Vietnam and Japan have agreed to enhance their political trust through the regular exchange of high-ranking visits and meetings in the time ahead.

 Vietnam’s Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich has called for stronger cooperation among ASEAN member nations, along with more effective ties with other countries, including China and the US, to address the East Sea issue. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has maintained economic growth despite the reduction in mining natural resources, but it must begin to reduce exploitation as resources are running out, experts say.

Viet Nam has made efforts to protect wildlife and its intensified law enforcement against traffickers is likely to make the country a role model in the field, said the UK’s Prince William.

 Ho Chi Minh City’s Management Board of Urban Railways (MBUR) has confirmed that South Korean consultants have completed a pre-feasibility study on the Metro Line No. 4B-1 project (the branch line to Tan Son Nhat International Airport).

VietNamNet Bridge - Many urban parents take their children to training courses to have the children’s brains stimulated, hoping it will help them become more intelligent.

VietNamNet Bridge - The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Has granted more than 5,000 registry books to the owners of hazardous waste sources.

VietNamNet Bridge - The government has been warned that loopholes in the process of divesting state capital from state-owned enterprises may lead to a major losses.

 Although numerous foreign and domestic enterprises expressed their interest in investing in wind farms in Vietnam, so far only domestic firms started actually implementing such projects.

Hot issues in the APEC Summit 2016 are Brexit and the rise of populism in politics, especially in the US after Donald Trump was elected the new president, which appears to have added strength to the voices protesting globalization.

 Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha confirmed on November 16 that water in certain central provinces is “safe for tourism, sports and fishing.”

 Vietnam currently has 20 coal-fired power plants consuming 45 million tonnes of coal annually and discharging more than 15.7 million tonnes of ash and gypsum as by-products from generating electricity.

Flood ties on today morning, November 16, peaked at 1.69 metres, leaving many streets in HCM City under water.

 Motorbike owners that have not transferred the ownership of their vehicles will face a fine of VND100,000 (USD4.47) to VND400,000 starting from 2017.

 The Ministry of Education and Training has been collaborating with Microsoft Vietnam and Vietnet-ICT to organise Training for Trainers workshops on new ICT and computer science curriculum using active teaching and learning methodologies.

 The ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Retreat opened in Vientiane, Laos, on November 16, seeking to boost defence cooperation for a dynamic ASEAN.

 Defence Deputy Minister Be Xuan Truong met with Smolsky Gennady Aleksandrovich, Vice Chairman of the State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus, in Hanoi on November 15. 

 Public Security Minister General To Lam met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on November 15, during which he thanked the PM for directing Israel’s agencies to cooperate with Vietnam’s Public Security Ministry in past years. 

 The 2016 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange finds that there were 21,403 students from Viet Nam, making it the 6th leading country of origin among international students in the United States, moving up from 9th position in 2015. 

VietNamNet Bridge - While foreign investors flock to Vietnam, many textile projects developed by Vietnamese investors have failed, raising concerns about the future of Vietnam’s textile & garment industry.