The Indonesian Foreign Ministry and the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies opened a seminar in Indonesia on November 16, focusing discussions on managing potential conflict in the East Sea.

 The Government will not raise public debt ceiling in order to ensure debt payment capacity and balance the national financial system, said Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue during the NA hearing session yesterday. 

Ministries have approved the restructuring plans of additional SOEs, with the latest including Mobifone and VNPost, in line with the Government’s SOE restructuring action plan.

 Four- and five-star hotels in Ho Chi Minh City have seen a slight decline in room rates although the rising number of tourists has resulted in an increase in occupancy rates at high-end hotels.

SBV Governor yesterday fielded lawmakers’ questions about the banking system’s operations, underlining the need to focus on effectively implementing a resolution on piloting the settlement of bad debt at credit institutions.

The question and answer session of the 14th National Assembly’s fourth sitting on November 16 was heated up with issues regarding tax, public debt and monetary policy management.  

 Shares soared on both local markets on November 16 with the VN Index hitting a fresh 10-year high as investor confidence improved, pouring strong investment into all sectors and stocks.

VietNamNet Bridge - A representative of a mobile phone retail chain in Hanoi said iPhone X with VNA codes reserved for the Vietnamese market will hit the shelves by the end of this month.

Many investors have been reluctant to buy a stake of equitized SOEs (state owned enterprises) because of problems in current regulations and the internal weaknesses of the enterprises.

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam has been unable to recycle or treat e-waste because of difficulties in e-waste collection, according to some experts.

Foreign investment funds and technology firms have poured hundreds of millions of dollars in Vietnamese fintech firms in anticipation of an increase in non-cash payments in the country. 

The Ministry of Education & Training (MOET) plans to produce 9,000 PhDs more for universities and junior colleges by 2025 in a VND12 trillion program, though Vietnam now has over 24,300 PhDs.

 Jobseekers should have the ability to learn and the willingness to acquire new skills to stay competitive on the job market, as technologies will usher in drastic changes and pose huge challenges to them.

 Vietnam could receive a significant boost to its natural gas supplies after signing two agreements during the APEC Summit to buy gas at home and from Indonesia.

 The Government Inspectorate has detected violations worth (US$69.4 million) in many housing projects developed in Hanoi between 2002 and 2014.

 Measures to improve the efficiency of public investment were among issues mentioned by Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at the Q&A session on November 16.

 Nearly 29 commercial deals with total investment of more than US$4.5 million have been committed as a result of investment matching activities at the national innovative start-up festival Techfest 2017.

 Total import-export turnover between Viet Nam and APEC member economies reached US$265.3 billion in the first 10 months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 17.4 per cent and almost equal to last year’s turnover.

Vietnamese music lovers will have a chance to enjoy a series of spellbinding and enchanting concerts in the European Music Festival 2017 that will take place in Hanoi and HCM City from November 17- December 2.

 Vietnam’s Medicine University in Ho Chi Minh City and Russia’s Dmitry Rogachev Center yesterday signed a cooperation document to enhance new Immunotherapy use for cancer treatment.