The real estate market is often full of grand visions of luxurious urban areas. However, industry experts say real opportunities often lie in the affordable segment that reaches more homebuyers.

 After 2017’s significant state capital divestment deals, the Vietnamese market is expected to see some of the most anticipated sales in 2018.

 Vietnam has kicked off the Year of the Dog with major investment deals in private equity, showing investors’ confidence in the fast-growing sector.

VietNamNet Bridge - If Vietnam exempts Visa’s for travelers from more than 100 countries, it will lose hundreds of millions of dollars each year. 

 The documentary film on Vietnam’s famous Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh will be screened in Vietnam beginning March 1st this year.

 Thousands of people attended a releasing ceremony in Hanoi with more than five tonnes of fish set free into the Red River.

 The Mekong Delta is one of Vietnam’s key agricultural hubs, producing masses of rice, seafood, and fruits. Currently rice production occupies 54% of the total farm land in the region.

 The Viettel Group, the largest mobile network operator in Vietnam, said it will launch services in Myanmar next month, which will become its tenth foreign market and joining Cambodia, Laos, Mozambique, and elsewhere.

 Boat operators have been loading as many as 40 people on small boats as visitors flocked to Huong Pagoda Festival in Hanoi during the weekend.

 Vietcombank is expected to sell more than 350 million shares, or 10 per cent of its charter capital, to foreign investors during the first half of this year after receiving the green light from the government. 

 The Himalayan rock salts is becoming more and more popular for its health benefits in the past recent years in Vietnam, attracting many buyers and profiting businesses.

 The country has welcomed the Lunar New Year, and 2018 is the Year of the Dog.

 Viet Nam national U19 team have been invited to compete in the Four Nations Tournament to be held in South Korea on April 18-22.

 State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) has asked credit institutions to limit their lending to the real estate and construction sectors to better control bad debts.

 The food and beverage sector remains a highly attractive one for both foreign and domestic players, many of whom have announced expansion plans.

 Automobile imports in Viet Nam plummeted in the first month of 2018, also the time before Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

 Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR) will trade shares on the Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) with code BSR on March 1.

Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petro Vietnam or PVN) plans to reduce its ownership of Petro Vietnam Gas Joint Stock Company (PV Gas) from the current 97 per cent to 65 per cent.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Dr. Mark Roberts in Melbourne, Australia and retired Vietnamese Nguyen Ba Khuyen write some thoughts on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of bilateral ties (26/2/1973 – 26/2/2018).

Two LGBT rights organisations in Viet Nam have sent an open letter to Viet Nam Television complaining about discrimination of LGBT people in an annual comedy that "should not appear on a national channel".

 An Android smartphone billed as being almost impossible to bend by hand has been added to Nokia's line-up, alongside a simpler slider model that plays on nostalgia for the 1990s.

 Scientists in the US are developing wearable sensors to speed up the recovery of stroke patients.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnamese automobile market is expected to have an unpredictable year following an unsatisfactory 2017.

This year, the Ministry of Education and Training will decide minimum entrance score for only teacher training institutions while minimum entrance scores for other universities, colleges and vocational schools will be scrapped.