The issues Vietnam had to tackle in 2017 largely continue into 2018.

Many Vietnamese agricultural products like chilly, coriandrum sativum and arrow root starch are on sale on Amazon website at prices which are dozen or even hundred times higher than in Vietnam.

 The Government has set a target of achieving a GDP growth rate of 6.7% and consumer price index (CPI) of 4% for 2018.

 Hanoi has piloted tours to bring visitors to its museums and theatres as a way to diversify the capital’s tourism products.

 Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S must pay market price if it wants to acquire a majority holding in the Hanoi Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp. (Habeco), Vietnam’s second-largest brewer, according to Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue.

 The Royal International Corporation (RIC) which is running the only casino in UNESCO World Heritage site Ha Long Bay has just reported huge losses in 2017, blaming a drop in Chinese gamblers visiting Ha Long.

 Two foreign tourists were charged by a local woman to take a photo at a lake in the northern city of Haiphong.

 Nguyen Van Phuong won his first round match at the ITF Copa Barranquilla Capital de Vida-Claro tennis tournament in Colombia on Tuesday morning. 

 Phan Ke An, one of the leading artists of Viet Nam renowned for lacquer paintings and sketches of President Hồ Chí Minh, passed away in Hanoi on Sunday. He was 95.

 A fishing crew of 11 were rescued after their boat engine broke down at sea 120 nautical miles off the Hoàng Sa (Paracel) Islands of Việt Nam on Tuesday.

 The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed to the Ministry of Transport to halt the collection of fee from drivers at airports.

ENV has revealed that 16 international and social organisations in wildlife protection
signed a letter calling on Vietnamese law enforcement agencies to  handle  Mau Chien, the suspected mastermind of a trans-national rhino horn trafficking ring.

 The equitisation of the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) in 2018 was discussed at a meeting of the Ministry of Information and Communications in Hanoi on January 23.

 The Vietnamese Embassy in Chile said that it had contacted the Chilean Foreign Minister on January 22 requesting coordination to verify media reports on shark fins being dried on the roof of the Vietnamese Trade Office in Chile.

 US Secretary of Defence James Mattis will pay an official visit to Vietnam from January 24-25 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart General Ngo Xuan Lich. 

 Right after Vietnam obtained an impressive victory against Qatar to advance to the final of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc congratulated coach Park Hang-seo and the Vietnamese team.

 Eleven remaining member nations to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) have agreed to sign the deal at an official ceremony slated for March.

 The An Giang provincial People’s Court on January 23 sent four men to jail for “conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” under Clause 2 of Article 88 of the 2009 Penal Code. 

 Group hugs among strangers, excitement, even tear bursts are captured among Hanoi fans as the Vietnamese team secures a berth in the final of the AFC U23 Championship after beating Qatar.

 The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines plans to add two return flights between Hanoi and HCM City and Changzhou city, Jiangsu province, China, on January 27 when U23 Vietnam play a final match against Uzbekistan.