VietNamNet Bridge - The predicted growth rate of 30-50 percent per annum for e-commerce is expected to strongly facilitate the development of the logistics industry.

 Fifty million of the 132 million bank cards issued in the country are not in use, causing an enormous waste of resources, the Vietnam Bank Card Association has said.

  Police in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai on June 16 arrested two men for illegally trafficking 23 bricks of heroin (about 8.5kg). 

 Fresh litchi, which is in season now in northern Vietnam, is being served to business-class and premium-class passengers on Vietnam Airlines’ international and domestic flights departing from Hanoi. 

 Fertiliser stocks are surprising the market with many large names hitting the ceiling prices, mainly due to the Ministry of Finance’s decision to make fertiliser subject to VAT at the preferential rate of 5 percent.

The manufacturing-processing industry absorbs more than half (57.9 percent) of the FDIinflow into Vietnam over the past years to May 2018, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

 Given the insatiable demand on swimming classes for kids in the central coastal city of Da Nang, numerous hotels within the locality have held swimming training courses at their facilities. 

 Ho Chi Minh City authorities is working with all 24 districts on a wide range of plans to prevent flooding in the rainy season.

 The Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company (VNVC) on June 17 inaugurated its third vaccination centre at 243A De La Thanh street in Hanoi.

 Cambodia – Laos – Myanmar –Vietnam Cooperation

Over 132 million bank cards had been issued by the end of 2017. However, according to the Vietnam Card Association (VCA), only 77 million cards are being used to make regular transactions.

VietNamNet Bridge - France, the US, Canada and Scotland have said no to plastic disposable cups, but they  are still used widely in Vietnam despite warnings about the existence of carcinogens.

VietNamNet Bridge - OTT TV service providers are competing with each other as well as amateur and unlicensed players.

VietNamNet Bridge - At least 616 people have been sent to training courses under the program on training and attracting talents (Program 922). 

 The Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) will increase its charter capital to nearly VND34.97 trillion (US$1.53 billion).

 Hanoi drew in more than US$5.9 billion in FDI in the first half of 2018, making it the country’s largest six-month FDI attractor for the first time in three decades, said Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung on June 17.

 The HCM City housing market will continue to grow this year, especially the VND1 billion (US$44,000) condo segment, the HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has predicted.

 Contributions Vietnam made to ACMECS 8 and CLMV 9 once again affirm its sense of responsibility for and activeness in joining regional cooperation frameworks, thus helping promote comprehensive and sustainable development in the Mekong Sub-region.

 General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong on June 17 met with voters in Thanh Xuan, Ha Dong and Cau Giay districts, Hanoi, to inform them about outcomes of the recent fifth meeting of the 14th National Assembly. 

 Ben Tre is considered one of the leading provinces in the Mekong Delta region to eliminate makeshift bridges thanks to the great contribution by Trinh Van Y, Chairman of Ben Tre province’s Bridge and Road Science and Technology Association.