The Vietnamese delegation are welcomed in Yunnan (Photo: VNA)

Vietnam, China strengthen border ties during friendship exchange

A number of activities were held as part of the eighth Vietnam – China border defense friendship exchange in China’s Yunnan province on April 12.

At the Hekou international border gate in Yunnan's Hekou district, Chinese Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen Dong Jun hosted a Vietnamese delegation led by Minister of National Defense Gen. Phan Van Giang.

Following the welcome ceremony, the ministers attended a border marker saluting ceremony, repainting marker number 102(1), a twin marker with its counterpart located in Vietnam.

They observed a coordinated patrol by Chinese and Vietnamese border guards, an activity that contributes to raising public awareness of the cause of protecting territorial sovereignty and national border security, cited VNA.

The visit extended to the Bei Shan elementary school and Batiaoban village in Honghe county, Yunnan province. The ministers met with representatives of Company 27, Border Guard Brigade 314.

The Vietnamese and Chinese delegates toured a photo exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam – China border defense friendship exchange, which is also meant to concretise the Vietnam-China Joint Statement on continuing to deepen and elevate their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and building a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, as outlined during Chinese Party General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping’s visit to Vietnam in December 2023.

The visit concluded with a banquet hosted by the Chinese defense minister for the Vietnamese delegation, which returned home later that day.

Vietnamese film to compete at 2024 Cannes Film Festival

Vietnamese movie “Viet và Nam” will vie for a prize at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, which is scheduled to take place from May 14 to May 25 in France.

The movie was directed by Truong Minh Quy and will compete in the Un Certain Regard (A Certain Glance) category, which is presented to international films that tell stories in non-traditional ways.

The movie tells a story about two coal miners Nam and Viet who are working 300 metres below ground where danger awaits and darkness prevails. Nam doesn’t want his future to continue with coal and hires someone to smuggle him into the western world. Before departing, Nam goes on a journey with Viet and his mother, who claims that Nam’s father-a Vietnamese soldier, calls out in her dreams to find his missing body, according to VOV.

Vietnamese director Truong Minh Quy.

Truong Minh Quy, 34, was born in Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

He is an alumnus of the 2012 Asian Film Academy (Busan International Film Festival) and 2016 Berlinale Talents. His films have been selected for a number of international film festivals and exhibitions such as the Locarno International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, IFFR, the Busan International Film Festival, and Les Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin.

He won the main Art Prize at the 20th VideoBrasil held back in 2017 in São Paulo. His second feature came in 2019 with The Tree House and premiered at the Locarno Film Festival where it was acclaimed as “one of the festival’s three best premieres” by MUBI and “a singular entrancing ode to memory and filmmaking” by The Film Stage. The film went on to be screened at major festivals worldwide.

Vietnam transforming into new global manufacturing hub: experts

Vietnam is transforming into a new global manufacturing hub, offering a diverse range of products that are competitively priced and continuously improving in quality, assessed foreign distributors and importers, who will participate in the Vietnam International Sourcing expo this June.

The assessment was made as they were brought together at a conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Ho Chi Minh City on April 12.

In his remarks, Ta Hoang Linh, Director of the ministry’s European - American Market Department, said Vietnam is a crucial link and a strategic location in the global supply chain within the Indo-Pacific.

He stressed that the upcoming Vietnam International Sourcing is a key event for promoting exports and developing markets, serving as a platform for businesses to network, learn, and exchange experiences, reported VNA.

At the conference held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Ho Chi Minh City on April 12. (Photo: VNA)

The annual expo, organized by the ministry and the HCM City authorities at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) from June 6-8, is set to expand significantly from the previous edition. It will occupy over 10,000 square meters to accommodate 500 enterprises representing various sectors within the international supply chain. The focus will be on the five main product groups of food and beverages, clothing and fashion, footwear-bag-accessories, sports equipment, and home goods and furniture.

Featuring a series of symposiums, the expo attracts unprecedented interest from major global distribution and purchasing corporations, including Japan's Aeon and Uniqlo, the US’s Walmart, Amazon, and Safeway, Chile's Falabella, France's Carrefour and Decathlon, Thailand's Central Retail, Mexico's Coppel, and Sweden's IKEA.

Paul Le, Vice President of Central Retail, said the June expo is a pivotal event in the company’s procurement activities. Currently, 95% of the goods distributed in its supermarkets are sourced from Vietnamese suppliers.

In addition to procuring goods for the Vietnamese market, the corporation aims to boost the export of Vietnamese products globally through its international supermarket network, he noted.

Yuichiro Shiotani, Director of Aeon Topvalu Vietnam, suggested the Southeast Asian nation leverage its diverse and high-quality agricultural resources to create greater value.

He said that 100% of many farm produce sold at Aeon malls, such as fresh bananas and mangoes, are now sourced from Vietnam instead of Thailand and the Philippines as previously. This year, the group will focus on expanding in categories such as garments, household items, and food.

Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee convenes 41st session

The 41st session of the Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee opened in the capital La Habana with a view to expanding and diversifying bilateral economic relations to match the two nations’ traditional political relations.

In his opening address at the event, Vietnamese Minister of Construction and Co-Chairman of the Committee Nguyen Thanh Nghi affirmed that the Party, State, and people of Vietnam always remember and are respectfully grateful for the special sentiments and strong support and impartial help both materially and spiritually that the Party, State, and People of Cuba gave to Vietnam during the fierce war period. This is along with the support shown during the current process of national construction and development.

Responding to Cuba's special feelings and valuable support offered in recent years, the nation has always been interested in supporting and promoting cooperation with the Cuban side in a multitude of fields, such as politics, diplomacy, trade, and investment, as well as supporting projects in the agricultural sector to help the Caribbean nation gradually become self-sufficient in food such as developing rice, corn, beans, coffee, and seafood.

This is along with annually maintaining a stable rice supply for Cuba, stepping up information exchanges, sharing state management experience in the areas of finance and banking, foreign investment attraction, information and communication, construction, and justice.

According to Minister Nghi, both sides always maintain close ties and have achieved some positive results. Indeed, within the framework of the 39th Havana International Fair (FIHAV 2023) held in November 2023 in Cuba, businesses from the two countries signed commercial contracts worth nearly US$1 million.

Currently, there are six investment projects run by Vietnamese enterprises in Cuba that have come into operation, providing a number of essential goods to the Cuban market such as napkins, washing powder, tiles, porcelain. Sanitation, and solar power, all while helping Cuba reduce the amount of imported goods and create more jobs for workers.

The two countries held a joint investment working group meeting to jointly review, evaluate, and discuss appropriate and feasible solutions to remove difficulties faced by firms to ensure maintenance of production and supply of goods to the market and improve business investment efficiency.

In the field of agriculture, the country is in the process of implementing three projects to support Cuba in developing rice, high-yield corn, and aquaculture. Regarding biotechnology and medical links, Vietnamese enterprises are importing some vaccines and biotechnology products from Cuba.

Firms from both sides are exchanging the possibility of co-operating in producing vaccines and biological products in Vietnam to supply the domestic and export markets. Cuban doctors are also working at a number of Vietnamese hospitals such as the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Hospital in Quang Binh, the Quang Ngai Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, and Vinmec Hanoi Hospital.

The Cuban side is bolstering collaboration in the field of biotechnology and health with Vietnamese localities, including Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. In addition, the two sides are strengthening cooperation in exchanging information and sharing state management experience in finance, customs, banking, foreign investment, information technology, construction, and science and technology.

At the session (Photo:VNA)

With a desire to ramp up ties in a focused, key, practical, effective, and sustainable manner, Minister Nghi proposed finding specific solutions to remove difficulties faced by Vietnamese businesses to maintain productions, as well as ensuring business investment efficiency, and creating more motivation and confidence to expand investment. This effort will also help to attract more new investors to Cuba.

For his part, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Committee Co-Chairman Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz highlighted the importance of economic, financial, trade, and bilateral cooperation relationships, cited VOV.

Vietnam currently represents one of Cuba's major Asian investors, with a very active presence in the Mariel Special Development Zone. The nation is also an important rice supplier to the Cuban market, he added.

The Cuban Deputy PM especially thanked the Party and Government of Vietnam for understanding and supporting the Caribbean island in recent years, when Havana faced a complicated economic and financial situation. He affirmed that those precious sincere feelings are an expression of brotherhood, friendship, and solidarity that binds the two peoples together.

At the opening session, the two sides agreed to augment bilateral cooperation in areas such as tourism, energy, biotechnology, agricultural, and food production, while continuing to speed up business agreements for domestic and export markets.

As planned, the 41st session of the Vietnam-Cuba Intergovernmental Committee will last until April 15.

Vietnam’s economy to post solid growth amid external uncertainties: ADB

Vietnam’s economy is expected to grow at 6 percent and 6.2 percent in 2024 and 2025, respectively, according to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) April 2024 released on Thursday.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has maintained its earlier growth projection for Vietnam this year despite lingering uncertainties in the external environment.

Subdued global demand and high international interest rates impacted Vietnam's growth in 2023. However, a rapid switch to an accommodative monetary policy and sizable public investment were among the key measures taken to sustain a growth recovery in 2023.

A relatively broad-based restoration in export-led manufacturing and services, as well as stable performance of the agriculture sector are expected to support Vietnam's recovery momentum.

Positive inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances, a sustained trade surplus, recoveries in domestic consumption, and continued fiscal stimulus characterized by a substantial public investment program are seen as key to boosting growth in 2024, cited VGP.

A press conference to release the Asian Development Outlook (ADO), Ha Noi, April 11, 2024. Photo: VGP

Vietnam's economy is expected to grow at a solid pace this year and the next, despite a challenging global environment, said ADB Country Director for Vietnam Shantanu Chakraborty.

However, global geopolitical uncertainties and domestic structural fragilities could impact the outlook. Therefore, policy measures in 2024 will need to combine short-term growth support measures to strengthen domestic demand with long-term structural remedies to promote sustainable growth, he added.

Softened global demand caused by a slow economic recovery and delayed normalization of interest rates in the U.S. and other advanced economies, coupled with continued geopolitical tensions, are likely to hamper a full recovery of Vietnam's export-led growth in 2024.

To accelerate growth, stronger measures are required to address domestic structural fragilities, such as heavy reliance on FDI-led manufacturing exports, weak linkages between manufacturing export industries and the rest of the economy, incipient capital markets, an overreliance on bank credit, and complex regulatory barriers to business.

Public investment remains a catalyst for Vietnam's economic growth, so its effective implementation is crucial. Although the Government has applied various measures to expedite public investment and enhance effective execution, more systematic measures are required to improve legal and regulatory processes and so reduce constraints on efficient delivery.

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