Shares declined for the first time in the last four trades as investors still kept a cautious view on the market outlook amid global volatility following the US-China trade tension.

 Vietnam has accomplished all necessary preparations for level-2 field hospital in South Sudan, Colonel Nguyen Nhu Canh, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, said at a press conference held in Hanoi on March 29.

 Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has written an article entitled “Mekong – the River of cooperation and development” ahead of the GMS-6 and the CLV-10 scheduled for March 29-31 in Hanoi. 

 The Hanoi People’s Court on March 29 handed down an 18-year jail sentence to Dinh La Thang, former Chairman of PetroVietnam, for “deliberately violating State regulations on economic management, causing severe consequences.”

 The tourism industry saw a strong start in 2018 as the international tourist arrivals to Vietnam reached over 4.2 million people in the first quarter of the year, an increase of 30.9 percent year on year.

 Vietnam is pushing on ambitious plans to develop smart cities towards green and sustainable growth with the assistance of the Netherlands.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted the importance of cooperation in the fields of knowledge, technical assistance and technology transfer via RoK’s investments in Vietnam while receiving former RoK Minister of Policy Coordination.

The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Vietnam in the first quarter of 2018 witnessed a significant yearly decline of 25 percent to 5.8 billion USD.

 Business cooperation between Vietnam and Belarus will be further developed following trade deals inked between the two sides in the northern province of Hung Yen on March 29 in the presence of Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko.

 Vietnam’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2018 rose 7.38 percent, the highest growth rate over the past ten years, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

 The nation’s top goalkeeper, Dang Van Lam, may miss the fourth round of the V.League this weekend owing to injury.

 The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Senior Officials’ Meeting convened in Hanoi on March 29 in preparation for the upcoming sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) on March 31.

 Vice Admiral Midgette’s visit coincides with the official handover of the Coast Guard Region 4 Station from the U.S. to Viet Nam, comprisingUS$20 million worth of infrastructure and equipment.

 BKAV Corporation announced on March 28 that there have been more than 139,000 computers in Vietnam infected with a new coinminer virus called W32.AdCoinMiner. 

 Vietnamese tra fish export to the U.S. remains uninterrupted despite the U.S. tariff hike, said U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink at a press conference on March 26.

 A seminar on implementing the national data on population was held by the Ho Chi Minh City Public Security Department on March 28 with the participation of Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong.

 The 2018 International Piano Festival will be held at the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi from August 11 – 18.

 A fire at a police station in the Venezuelan city of Valencia, in Carabobo state, has left 68 people dead, government officials say.

 The Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2018 opened on March 29 and will last until April 1 at the Friendship Cultural Palace, 91 Tran Hung Dao Street in Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem district.

Flowering bombax ceiba or red silk cotton trees are a common sight around northern Vietnamese villages in March, as locals are swept up in an air of nostalgia for the bliss of childhood in their hometown.