Pham Dinh Thi, director of the Ministry of Finance’s Tax Policy Department talks with a Vietnam News Agency reporter about the ministry’s proposal to increase VAT from 10 to 12 percent.

 More international groups are rushing to supply medical equipment for healthcare facilities in Vietnam to cash in on the lucrative medical equipment market, which is forecast to hit $1.4 billion in value in 2018.

 Like many of its startups, Vietnam is navigating an array of apparent contradictions. It’s a country where nearly half the population works in agriculture but which aims to escape the middle-income trap by becoming a startup nation. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The low-cost aviation market has attracted many investors, but some low-cost carriers (LCC) have had difficulties in obtaining operating licenses.

 Vietnam is making consistent efforts to build a smart energy industry, where investors can easily find good investment opportunities.

 Former Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Dang Thanh Binh has been prosecuted in relation to an economic crime worth 666 million USD at the Vietnam Construction Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VNCB). 

Microsoft Vietnam has officially announced it was appointing Aung San Maung from Myanmar as its new acting CEO in Viet Nam, a position which was held by Vu Minh Tri for seven years.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many Vietnamese have bought properties in the US, but this has not generated cash flow from Vietnam to the US, according to the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV).

 Brazil’s FM Aloysio Nunes Ferreira will pay an official visit to Viet Nam from September 9-12 at the invitation of Deputy PM, FM Pham Binh Minh, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.

Hungary’s senior leaders showed a consensus on developing friendship with Vietnam at their meetings with Politburo member and head of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee’s Mass Mobilisation Commission Truong Thi Mai.

 The Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang has remained undecided over the fate of a controversial pulp mill of Vietnam Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing Ltd, said Hau Giang vice chairman Nguyen Van Tuan.

 Only 35.2% of enterprises and agencies in Vietnam are prepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), according to a survey of the Vietnam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA).

 Tan Son Nhat International Airport will have an additional 21 aircraft parking slots, including eight permanent and 13 temporary ones, by the end of this year, just in time for the peak air travel season.

HCMC authorities have tasked HCMC Institute for Development Studies to re-estimate the efficiency of school and working hour deviation and propose feasible solutions to tackle worsening and spreading traffic jam in the city.

 Authorities of Quang Ninh Province are seeking the government’s approval for 75 preferential policies and mechanisms for Van Don Special Administrative Economic Zone.

 Vietnam’s no. 1 chess player, Le Quang Liem, bid an early farewell to the ongoing 2017 Chess World Cup in Georgia after conceding a 0.5-1.5 defeat to Indian GM, Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, in the second round on September 7. 

VietNamNet Bridge - No report exists about the scale of the counterfeit drug market in Vietnam, but experts believe that the market is large and that many drugs are easily faked.

According to the World Bank, Vietnam has integrated into the global value chain and improved national economic progress and productivity through creative policy making for the transportation, service, border control and regional co-operation sectors.

 Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue told the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on Wednesday to hasten the handling of 12 inefficient projects under its management.

 Vietnam’s Vu Thi Trang won a berth in the quarter-finals of the Vietnam Open badminton tournament yesterday.