Working groups and subcommittees convened nine meetings on February 21 as part of the 4th working day of the first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting and related meetings in Nha Trang.

 The first meeting of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in 2017 opened in Bangkok, Thailand on February 21, with more than 150 delegates from member economies and ABAC taking part. 

 Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will pay a State visit to Vietnam for the first time, from February 28-March 5. 

Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Russia, President Tran Dai Quang told visiting Chairwoman of Russia’s Federal Council Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko.

 Vietnam and Israel should promote cooperation in technology transfer and research & development, said President Tran Dai Quang at a reception for Chairman of the IMI Systems Ltd from Israel Yitzhak Aharonovitch in Hanoi on February 21.

More than 100 delegates from 21 APEC member economies, APEC financial officials, and experts from a number of international financial organisations attended a seminar on disaster risk financing and insurance policies in Nha Trang.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked the National Assembly (NA) of Vietnam and Russia’s Federal Council to continue all-level delegation exchanges and diversify channels of cooperation.

Four months after taking office, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to establish a task force led by Minister and Chairman of the Office of the Government Mai Tien Dung.

 Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, in Boracy, the Philippines, on February 20 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat (AMM Retreat).

 Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay agreed to hasten the approval of the Vietnam-Philippines action programme for 2017-2022 to forge stronger bilateral cooperation.

 Kim Kwan-Yong, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do province in the Republic of Korea (RoK), was awarded the Vietnamese President’s Friendship Order at a ceremony held in the northern province of Thai Nguyen on February 20.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Doan Xuan Hung, shares his thoughts with VET about Vietnam's second attendance at the G20 summit.

 The National Assembly Standing Committee (NASC) disagreed with a congressional vote which would mean juveniles are fully subject to criminal charges for rape, deliberately injuring people or kidnapping.

 Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan had talks with Indian Ambassador in Vietnam Parvathaneni Harish on ways to strengthen bilateral partnership in information technology and high quality human resources training.

Some debatable issues of a draft law on amendments and supplements to some articles of the 2015 Penal Code are among problems under scrutiny at the two-day seventh session of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee in Hanoi. 

 Vietnam will create best possible conditions for enterprises from Timor Leste to operate in the country, affirmed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Vietnamese authorities are working hard to verify information related to a pirate attack on a Vietnamese vessel in the Philippines’ waters that killed one.

A Vietnamese delegation attended the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (ASEAN SOM) in Boracay, the Philippines to prepare contents for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat.

 Vietnam is working to verify information about a suspect carrying a Vietnamese passport in the name of Doan Thi Huong arrested in Malaysia, said the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department on February 20.

More than 580 delegates from APEC member economies attended activities and events on various fields within the first APEC Senior Officials’ Meeting in Nha Trang city on February 20.