☕ Afternoon briefing on May 17

Hanoi (VNA) – The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency on May 17.

-National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh in Vientiane on May 17, where the two leaders discussed measures to promote bilateral relations. Read full story

- The Vietnamese National Assembly is willing to create conditions for its Finance-Budget Committee to share financial supervision experience with the Lao Ministry of Finance, said NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

Receiving Lao Finance Minister Bounchom Oubonpaserth in Vientiane on May 16 during his official visit to the neighbouring country, NA Chairman Hue appreciated the two finance ministries’ organisation of mutual visits and experience sharing. Read full story

- Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue received Malaythong Kommasith, President of State Audit Organisation of Laos, in Vientiane on May 16 afternoon as part of his official visit to the neighbouring country. Read full story

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (left) and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. (Photo: VNA)

- Vietnam will continue bringing into play its role and making more active and constructive contributions to the common work of the United Nations in all the three pillars – security-politics, development and human rights, affirmed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during his meetings with UN leaders in New York on May 16. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has met with leaders of global investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Visa Group in New York and held phone talks with the Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during his trip to the US. Read full story

- State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc affirmed that the Party and State always consider ethnic affairs a strategic task in the country’s revolutionary cause, while receiving a delegation of reputable people from ethnic minority groups in the northern mountainous province of Tuyen Quang on May 17.
 
 Attention is always paid to the implementation of socio-economic and cultural development projects and ensuring of defence and security in the ethnic-populated and mountainous areas in a bid to raising the local living standards, Phuc stressed. Read full story

- The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) convened their seventh dialogue in Berlin on May 16, talking green growth in line with environmental protection and climate change adaptation in the two countries.

Politburo member and Chairman of the Central Theory Council Nguyen Xuan Thang and Minister of State in the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Transformation and Digitisation of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate Alexander Schweitzer, an SPD member, co-chaired the dialogue. Read full story

- Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien is leading a Vietnamese delegation to the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) and the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus (ADSOM ) which is taking place in Phnom Penh on May 17-18.

 The two meetings, officially opened on May 17 morning, are being chaired by General Nem Sowat, Director General of General Department of Policy & Foreign Affairs under the Cambodian Ministry of National Defence. Read full story

- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which entered into force on January 1, 2022, is expected to boost Vietnam’s export and improve its access to large consumer markets, according Standard Chartered Bank.

 In its latest Global Research Report titled “Vietnam–RCEP: Opportunities and challenges”, the bank said the membership in the pact further strengthens Vietnam’s trade position and should contribute to the post-pandemic recovery this year. Major export categories that are expected to benefit from the RCEP include information technology, textiles, footwear, agriculture, automobile and telecommunications. Read full story

Three Vietnamese athletes after winning their gold medal in Taekwondo. (Photo: VNA)

- Vietnam has so far obtained 197 medals, including 88 golds, at the ongoing SEA Games 31, topping the tally and leaving other competitors far behind.

 On May 16 alone, Vietnamese athletes secured 20 gold medals, including five in Pencak Silat, four in athletics, four in Taekwondo, two in gymnastics, and two in swimming./. Read full story