Day: July 9, 2023

Southern India’s Kerala state wants to strengthen cooperation with Vietnamese localities, especially in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, tourism, information technology, start-ups, and education, its Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan has affirmed.

He made the statement while hosting Vietnamese Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Hai, who paid a working visit to the state from July 4-6.

Hai told the Chief Minister that Vietnam’s new-generation carrier Vietjet will launch a direct air route linking the coastal state’s Kochi city with Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam’s largest economic hub – from August 12 with four flights a week.

This move will create a breakthrough contributing to further strengthening collaboration between Kerala and Vietnam, he added.

The Vietnamese diplomat also worked with Kerala’s Chief Secretary V. Venu and secretaries in charge of agriculture, fisheries, tourism, electronics and information technology.

On this occasion, Ambassador Hai visited Technopark Trivandrum to seek cooperation opportunities. At present, several companies from this park are cooperating with Vietnamese partners to provide technology solutions in some fields, including electric vehicles.

He also attended an event in Thiruvananthapuram city, the capital of Kerala state, to introduce Vietnam’s education to Indian medical students. This is a potential field in cooperation between Vietnam and Kerela in particular and India in general. In 2022, more than 100 Indian students came to study at medical universities in Vietnam. This figure is expected to surge in 2023 and the coming years, especially when there are more and more direct flights between the two countries./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The Lao Government hopes to attract at least 4.6 million tourists who will generate a revenue of 712 million USD during Visit Laos Year 2024.

It is anticipated that more than half of this number will be foreign nationals, spending over 400 million USD, said Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Suanesavanh Vignaket.

To fulfil this goal, the government will promote the country’s most colourful festivals to attract visitors, such as the That Luang Festival in Vientiane, the Lao New Year celebrations, and celebrations in Luang Prabang province to mark the end of Buddhist Lent.

In addition, the Sikhottabong Stupa Festival in Khammuan province, the Ing Hang Stupa Festival in Savannakhet province, the Vat Phou Temple Festival in Champassak province, and the City Pillar Festival and caves in Huaphan province will be widely advertised.

The Visit Laos Year 2024 tourism promotion is aimed at bringing more foreign tourists to Laos as well as creating jobs for people across the country and bolstering foreign currency earnings./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

The upcoming 56th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-56) and related meetings will discuss all issues related to peace, stability and common prosperity of the whole region, not only Southeast Asia but also Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, according to Ambassador Vu Ho, acting head of the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) delegation of Vietnam.

This meeting, to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from July 10-14 with 17 meetings between ASEAN foreign ministers and between foreign ministers of ASEAN member states and their partners, is the next step in implementing priorities and initiatives of Indonesia’s 2023 Chairmanship with the theme “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth”, said Ho.

This will summarise all achievements gained or problems still existing in the first six months of this year, thereby outlining directions for ASEAN cooperation from now until the end of the year, as well as discussing international and regional issues. Those discussed at the meeting will all be hot issues related to peace, stability and development of the region.

The ambassador emphasised that Vietnam, since joining ASEAN, has always participated in the bloc’s activities in a proactive, positive and responsible manner, and considers ASEAN an integral part in its foreign policy. The core task of the Vietnamese delegation at this meeting is to contribute to the common consensus of ASEAN, and ensure harmony in all initiatives and interests of countries, as well as rationality in dealing with all issues.

Its another important task is to support initiatives and priorities of the ASEAN Chair this year, thus making concrete and practical contributions to maintaining peace, stability and the common development of the region, he added./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Border guards of the northern province of Cao Bang have caught a man red-handed for arranging illegal entry into Vietnam for four Chinese nationals.

The Ngoc Con border guard post said that on July 7 morning, while its soldiers were patrolling the area of Dong Luong and Chi Choi hamlets of Dinh Phong commune, Trung Khanh district, they detected suspicious signs from a car stopping on Provincial Road 213 to pick up four men and preparing to move towards Trung Khanh township.

Examining the car, they found a 33-year-old Vietnamese driver from the northern province of Vinh Phuc and four Chinese men who failed to show personal papers.

The driver admitted that a person he had got acquainted via Facebook hired him to go from Vinh Phuc to Trung Khanh district of Cao Bang to illegally carry the Chinese nationals to Hanoi.

The Chinese men said they entered Vietnam to move to Thailand to seek jobs.

An investigation into the case of illegal entry arrangement was launched, with the persons involved and the seized objects handed over to the investigation security agency of the Cao Bang Department of Public Security./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency