The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Vietnam as the 67th most competitive economy in its latest report released on October 9.

The foreign ministers of Australia, the US and Japan have expressed their "serious concern" over "credible reports of disruptive activities in relation to longstanding oil and gas projects" in the East Sea.

Vietnamese Grandmaster Le Quang Liem won the World Open chess tournament which concluded in Philadelphia, the US, on July 7.

The freshly-signed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will help the Vietnamese steel sector expand export markets in Europe, industry insiders said.

VietNamNet Bridge - Investments from the US and EU bring modern technologies and high economic efficiency as their projects are in the fields of renewable energy, IT, education, healthcare, service, finance & banking, transport and tourism.

VietNamNet Bridge - The authorities of many cities and provinces throughout the country have simultaneously launched ‘purification operations’ and sent notices with the aim of discovering “disappeared” enterprises.

US investors poured $10 billion worth of FDI (foreign direct investment)  into Vietnam by October 2017, becoming the ninth largest foreign investor in Vietnam among 128 countries and territories, according to FIA (Foreign Investment Agency). 

VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts say that Vietnamese catfish exporters are willing to ‘fight to the death’, but they refuse to band together to discuss solutions to settle common problems.

Vietnamese consultancy firms are now advising wealthy Vietnamese to apply for citizenship in countries which have more open regulations, especially in Europe.

VietNamNet Bridge - In 2015, Vietnam exported $6.9 billion worth of wooden furniture products, an increase of 10.7 percent over 2014, turning Vietnam into the fourth biggest wooden furniture exporter in the world after China, Germany and Italia.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam is now exporting more high value products instead of raw materials to the U.S. market.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese exporters continue to sell catfish at low prices to maintain their edge as the world's top catfish exporter. 

VietNamNet Bridge - After obtaining a passport to choosy markets like the US for some types of fruits, Vietnam is now targeting the EU, Canada, ASEAN, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America.

VietNamNet Bridge - US capital continues flowing into Vietnam in anticipation of the opportunities to be brought by TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) and other free trade agreements (FTAs).

BKAV, the manufacturer of BPhone, a 100 percent Vietnam-made smartphone, is moving ahead with its plan to export BPhones, ignoring doubts that a Vietnam-made high-tech product can be sold in the world market.

Vietnamese beef and litchis will be seriously affected by TPP Agreement in import and export markets. While beef will have to struggle to hold the home market, litchis will have to struggle to penetrate more foreign markets.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) is likely to close in 2018, and opportunities to study in the US with VEF’s scholarships will then cease.  

Trade between Vietnam and the US has grown exponentially under a bilateral trade pact that went into force in late 2001 and totalled nearly US$11,035 billion as the end of February this year.

VietNamNet Bridge - The US is moving a great deal of outward investment to Vietnam. The US Intel Group, for example, plans to relocate its production line worth $1 billion from Costa Rica to Vietnam.