More than 300 Party members who were imprisoned by the enemy during the American War were feted at a meeting in Hanoi on December 10.

The Prime Minister has approved the allocation of VND1,807 billion (US$86 million) from the 2014 State budget’s reserves for 43 provinces and central-run cities across the country to implement their urgent projects.

Vietnam’s National Tourism Year 2015 will take the theme of “Connecting world heritage” with a series of activities taking place in the northern central province of Thanh Hoa, the designated main venue, local officials announced in Hanoi on December 9.

Businesses from China’s Taiwan signed five Memoranda of Understanding on agriculture cooperation with their partners from northern Quang Ninh province, in Ha Long city, on December 10. 

President Truong Tan Sang has hailed the outgoing Chilean Ambassador Fernando Urrutia for the contributions he has made to the relationship between the two countries during his tenure. 

Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrei Kovtun paid a farewell visit to President Truong Tan Sang on December 10 before ending his tenure in Vietnam.

President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Park Geun-hye has reiterated that the RoK considers Vietnam as the top partner in its policy of official development assistance (ODA), pledging priority to infrastructure, green growth and human resources projects in Vietnam. 

Vietnam and the Republic of Korea signed a minute on the conclusion of negotiations of their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in Busan on December 10. 

Ha Thi Khiet, Party Secretary, extended season’s greetings to dignitaries of the Hue Archdiocese and Catholic followers in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue on December 10 in the run up to Christmas.

It is urgent to create a common legal framework for the reform of the decentralisation and granting of authority to communes and community with a view to sustainably reducing poverty.