The European Commission (EC) on October 17 submitted for approval a free trade agreement (FTA) with Vietnam, the first comprehensive open market deal between the EU and a developing Asian country. 

 Belgium’s lower house of parliament backs expanding cooperation with Vietnam at all levels, said President of the Chamber of Representatives Siegfried Bracke when meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Brussels on October 17.

 The country’s export turnover this year could reach 239 billion USD, increasing 11.2 percent from last year, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai.

 Vietnam ranked 77th out of 140 countries in the latest Global Competitiveness Report, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on October 17.

 The 10th Vietnam-US Joint Committee Meeting on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (JCM10) took place in Washington DC from October 15-17.

Vietnam and the EU demonstrated their efforts to push the early signing, ratification and implementation of their free trade agreement and IPA during Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s ongoing visit to Europe. 

 The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has issued national standards on chilled meat and technical requirements to meet expectations of markets at home and abroad.

Child patients will be given priority in kidney transplants when there is a brain-dead or non-heart-beating donor under a new agreement on organ transplantation between three major hospitals in HCM City.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Brussels on the evening of October 17, where he met with embassy staff, representatives from the overseas Vietnamese community and Vietnamese students in Belgium.

A member of the Vietnamese mission to the UN delivered a speech on poverty reduction during a debate held by the UN Economic and Financial Committee on “Eradication of poverty and other development issues” in New York on October 17.

 The US has asked Turkey for a recording said to provide strong evidence that Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed at Istanbul's Saudi consulate.

 Some of Japan's famed cherry blossoms, also known as sakura, have bloomed unexpectedly this autumn.

 VietNamNet Bridge – After three days, the repairs of defects on a key highway in the central region have been finished and are awaiting final assessment, according to the project’s investor.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Six million people in Vietnam managed to climb up the poverty ladder according to statistics released on Wednesday.

VietNamNet Bridge - FDI capital flow to the real estate sector soared to $5.5 billion in the first half of 2018.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam Basketball Association (VBA) League 2017 champions Thang Long Warriors have opened a basketball training centre in Hanoi.

 VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City authorities will redesign a proposal for a bus rapid transit (BRT) route after the Department of Transport said the plan was not feasible. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Two artists from Quang Tri and Ben Tre provinces won the Golden Medal prize at the 3rd National Magic Festival 2018 held at the HCM City Opera House on Monday.  

Plans to build a theatre worth some VND1.5 trillion in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, HCM City, have sparked a public opinion controversy, but Nguyen Thai Binh, speaker of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 

The HCM City People’s Economic Court on Wednesday began hearing the suit filed by taxi operator Vinasun against ride-hailing service Grab, accusing it of unfair business practices and demanding compensation of the VND42 billion ...