☀️ Morning digest March 14

Hanoi (VNA) - The following is a list of selected news summaries last weekend by Vietnam News Agency.

-Vietnam resolutely opposes and demands Taiwan to cancel its live-fire exercises in the waters around Ba Binh island belonging to Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago and not to repeat similar actions in the future, spokeswoman of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang said on March 11 in response to reporters’ query regarding the live-fire drill conducted by Taiwan. Read full story

-Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on March 12 sent his congratulatory message to President-elect of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Yoon Suk-yeol and Lee Jun-seok, head of the country’s People Power Party (PPP). Read full story

-Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on March 12 offered incense in commemoration of naval soldiers who sacrificed their lives while safeguarding Gac Ma Reef in Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago (March 14, 1988).

He paid tribute to the fallen soldiers at the Gac Ma soldiers’ memorial site in Cam Hai commune of Cam Lam district, Khanh Hoa province, during a fact-finding trip to Cam Lam as part of his working visit to this central province. Read full story

The same day, the PM visited the Van Phong Economic Zone (EZ), and urged favourable mechanisms be issued to facilitate public - private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure building, so as to boost the development of the zone. Read full story

-Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue has welcomed the interest of foreign investors, including Japan's Erex Co Ltd, in clean energy development in Vietnam.

He hosted a reception for Erex Chairman and Representative Director Honna Hitoshi in Hanoi on March 11. Read full story

 
- “Vietnam Festa★Online - Kanagawa is a friend of Vietnam,” an online exchange among Vietnamese and Japanese youngsters took place in Tokyo on March 12, the first of a series of events leading up to the Vietnamese Festival in Kanagawa. 

The programme, which was broadcast live on YouTube, consisted of a conference on the Kanagawa-Vietnam friendship, a contest to make “Banh xeo” (crispy Vietnamese pancake), and an art performance. Read full story

-Close to 500 young volunteers joined a cycling held by the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) chapter in HCM City on March 13 to kick start this year’s Earth Hour campaign.

After being virtually hosted over the last two years because of COVID-19 impacts, the Earth Hour returns to HCM City this year with more practical and exciting projects, said Le Hoang Minh from the HCM City’s HCYU and head of the Earth Hour’s organising committee this year. Read full story

-Nearly 600 Vietnamese people fleeing from war-torn Ukraine to Poland and Romania were safely brought home by two Vietnam Airlines flights on March 13, bringing the total number of Vietnamese in Ukraine repatriated so far to over 1,100.

They are the first two repatriation flights operated under an agreement between national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and Sun Group in which the later covers the entire cost for the arrangement of the flights. Read full story

-War veterans who used to be stationed on the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago held a ceremony in the central city of Da Nang on March 13 to commemorate 64 soldiers of the Vietnamese navy who died on duty 34 years ago while defending the Gac Ma (Johnson South) Reef in Vietnam's Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago on March 14, 1988. Read full story

-The People’s Committee of Quang Tri has approved a Norwegian-funded project on capacity building for this central province’s mine action centre during 2022 - 2025.

The project is financed with over 1.3 million USD in non-refundable aid by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA). Read full story

-The People's Committee of Quang Ninh on March 12 held a conference to announce its application of an electronic ISO software system following the Vietnamese standard ISO 9001:2015 in the operations of  227 local public administrative agencies, making the province the first in the northern region to do so. Read full story

-Budget carrier Vietjet Air will reopen and increase frequency of various domestic flights this month to meet travel demand in summer. Read full story/.