☕ Afternoon briefing on November 30

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

-President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 30 asked the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VRC) to devise specific programmes and plans to pool support from ministries, agencies and localities, and social resources for the poor as the Tet (Lunar New Year) is approaching.

Speaking at a working session with VRC representatives, Phuc, who is also VRC Honorary President, said VRC members should be the pioneers in humanitarian activities.Read full story

-Urbanisation and city development are a chance for each country, region, and locality to make breakthrough development in all fields, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told a national conference on November 30.

The hybrid event was held to disseminate and launch the implementation of the Government’s Resolution No 148/NQ-CP, issued on November 11, to carry out the Politburo’s Resolution No 06-NQ/TW, dated January 24, on the planning, construction, management, and sustainable development of Vietnamese cities by 2030, with a vision to 2045.Read full story

-The Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare of Laos should work more closely together to build labour and social cooperation strategies to suit the current situation of each country as well as the region and the world, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam told Lao Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Baykham Khattiya. 

Hosting the Lao minister in Hanoi on November 30, Deputy PM Dam said that the two ministries should share experience and support each other in policy making and the management of labour and employment market, migrant workers, as well as other social security issues.Read full story

-Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long is paying a working visit to Cuba starting November 28, with an aim to deepen bilateral cooperation in legal and judicial affairs.

During his stay, Long held talks with his Cuban counterpart Oscar Manuel Silvera Martínez, during which they expressed their satisfaction with cooperation results of the two agencies, and agreed on specific joint activities, including the effective implementation of a collaboration programme for 2022-2023 signed during President Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s official visit to Cuba in September 2021, and the application of information technology in carry out cooperation activities.Read full story

-Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Catherine Russell on November 29 said that UNICEF will stand side by side with Vietnam in supporting children, especially those living in ethnic-inhabited and remote areas, to ensure no one is left behind.

She made the pledge during her working session with Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN).Read full story

-Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh and Governor of Thailand’s Udon Thani province Wanchai Kongkasem exchanged views on economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as the demand for collaboration between their localities in their recent working session.

Thanh visited Udon Thani, home to the biggest community of Thai people of the Vietnamese origin, from November 26-29, aiming to seek measures to enhance partnerships between the two countries’ localities in investment, trade, economy, tourism and culture, and people-to-people exchange.Read full story

-The National Assembly (NA) hosted the 10th Asia-Pacific meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) in the central city of Da Nang on November 28 and 29, discussing international cooperation in response to climate change, medical crisis, and for socio-economic development.

Participants mulled over responsible and sustainable international collaboration in climate change, which they considered one of the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, especially in developing countries.Read full story

-The official visit to Australia by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue has a significant meaning to the relations of the two countries, according to Prof. Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

He noted that this is the first by a senior leader of Vietnam to Australia after the two countries re-opened their doors after the COVID-19 pandemic, and also the first by Hue as the top legislator of Vietnam. He will have a meeting with the new Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, he added.Read full story

-Ho Chi Minh City is an attractive investment destination for Japanese businesses thanks to its both development potential and mechanism to accompany and support investors, heard a seminar held by the Investment & Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC) and the Japanese Business Association of Ho Chi Minh City (JCCH) on November 30.

Japanese Consul General in HCM City Watanabe Nobuhiro said Vietnam is a destination that Japanese businesses are interested in thanks to its rapid development and efforts to diversify supply chain.Read full story

-Agro-forestry-fishery exports stood at about 49.04 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2022, higher than last year’s record of 48.6 billion USD, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) said.

The 11-month export rose 11.8% year on year while imports increased 6.9% to some 41.22 billion USD, resulting in a surplus of 7.82 billion USD – up 47.8%.Read full story

-The art of pottery making of Cham ethnic people was inscribed in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding by UNESCO on November 29.

The recognition was made at the 17th session of the Inter-governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in Rabat, Morocco, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.Read full story/.