Foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in southern provinces, is expected to increase sharply with a number of billion-dollar projects in the pipeline, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

Traffic police have kick-started a nationwide campaign to inspect coaches, passenger cars, container trucks and motorbikes in an effort to prevent serious accidents.

To achieve smart-city status, at least 90 per cent of residents in HCM City should be using a smartphone by 2022, a top official said at a communications conference held in the city on July 16.

The southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau is improving connections between its Cai Mep-Thi Vai Port complex and surrounding provinces to strengthen its marine economy, and promoting environmentally friendly projects to develop its tourism sector.

The Ministry of Construction (MoC) plans to start releasing quarterly reports on the domestic real estate market to increase transparency, Minister of Construction Pham Hong Ha said at a recent ministry meeting.

Disruptive change is leading to the re-regulation of work and employment around the world, including in Vietnam, Gregor Murray of the University of Montreal in Canada, said.

Vietnam’s tra fish exports to Southeast Asian countries were worth US$87.3 million in the first five months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 14.6 per cent, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

Resident and non-resident foreigners in Vietnam are still permitted to make term deposits at local banks despite some banks saying they would not accept savings deposits from individual foreign customers, the State Bank of Vietnam has said.

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution on climate change and human rights co-authored by Vietnam, the Philippines and Bangladesh, during its 41st session in Geneva, Switzerland on July 11-12.

Ho Chi Minh City’s authorities are promoting reading culture in the community through a series of new programmes organised this year.