Day: May 6, 2023

Over the past few days, many Luxembourg news channels have reported on the official visit to Vietnam by Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel from May 3-5, assessing that it will contribute to further strengthening the bilateral relationship in the coming time.

The website of the Luxembourg Government – gouvernement.lu – announced that Prime Minister Bettel’s official visit is conducted at the invitation of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations and in response to PM Chinh’s visit to Luxembourg in December 2022.

Tageblatt.lu – a daily newspaper in Luxembourg – ran an article saying that Vietnam has become an attractive trade partner globally. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Southeast Asian nation has opened up to the world under reform orientation since late 1980s and has become an important economy not only in the region but also in the world.

According to the article, in terms of foreign policy, Vietnam wants to have friendly relations with all countries, while in terms of foreign relations, Vietnam relies on independence, and supports bilateral partnerships and multilateralism. Due to geopolitical uncertainties in the world, Vietnam is increasingly sought by Western companies as a new partner, including Luxembourg. The European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has brought many new opportunities for Luxembourgish businesses that operate in the service and financial sectors. Currently, many Luxembourg enterprises are operating in Vietnam.

The article also highlights positive trade relations between Luxembourg and Vietnam in recent years including bilateral trade reaching more than 160 million euros (about 179 million USD) in 2022, up from 120 million euros in 2020.

In another article published by the newspaper, it is said that during Prime Minister Bettel’s visit to Vietnam, the two sides signed many bilateral cooperation agreements, including those on aviation cooperation, the extension of an agreement to avoid double taxation, and cooperation against climate change through green funds. Luxembourg Agency for Development Cooperation (LuxDev) will launch two projects worth 2 million euros in Vietnam. Luxembourg-based airline Cargolux will soon receive a license to fly to Ho Chi Minh City besides Hanoi.

The article quotes Prime Minister Bettel as expressing optimism about the possibility that Luxembourg tourists in the future can enter Vietnam without a visa when the National Assembly of Vietnam considers extending the visa-free policy at its meeting late this month.

Luxembourg’s online newspaper virgule.lu has just published an article about the prospect of Vietnamese electric vehicles entering the country’s market. The article said Prime Minister Bettel and Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Minister for Tourism Lex Delles visited Vinfast’s facility and experienced test driving its electric vehicles.

Other Luxembourg newspapers such as Today.RTL.lu, diegrenzgaenger.lu also reported on Bettel’s visit to Vietnam./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

State President Vo Van Thuong had separate meetings with British and Cuban leaders, as part of his trip to the UK to attend the coronation of King Charles III from May 4 to 6.

The Vietnamese leader met with the UK’s House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, House of Commons Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly, and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace, among others British officials.

During the meetings, Thuong rejoiced at positive developments of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their bilateral diplomatic ties.

The British officials shared their view on the significance of Thuong’s visit, stressing Vietnam is a leading partner of the UK in the region as the European nation is accelerating the implementation of its Indo-Pacific strategy.

They also noted with pleasure the dynamic developments of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership over the past more than 10 years in all fields, and agreed to continue increasing all-level delegation exchanges in all the channels of Party, State, Government, parliament and people-to-people exchange, while further fully and effectively materialising the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and bilateral cooperation mechanisms like the defence policy dialogue and the Vietnam-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO).

The two sides expressed their wish to expand and deepen the bilateral cooperation in such potential spheres as national defence-security, green economy, climate change response and renewable energy.

Thuong suggested the UK help Vietnam in finance and technology, and raising the country’s capacity within the framework of the Just Energy Transition Partnership, towards fulfilling its commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26), which took place in the UK in 2021.

Regarding cooperation at regional and international forums, the two sides agreed to closely coordinate and support each other in multilateral frameworks like ASEAN-UK cooperation, the United Nations, the UN Human Rights Council for 2023-2025, and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The British officials affirmed their support for Vietnam’s and ASEAN’s stance on the East Sea, the settlement of disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as negotiations for a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) between ASEAN and China.

In a meeting with Vice President of Cuba Salvador Valdés Mesa, Thuong emphasised that the relationship between Vietnam and Cuba is exemplary in terms of purity, rarity, exemplar and loyalty. Mesa, for his part, said the bilateral political ties have been constantly consolidated and strengthened, as reflected through regular all-level delegation exchanges, and expressed his belief that the relationship will grow further in the time ahead./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Laos’s inflation rate in April dropped to 39.89%, a slight fall from the average rate of 40.85% in the first quarter of this year, according to the Lao Statistics Bureau.

The country recorded an inflation rate of 40.97% in March, the first drop from the previous month.

In April, the highest price rises were recorded in the food and non-alcoholic beverage category, which surged by 52.21% year-on-year, followed by the medical care and medicines category at 42.55%; communications and transport category at 32.69%; hotel and restaurant category at 37.39%; household utilities at 34.20%; and housing, water, electricity, and gas category at 26.59%.

Although the inflation rate tended to decrease compared to the first three months of the year, prices of many commodities including pork, beef, chicken, and rice continued to increase by about 1.7% in general.

Statistics showed that in April, although there was no pressure from the increase in oil prices, goods and commodities in Laos saw a spike in prices due to high demand during the Lao New Year celebration. Meanwhile, the continuing depreciation of the Lao kip is among the key factors driving inflation in Laos./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Five cars and 19 motorbikes were burned at a parking area on Tran Quoc Hoan street, Hanoi’s Cau Giay district, at 13:00 on May 6.

As soon as detecting the incident, residents and the parking area operator took measures to control the fire and reported it to authorities.

Firefighters and rescuers mobilised vehicles and personnel to the scene and extinguished the fire within 20 minutes.

According to local authorities, the 200-square-metre parking area was built and enclosed with an iron frame and roofed with corrugated iron.

Further investigations are underway to find the cause of the fire./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

More than 110.6 trillion VND (4.7 billion USD) of public investment was disbursed in the first four months of this year, equivalent to 14.6% of the yearly target and lower than the 18.48% in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Only three ministries and 19 localities recorded a disbursement rate of over 20%; while 47 ministries and centrally-run agencies, and 27 localities had disbursement rates of less than 15%, it said.

To speed up the work, the ministry suggested the Prime Minister assign the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to issue specific guidance on conditions for allocating capital regarding medium-term and annual public investment.

Ministries, central agencies and localities were requested to submit reports on the progress of disbursement.

The MPI was asked to soon complete the dossier and report to the Government on the extension of implementation and payment of public investment capital from the 2022 State Budget to the following year for ministries, central agencies and localities./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Laos welcomed nearly 831,250 foreign tourists in the first quarter of this year, according to the country’s Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

Thailand took the lead in the number of visitors with 344,405, and was followed by Vietnam and China with 179,885 and 143,312, respectively.

The number of European tourists topped 57,400 and those from Russia reached 11,573.

The tourism industry of Laos has recently received much praise from media publications around the world as it is considered one of the most attractive destinations in 2023.

With the number of visitors arriving in the country in the first quarter, the Lao government will most likely fulfill its goal of attracting 1.4 million foreign tourists this year, thereby contributing to speeding up the recovery of the industry as well as the national economy, which has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung held a working session with Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon in Phnom Penh on May 6 to review bilateral collaboration in terms of delegation exchange and tourism promotion.

To boost the work, the two ministers agreed to prioritise the implementation of bilateral cooperation activities within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on tourism cooperation signed between the two ministries and the minutes of the 3rd Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Tourism Working Group Meeting in 2022. Enterprises and localities of the two sides are encouraged to cooperate in studying and building new and unique tours to serve the needs of tourists from both countries and from third countries, while businesses will get support to participate in tourism fairs organised by each country.

The two sides agreed to continue implementing measures to strengthen tourism links, connecting the world heritage sites of Vietnam and Cambodia, creating favourable conditions for international flights between tourist destinations of both countries, as well as those from the third countries. Localities are encouraged to cooperate in connecting seaports between the two countries.

The two ministers also committed to enhancing the sharing of best practices in tourism training and education.

Tourism investment flows between the two countries will be boosted through forums and events which aim to promote investment opportunities.

At the working session, the two ministers signed an MoU on tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia which is intended to push up tourist flows between the two countries by promoting cross-border cooperation activities, facilitating cross-border tourism, and increasing the frequency of direct flights between the two countries.

Earlier on May 5, Minister Hung had a meeting with Cambodian Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Hang Chuon Naron, during which they exchanged solutions to strengthen cooperation in physical training and sports.

The two sides signed a cooperation agreement that aims to enhance exchanges and collaboration in terms of physical education and sports between localities in their border areas./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency