Despite Vietnam’s great potential in the hospitality sector, diversification of services is needed if the country hopes to live up to expectations, according to experts.

Over the past five centuries, locals in the ancient pottery village of Thanh Ha in Hoi An, Quang Nam have kept their traditional method of making pottery - hand made and wheel thrown.

VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts believe it is not by chance that Samsung, Ant Financial Services and Facebook  joined the Vietnamese fintech market this year.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a project to reshuffle Vinacomin in 2017-2020, aiming to make the firm a strong economic group with high technology and a highly professional governance model.

 Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem ranked ninth after 11 rounds of the blitz chess event during the International Mind Sports Association Elite Games.

 Vietnam ranked third overall at the 16th Asian Finswimming Championship which closed in China on December 12.

The Government of Vietnam always accords top priority to the protection and care of children with disabilities, and looks to create the best conditions in education for them to integrate well into society, a senior official said December 13.

 Shipping volume through the coastal route Quang Ninh-Quang Binh-Binh Thuan-Kien Giang in the first ten months of the year increased 154 percent to 21 million tonnes of cargo compared to the same period last year.

 The proposal by the Innovative Technology Development (ITD) Corporation to build tollbooths around the Ho Chi Minh City centre has met with criticism from experts working in various fields.

 Minister of National Defence General Ngo Xuan Lich hosted separate receptions for war veteran delegations from Laos and Cambodia, who are in Hanoi to attend the 6th National Congress of the Vietnam War Veterans’ Association (VWVA).

 Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Phan Kieu Thu was elected the 7th Secretary General of the Colombo Plan on December 12.

 Further improving the business environment and facilitating the private sector’s development were part of the focus at the Vietnam Business Forum. 

A flower street will be opened on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in Ho Chi Minh City from February 13 – 19 to welcome the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) 2018.

 An exhibition hosted by the Embassy of Indonesia in Vietnam opened at the Umah Indo exhibition house in Hanoi on December 13.

 Chairman of the Japan Cherry Blossom Association Takaoka Terumi has been awarded with the insignia “For Peace, Friendship between Nations” for his dedication to promoting cultural exchange and tourism between Vietnam and Japan. 

 Shares on both local exchanges declined on December 13 with investors cautious about market volatility.

'No & Meaning’ – a solo exhibition by visual artist Nguyen Minh Thanh – one of the most important artists of contemporary art in Vietnam today, opened on December 9 and will last until January 8 at Manzi Art Space, 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi.

After six years of research and development, VS-KEY USB developed by a group of engineers from the Electronics Institute under the Ministry of National Defense has been launched. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Unable to compete with foreign manufacturers in the home market, Vietnamese mechanical engineering enterprises have to do outsourcing to survive.

Dr Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, commented that as three out of four accreditation centers belong to universities, the accreditation results may be unreliable.