President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines. Photo: VNA

Vietnamese top legislator’s visit to deepen bilateral parliamentary partnership: Australian Senate leader

The upcoming visit by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to Australia is expected to contribute to deepening the relationship between the two countries and parliaments, stated President of the Australian Senate Sue Lines in an interview granted to Vietnam News Agency.

Lines said that NA Chairman Hue will become the first guest of the new-tenure parliament of Australia, describing it as a reflection of the strong relationship between Australia and Vietnam.

She expressed delight that the Vietnamese top legislator’s visit will have a strong focus on education, as Vietnam is a priority partner of Australia in this field.

The visit is continuing a high tempo of the high-level visits between Australia and Vietnam, she said. The Prime Ministers of the two countries had a meeting on the sidelines of the recent East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh. Australia’s Deputy PM and Minister for Defence visited Hanoi this month, while the Foreign Minister of Australia met her Vietnamese counterpart in Canberra in September for the annual Foreign Minister’s Meeting.

Lines noted that over the past nearly 50 years, the two countries have shared growing relations, especially since they lifted up their ties to a strategic partnership in 2018. The two sides have worked closely in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and speeding up post-pandemic economic recovery through the strengthening of trade and investment cooperation within the Australia – Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy.

She held that parliament exchange has been an important element of the bilateral relations, cited VNA.

The Vietnam Parliamentary Friends Group has one of the largest memberships in the Australian Parliament with 57, she noted, adding that this demonstrates the keen interest of the Australian parliament has in understanding Vietnam, working closer with the country, and shows the strength of the overarching bilateral relationship.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has also focused on fostering the connections between the two peoples, she said, noting that Vietnamese is currently one of the most spoken language in Australia.

Regarding the role of the potential cooperation areas of the two parliaments in the coming time and the role of the Australia-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group in the promotion of bilateral ties, Lines said that one of the major tasks of the Group is to invite speakers and experts from Vietnam to discuss issues of shared concern such as the joint organisation of Vietnamese cultural activities in Australia and academic exchanges, aiming to give Australian parliamentarians a better understanding of the nation, people, culture and tradition of Vietnam.

At a hope to increase the diversity and representation in the Australian parliament, Australia hopes for more engagement from the Vietnamese community in the country, she said.

The Australian Senate leader said that her country is keen on expanding cooperation between the two parliaments to economy and people’s diplomacy. To this end, Australia has worked with the Vietnamese NA in technical support projects such as assisting the NA Economic Committee to draft an anti-money laundry law.

In the time to come, the Australian side is willing to work with the Vietnamese NA in the fields of training through the Australia-Vietnam Centre, she said.

The official said through the Vietnamese NA Chairman’s visit, Australia hopes to listen to new ideas and proposals from Vietnam in further enhancing the cooperation between the two countries in general and the two parliaments in particular to respond to common challenges together.

Vietnam welcomes 2.95 million foreign tourists over 11-month period

The country welcomed 2.95 million foreign visitors during the past 11 months of the year, a figure 21.1 times higher compared to the same period from last year, but still down 81.9% compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

According to figures given by the General Statistics Office (GSO), November alone witnessed the country welcome 596,900 foreign visitors, up 23.2% over the previous month and 39.7 times higher compared to the figure recorded in the same period from last year.

Foreigners visit Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: VNA

In terms of international arrivals, visitors arriving by air accounted for 88.9% during the reviewed period, while those entering the country by road and sea made up 11.1% and 0.03% of arrivals, respectively.

The GSO also reported that revenues from accommodation and catering services during the opening 11 months of the year amounted to VND536.3 trillion, an annual surge of 56.5%.

Meanwhile, earnings from travelling services reached roughly VND22.9 trillion, 4.1 times higher than the figure recorded in the same period last year.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) developed a special email system as part of efforts aimed at promoting Vietnamese tourism at https://mail.vietnam.travel.

This marks the first time that the local tourism industry has set up an email system in order to serve tourism promotion activities. The purpose of the move is to enhance digital transformation in the tourism sector, with a greater focus placed on building tools and applications in a bid to increase travel experience, according to VOV.

So far, the Vietnamese tourism industry has adopted the email system in a bid to promote tourism and to serve the state management, https://mail.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/, as a contribution to gradually completing the transactional email system in the tourism industry.

Vietnam's overseas representative agencies to step up economic diplomacy

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a hybrid conference with overseas representative agencies of Vietnam on November 28 with a view to promoting economic diplomacy.

The conference, the first of its kind and to be held monthly, was chaired by Minister Bui Thanh Son and saw the presence of more than 90 ambassadors and heads of overseas representative agencies.

Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu, head of the steering committee for economic diplomacy, said economic diplomacy has had its focus opportunely shifted from vaccine diplomacy serving the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic to socio-economic recovery and development, which has effectively contributed to national achievements in the first 10 months of 2022.

However, as the global economic situation is predicted to continue facing difficulties, causing pressure on developing and highly open economies like Vietnam, the Government has high expectations for more contributions by economic diplomacy to macro-economic stability and sustainable growth, he noted.

Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu (standing) speaks at the hybrid conference with overseas representative agencies of Vietnam on November 28. Photo: baoquocte.vn

Son said economic diplomacy has become a focal and consistent task of overseas representative agencies of Vietnam.

He requested that amid the complex and unpredictable global and regional economic situation, the representative agencies should press on with studying; giving advice; making forecasts; keeping a close watch on global and regional economic developments; conducting in-depth assessment of new economic connectivity initiatives and supply chain shifting trends; seeking opportunities for attracting investment to Vietnam, especially in high technology, green energy, digital transformation, and high-tech agriculture; continuing to help Vietnamese enterprises and localities to enhance relations with foreign partners and businesses; and finding new regions, sectors, and mechanisms to further expand export markets.

The minister asked ambassadors and heads of representative agencies to uphold their sense of responsibility towards the Party and people in economic diplomacy, helping the country sustain growth momentum and realise socio-economic development targets set at the 13th National Party Congress, VNA reported.

At the conference, participants discussed the prospects and major issues of the global economy, shared information about the situation in their host countries and territories, exchanged other countries’ experience in dealing with macro-economic challenges, proposed measures for attracting investment more strongly and capitalising on the supply chain shifting trend, and suggested ways for expanding and diversifying export markets.

National Sports Games to take part in December

The 2022 National Sports Games (NSG) will be held in Quang Ninh Province from December 9-21.

This is the ninth time the event has been organised and will attract more than 17,000 athletes, coaches, officials, referees, staff, volunteers and others.

The Games will see delegations from 63 cities and provinces, the military and public security teams.

Quang Ninh will be the main locality hosting 21 sports. Ten other cities and provinces including Hanoi, Hai Phong and Bac Ninh will take responsibility for the rest.

The opening ceremony will take place at the Sun Carnival Ha Long Square on December 9. The closing ceremony is on December 21 at the Dai Yen Sports Complex in Ha Long City.

"The Games which is organised quadrennially will review our sporting activities in the last four years, especially to evaluate our training and competing in elite sport," said Dr Dang Viet Ha, director of the Vietnam Sports Administration.

"Through the review, we will pick up the talented athletes for the national teams which will compete in the coming international tournaments including the 32nd SEA Games in Cambodia and the 19th Asian Games in China in 2023 and the qualifications for the 2024 Paris Olympics.".

According to organisers, almost 10,000 athletes will compete in 43 sports at more than 900 events.

Hanoi, HCM City and the Military will send the largest number of participants. They are also the title favourite teams of the Games. Meanwhile Dien Bien, Bac Kan and Ninh Thuan has smallest competitors.

The ninth National Sports Games will begin open on December in 11 cities and provinces with Quang Ninh the main locality. The NSG will be the largest in scale with more than 17,000 participants. Photo: toquoc.vn

Football and futsal are the two sports with the most athletes while golf and gymnastics have the least.

Fifteen sports will be completed prior to the opening ceremony because of their international competition schedules.

Currently, rowing events have wrapped up with HCM City topping the podium, followed by Da Nang and Hai Duong, cited VNS.

Shooting will close today while football and karate are ongoing.

"In short, most of our preparation activities have been done. We took advantage of facilities, services and experience from the 31st SEA Games in May. We will apply all the best at the coming NSG," said Tran Duc Phan, head of the NSG's Technical Subcommittee

"We also train referees and staff again to improve and update their quality and knowledge."

About doping activities, the organisers said a Medical Subcommittee has been working hard to make sure of a fair and honest Games.

About 100 athletes will be selected to be randomly tested. The number is small compared with the total competitors but according to Nguyen Van Phu, director of the Vietnam National Center for Anti-Doping & Sports Medicine, it was double that in the 2018 Games. The shortage of expenses is the main reason for this low rate of tests.

The subcommittee officials and staff are available to popularise and support athletes and coaches on all issues concerning doping. They also carry out programmes to guide and help sports people understand clearly about this matter.

The organisers will cooperate with Health Bridge, an NGO focusing on making urban neighbourhoods more livable and conducive to healthy lifestyles, to promote sport without smoking movement.

At the eighth NSG in 2018, hosts Hanoi topped the medal tally with 176 golds, 149 silvers and 139 bronzes. HCM City were second (118, 101, 103) and the Military third (59, 61, 86).

Vietnam posts trade surplus of US$10.6 billion in 11 months amid CPI rising 3.02%

Vietnam recorded a trade surplus of US$10.6 billion during the past 11 months of the year, while the consumer price index (CPI) recorded annual growth of 3.02%, according to the socio-economic report published on November 29 by the General Statistics Office.

The total retail sales of consumer goods and services throughout the reviewed period soared by 14.9% compared to the same period from 2019, the year before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo: VOV

Furthermore, the export turnover of goods during the 11-month period surged by 13.4% to US$342.21 billion on-year, while the import turnover of goods stood at an estimated US$ 331.61 billion, up 10.1% against the same period from last year.

Moreover, the consumer price index (CPI) in November alone inched up by 0.39% from the previous month and recorded a rise of 4.37% on-year, thereby bringing the 11-month CPI up by 3.02% compared to last year's corresponding period.

Core inflation also edged up by 2.38%, lower than the average CPI of 3.02%, duly showing that changes in consumer prices were largely driven by fluctuations occurring in food and petrol prices, reported VOV.

Most notably, the disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) reached its highest figure over the past five years at an estimated US$19.68 billion, up 15.1% on-year.

The country had attracted nearly US$25.14 billion in FDI as of November 20, a decline of 5% against the same period from last year, while the country’s overseas investment reached US$474.1 million, down 30% on-year.

During the reviewed period, as many as 194,700 enterprises have been newly established or returned to operation, up 33.2% on-year, while the number of enterprises withdrawing from the market reached 132,300, a yearly rise of 24.3%.

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