Foreign visitors at the Literature Temple in Hà Nội. —Photo giaoduc.edu.vn By Paul Kennedy The day before US President Donald Trump met North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last year, one phrase was googled in America more than two million times. They asked: “Where is Singapore?” Government officials there say the June meeting, the first time an American President and North Korean leader came face to face, led to a huge boost in tourism. “Coverage about the Trump-Kim Summit in Singapore saw a total of 2.36 billion views, with more than 8,000 pieces of content online that mentioned Singapore in the headline,” said Oliver Chong, executive director of Communications & Marketing Capability with the Singapore Tourism Board. “Specifically, for June 2018, Singapore received 1.5 million visitors, an 11.2 per cent growth from the same period in 2017. “An estimated 7 per cent increase in visitor arrivals was … [Read more...] about Việt Nam tourism to be boosted by Trump-Kim summit
Deputy PM urges more impactful reforms to boost trade
Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — Inspections at several State agencies and industries showed lacklustre administrative reform while cumbersome bureaucracy had not managed to sufficiently curb trade fraud. Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ made the comments on Tuesday at a meeting held in Hà Nội to review work in 2018 and discuss priorities for 2019 of the National Steering Committee for ASEAN Single Window (ASW), National Single Window (NSW) and Trade Facilitation (Steering Committee 189). “The cuts to administrative procedures must not be just for show, the aim of streamlining is to both facilitate trade while preventing violations,” Deputy PM Huệ said. The Government’s Resolution 02, issued at the beginning of the year that laid out tasks to improve the investment environment and enhance national competitiveness, no longer focused on the ‘mechanical’ goal of cutting administrative procedures and … [Read more...] about Deputy PM urges more impactful reforms to boost trade
LienVietPostBank volleyball Cup to be held in Bắc Ninh
Players compete in the last tournament in June, 2017. — Photo lienvietpostbank.com.vnViet Nam News HÀ NỘI — The international women’s volleyball tournament, LienVietPostBank Cup, will be held on February 22 to March 1 at the Bắc Ninh Province Gymnasium. The event will include eight teams: U23 Kazakhstan; two Chinese clubs from Fujian and Shanghai of China; a North Korean team; and four of Việt Nam -- LienvietPostbank, Kinh Bắc-Bắc Ninh, Tiến Nông Thanh Hóa, and VTV Bình Điền Long An. They will compete in two groups’ round robin format. The best four will advance to the next round. The winners will walk away with US$15,000. There will have seven awards given to the best individual players. Matches will be aired live on ThethaoTV channel of Việt Nam Television. — VNS … [Read more...] about LienVietPostBank volleyball Cup to be held in Bắc Ninh
VN continues to replace old coffee trees
Farmers prune coffee branches after harvesting in Đắk Lắk Province’s Cư M’gar District. – VNA/VNS Photo Phạm CườngViet Nam News HCM CITY — Old coffee trees on a total of 15,000ha will be replaced or grafted this year to improve yields, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s plant cultivation department. Besides in areas where soil conditions are not suitable for robusta, it will be replaced by arabica, which has higher economic value. In areas which lack water for irrigation, provincial authorities will reduce coffee trees until the total area under the crop in the country goes down to 600,000ha, which they hope to achieve next year. The Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands) region, the country’s largest coffee growing area, has replanted or grafted 108,800ha of old plants so far, meeting nearly 91 per cent of its target of 120,000ha by next year. Lâm Đồng … [Read more...] about VN continues to replace old coffee trees
VN-Index gains on property stocks
Vinhomes Gardenia in Hà Nội. The company was the biggest gainer with share price rising 6.1 per cent on Tuesday. — Photo vinhomesgardenia.cityViet Nam News HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam’s benchmark VN-Index advanced on Tuesday thanks to strong growth of large-cap stocks such as Vingroup (VIC) and its property arm Vinhomes (VHM). The VN-Index edged up 0.32 per cent to close trade at 964.35 points. It increased over 1 per cent on Monday. However, 190 of total 380 stocks on the Hồ Chí Minh Stock Exchange lost value and only 97 stocks advanced. Many of the largest capitalised stocks also slumped, including Vietcombank (VCB), PV Gas (GAS), Bank for Investment and Development of Việt Nam (BID), Petrolimex (PLX), Vietinbank (CTG) and PetroVietnam Power Corp (POW) with losses of between 1 per cent and 3 per cent. On the other end of spectrum, Vingroup and Vinhomes, two of the 10 biggest stocks by market value and liquidity on the southern … [Read more...] about VN-Index gains on property stocks