Ho Chi Minh City and Ireland have large rooms for cooperation, especially in the fields of the city’s demand and the country’s strength like health care and education, Permanent Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem said on March 18.

The HCM City People’s Committee has urged completion of key road projects near the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the city to alleviate traffic congestion.

An estimated 64 percent of foreign workers in Vietnam have joined compulsory social insurance after the Government’s decree 143/2018/ND-CP regulating compulsory social insurance for foreign workers took effect.

The expanded northwestern region welcomed more than 20 million tourists in 2018, including nearly 2 million foreigners, heard a conference in Dien Bien province’s Dien Bien Phu city on March 17.

The Xuan Son National Park in northern Phu Tho province’s Tan Son district is developing community tourism services to attract more tourists.

The annual National Press Festival 2019, themed “Renovated, creative, responsible Vietnamese press for the interests of the nation and people”, wrapped up in Hanoi on March 17.

More than 24,000 students from 870 elementary and secondary schools of 41 cities and provinces nationwide on March 17 sit the 2019 International Kangaroo Math Contest (IKMC).

Students, teachers and people in Ho Chi Minh City on March 17 gathered at an event to mark International Francophone Day (March 20), during which they engaged in various activities.

A delegation of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia and the Khmer-Vietnam Association (KVA) on March 15-16 visited and presented gifts to Vietnamese in difficult circumstances in Pursat and Battambang provinces.

A seminar featuring Vietnam’s tourism potential has taken place in Kiev, Ukraine, attracting nearly 200 guests from Ukrainian travel agencies.

A forum took place in Hanoi on March 16 to discuss the role of the press in linking the business community with the Government in the context of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) officially taking effect on December 30 last year.

Opportunities along with challenges to online education in the context of the fourth industrial revolution were the main theme of the International Conference on Online Education 2019 (ICOE 2019) held in Ho Chi Minh City on March 15.

The number of communes recognised as new-style rural areas reached 4,144 as of the end of February, up 306 from the end of 2018, according to the central steering office of the new-style rural area building programme.

A ceremony took place at the Ly Thai To Statue Square in downtown Hanoi on March 15 evening to celebrate the 2019 International Francophone Day (March 20).

Authorities in the central province of Thanh Hoa on March 15 launched several new tours linking the province and neighbouring Houaphanh province in Laos.

A ceremony was held at the Son My relic site in Tinh Khe commune of Quang Ngai city, the central province of Quang Ngai, on March 16 in memory of 504 local civilians massacred by US troops 51 years ago.

All of the 46 communes in the southern province of Binh Duong have been recognised as new-style rural areas.

Over 500 veterans who joined the battle to defend Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago met in a gathering in Tuy Hoa city, the central province of Phu Yen, on March 14 on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the Gac Ma naval fight.

Russian experts have described Vietnam as the most vibrant destination in Southeast Asia for tourists from the European country over the past two years.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s General Department of Land Administration (GDLA) held a seminar in Hanoi on March 15 to discuss Japan’s experience in operating land registration system.