☀ Morning digest on May 30

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

- President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on May 28 hosted a reception for head coaches of Vietnamese men’s and women’s football squads that won gold medals at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31).

The President congratulated coaches Park Hang-seo of the men’s football team, Mai Duc Chung of the women’s, and other coaches and athletes of Vietnam on their achievements at the biggest regional sports event, which took place in Hanoi and 11 nearby localities from May 12-23. Read full story

-President Phuc received a delegation of the Republic of Korean (RoK) People’s Association in Vietnam led by its Chairwoman Chang Eun-sook in Hanoi on May 27.

Highlighting the flourishing Vietnam - RoK relations, the host leader said more than 200,000 Korean people are living in Vietnam while there are also roughly 200,000 Vietnamese people in the Northeast Asian nation at present. Read full story

-Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on May 29 chaired the fourth dialogue between the Government leader and farmers held in the northern mountainous province of Son La.

The dialogue was connected to 62 provinces and cities nationwide and attracted the participation of over 3,400 delegates.

The Prime Minister and leaders of 10 ministries and sectors answered 14 questions and groups of questions from farmers in Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, Ha Nam, Son La, Bac Giang, Ha Tinh, Dong Nai, Can Tho and Lao Cai and representatives of agricultural cooperatives and businesses operating in this field, experts and scientists. Read full story

Working with Son La provincial leaders the same day as part of his working trip to the locality, Prime Minister Chinh asked the northern mountainous province to focus on developing service industries to form a harmonious economic structure, and work to turn tourism into a spearhead industry.

PM Chinh said that the province should promote high-tech agriculture, strive to become a centre of agricultural product processing and a hub of milk, fruit, and herbal plants in the northwestern region, step up industrial development, and well exploit the strengths of renewable energies such as hydroelectricity, wind, solar energy. Read full story

On May 28 evening, the PM attended the opening ceremony of the 2022 Fruit and OCOP (One Commune One Product) Product Festival in Son La.

The festival, jointly held by the province and the Vietnam Farmers’ Association Central Committee, aims to honour fruit growers and promote Vietnam’s OCOP brand. It is one of events of the Prime Minister's 2022 Dialogue with Vietnamese farmers held in Son La. Read full story

-Vietnam’s import-export turnover during the first five months of this year reached 305.1 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent, according to a report released on May 29 from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).

Of the total, Vietnam reported 152.81 billion in export revenue, a year-on-year increase of 16.3 percent. Read full story

-Up to 7.71 billion USD worth of foreign direct investment (FDI) was disbursed in the first five months of this year, up 7.8 percent from the same period in 2021, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

As of May 20, total FDI in Vietnam, comprising new, adjusted capital and share purchases by foreign investors, dropped 16.3 percent year-on-year to reach only 11.71 billion USD. Read full story

-The Ministry of Planning and Investment has asked People’s Committees of cities and provinces to instruct relevant agencies to review foreign-invested projects in the localities.

The move aims to raise the quality of foreign investment attraction and remove difficulties facing the FDI firms, as requested by the Government and the Prime Minister. Read full story

-Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in the first five months of the year edged up 2.25 percent year-on-year while core inflation rose by 1.1 percent, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The CPI in May increased by 0.38 percent compared with the previous month, with the urban area experiencing a hike of 0.34 percent and the rural area 0.42 percent. Read full story

- Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings has assigned the PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) a Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of “BB” with a positive outlook for the second consecutive year.
 
The rating is on par with that of major groups such as the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam Electricity (EVN). Read full story

-Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company (HoSE: VJC) on May 28 held the 2022 Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting.

Vietjet was reported to gain a consolidated revenue of 12,875 billion VND (approx. 555 million USD) in 2021 with the after-tax profit of 80 billion VND (approx. 3.4 million USD). As of December 31, 2021, Vietjet’s assets totaled nearly 51,654 billion VND (approx. 2.22 billion USD). Its debt-to-equity ratio stayed at 0.9 while the liquidity ratio was at 1.6 - all were considered good indicators in the aviation industry. Read full story

-Hai Duong province, in collaboration with the Ministries of Industry and Trade, and Agriculture and Rural Development, held a trade promotion conference of the province’s lychee and typical products in a hybrid format on May 29.

The conference was connected to many Vietnamese provinces and cities and places in the US, China, Malaysia, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Singapore, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Read full story

-The Ministry of Health and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union Central Committee held a ceremony in Hanoi on May 28 to mark World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and a national no tobacco week.

Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Health Ministry's Department of Medical Examination and Treatment and Director of the Vietnam Tobacco Control Fund, said the number of male smokers in Vietnam drops from 45.3 percent in 2015 to 42.3 percent at present. Read full story

-As many as 305 outstanding athletes have been honoured with the Prime Minister's certificates of merit for their excellent performances at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31), according to a decision signed on May 27.

Besides, a proposal to present the Labour Order to individuals and sports teams who won gold medals at the regional biggest sports event has been submitted to the President for approval. Read full story

-The People’s Committee of Son La province held the inauguration ceremony of a 632-metre-long glass bridge in Muong Sang commune, Moc Chau district on May 28.

Bach Long bridge is part of the Moc Chau Island Tourist Complex invested by Tour 26 Moc Chau Joint Stock Company.

This is a complex of entertainment services and high-class resorts including five-star hotel, monorail amusement park, cable car service and ethnic cuisine area, with Bach Long bridge being its highlight. Read full story/.