Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of 2.76 billion USD in the first 11 months of the year, or 1.4 percent of total export turnover, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

 Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd. (BSR) has signed crude oil supply agreements with two trading companies – Glencore Singapore and Socar Trading SA – to supply the Dung Quat refinery for the 2018-25 period.

 A meeting was held in the central city of Da Nang on December 8 to review the outcomes of a drug crime communication and crackdown campaign along Vietnam-China border.

 Six Tibetan bears were successfully rescued from a farm in Thuan An township of the southern province of Binh Duong by the Animals Asia on December 8.

VietNamNet Bridge - Retailers are rushing to develop online sales by offering technological solutions to attract more customers.

 The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) collected 137 billion VND (6 million USD) after auctioning 5.35 million shares of Vinaconex on the Hanoi Stock Exchange on December 8.

 There has been considerable discussion in the media recently about the urgent need to cut the nation’s bulging public workforce because it has become a heavy burden on the State Budget and the economy as a whole.

 Vietnam has promptly worked with relevant Taiwanese agencies to handle a fishing vessel accident with some Vietnamese on board, of whom one remains unaccounted for.

 Customs officers in the Chinese Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have confiscated 368.5 kg of ivory, which were trafficked from Africa into the country via its border with Vietnam.

HCM City is facing numerous difficulties as the population is rising sharply.

 Nationwide growth in FMCG bounced back in third quarter after dipping in previous quarter, according to latest Nielsen report.

The Mekong Connection Initiative believes that Vietnam should become the major importer of electricity from Laos. 

 The tax authority of HCMC has collected VND21 billion (nearly US$925,000) in tax from online stores while asking nearly 14,000 individuals and organizations selling goods on Facebook to fulfill their tax obligations.

 Vietnam’s retail market is maturing and will add around 400,000 sq m of retail space around the country in 2018 and double the stock by 2020, reaching 4 million sq m, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s “Main Streets Across the World” report.

 The Politburo yesterday held a meeting to review reports by its internal inspection bodies on the selection and appointment of cadres and manager-level officials looking towards 2020.

 The 27th annual Viet Nam-Laos border meeting was held on Saturday in Hanoi, aiming to seek orientations for border co-operation in 2018. 

 Study by Thailand-based e-commerce company iPrice finds that Lazada is preferred online shopping channel in Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

 As high as 74% of local workers in the processing and manufacturing sector are at risk of losing their jobs due to automation, according to a report by the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission on the fourth industrial revolution.

 Tim Harcourt, a JW Nevile Fellow in Economics at UNSW Sydney and former chief economist of Austrade, said that Vietnam’s economy is surging, on track to become the newest tiger in Asia.

The Japan External Trade Organization and the Foreign Investment Agency at the Ministry of Planning and Investment will organize the “Invest Japan” seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on December 19.