Politics

☀️ Morning digest on May 14

Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung's meetings with DPRK officials, the State President's order to promulgate nine laws adopted by the 16th National Assembly at the first session, and the repatriation of 28 rare turtles from the RoK to Vietnam are among news highlights on May 13 evening.

☀️ Morning digest on May 14

Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a list of selected news summaries reported last night by the Vietnam News Agency.

– General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam chaired a working session in Hanoi on May 13 with representatives from ministries, central agencies and relevant bodies to review the organisation and operations of the central steering committees for institutional and legal reform and for judicial reform.

Following reports and discussions at the meeting, the top leader stressed that legal institutional and judicial reforms are organically linked and closely interconnected, requiring a unified leadership mechanism to ensure that law-making, law enforcement and judicial reform function as a coherent, synchronised and effective whole. Read full story

– Politburo member, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung, who is Special envoy of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, on May 13 had meetings with officials of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as part of his ongoing visit to the Northeast Asian nation, focusing on measures to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation between the two countries.

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Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung (left) and DPRK Minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting with the Vietnamese official, Kim Song Nam, Member of the Political Bureau, Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee and Director of the International Department of the WPK Central Committee, welcomed Trung’s visit as a special envoy to brief the DPRK on the outcomes of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and congratulated Vietnam on the event’s success. Read full story

– The Presidential Office has announced the Order of the State President promulgating nine laws adopted by the 16th National Assembly at its first session, a move to strengthen the legal framework, drive administrative reform, and create breakthroughs for national development, with the revised Capital Law poised to open a new growth era for Hanoi.

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The press briefing announcing the Order of the State President on May 13 (Photo: VNA)

At a press briefing on May 13, chaired by Vice Chairman of the Presidential Office Can Dinh Tai, officials outlined the key content of the newly adopted laws, covering governance, taxation, legal affairs, religion, and overseas Vietnamese agencies. Read full story

– Vietnam Customs, in collaboration with the Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme under the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), on May 13 held a ceremony to hand over equipment to the Narcotics Targeting Centre (NTC) and officially launch the centre’s new office.

Established in November 2025, the NTC comprises six officers from the Anti-Smuggling Investigation Sub-Department specialising in surveillance, intelligence collection and information analysis. The centre is tasked with strengthening customs capacity in risk assessment and drug crime targeting, helping authorities detect and prevent illicit cross-border trafficking of narcotics and other dangerous substances at an early stage. Read full story

– In the new development phase, Vietnam is shifting from mass attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) to a more selective, quality-, efficiency- and sustainability-driven investment cooperation approach, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Van Thang stated at a forum in Hanoi on May 13.

Jointly organised by the Institute for Policy and Strategy Studies (IPSS), the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, and the Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, the event gathered over 300 policymakers, business leaders, investors and experts to discuss ways to enhance synergies between the FDI sector and the domestic private sector for sustainable growth. Read full story

– Twenty-eight rare turtles have been repatriated from the Republic of Korea (RoK) to Vietnam, marking a step forward in international cooperation on biodiversity conservation and enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

A hand-over ceremony was held on May 13 by the Cuc Phuong National Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh, in collaboration with Indo-Myanmar Conservation, Vietnamese authorities, and the National Institute of Ecology of the RoK. Read full story./.

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