The Ministry of Industry and Trade has announced a plan to improve the performance of the logistics sector to improve the country’s business climate.

 Rising production costs are harming the competitiveness of Vietnamese seafood products, according to experts. These include the prices of feed, material input, electricity and labour.

 Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has urged the fisheries sector to build a brand with food safety and high quality for seafood products.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has no startups with value of $1 billion and higher (called unicorns), but foreign investment funds are optimistic about the future.

HCM City announced on April 1 that its average population growth rate during 2009-2019 is 2.15 percent per annum, which means the city has an addition of 170,000 people each year.

 A relatively intact bronze drum, believed to belong to the Dong Son civilization, was recently discovered in Bao Thang district, the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai.

 The sound political relations between Vietnam and France will pave the way for the bilateral cooperation in other fields.

 Ho Chi Minh City recorded 3,316 scarlet fever cases suspected of infecting measles in the first three months of 2019, according to the city’s Preventive Medicine Centre. 

 Five Vietnamese artists will open a group exhibition titled “Neo-Expressionism” at VICAS Center for Assistance and Development of Contemporary Arts (VICAS Art Studio) in Hanoi on April 3.

Some households in Thach Xa Commune have earned their living by making bamboo dragonflies for more than 20 years. 

 Local credit institutions had settled more than VND204.4 trillion (US$8.8 billion) worth of bad debts as of January, accounting for 40.1% of the total, said Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

 Nghiem Thanh Son, deputy head of the Payment Department at the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), told a press conference on April 1 that rumors of the licensing of virtual currency exchanges were unfounded, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.

 Viet Nam will take part in the King’s Cup 2019 in Thailand in June.

VietNamNet Bridge - More Japanese-invested factories have opened in industrial zones as well as shopping malls in large cities and provinces in Vietnam.

VietNamNet Bridge - Believing that they are at a disadvantage, digital content firms have proposed establishing a special zone.

 The Viet Nam women’s national football team have retained their 35th position in the latest FIFA world rankings.

 Abstract paintings by Nguyen The Hung will be on display at the artist’s solo exhibition in New York on April 3-24.

The Saigon Newport Corporation (SNC) has decided to reduce warehousing costs by a staggering 80% if local importers take back their containers by the end of this month.

Video-sharing site YouTube terminated its Content Hosting Agreement with local media corporation Yeah1 Group (YGC) on April 1, the local media reported.

 With the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in effect, more opportunities will open up for Singaporean-based multinationals currently investing or looking to pour money into Vietnam in a wide range of sectors.