Starting from January 1, 2024, the issuance of licences for the export and import of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will be conducted in accordance with the Government’s Decree No. 06/2022/ND-CP dated January 7, 2022, announced the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Export and Import Department.

HFCs, composed of hydrogen, fluorine, and carbon, serve practical purposes in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food, refrigeration, and firefighting.

According to the Government’s Resolution No. 50/NQ-CP dated April 8, 2023, the department is set to issue HFCs export and import licences to merchants in line with Circular No. 05/2020/TT-BCT until December 31, 2023.

Project aims to improve state management, law enforcement in digital transformation

Vietnam expects to form a nationwide network of digital transformation with the participation of all-level state agencies, organisations, businesses and people, according to a recently-approved project.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang has signed a decision to approve the project on consolidating apparatus organisation, and improving state management and law enforcement capacity in digital transformation from central to local levels by 2025, with a vision to 2030.

The network is set to maximise social resources and attract the participation of the whole population in digital transformation.

However, the personnel structure will be kept unchanged during the consolidation of apparatus organisation, and the improvement of state management and law enforcement capacity in digital transformation.
 
Specifically, all of the ministry-level and government agencies, as well as the People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities will strengthen their IT-specialised units by 2025.

All of the network organisations and members will gain access to digital platforms and toolkits to serve state management and law enforcement in digital transformation.

The members will also receive annual training to satisfy the requirements of state management and law enforcement in this regard, matching the standards of job titles and positions.

The project also set out major tasks and solutions, including reviewing the functions, tasks and organisation of state management and law enforcement agencies; building, developing and promoting digital platforms and toolkits in service of state management and law enforcement; and stepping up the communications work.

Nearly 57% of nursery schools up to national standards: Education ministry

The five-year effort for quality improvement has resulted in 15,334 nursery schools reaching national standards in Việt Nam, up 11.3 per cent compared to the academic year of 2017-18. 

The locality with the highest growth in up-to-standard nursery schools over the five years is the northern delta province of Ninh Bình (16.7 per cent), followed by Hà Nam with 15.4 per cent, and Bắc Giang with 15.2 per cent.

It is worth noting that the capital city of Hà Nội currently has 1,147 State nursery schools and 2,461 private preschool facilities, with over 510,000 children under their care. About 78.8 per cent of the schools and facilities have met the national standards, higher than the national rate of 57 per cent.

An official from the Early Childhood Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training cited some difficult-to-implement legal documents in the sector as an obstacle to the schools trying to make the grade.

Another obstacle lies in local education budgets. In some localities, the education budgets are so tight that little can be spent on nursery schools. Without sufficient funds to improve facilities and finance campus expansion, the nursery schools remain below the mark.

The official urged local authorities to take action to develop more up-to-the-mark nursery schools in their municipalities and use communication to raise public awareness about the significant impact of early childhood education.

HCMC developing pilot scheme of family doctor model like in Cuba

Ho Chi Minh City is developing a pilot scheme of family doctor models like in Cuba at a commune of Binh Chanh outlying district.

Deputy Director of the City Department of Health Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said that leaders of the Department of Health and Binh Chanh District agreed on building a detailed plan for a pilot scheme of a family doctor model like in Cuba in a commune in the coming time.

Yesterday afternoon, two leading Cuban medical experts, Professor and Doctor José Armando Aronte Villamarín and Professor and Doctor Sonia María González Vega, came to Binh Chanh District to share experiences in developing the grassroots health system and family doctor model.

In a talk with two Cuban experts, Head of Binh Chanh District Health Department Nguyen Thanh Hung said that the district has one medical center and 16 medical stations that meet national standards. Some 1,995 medical officers and staff including 701 doctors are working in healthcare centers in the district. The district’s number of physicians, nurses and midwives is 8.5 per 10,000 population.

Secretary of Binh Chanh District Party Committee Tran Van Nam added that he and the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council delegation visited Cuba to learn about the country's health system.

According to him, Cuban’s healthcare system has many good points; thus, he desired the two medical experts to share more experiences to apply to the health system of Binh Chanh outlying district including developing grassroots healthcare stations with a focus on providing healthcare for people at home.

Talking about the Cuban health system, the two experts said that Cuban people receive free health care. Cuba has more than 11 million people and family doctor offices are located in every residential area across the sugar bowl nation of the world. Each family doctor's office has a family physician and nurse practitioner who are responsible for caring for 1,000 - 1,500 residents.

After the talks with the two experts, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said that the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, experts and Binh Chanh district decided to develop a pilot plan for family doctor model like in Cuba in a commune of Binh Chanh district in the coming time.

According to the plan, the two Cuban medical experts would work in Ho Chi Minh City from December 25 to January 6. The Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City planned to organize workshops where Cuban experts will share their experiences of the public health model in Cuba with community health specialists in Ho Chi Minh City, districts and Thu Duc City.

Labour export far exceeds yearly target in 2023

Vietnam sent approximately 155,000 workers abroad this year, meeting 129% of the target set for the year and representing an increase of 8.55% from a year earlier, according to an initial report unveiled by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

Japan topped the list of recipients of Vietnamese workers, followed by Taiwan (China), the Republic of Korea, China, Hungary, Singapore, Romania, Poland, and others.

This year, the MOLISA strengthened measures to stabilize the traditional labour market, and improve the effectiveness of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of businesses and workers working abroad.

Along with maintaining traditional markets such as Japan, Taiwan (China), and the Republic of Korea, the MOLISA promoted the expansion of new markets with good income and steady jobs, especially in European countries, to increase opportunities for many people to work abroad.

It also kept a close watch on Vietnamese workers abroad to promptly handle issues that may arise, and strengthen support for workers to return home on time to integrate into the domestic labour market.

Currently, approximately 650,000 Vietnamese workers are working in 40 countries and territories worldwide. There are more than 500 businesses licensed to send Vietnamese workers abroad to work under labour contracts.

Work on 13 road, bridge projects to begin in 2024

The Ministry of Transport has announced plans to kickstart 13 infrastructure projects next year, comprising a bridge and 12 roads, with a combined cost of VND30 trillion, or US$1.2 billion.

Local authorities will oversee the implementation of 10 of these projects. They include three sections of the Ho Chi Minh Road, two components of the National Highway 2 improvement project, and the upgrade of National Highway 46.

Projects such as National Highway 4B in Lang Son Province, the upgrade of National Highway 28B in Binh Thuan and Lam Dong provinces, and various projects in the Mekong Delta, like phase one of Cao Lanh-An Huu Expressway, phase one of My An-Cao Lanh Expressway, and the upgrade of national highways 53, 62 and Nam Song Hau will also be carried out.

The sole bridge project scheduled for next year is Ninh Cuong, which will span the Ninh Co River on National Highway 37B in Nam Dinh Province.

The Ministry of Transport will take charge of implementing the remaining three projects, which are Dau Giay-Tan Phu, Lo Te-Rach Soi, and Cho Moi-Bac Kan expressways.

This year, the Ministry of Transport put into operation several expressway projects, including 475 kilometers of the North-South Expressway Phase 1. These works increased the total length of expressway in the country to nearly 1,900 kilometers.

These projects are expected to enhance connectivity and reduce travel times between vital economic centers in Vietnam.

Long Thanh airport terminal set to be ready by 2026

The passenger terminal of Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai Province will be completed by the end of 2026 as planned, according to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).

The passenger terminal, featuring a lotus-inspired design referred to as bidding package 5.10, is taking shape, and is expected to be finalized by October 2026 following a three-year construction schedule.

A consortium of contractors has deployed over 1,000 personnel and a multitude of equipment for on-site construction.

Package 4.6, which includes the construction and installation of the runway, taxiway, apron, and related facilities, is slated for completion by the end of July 2025. Concurrently, package 6.12 for construction of connecting roads could be done by the end of 2025.

Long Thanh International Airport is an infrastructure project of national importance. Once the first phase is operational in 2026, the airport will accommodate 25 million passengers and handle 1.2 million tons of cargo annually.

In the second phase, an additional runway will be added to accommodate 50 million passengers annually. Finally, in the third phase, additional facilities will be completed, enabling the airport to handle 100 million passengers per year, solidifying its position as the largest airport in Vietnam in the future.

Multidimensional poverty rate drops to 2.93%

The National Office for Poverty Reduction has reported a multidimensional poverty rate of 2.93% at the end of 2023, indicating a 1.1 percentage point decrease.

Poverty rate in impoverished districts went down by 5.62 percentage points to approximately 33% and that in ethnic minority areas dropped to 17.82%, meeting targets set by the National Assembly and the Government.  

Speaking at the office's year-end conference in Hanoi on December 28, Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thanh said 2024 is a crucial year in striving towards targets set by the National Target Programme on Poverty Reduction for the 2021-2025 period. It is also the time to propose medium-term public investment plans and poverty standards and poverty reduction directions for the 2026-2030 period, in line with the Directive of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on strengthening the Party leadership on sustainable poverty reduction until 2030.

He asked the office to take concerted measures to mobilise resources for poverty reduction work, and build a national database along with a management software which will be integrated in the social security database and linked with the national population database.

WB-funded agriculture project benefits 29,000 farmer households in Soc Trang

As many as 29,000 farmer households in the Mekong Delta province of Song Trang benefited from the Vietnam Sustainable Agriculture Transformation (VnSAT) project funded by the World Bank, heard a conference to review the project in the locality on December 28.

The sub-project in Soc Trang (VnSAT Soc Trang) is invested by the provicial  Department of Agriculture and Rural Development,  and implemented by the VnSAT Soc Trang management board.

VnSAT Soc Trang  was implemented on a total area of 29,000 ha of rice land in 30 communes, with total investment of over 330 billion VND (over 13.6 million USD).

Commenced since 2016, the project focused on supporting and investing in farmer organisations through cooperatives, providing training courses, organising workshops and seminars, building technical transfer models, enhancing communication activities, providing equipment and supporting infrastructure development for local farmers.

According to Huynh Ngoc Nha, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the project aims to contribute to realising the province's agriculture restructuring project, thus increasing income for local rice farmers. It also helps improve the competitiveness of the rice industry, and reduce negative impacts on the environment.

Addressing the conference, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Truong Quoc Nam praised efforts made by technicians and local farmers for  completing the project, saying that the project has contributed to bringing great economic efficiency to the local agricultural sector.

Farmers in the project areas have adopted advanced technical solutions, and farming knowledge to reduce manufacturing costs, and increase quality of rice, profitability and competitiveness.

Soc Trang’s ST25 rice variety was twice honoured as the World’s Best Rice, helping the locality reach strong growth in rice export.  Soc Trang earned 400 million USD from exporting rice in 2023.  

Nam underlined the need for the locality’s agricultural sector to maintain the results of the project, and implement other programmes and projects to develop and expand high-quality rice areas, thus creating a premise for Soc Trang to join a project of planting 1 million ha of low-emission high-quality rice by 2030 launched by the Government.

Cam Ranh International Airport to put on 300 flights over New Year holiday

Cam Ranh International Airport in the southern coastal province of Khanh Hoa is scheduled to welcome around 51,000 arrivals on board 313 flights during the New Year holiday.

From December 30 to January 1, 2024, the airport is expected to receive 144 domestic flights with nearly 20,000 passengers and 169 international flights with more than 31,000 passengers.

A wide range of activities are getting underway in Nha Trang City of Khanh Hoa province in order to celebrate the New Year 2024.

A food festival themed "Khanh Hoa-Welcome New Year 2024" is taking place at Phu Dong Park, as well as art performances and fashion programmes which are to be held at 2/4 Square, drawing plenty of locals and tourists.

The highlight of the event will be a countdown party and a fireworks display at Convention Center Nha Trang lasting from 6 p.m. on December 31 until 0:45 a.m. on January 1, 2024.

Furthermore, a series of tourism stimulation activities themed "Wake Up Festival - Nha Trang" is getting underway from December 9 to January 20, 2024.

Vietnam’s images promoted via cultural diplomacy in Malaysia: Ambassador

Cultural diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges not only make an important contribution to elevating and spreading Vietnamese cultural values but also serve the foreign policy goals of both Vietnam and Malaysia, said Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Dinh Ngoc Linh.

Speaking to the Vietnam News Agency about the role of cultural diplomacy in Malaysia, the ambassador said that cultural diplomacy is one of the three pillars of Vietnam's comprehensive diplomacy during the integration period. Cultural diplomacy is an important tool of foreign policy in general and diplomacy in particular in promoting international links between peoples.

He said that in 2023, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Malaysia (1973-2023), the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia stepped up its cultural diplomacy by coordinating with associations and localities such as Ho Chi Minh City and Nam Dinh, to organise series of activities which helped promote the images of Vietnam as a dynamic, modern country with cultural identities.

In a series of events organised to celebrate the occasion, the embassy selected Vietnamese unique cultural areas that are known and appreciated by Malaysians, for example, culinary introduction programmes, especially Nam Dinh Pho (noodle) that meets Halal standards and suits Malaysian tastes; traditional and modern music and dance performances; and “ao dai” shows.

“Cultural diplomacy is an effective measure in enhancing Vietnamese cultural values, promoting the national image, thereby expanding Vietnam's soft power”, the ambassador said.

Cultural diplomacy creates a premise to promote trade and economic development, and in return economic and trade are important resources to strongly deploy cultural diplomacy abroad, he said.

He added that Vietnam can promote cultural diplomacy effectively in Malaysia because of the similarity in development levels between the two countries, the cultural diversity of Malaysia, and the 30,000-strong Vietnamese community there.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Embassy in Vietnam also organised many meaningful activities in Hanoi, including a friendly match between the two countries' football teams.

Regarding the embassy’s plan to implement the results of the 32nd National Diplomatic Conference, the ambassador said that the embassy will make efforts to continue promoting "bright spots" in the two countries' relations, including economic, trade, and investment collaboration. It will also look for new cooperation fields that are consistent with development trends in the world and region in which both sides have potential and common interests.

“The potential for cooperation between the two countries is still very large, especially in areas such as food security, energy security, digital economy, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, marine economic development, and renewable energy,” he said.

The embassy and relevant representative agencies will closely follow the agreements signed between the two countries, especially the action programme to implement their strategic partnership for the period 2021-2025.

In the first half of 2024, one of the embassy's priorities is to promote and organise high-level visits of Party and State leaders to Malaysia. The exchange of high-level delegations will be a driving force for strengthening strategic trust and deepening comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, towards the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership in 2025.

Central Highlands preserves traditional culture

The first culture, sports and tourism festival for ethnic groups in the Central Highlands has contributed to preserving their traditional values, while tightening their solidarity.

Taking place in Kon Tum province from November 29 to December 1, the festival brought together more than 600 artists and artisans from the five Central Highlands localities of Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong.

It featured many fascinating events, including the introduction of traditional festivals and rituals, the exhibition of traditional cultural products, and folk games such as tug-of-war and stick pushing.

Kra Janh Krong from Lam Dong province said through the event, he and other artisans could exchange experience in preserving cultural values and promoting them among the community.

Kon Tum has earmarked more than 6.6 billion VND (271,576 USD) to implement a strategy for ethnic affairs in the 2022-2023 period, focusing on restoring, preserving and promoting traditional cultural identities and festivals of Ro Mam people; studying, collecting, preserving and displaying the traditional cultural heritage of ethnic minorities; and building products in service of tourism development.

The province has also coordinated with the Department of Ethnic Culture under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to build model clubs of culture and art preservation.

Deputy Director of Kon Tum province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Phan Van Hoang said the locality will work to achieve the major targets of preserving, restoring and promoting the cultural value of Rong house of ethnic minorities, and implement a project on preserving and promoting the space of gong culture in the 2021-2025 period.

The Central Highlands is now home to a treasure trove of tangible and intangible cultural heritage items which hold historical values, including Rong house (a variation of stilt-houses unique to the Central Highlands), dai house (long house), lithophone, festivals associated with the “space of gong culture” which was recognised as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.

Nguyen Thi Hai Nhung, head of the Department of Ethnic Culture, said the festival helped raise public responsibility for preserving and promoting the traditional culture of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands in general and Kon Tum in particular.

The ministry will coordinate closely with ministries, agencies and the localities to organise the festival every two years, she said.

Deputy Foreign Minister highlights successes of diplomatic conferences

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang has highlighted the outcomes of the 32nd National Diplomatic Conference and the 21st national conference on foreign affairs that took place in Hanoi from December 18-23.

In an interview recently granted to the press, Hang said the 32nd National Diplomatic Conference had featured 23 sessions, including nine thematic discussions, and over 300 speeches.

The event achieved a high level of consensus on awareness and actions regarding the outcomes of external affairs from the beginning of the term until now and future orientations, disseminated the resolutions, conclusions, directives, and important initiatives on foreign affairs issued by the Politburo, the Party Central Committee and its Secretariat, and major aspects of the "Vietnamese bamboo" in foreign affairs.

Delegates also agreed to adopt a resolution and an action programme with specific measures and directions, featuring breakthrough and innovative contents.

According to the official, the conference spread the spirit of determination and innovation throughout the entire diplomatic sector and those involved in external affairs nationwide.

About the 21st national conference on foreign affairs, Hang said as many as 267 proposals and suggestions from localities had been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the event.

The event focused its discussions on sharing experiences among localities, with many activities connecting localities with international partners.

Looking ahead, she outlined the ministry’s commitment to assist localities in concretising, institutionalising and performing the policy on foreign affairs and global integration set by the 13th National Party Congress; stepping up economic diplomacy in a comprehensive, effective and practical manner while drawing global resources for sustainable development.

Simultaneously, locality-to-locality diplomacy in various areas will continue, alongside the ongoing training of local officials in charge of foreign affairs in political mettle, competency, and a modern professional style with an innovative and creative spirit, she added.

Vietnam reaps rewards with “Bamboo diplomacy”: Reuters

Reuters on December 28 published an article on Vietnam’s “Bamboo diplomacy”, highlighting the country's increasingly dynamic foreign policy approach and its most important diplomatic agreements over the last 12 months.

According to the article, Vietnam and the US elevated their relationship to a Comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development, and announced closer cooperation on semiconductors and critical minerals during a visit to Hanoi by US President Joe Biden in September.

The US, which is the top importer of Vietnam's goods, pushed for the upgrade as part of its strategy to secure uninterrupted access to global supply chains.

In addition, Vietnam and Japan in November upgraded their relations to to a Comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world during an official visit by Vietnamese president Vo Van Thuong to Japan on the occasion the 50th founding anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Within the visit’s framework, the two countries agreed to boost security and economic cooperation.

Japanese multinationals, including Canon, Honda, Panasonic, and Bridgestone are among the largest foreign investors in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Vietnam and China earlier this month agreed to build a community with a "shared future" during a state visit to Vietnam by General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping.

During the visit, the two nations signed 36 cooperation documents in areas such as transport infrastructure, trade, security and digital economy, and issued a joint declaration with wide-ranging commitments.

According to Reuters, the diplomatic achievements followed the ones that Vietnam achieved in the previous years. Specifically, in December 2022, Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) elevated their ties to a Comprehensive strategic partnership with focuses on trade, investment, defence and security.

Vietnam’s diplomatic achievements are also reflected in the economic sector as Vietnam has free trade deals with the EU, the UK, Chile and the RoK. Vietnam is also a member of wider trade pacts, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) which includes China and Japan.

Sputnik praises Vietnam’s home-grown AI apps

Russia’s news agency Sputnik has lauded the launch of Vietnamese-developed apps as a positive signal, demonstrating the efforts of domestic technology units to gradually reduce reliance on foreign products and improve the accuracy of information containing Vietnam’s historical and cultural values.

Sputnik noted that in 2023, OpenAI's ChatGPT has made waves in the global technology market, triggering a race to conquer generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) among nations and lobal tech giants. Despite English-language data sources producing the world's largest language models, these models may not fully comprehend or accurately reflect the cultural intricacies and context of the Vietnamese people, leading to inaccuracies. This presents a notable challenge for AI research units in Vietnam.

Recent developments confirm that Vietnam is not an outlier in this trend, evidenced by the introduction of a series of AI products. Notably, Gen AI models like FPT Gen AI, PhởGPT, and Zalo AI have been recently unveiled, it said.

On December 27, VinBigdata, a subsidiary of Vietnamese private conglomerate Vingroup, officially launched the ViGPT app, a Vietnamese counterpart to ChatGPT, in Ho Chi Minh City.

Sputnik commented that this move aligns seamlessly with the Vietnamese Government’s directions, especially in light of the Ministry of Information and Communications' recently issued plan outlining a target for Vietnam to possess at least one Large Language Model (LLM) platform in Vietnamese by 2025.

The plan underscores the significance of studying, developing and applying Vietnamese LLM, considering it a crucial and meaningful task. The Vietnamese LLM will leverage knowledge and curated training data specific to Vietnam, offering cost-effective solutions for residents, businesses and organisations to develop new apps, the newswire added.

President attends national military-political conference

Politburo member, President Vo Van Thuong on December 29 attended and delivered a speech at the national military-political conference in 2023, during which he requested the entire army to coordinate with other forces to maintain security and order throughout the country, and proactively, effectively respond to non-traditional security challenges.

President Thuong lauded the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence as well as officers and soldiers of the whole army for achievements they have made in 2023, thus contributing to concretising the Party's policies and guidelines into the State's policies and laws on military and national defence, and meeting the requirements and tasks of protecting the Fatherland in the new period.

He asked the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to continue well performing the function of advising the Party and State on military and defence affairs, improving research and forecasting capacity, and having flexible and effective solutions to handle problems and avoid being passive or surprised.

It is necessary to continue to deeply grasp the policy of all-people defence, people's war, and national protection in the new situation, with the viewpoint of relying on the people, and the people being the root, the centre, and the subject, President Thuong stressed.

The entire army must focus on improving the overall quality and combat strength, strictly maintain combat readiness, monitor and firmly protect the airspace, sea, border, inland, cyberspace and key areas, and firmly safeguard the country's sovereignty and territory.

The State leader underlined the need for the army to propose mechanisms, policies, and solutions to attract and train talents, and improve the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of building the army in the new situation.

Special attention must be paid to building a truly clean and strong Party Organisation of the Vietnam People’s Army in terms of politics, ideology, ethics, organisation and personnel, President Thuong said, stressing the need to ensure the Party's absolute and direct leadership in all aspects of the army.

The leader also required the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to exert greater efforts to improve the material and spiritual lives of officers and soldiers, especially in remote, border and island areas; and implement international integration and defence diplomacy concertedly, comprehensively, and effectively to ensure national interests at the highest.

Ministry of Information and Communications contributes significantly to Vietnam’s digital transformation in 2023

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) plays a significant role in the positive development of digital transformation in Vietnam in 2023, stressed Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang at the body’s December 29 conference of year-end review and new-year task deployment.

The Deputy PM held that the sector is closely related to many fields that require modern approaches and knowledge, such as artificial intelligence, and involves the management of the "soft power" - the media field. Its increasing importance comes with numerous pressures, he noted.

He recommended that first and foremost, there must be a change in mindset and thinking as well as the establishment of appropriate legal frameworks.

In addition to institutional building, there is a need to amend unreasonable regulations, Quang said. The work must be done in a prompt and standard manner.

He suggested the sector not be subjective in press and media management. In this regard, there should be gradual adjustments towards ending media violations, enhancing competitiveness in the multimedia pressure, and helping journalists maintain their professionalism.

There should be more attention to the publication field, as books always hold value in societal life, Quang said.

The Government, ministries, sectors, and localities will consistently accompany the information and communications sector in successfully fulfilling its assigned tasks, affirmed the Deputy PM.

Further efforts planned to promote Vietnamese bamboo diplomacy: FM

The diplomatic sector will continue to focus on strongly developing the identity of the Vietnamese bamboo diplomacy in 2024 by concentrating on a number of focal points, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son told the media on the occasion of the coming New Year.

Firstly, the sector will continue to strengthen the renovation of mindset on external relations, the FM said, stressing the need to boldly go beyond old-fashioned mindset and find new methods for the benefit of the nation. It is necessary to strengthen strategic research, consultation and forecast on external relations, discovering new issues and identifying the strategic position of the country, and making full use of international trend to design proper policies and take suitable steps, he said.

Secondly, the sector will promote its pioneer role and coordinate with Party, people diplomacy as well as other sectors to concertedly deploy foreign relations and diplomatic forces, thus firmly consolidating a peaceful and stable environment, protecting the Fatherland early and from afar, and mobilising new external resources for economic development and enhancement of the country’s position and prestige, the official underlined.

Thirdly, the diplomatic sector will focus on creating a new breakthrough in building and developing itself in a strong, comprehensive and modern manner, he said.

Noting that the “Vietnamese bamboo diplomacy" was first mentioned by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2016, he said that contents of the policy were highlighted by the leader during the National Conference on Foreign Affairs in December 2021.

The policy is built and developed on the foundation of inheriting and creatively applying the Ho Chi Minh ideology and diplomatic art as well as the cultural and diplomatic identity of the nation, using the image of the Vietnamese bamboo with strong roots, solid stems, and flexible branches.

Directions by the Party leader has served as a loadstar for the Vietnamese diplomacy to implement tasks in the current tenure, said the FM.

Looking back on external relations activities in 2023, Son said that the activities have been bustled with 22 visits abroad by key national leaders and 28 visits to Vietnam by leaders of other countries, contributing to expanding the country’s external relations in both bilateral and multilateral aspects. Particularly, economic diplomatic activities have made significant contributions to promoting the national economic growth, enabling the country to secure an import-export turnover of nearly 700 billion USD and an increase of 14.8% in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction, he stated.

Regarding major orientations to turn economic diplomacy into an important motivation for fast and sustainable national development in 2024, FM Son said that economic diplomacy will be extensively associated in all external relations activities, especially those at the high level, with close combination with political and cultural diplomacy as well as diplomatic areas. Economic cooperation has become a key pillar in all external relations, especially with important partners, he said.

The official noted that along with effectively implemented signed free trade agreements (FTA), this year Vietnam has signed an FTA with Israel and is negotiating for FTAs with other partners, while ministries and sector have inked more than 70 deals, localities reached nearly 100 agreements, and businesses signed hundreds of deals.

In 2024, amid many difficulties and risks as well as opportunities and headwinds, economic diplomacy will continue to focus on specifying newly upgraded relationship frameworks into practical and effective economic cooperation programmes and projects, especially in expanding markets and accessing new sources of capital for promotion of infrastructure development, high technology, digital transformation, green growth, tourism attraction, and labour export.

Alongside, the sector will work with other sectors and localities to remove obstacles in economic cooperation with partners, especially important ones, enhancing the efficiency of support to industries, localities and business following the motto of taking the people, localities and business as the centre of its services, stated FM Son.

Deputy PM demands enhancing inspection in corruption-susceptible fields

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai on December 29 demanded inspection be enhanced in the “sensitive fields” prone to corruption and negative phenomena.

He made the request while addressing a national teleconference reviewing the inspection sector’s performance in 2023 and launching tasks for next year.

Recognising the sector’s efforts and achievements, the Deputy PM asked the Government Inspectorate and the inspectorates of ministries and localities to adhere to the inspection plans of and directions by all-level steering committees for corruption and negative phenomena prevention and control.

They need to enhance inspections in the “sensitive fields” where corruption and negative phenomena are likely to occur, and on which there are many complaints and denunciations, he said.

It is necessary to push ahead with implementing the guidelines, policies, and laws on the fight against corruption and negative phenomena, Khai noted, demanding the effective implementation of anti-corruption measures, especially promoting the transparency at agencies, organisations and units, curbing conflicts of interest, and ensuring control over assets and income of the persons holding positions and power.

In addition, the entire sector was required to build a force of professional, responsible, disciplined, and upright inspectors who have strong mettle and take the lead in the combat against corruption, negative phenomena, and wastefulness, especially leaders of all-level inspectorates. The agencies were told to augment internal examination and supervision while stringently dealing with violating staff members.

The sector reported that in 2023, it has stepped up corruption prevention and control by taking various measures, thus uncovering 114 corruption cases involving 176 persons.

At the meeting, participants also looked back at the sector’s performance results in other aspects.

Vietnam, Laos strengthen cooperation in expatriate affairs

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son has suggested the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (COVA) and the Liaison Committee for Overseas Laotians (LCOL) to promote cooperation in the work for overseas people, thereby enriching effective and substantive cooperation between the two countries.

He made the suggestion at a reception on December 29 for Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ting Souksanh, who led a LCOL delegation to visit Vietnam.

The FM urged the two sides to continue to coordinate closely and support each other at multilateral forums, promote regular exchanges and consultations on international and regional issues of mutual concern, especially strategic issues that have an impact on security and development of each country.  Son said that the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to support Laos in successfully assuming the role of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Chairmanship in 2024.

The great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos is developing fruitfully, and becoming more profound, substantive and effective in all fields, he said, attributing the outcome to important contributions from the two countries' Ministries of Foreign Affairs.

Son appreciated the trustworthy and effective collaboration between the two ministries in implementing the cooperation agreement for the 2021-2025 period.

Son welcomed the cooperation between the COVA and  the LCOL in expatriate affairs with specific contents such as the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), delegation exchange, experience sharing and training cooperation.

For his part, Souksanh said that the Lao Party and State attach great importance to the mobilisation of pverseas Laotians to serve the national construction and development. The LCOL wishes to work with the COVA to promote the effective implementation of the MoU between the two sides, as well as exchange experience in researching and developing policies for overseas people, he said.

The same day, Lao Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ting Souksanh held talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Le Thi Thu Hang, who emphasised that the special friendship, solidarity and cooperation between Vietnam and Laos has been developing comprehensively in all fields.

The Parties, Governments and people of the two countries always give each other trust, warm affection and intimacy, she said.

Hang affirmed that the COVA is willing to accompany and support the LCOL in building and implementing policies for Lao-origin people.

Host and the guest informed each other about the situation of overseas Vietnamese and Lao people, their contributions to their homelands and the two Governments’ support for them.

The two sides also discussed the organisational structure of the two committees, the activities of the associations, and shared experience in building policies and laws, and organising events for expatriates.

Sharing views with her Lao counterpart, Hang proposed that the two committees continue to promote cooperation, increase the exchange of delegations, and encourage Lao young officials to directly attend activities organised by the COVA to learn experience.

The two sides will enhance information exchange between their specialised units through different forms, and organise activities to connect the expatriate communities of the two countries, she said.

Source: VNA/SGT/VNS/VOV/Dtinews/SGGP/VGP/Hanoitimes