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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel (far right) receives representatives of Vietnamese businesses. (Photo: VNA)

Cuban President pledges support for Vietnamese investors

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has reaffirmed his commitment to welcoming and supporting Vietnamese investors, while receiving Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of the GELEX Group and Chairman of the Board of Viglacera Corporation, in Havana recently.

President Díaz-Canel pledged that Cuba would work to develop mechanisms and solutions to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese businesses investing in the Caribbean nation. He highlighted the sincere and friendly relationship between Cuba and Vietnam, underscoring the strong backing of both governments for investment and business cooperation between enterprises from the two countries.

After listening to Tuan’s briefing on the production and business activities at the ViMariel Industrial Park - an investment by Viglacera, a subsidiary of GELEX, in the Mariel Special Economic Zone, Díaz-Canel expressed his satisfaction with the progress achieved.

He said these efforts have contributed significantly to Cuba’s economic development, meeting domestic market demands, and generating employment opportunities for local workers. He extended a warm welcome to GELEX, Viglacera, and other Vietnamese companies to explore further business and investment opportunities in the “brotherly island nation.”

For his part, Tuan thanked the Cuban government for its support to Vietnamese businesses and expressed his optimism about the bright prospects for Cuba. He put forward several proposals to strengthen business cooperation between the two countries, cited VNA.

Tuan noted that since the visit of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam to Cuba in October, GELEX and Viglacera have been actively advancing investment and collaboration in key areas, including industrial parks, building materials, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. He reaffirmed the commitment of GELEX and Viglacera to support Cuba in such sectors as agriculture, energy, and technology.

In addition to the ViMariel Industrial Park, Viglacera co-founded the Sanvig Joint Venture in November 2019, specialising in the production of construction materials. This joint venture not only supplies goods to the domestic market but also plays a key role in enhancing Cuba’s construction industry.

Foreign arrivals surge at year-end as Vietnam enters peak season for international tourism

The number of international tourists to Vietnam has seen a sharp increase at the end of the year 2024, helping the tourism industry set ambitious goals for 2025.

In just October and November of 2024, Vietnam welcomed over 3.1 million international visitors, a promising figure that keeps the tourism industry’s goals for 2025 on track, according to travel agencies.

Statistics unveiled by the General Statistics Office show 1.42 million international visitors travelled across Vietnam in October, a 27.6% increase compared to the same period last year. The number even surged to more than 1.7 million in the following month, marking a 38.8% increase year-on-year.

By the end of November, the total number of international visitors to Vietnam had surpassed 15.8 million, a 41.0% increase from a year earlier.

Pham Duy Nghia, CEO of Vietfoot Travel, says the sharp rise can be attributed to Vietnam’s the peak season for welcoming foreign tourists.

“Vietnam’s peak season for international visitors runs from October to March of the coming year. Western countries are entering the cold winter months, so tourists from these nations seek warmer tropical destinations. This leads to a significant increase in international visitors to Vietnam during this time,” explains the CEO.

Meanwhile, Tran The Dung, CEO of Vietluxtour, believes that Vietnam will achieve its target of welcoming 17 to 18 million international visitors in 2024 and can even raise this target for 2025, according to VOV.

Vietnam's waterways have become a major attraction for international tourists, offering a unique and charming way to explore the country's rich culture and natural beauty.

“Since October, Vietluxtour has been receiving three times the number of visitors compared to before. Therefore, the industry’s goal of welcoming around 1.9 million visitors per month is entirely achievable as Vietnam is in the peak international tourist season. I predict we will either meet or come very close to achieving this goal,” shares Dung.

The CEO of Vietluxtour also highlights that in 2025, as Russia and some Eastern European countries move past political instability, Vietnam will have the opportunity to attract even more international visitors.

“Vietnam has the advantage of a long coastline, diverse culture, excellent cuisine, and great climate and infrastructure. In recent years, it has emerged as a safe and politically stable destination. As a result, new tourist markets, such as India and the Republic of Korea, are increasingly choosing Vietnam. So, we can confidently set goals for attracting even more international tourists and make better preparations,” says the CEO.

According to the plan, Vietnam aims to become an attractive destination with high tourism development potential globally in the coming years. It plans to receive 25-28 million international visitors in 2025 and approximately 35 million by 2030. Economically, the tourism industry is expected to contribute directly 8-9% to GDP by 2025 and 13-14% by 2030.

By 2045, tourism will assert its role as a driving force in the economy. Vietnam will become a prominent global destination and one of the top tourism leaders in the Asia-Pacific region. The industry aims to welcome 70 million international visitors, generating total revenue of about VND7.3 billion and contributing 17-18% to GDP.

Vietnamese students in Australia continue mission of connecting, inspiring

The Association of Vietnamese Students in Queensland (AVSQ) held its congress for the 2024-2025 term on December 14.

At the event, Huynh Minh Anh, outgoing AVSQ President for the 2023-2024 term, provided a detailed report on the association's activities and notable achievements in four areas: event organisation, internal and external activities, and communications.

Since its establishment on June 18, 2021, the AVSQ has experienced remarkable growth and has made significant contributions to career orientation, student support, and community connection for Vietnamese students in Brisbane and Queensland in general.

Additionally, the AVSQ organized several major events in 2024, attracting hundreds of international students and Vietnamese residents, effectively promoting Vietnamese culture and the association's activities across various media platforms, achieving hundreds of thousands of reach.

The congress also approved a report on the association’s work and student movement in Queensland for the 2023-2024 phase, as well as the goals, missions, and solutions for the 2024-2025 term, VNA reported.

An event is organized by the Association of Vietnamese Students in Queensland (AVSQ). (Photo: The Courtesy of the association)

It elected Duong Huong Tra as President of the AVSQ for the 2024-2025 term.

In his remarks, Huynh Tan Dat, President of Vietnamese Students in Australia (SVAU), described the AVSQ as a common home that connects the Vietnamese student community in Queensland, and expressed his hope that the new AVSQ executive board will continue to excel in their responsibilities and achieve all set goals.

More strong cold spells likely to grip Vietnam in coming two months

In January and February 2025, cold air could be particularly strong in Vietnam, leading to significant cold and even severe cold spells, says the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.

According to meteorologists, the ENSO phenomenon is currently in a neutral state, with the sea surface temperature anomaly in the central equatorial Pacific being 0.3°C lower than the long-term average during the first week of December 2024. For the first three months of 2025, ENSO is expected to remain in a neutral state.

In January and February 2025, cold air may become more intense, causing severe cold spells. People should be cautious about the possibility of intense cold spells, severe frost, and freezing conditions during this time, especially in the northern mountainous areas, warn meteorologists.

They say, during the winter months, the Northern Hemisphere experiences high-pressure systems, especially over Siberia, which will push cold air southward into Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. These cold air masses typically bring a sharp drop in temperatures, especially in the northern and central regions of Vietnam, VOV reported.

More strong cold spells are expected to hit the northern region of Vietnam in the coming two months, causing freezing conditions in mountainous localities.

The interaction of these cold air masses with other weather systems, such as moisture from the East Sea or the intertropical convergence zone, result in strong and prolonged cold spells, sometimes even causing frost in certain areas. These cold events can lead to significant impacts on agriculture, transportation, and daily life, particularly in the mountainous and northern regions of the country.

In addition to temperature drops, these conditions also bring heavy rain, thick fog, and strong winds, exacerbating the effects of the cold. The occurrence of such weather events is influenced by the typical winter patterns in the region, which tend to peak in the first two months of the year.

Leading tech giants plan to relocate supply chains to Vietnam: Minister

Some of the world's leading tech giants already have concrete plans to relocate supply chains, build research and development centers, or expand investment in Vietnam, a Cabinet minister has said.

Given the trend of supply chain diversification and complex geopolitical landscape in the world, Vietnam has emerged as an attractive investment destination for global semiconductor companies thanks to its high-quality workforce, high investment in infrastructure, increasingly open and transparent policy, high political determination and enthusiasm, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at the first meeting of the National Steering Committee for Semiconductor Industry Development in Ha held Noi on Saturday.

In a drastic move, the Government established a national steering committee for semiconductor industry development led by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and approved the Program for human resource development for semiconductor industry through 2030, orientations to 2050 and the Strategy for semiconductor industry development until 2030, Nguyen said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has had a number of working sessions with global tech giants such as Qualcomm, Google, Meta, LAM Research, Qorvo, AlChip... to discuss investment opportunities in Vietnam.

The Government also signed a cooperation agreement with NVIDIA, under which the latter will establish a Research and Development Center and an Artificial Intelligence Data Center in Vietnam.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has assigned the National Innovation Center (NIC) to coordinate with the Semiconductor Industry Association (SEMI) – a global organization that brings together more than 3,000 member companies – to organize the Vietnam Semiconductor Industry Exhibition 2024 (SEMIExpo Vietnam 2024) in Hanoi last month, cited VGP.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung (left) addresses the irst meeting of the National Steering Committee for Semiconductor Industry Development in Ha held Noi on December 14, 2024. Photo: VGP

Developing the semiconductor industry is Vietnam's strategic choice and top priority to boost growth, emphasized Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

To sustain growth, it is necessary to renew the country's traditional growth drivers such as investment, export and consumption while promoting new ones like digital transformation, green conversion, circular economy, knowledge economy, sharing economy, and especially new fronts like semiconductor, artificial intelligence, internet of things, cloud computing in order to create new production forces, Pham emphasized.

Regarding advantages for developing the semiconductor industry, Pham said Vietnam ranks second in the world in terms of rare earth reserves and is located in a favorable geographic region that accounts for 70 percent of the world's semiconductor output.

Vietnam is also one of the 16 populous countries in the world and ranks 44th out of 133 economies in terms of innovation.

The Southeast Asian nation is home to more than 50 chip design enterprises with a workforce of over 6,000 engineers; seven testing and packaging factories with around 6,000 engineers and more than 10,000 technicians.

The country has lured 174 semiconductor projects with a total registered capital of nearly US$11.6 billion.

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