Top Vietnamese tennis players Ly Hoang Nam, Trinh Linh Giang and Le Quoc Khanh have been awarded wildcard entries to compete in the Vietnam Tennis Open Da Nang City 2019 in the central city on January 6-12. 

 Most firms in the manufacturing and processing industry were optimistic about their production and business activities for the first quarter of 2019, according to a survey by the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 Vietnam’s participation in the UN’s peacekeeping mission is a breakthrough in implementing the Party’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development.

Flower growers are busy preparing for the upcoming Tet (Lunar New Year) festival, which will begin on February 5.

Labour productivity in the Vietnamese economy has been estimated at 102 million VND (4,512 USD) per workhand in 2018, up 8.8 million VND (346 USD) from the previous year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 Analysts and securities firms are hoping Vietnamese shares will perform better in 2019, but there are still many challenges that will clearly weigh on market sentiment.

From a small airline with only three aircraft in 2011, Vietjet Air has become a big low-cost air carrier (LCC) with annual revenue of VND50 trillion.

 Events in Hanoi & HCMC on December 31-January 6 

 During this time of the year, food businesses in HCMC are busy organising for the Tet holiday. So far, food goods have been prepared with a total value of over 790 million USD, with food health and safety set at the top priority.

 The first nine out of 12 Vietnamese tourists injured in a recent bomb attack in Egypt arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City in the afternoon of January 1.

In an article issued on the first day of 2019, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc laid out six major tasks that ministries, agencies, sectors and localities must focus on throughout the year.

 The Government on January 1 issued a resolution setting targets for improving the business environment and national competitiveness for 2019 through to 2021.

 Vietnam will be short of 70,000 to 90,000 information and technology (IT) workers next year despite increasing salary and welfare, according to a TopDev, a recruitment network and ecosystem in mobile and IT, report on the IT market in Vietnam.

 Up to five cold spells are predicted to hit the northern region in January, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

 Five officials of a company which operates build, operate and transfer (BOT) toll stations of HCM City-Truong Luong Expressway in the southern region have been arrested for being accused of fraud.

 CBRE Vietnam has seen that the condominium market in Ho Chi Minh City has attracted greater attention from foreign buyers in the high-end and luxury segment. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The highlights of the stock market in 2018, according to the Securities Journalist Club, included the following:

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) estimates that if a 9.2 Richter earthquake occurs at the Manila Trench, it may cause a 10.6 meter tsunami in Quang Ngai province and a 5 meter tsunami in Nha Trang City.

Two of Vietnam’s universities were listed among top 1,000 best universities in the world, marking a milestone in Vietnam’s tertiary education. Vietnam also won high prizes at international competitions for general school students.

Ki-Ki, the first Vietnam-made chatbot, was presented at Zalo AI Summit 2018 in late December 2018, where Vietnam’s AI community showed optimistic signs about the development of AI (artificial intelligence) in the country.