Ho Chi Minh City’s annual spring flower festival began at Tao Dan Park, District 1 on January 22 to welcome the Lunar New Year (Tet).

 French photographer Réhahn Croquevielle has recently opened a Precious Heritage Gallery Museum in the central coastal province of Quang Nam.

 Hastening institutional reform and improving competitiveness has become more pressing than ever for Vietnam to help firms grab opportunities from several new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs).

 The stock market will likely remain quiet this week as investors hold back from making further purchases, lowering trading liquidity, brokerage companies say.

 Cash as a mode of payment has declined in the country by 2 percent in the past six years, from 14.02 percent in 2010 to the current 12 percent.

Vietnam’s diplomatic agencies around the world have held get-togethers for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) on the threshold of the Lunar New Year (Tet) festival.

 The traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos witnessed significant strides from politics, defense, and security to economics, culture, education and science-technology, a diplomat has said.

 King of Spain Felipe VI has described Vietnam as one of the important and prioritising partners of his country in the Asian-Pacific and Southeast Asian regions.

 Vietnam’s activities on islands and rocks under its management in the East Sea are completely normal, Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi told Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s participation in the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, helped Vietnam access new ideas and development trends in the world serving its building and implementation of national development strategies. 

 Vietnamese State and government leaders on January 21 cabled messages of congratulations to the 45th US President Donald Trump and the 48th US Vice President Mike Pence on their inauguration. 

The heavy gold price fluctuations in 2016 allowed gold investors to make a profit of 17 percent just within three months, while investments in V-30 securities brought profit of 26 percent.

Vietnam’s cheap labor force will no longer be an advantage in attracting investment as the cost for applying advanced technologies is getting lower. Thus, a large number of Vietnamese workers will be thrown off production lines.

HCM City has about 2,000 kilometers of drainage canals, but many are seriously polluted. The pollution comes not only from factories and industrial zones, but also from residents' littering.

Some scholars, who believe the celebration of both solar and lunar new years is unnecessary as it causes a waste of resources, have suggested merging the two celebrations.

VietNamNet Bridge - Universities are focusing on enrolling students in majors which are easy to teach and learn and do not require high investments in facilities and laboratories.

 Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to Viet Nam is expected to increase in 2017, said Do Nhat Hoang, director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

 Painting exhibitions and demonstrations of traditional Tết celebrations are among activities being held in celebration of Tết, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival, at heritage sites in Hà Nội’s Old Quarter.

 A project to preserve hát bội (classical drama) and bài chòi (a traditional game combining folklore singing and lottery picks) has been approved by Bình Định Province in an aim to attract tourists and preserve traditional theatre by 2020.

 A fashion show to highlight áo dài (Vietnamese traditional dress) will open the Ao Dai Festival 2017 on HCM City’s Nguyen Hue Pedestrian Street in District 1 on March 3.