The UNESCO Office in Hanoi and Vietnam Cultural Heritage Conservation Support Fund held a round-table meeting on Wednesday to discuss a new approach to study Vietnam’s heritage.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan urged Vietnam and Indonesia to increase the exchange of visits and optimize cooperative mechanisms to raise bilateral trade to $10 billion in 2018 from $5.4-5.6 billion a year during the past three years. 

 VietNamNet Bridge – Explosive device specialists on Wednesday successfully exploded 260 wartime bombs taken from a scrap warehouse in central Quang Tri Province.

 A sewer line of an apatite factory in northern Lao Cai Province broke on Wednesday, flooding some local households and their crops.

 National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted a reception on January 18 for President of the Senate of Malaysia’s Parliament S. Vigneswaran M. Sanasee, who is in Hanoi to attend APPF-26.

GSO (General Statistics Office) has released a report showing that labor productivity is VND93.2 million per worker, or $4,159, in accordance with 2017 prices. 

Pham Cong Danh told the court yesterday that he had transferred VND600 billion to Hua Thi Phan, a former high-level advisor of Trust Bank, and had used VND500 billion to increase registered capital at VNCB.

Many family households in HCM City’s District 1 are storing motorbikes at their homes after the decision by the District 1 People’s Committee last Thursday to suspend operation of 48 parking sites on street pavements.

The Ministry of Construction has again proposed that water and electricity supply be cut off at illegal constructions although this measure was discontinued in 2015 because of its inconsistency with regulations. 

VietNamNet Bridge - For the 8X, 9X and 10X generations, “Hey, let’s have a milk tea” has replaced the classic invitation for “A cup of coffee?”. 

 GS Retail Co., a major convenience store chain operator in the Republic of Korea (RoK), said on January 17 that it will open its first two foreign branches in Vietnam. 

 Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Phuong secured a place in the third round of the Copa Del Café Junior Tennis Tournament in Costa Rica on January 17.

 An art exhibition titled Colour of the New Year – Year of the Earth Dog, is due to open in the central city’s Fine Arts Museum on January 18. 

 Vietnamese shares plummeted on January 17 as investors realised short-term profits. Worries remained that the adjusted policy on margin lending could take effect early next month.

 Nguyen Trung Nam of Vietnam won a brace of titles at the 2018 Melbourne Open Championships on January 16 in Australia.

The public investment restructuring scheme in 2017-20 will focus on core sectors of the economy and major projects that give impetus to socio-economic development and promote public and foreign investments under PPP practice.

 Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has approved adjustments to the development master plan for the Mekong Delta region until 2020, with a vision to 2050. 

 The U23 team have written a new page in the history of Vietnamese football after winning a ticket to the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Championship in China on January 17.

The 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum is to open in Hanoi on January 18 with three key meetings scheduled for the day.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Transport researchers have suggested banning the use of mobile phone while car driving as it threatens road safety.