Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a list of selected news summaries reported last night by the Vietnam News Agency.
- Vietnam will continue facilitating activities of foreign investors, including those from the US, while prioritising bilateral cooperation in education, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, said Party General Secretary To Lam.
At a reception in Hanoi on January 7 for Founder and Chairman of Berggruen Holdings and Berggruen Institute Nicholas Berggruen and Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at the US’s Columbia University Nguyen Thi Lien Hang, the Party leader spoke highly of their support for the development of Vietnam-US ties over the past years. Read full story
- Berggruen Holdings is willing to cooperate with, invest in, and support Vietnam in personnel training, affirmed Founder and Chairman of the US-based company Nicolas Berggruen while he and Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at the Columbia University Nguyen Thi Lien Hang were received by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi on January 7 evening.
At the reception, the PM Chinh lauded Hang’s active contributions to the organisation of Vietnamese high-ranking leaders’ policy dialogues in recent times as well as her attendance at these events. Read full story
- Technological innovation, technology transfer, and workforce training form the core strategy for transforming the nature of Vietnam’s economic growth in the coming years, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc remarked at the 17th Vietnam Economic Scenario Forum’s spring 2025 plenary session in Hanoi on January 7.
In his speech, he said all the 15 socio-economic targets set for 2024 were successfully achieved. The economy grew by 7.09%, with the GDP reaching approximately 476.3 billion USD, placing Vietnam 33rd globally. Total trade turnover was estimated at nearly 800 billion USD, with a trade surplus of 24.77 billion USD. State budget revenue exceeded projections by 19.8% to exceed 2 quadrillion VND (78.83 billion USD), while the poverty rate was reduced to just 1.95%. Read full story
- Newly-appointed Vietnamese Ambassador to Singapore Tran Phuoc Anh on January 7 presented his credentials to Singaporean President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
President Tharman expressed his delight at the comprehensive development of the bilateral relationship in the recent past, stressing that Singapore wants to boost cooperation with Vietnam in such promising areas as clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor, carbon credit, finance, education and training. Read full story
- Vietnam's total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached 6.39 quadrillion VND (251.87 billion USD) in 2024, marking a year-on-year increase of 9%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).
Of this total, revenue from retail sales of goods were estimated at 4.92 quadrillion VND, an 8.3% increase compared to the previous year. Key categories saw notable growth, with food and foodstuffs up 10.8%, household appliances and tools rising 3.6%, garments increasing by 8.4%, vehicles (excluding cars) up 5.4%, and cultural and educational products growing by 9.1%. Read full story
- An online booth introducing products of the northern province of Thai Nguyen on Shopee platform was launched at an event on January 7, marking Thai Nguyen as the first locality in the country to offer its products for sale on an e-commerce platform.
On this occasion, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between Thai Nguyen and Shopee Vietnam Co., Ltd. was inked. Read full story
- Malaysia and Singapore on January 7 inked an agreement to create a new special economic zone for business and investment.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the exchange of the agreement for the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) at the 11th Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat in Putrajaya, Malaysia./. Read full story
