The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has said the company will continue to offer discounted airfares for tour operators participating in its tourism stimulus programme.  

A delegation from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has attended a two-day meeting of ASEAN economic ministers in Putrajaya, Malaysia, chaired by MoIT Minister Vu Huy Hoang.

A meeting was held in Potsdam, Germany on February 27 to mark the 20th development anniversary of Vietnamese businesses in the State of Brandenburg.

Vietnam will participate in the Thailand Auto Parts and Accessories (TAPA) 2010 trade fair which will be held at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre from April 28 to May 2.

The France-based Jaccar Group is to buy 30 percent of the My Lan Chemical Company stock and turn it into a leader in the printing industry in Vietnam and the region as well.

Vietnam exported 7,400 tonnes of molluscs in January, earning over US$27.4 million, according to the General Department of Customs.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked the state-owned oil giant PetroVietnam to conduct a feasibility study on building the second natural gas pipeline in the country's Nam Con Son Basin.

The Netherlands Council for Trade Promotion (NCH) on February 25 organised a meeting between Dutch businesses and representatives of the Vietnamese embassy, entrepreneurs on the occasion of the Lunar New Year Festival.

The world’s two major rice exporters, Vietnam and Thailand, will take measures to stabilize the price of rice, which has been decreasing during the last four weeks.

The central province of Nghe An will offer more incentives to attract domestic and foreign businesses, provincial leaders vowed at a meeting with investors on February 27.

Vietnam has seen an export surplus to the Brazilian market over the past three months, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry, & Trade (MDIC).

After a slight recovery, the world’s gold prices have continued to increase by US$10/ounce, making the domestic price of gold rise correlatively and surpass the VND26.6 million/tael mark on February 27.

The sugar transaction floor will be put into operation in April, according to Phan Vu Hung, director of the Sai Gon Commercial Bank’s Commodity Exchange Department.

The Foreign Investment Agency said 88 new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were licensed in the first two months of 2010 with a total in registered capital of US$1.6 billion, equivalent to only 59.8 percent of last February’s figure.

The Ministry of Transport has approved a project on the construction of a 220-km corridor to connect the south coastal areas of Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces with Cambodia and Thailand.

Representatives from about 40 countries and territories will attend the 7th International Exhibition for Young Inventors (IEYI) to be held in Hanoi later this year.

Experts predict that by the end of 2010, Vietnam’s real estate market will be more lively than last year, thanks to the abundance of properties.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has announced new prices for electricity which it says will have a minimal impact on people’s daily life or the economy.

The province of Thanh Hoa plans to send some 10,000 more workers to foreign countries to work on fixed-term contracts. The province will organize training courses to improve the workers’ knowledge, foreign languages, and other special skills, with priority given to poor and ethnic minority workers.

“There’s good reason to believe these investments (in Vietnam) will soon bear fruit”, says Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, a leading global political risk assessment and consulting firm, based in New York and London.

The HSBC has retained its place as the most valuable banking brand in the world for the third year in a row, according to the Brand Finance Global Banking 500 – an annual review of the top banking brands in the world.

Accor, the largest international hotel operator in Vietnam, has inaugurated the hotel Mecure Hue Gerbera in the central city of Hue.

Vietnam’s export turnover feel by 22.2 percent to US$3.9 billion in February, and export volumes in the first two months of this year stood at just US$8.9 billion, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

The UK- based International Power PLC, Japan’s Sojitz, and the local Thai Binh Duong Joint Stock Company have received approval from Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai to develop the infrastructure for the Son My thermal power plant in southern Binh Thuan province.

Vietnam Airlines on March 28 will double its number of weekly flights (from 7 to 14) between Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo to handle the increasing numbers of Japanese tourists visiting Vietnam this year.

The Vietnam Open Source Development Joint Stock Company (VINADES., JSC), the first firm operating in the field of open source in the country, made its debut on February 25.

The Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) will inaugurate an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the Nhan Co aluminum factory in Dak Nong province on February 28.  

Aquiculture, forestry and agriculture exports in February totalled over US$1.4 billion, increasing Vietnam’s year-to-date turnover to US$2.8 billion, up 25 percent against the same period last year.

Kinh Bac Urban Development Joint Stock Corp (KBC) and the Republic of Korea’s Kumho Industrial Co. Ltd on February 25 signed a deal to build Kinh Bac Hanoi Tower, at a cost of US$100 million, at 1A Lang Ha Street, Hanoi.

The Lunar New Year (Tet) festival is ten days old but the ‘imprint’ of Tet remains in many products, particularly meat, vegetables and bulbs.