Financial Affairs to enhance its policy advisory capacity, stressing that robust and evidence-based policymaking is essential to achieving the country’s ambition of double-digit economic growth while safeguarding macroeconomic stability.
Addressing a working session with the committee’s standing members in Hanoi on May 20 on its key tasks for 2026 and the 2026–2031 tenure, the top legislator highly valued the committee’s proactive and responsible performance in recent months, noting that it has handled a heavy workload in reviewing and monitoring many laws for the 2026–2030 period and ensuring greater policy coherence across the legal system. Read full story
- Prime Minister Le Minh Hung received Ambassador Rick Switzer, Deputy US Trade Representative, in Hanoi on May 20, during his working visit to Vietnam.
At the meeting, PM Hung appreciated the achievements in Vietnam – US cooperation in recent years across political-diplomatic, economic and trade, defence and security, science and technology, and innovation sectors, as well as collaboration on international and regional issues of mutual concern. Read full story
- Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra on May 20 called for wider public participation in organ and tissue donation, describing it as a noble humanitarian act capable of extending and saving countless lives.
Addressing the programme “Organ and Tissue Donation Day May 20 – Giving is Forever,” organised by the Ministry of Health at Hanoi Medical University, Tra shared an emotional story of a 19-year-old British woman who suffered a fatal accident while travelling in Tuyen Quang province. Read full story
- Faced with distortions that paint Vietnam’s tax policies as a “squeeze”, the actual governance record tells a sharply different story. From lightening the burden on small firms to overhauling tax administration and enhancing transparency, the reforms signal a development-first playbook rather than the “revenue extraction” script pushed by hostile voices. The Government’s commitment to reform and public service is itself the most convincing counter to the allegations now swirling around Vietnam’s tax regime.
Taxation is a foundational pillar of state governance everywhere. It funds development investment and social welfare while acting as a lever for economic regulation, fairness and social stability. For Vietnam, extensive global integration and rapid digital transformation have made tax system reform an inevitable requirement, not an option. Read full story
- The National Assembly’s approval of a pilot mechanism for establishing a culture and arts fund under a public-private partnership model reflects a new mindset in Vietnam’s cultural development.
Beyond optimism over a more effective financial mechanism, cultural experts and those working in the field hope the initiative will help shape a genuine cultural market - one in which artistic ideas are nurtured, widely disseminated and able to realise their full value. Read full story
- Vietnam and Singapore notched stronger trade signals in the first four months of 2026, with Vietnam’s surplus on domestically-originated goods shipped to Singapore hitting nearly 5.4 billion SGD (roughly 4.5 billion USD).
Data from Enterprise Singapore showed that two-way trade approached 5.3 billion SGD in April, marking a 62.4% year-on-year jump. Of this figure, Singapore’s exports to Vietnam totalled 2.5 billion SGD, up 20.9%, while imports from Vietnam soared 143% to 2.7 billion SGD compared to the same period in 2025. Read full story
- Vietnam’s national team achieved a clean sweep at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad (APIO), with all six participating students winning medals, the Ministry of Education and Training reported on May 20.
The official results showed that the Vietnamese team secured two gold medals and four silver medals at the competition, which was hosted online by Taiwan (China)./. Read full story
