A selection of noteworthy artistic and cultural events will take place in in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

 Pham Le Phuong has won the first prize in her age group, for 11-13 year-old contestants, at the seventh Mozart International Piano Competition held in Thailand on July 22-25.

 Trach Xa village is famous for the craft of tailor making Vietnamese traditional long dresses. For many centuries, many generations of tailors in the villages have contributed to preserving and promoting the charm of the Ao Dai.

 Grapefruit Puddingis a popular dessert in Can Tho city. Although this dish is widely available all over Vietnam, the porridge made in Can Tho has a special flavor that can be found nowhere else.

 The national under-22’s Vietnamese football team secured a 1-0 victory over an All-Star team from the Republic of Korea in a friendly match at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on July 27.

 There are concerns that Vietnam’s exports to the US could be hurt by the growing US protectionism, its withdrawal from the TPP trade deal and Vietnam’s inclusion on a list of countries with which the US runs a trade deficit. 

 Construction of the Long Son Petrochemicals complex is scheduled to take four and half years and commercial operations will begin in the first half of 2022, Mr. Roongrote Rangsiyopash, President and CEO of SCG, told a meeting on July 26.

 Some 43,000 4G BTS stations have been deployed nationwide, covering 95 per cent of Vietnam’s population, the 4G LTE 2017 International Conference was told.

 VietnamWorks, the leading job board recruitment website in Vietnam and a member of the Navigos Group Vietnam, released its Report on Recruitment Demand and Labor Supply in Vietnam in the First Half of 2017 on July 28.

 In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam lured in nearly $22 billion in FDI with the comeback of multibillion dollar projects, promising a breakthrough in FDI attraction for the whole year.

 With no sharp increase in sight, and despite a reduced number of projects in recent years, the Vietnamese textile industry still attracts more than $750 million in FDI in the first six months of this year.

 Despite the increasing number of outlets, the market share of mobile retailer The gioi Di dong, has stayed unchanged at 42 per cent, thus, MWG has to find ways to solve its growth problems.

 To date, two of Vietnam’s largest brewers Sabeco and Habeco have yet to publish their specific state divestment plans, however, foreign investors may not have the opportunity to hold the majority stakes.

 By teaming up with MP Logistics Corporation (MP Logistics), South Korean enterprise Samsung not only demonstrated its interest in the Vietnamese logistics sector, but its participation also heats up the market.

 The second Vietnam Private Sector Forum (VPSF), chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, is scheduled to be held on July 31 at Melia Hanoi.

 Dozens of households in Cluster 21, Loc Thang Town, Bao Lam District, Lam Dong Province have complained about the discharged water from Tan Rai Bauxite plant while the investor claims water samples tested safe.

HCM City has advanced additional VND500 billion (USD22.7 million) to pay contractors for the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro project which is facing the capital delays.

 Vietnam has focused on renewable energy development and has set a target to export renewable energy equipment by 2050, said a representative from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

 There is no cover of Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber’s hit What Do You Mean quite like that of the US-based video producer Kayla Nguyen.

 The Ministry of Information and Communications is developing a draft circular on mobile telecommunication network information services, reported the Vietnam News Agency.