☕ Afternoon briefing on September 28

Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on September 28.

- President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met with Japanese Emperor Naruhito in Tokyo on September 28, part of his stay in the Northeast Asian country to attend the state funeral for former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.

The Vietnamese leader expressed his deep condolences over the death of Abe, highlighting the former PM’s special sentiment, dedication, and efforts to promote the countries’ friendship, especially the upgrade of bilateral ties to the Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia in 2014, which Phuc described as a precious heritage needing to be upheld and promoted. Read full story

- Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh on September 28 affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening the strategic partnership with Germany while receiving Jochen Flasbarth, State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, who is on a visit to the Southeast Asian country.

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) and State Secretary in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Jochen Flasbarth at the meeting. (Photo: VNA)

The Deputy PM said Vietnam looks forward to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s trip to Vietnam in November which is expected to create a driving force for the further development of relations between the two countries. Read full story

- Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son paid an official visit to Germany from September 26-27 at the invitation of his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.

During the visit, Son held talks with Baerbock, paid courtesy calls to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, President of the Federal Council Bodo Ramelow, Minister-President of Hessen state Boris Rhein, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Michael Kellner. Read full story

- Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung on September 26 chaired three meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Committee in Washington D.C (ACW).

The meeting between the ACW and the ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi in Washington D.C on September 26. (Photo: VNA)

The events consisted of an ACW session discussing the committee’s plan of activities for the last four month of 2022, a meeting with ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi, and another with the US National Security Council and the US Department of State. Read full story

- The new President of the Australian Senate, Sue Lines, affirmed that Australia always attaches importance to its relations with Vietnam while receiving Ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh on September 27.

She expressed her delight at outstanding development steps of the Australia-Vietnam Strategic Partnership, especially in economic cooperation, parliamentary diplomacy, and people-to-people exchanges. Read full story

- A delegation from the National Assembly (NA) Committee for External Relations led by its deputy head Le Anh Tuan made a working trip to South Africa from September 22-28.

At a working session in Cape Town with Chairman of the International Relations Committee at the parliament of South Africa Madala Louis David Ntombel, Tuan briefed the host on the organisation and operation of the Vietnamese NA, adding that one of the purposes of his visit is to supervise the enforcement of policies and laws on diplomatic ranks and Vietnamese representative missions abroad. Read full story

- Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of this year reached 15.4 billion USD, up 16.2 % year-on-year and marking a record high, a report from the Foreign Investment Department (FIA) has shown.

These positive figures showed that foreign-invested enterprises have been constantly recovering and expanding their production and business activities in Vietnam, FIA said in its report. Read full story

- The recent victories against Singapore and India have promoted Vietnam to the 96th position in the FIFA rankings, the 17th position in Asia and the first in Southeast Asia, according to website football-ranking.com.

Vietnam has risen to the 96th position in the FIFA rankings (Photo: VNA)

Before the international games in September, Vietnam was ranked 97th by the FIFA with 1,218.84 points. The 4-0 victory against Singapore and 3-0 against India helped Vietnam secure 3.05 points and 4.76 points, respectively./. Read full story