President Truong Tan Sang visited and extended New Year wishes to border guards in Dam Thuy commune, Trung Khanh district in the northern mountainous province of Cao Bang on December 15.

High-profile banker Nguyen Duc Kien, former Vice Chairman of the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) Founding Council still faced a sentence of 30-year imprisonment as declared by the Hanoi Court of Appeals on December 15.

Politburo member Le Hong Anh visited and congratulated President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam and Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh Diocese Bui Van Doc in Ho Chi Minh City on December 15 on the occasion of the coming Christmas.

Noted HCM City-based photographer Ly Hoang Long won a runner-up prize in the One Shot-One Moment category in the 2014 edition of the Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY).

Vietnam wants the Republic of Korea (RoK) to assist in easing the post-war aftermath of bombs and mines, Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh told chief representative of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Chang Jae-jun in Hanoi on December 15. 

A workshop on social work with sustainable development was jointly held by Plan International in Vietnam and the Vocational Training and Social Activities Association in Hanoi on December 15-16.

Vietnamese and Cambodian experts and investors discussed ways to achieve a US$5 billion trade by 2015 during a workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on December 15.

A majority of delegates to an international conference in India have hailed Vietnam’s pillar role in the “Look East” policy which has transformed into the “Act East” under the leadership of new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

Qatari Minister of Economy and Trade Sheikh Mohamed Al-Thani has committed to raising two-way trade with Vietnam to US$1 billion in the coming years.

A Vietnamese delegation, headed by Nguyen Phong Quang, deputy head of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, have paid a three-day visit to Singapore.