1. A year of outstanding success in foreign affairs

The great achievements in foreign relations in 2023 have brought great potential to Vietnam, put it at a high position, and created a good reputation for the country in the international arena. 

In 2023, Vietnam successfully organized 15 key-leaders’ visits to other countries and 21 visits by foreign high-ranking leaders to Vietnam.

In September, 2023, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam and the two countries released a joint declaration, stating that the relationship between Vietnam and the US has been upgraded into a comprehensive strategic partnership.

2. VinFast’s shares listed in US

At 8pm on August 15, Hanoi time, more than 2.3 billion shares of VinFast Auto were officially put into trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol of VFS.

VinFast Auto, established in 2017, is a member company of Vingroup owned by the  Vietnamese dollar billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong.

Vingroup plans to mobilize $1-2 billion worth of capital in the US stock market in 2024-2026.

3. Crackdown on alcohol-limit violators

2023 was the year when the police dealt with alcohol limit violators with a heavy hand, under the principle of ‘no-restricted zone, no exception’.

The Traffic Police Department conducted a campaign on inspecting alcohol concentration of drivers from August 30 to October 15, during which 6,100 cases of violations of alcohol limit were found.

4. Major criminal cases discovered

Truong My Lan from Van Thinh Phat Group used ‘underground power’ to force SCB to disburse VND1 quadrillion, and the appropriated money was used for her personal purposes.

Tran Quy Thanh, president of Tan Hiep Phat, and his two daughters have been accused of ‘abusing credit to appropriate others’ assets’.

Do Anh Dung, president of Tan Hoang Minh and his son and 14 other defendants, have been found tricking 6,630 investors out of VND8.643 trillion.

FLC Group’s president Trinh Van Quyet has been prosecuted for ‘manipulating the stock market’ to pocket illegal profit of VND723 billion, and ‘swindling people to appropriate assets’.

A high number of officials were found abusing their positions and power to organize ‘repatriation flights’, or flights bringing Vietnamese citizens back home amid the spread of Covid-19.

5. Electricity shortage in summer

The World Bank estimated that the loss caused by electricity outages in May and June is worth up to 0.3 percent of GDP, or $1.4 billion.

There has been no new electricity generation source in the north recently.

6. Standardizing personal information to stop swindling and spam calls

2023 was the year that witnessed the boom of swindling, gambling and black credit in cyberspace. The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) reported that the number of online fraud incidents Vietnam increased by 64.78 percent. Scammers used social networks, junk simcards and bank accounts as tools to appropriate people’s assets.

MIC has joined forces with relevant ministries to handle online scams.

7. Central bank cuts operating interest rates

In 2023, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) cut the operating interest rates four times by 0.5-2 percent per annum to help boost economic development in the context of interest rate increases in the world.

The move forced commercial interest rates down by 2-3 percent compared with late 2022.

8. Farm exports reach record high

The exports of rice and vegetable and fruits soared in 2023, which brought an historic high export turnover of $4.5 and $5.5 billion, respectively.

Vietnam’s 5 percent broken rice export price hit an historic high of $663 per ton, while the average price was just $473 per ton in previous years.

9. Semiconductor giants invest in Vietnam

Vietnam has emerged as an attractive destination of international investors in the semiconductor industry, especially large corporations from the US, South Korea and China.

In October 2023, Amkor Technology set up a factory in Bac Ninh, capitalized at $1.6 billion.

Samsung is planning to manufacture semiconductor components in Vietnam.

In September 2023, Hana Micron Vina inaugurated its semiconductor manufacturing factory in Van Trung Industrial Zone (IZ) in Bac Giang.

Hanmi Semiconductor in late May 2023 announced that it has put Hanmi Vietnam branch in Bac Ninh into operation.

In May, German Infineon Technologies AG announced a plan to expand its operation in Vietnam.

Chinese Victory Giant Technology has decided to build a factory worth $400 million in Bac Ninh.

Synopsys has recently signed an MOU with the Vietnam National Innovation Center on developing human resources in IC designing in Vietnam.

10. Fires that occurred in 2023 caused a serious death and asset toll. The most serious was at a small building in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi, killing 56.

VietNamNet