The 13th tenure National Assembly (NA) convened its 11th session in Hanoi on March 21.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Miss Viet Nam 2016, the biennial national beauty contest, will kick off with qualifying rounds in July while the final round is scheduled to take place on August 27 in HCM City.

The condotel market on Phu Quoc, Vietnam’s largest island, is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign investors because of its prime location in one of the hottest tourism paradises of Vietnam and the prestige of the developers behind them.

  CJ Cooperation will remain running in the upcoming auction to become a strategic investor of Vietnam’s leading meat processor Vissan despite doubt over the South Korean firm’s ability to satisfy all selection criteria.

  Vietnamese company Viet Xuan Moi has just been chosen as the strategic partner to buy 51 per cent of Vinalines Dinh Vu Port JSC.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved calculation of petroleum import tax based on weighted average of the tariffs, taking into account Most Favoured Nation status and Free Trade Agreement.

 Australia and Singapore have reiterated their commitment to the rights of states to freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, amidst rising tension in the region caused by China’s unilateral acts.

  Some 20 art troupes from 15 countries worldwide will attend the 9 th Hue Festival which takes place in central Thua Thien-Hue province from April 29 to May 4.

 Nguyen Thanh Ngung qualified for the Brazil Olympics via the 2016 Asian 20km race walking championships in Nomi-shi, Japan on March 20.

 Vietnam in collaboration with Sao Tome and Principe and Palau held a ceremony to celebrate the International Day of Happiness at the Headquarters of the United Nations (UN) on March 20.

 Vietnam joined many other countries around the world during the 2016 Earth Hour late on March 19 with the symbolic action of turning off unnecessary electrical devices for one hour.

 The Ministry of Transport on March 20 set up a special working group led by Deputy Minister Nguyen Ngoc Dong to deal with the collapse of Ghenh bridge, a key bridge on the North-South railway line.

VietNamNet Bridge - Perilla leaf extracts has been used by two students from Nhan Viet High School to make bandages to stop bleeding.

 A list of 1,166 candidates running for deputies to the 14 th National Assembly has been approved after the second consultation conference organised across the nation.

VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign investors have been selling more than buying in the Vietnamese stock market. However, analysts still believe the foreign capital inflow to Vietnam will increase in 2016. 

A delegation of the National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations visited Algeria from March 16-19 to cement relations between the two countries’ parliaments.

 The visit of President of the French National Assembly (NA) Claude Bartolone to Vietnam marks an important milestone in Vietnam-France relations, said Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on March 20.

 Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has suggested Vietnam and Japan focus on addressing difficulties and boosting trade promotion to increase Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic exports to Japan.

 Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will attend the first Lancang-Mekong Cooperation leaders’ meeting and the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province, China, from March 22-24.

The youngest Youth Ambassador of SOS Children’s Village, 11-year old Capri Everitt from Vancouver, Canada, raised her pure, innocent voice to sing the Vietnamese national anthem at SOS Children’s Village in Da Nang