VietNamNet Bridge - Numerous precious timber planks chopped down by illegal loggers have been left on the ground, aimd vast clearings in the Hoa Son forest.

VietNamNet Bridge - The 500 richest Vietnamese stock billionaires as of December 31, 2016 had held VND167.362 trillion worth of stock assets, or $7 billion. Forty five of them are from Hanoi, holding 27.3 percent of total assets.

 The key market highlights in December were as follows:

Vietnam has vowed to improve students’ English skills by pouring trillions of dong into English teaching programs, but the majority of university graduates cannot communicate in English.

 A rise in foreign ownership limits is needed to importantly help Vietnam speed up the local banking sector’s restructuring.

 Viet Nam’s best female gymnast Phan Thi Ha Thanh has decided to retire from competitive events.

 Leaders of Lao Party, State, and National Assembly have spoken highly of contributions made by Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts to Laos’s national liberation cause.

 Meat and Livestock Australia has unveiled that the first large-scale purchase of an Australian cattle ranch – for beef production – by a Vietnamese company has been made.

Dinh La Thang, secretary of HCMC’s Party Committee, has suggested opening check-in counters outside Tan Son Nhat International Airport as a measure to ease overload inside the airport and reduce congestion on the roads around the airport.

Foreign affairs have made positive contributions to protecting Vietnam's sovereignty over sea and islands in the East Sea, delegates at a meeting held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi heard on January 17.

 PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc is making the first trip to Switzerland for the annual meeting of the Word Economic Forum as the Government chief to assure Viet Nam’s commitment to comprehensive reform and international integration agenda.

The University of Engineering and Technology at the Vietnam National University and the Vietnam VP9 Joint Stock Companysigned a cooperative agreement on January 17.

 The year has only begun, but signs are pointed to an exciting time ahead for the banking sector with vigorous mergers and acquisitions (M&As) activities.

An exchange of Vietnam-Japan teenager ambassadors took place in Japan on January 17, gathering 16 Vietnamese students from the Vietnam-Germany High School in Hanoi and 16 Japanese students from the Yokkaichi City high school in Mie prefecture.

 The implementation of external information services and the dissemination of news on sea, island and border demarcation in 2016 reaped important outcomes in promoting the image of Vietnam’s nation, culture, people and territory to the world.

 HCM City, Ha Noi, Can Tho and Nha Trang will offer free wireless internet all 24 hours at flower streets and markets during Tet, according to the Saigon Posts And Telecommunications Service Joint-Stock Corporation.

With Vietnam set to open its first derivatives market, experts are warning of the preparations needed to minimise potential investor risks. 

 Vietnam enjoyed a trade surplus of US$2.32 billion last year, according to the General Department of Customs (GDC), slightly lower than the initial estimate of US$2.68 billion made by the General Statistics Office.

  It is essential to lower input costs and improve quality to enhance competitiveness of agricultural products and efficiency of investments in this sector, experts have said.

 HCM City and Ha Noi, two major cities of Viet Nam, are listed among the top 10 most dynamic cities, according to the JLL’s fourth annual City Momentum Index (CMI).