Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked the Hanoi municipal People’s Committee to cooperate with ministries, functional agencies and localities to complete key construction projects to celebrate its 1,000th anniversary in 2010.

Eight groups of performers from Southeast Asian countries attended the ASEAN Golden Voice Festival 2008, which opened in HCM City on October 16.

Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan has approved a project to allow a number of universities to carry out advanced training programmes in the 2008-2015 period.

A concert of Italian music and Vietnamese dance will be held at the HCM City Conservatoire on October 19.

The south central province of Khanh Hoa, where the Miss World contest will take place in 2010, and the RAAS Group held a press conference on October 15 to announce the event.

“Gong” artists from Vietnam’s Central Highland Kon Tum province will perform at “Bucheon World’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition 2008” held in the Republic of Korea from October 9-30.

A national conference, sponsored by UNESCO, has opened in Hanoi to discuss the strengthening of cultural diplomacy to promote the Vietnamese identity in the international arena for the sake of peace, integration and sustainable development.

An exhibition featuring India’s contemporary art opened in Hanoi on October 15. Among items showcased at the exhibition are 42 artworks by 34 Indian artists.

Paintings of Vietnamese and Cuban artists are being displayed at an exhibition, which is taking place at the centre of Hague city, the Netherlands, from Oct. 12-26.

Vietnamese Department of Performing Arts has agreed to send the beauty Cao Thuy Duong to participate in the Miss International 2008 pageant to be held in Japan and China from October 19 to November 8.

The Vietnam Software Association (VINASA) and the Vietnam Game & Digital Content Business Club (VGB) will organize the 2008 International Software and Game Fair in HCM City from October 17-19.

An exhibition on Russian first ladies during the 20th century opened in Hanoi on October 13.

The embassy of the French republic and the Vietnamese National Library opened an exhibition of the ancient maps of Hanoi and its adjacent areas on October 13.

The first Vietnamese language training course was held at High School 282 in the centre of Moscow on October 11.

A seminar was held on October 11 by the Vietnam Institute of Archaeology and northern Thanh Hoa province to catalogue the archaeological relics of Con Moong cave which has been nominated for recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Japan’s NHK television on October 12 carried news on the Japanese Film Week, which officially began in Hanoi on October 11 as part of the 35th anniversary celebrations of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties.

The 2008 ASEAN Golden Voice Festival will be held at the Ho Chi Minh City Television Theatre from October 16-20 with the participation of eight Southeast Asian countries.

We have a common wish: all for Hanoi – the capital city which was beautiful in the past, is beautiful at the present and will be more beautiful in the future.

Cinema-lovers in Hanoi and HCM City will be able to experience well-known Vietnamese films on the big screen during the weeklong Vietnam Film Festival starting on October 10.

Trenkwalder, a four-member group from Germany, will give a folk music and dance performance at Oktoberfest, the biggest annual German food and beer festival of the year, in HCM City on October 8.

Hundreds of high school students are whetting their cosmological appetite at the World Space Week 2008 an exhibition organized by the HCM City Amateur Astronomy Club (HAAC).

The Sea Festival–Nha Trang 2009 will be held on June 6-14, 2009 with the theme of “Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa – civilization and friendliness”.

Over 7,000 book titles published by hundreds of French and Vietnamese publishing houses are being featured at the French Books Exhibition, which opened in Hanoi on October 7.

The central Thua Thien-Hue province said it is carrying out a project to promote the local community’s involvement in the preservation of heritages in the former city of Hue with funding from the French region of Nord Pas de Calais.

The Performing Arts Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on October 6 approved a list of three nominees who will represent Vietnam in the upcoming 2008 Miss World beauty contest in South Africa, which was submitted by Elite Vietnam.

French actress, Emmanuelle Beart, one of the most beautiful stars in the world chosen by Harperr & Queen magazine, will pay a visit to Vietnam later this month.

A troupe of nine dancers and musicians from India will perform in Ho Chi Minh City on October 7 to mark the 61st anniversary of India’s independence.

The national festival of cultural exchange among areas and regions took place in Hanoi on Oct. 6 in the presence of Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.

For the first time, a Vietnamese artist has won the hearts and minds of the Russian audience, playing the Dan Bau - a typical Vietnamese musical instrument – in a Russian TV contest on October 5.

Folk songs that are all performed with Vietnam’s traditional musical instruments are attracting the attention of Japanese audiences during a Vietnamese traditional music performance’s tour of the land of the Rising Sun from October 3-26.