A man has his sample taken for the new coronavirus test in Phan Thiet Town of Vietnam's central Binh Thuan Province, November 2021. Photo: VnExpress

Vietnam adds 7,631 new local Covid-19 cases

The Health Ministry announced 7,631 additional domestic Covid-19 cases Sunday, bringing the country's total infections of the ongoing wave to 963,757.

The three localities with the highest case count are Ho Chi Minh City with 1,009 infections and its two neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, with 997 and 826, respectively.

The ministry also confirmed 61 Covid-19 deaths on Sunday, including 31 in HCMC and seven in the Mekong Delta's province of Bac Lieu, putting the nation's total Covid-19 death toll since the pandemic began at 22,531, or 2.4 percent of infections, cited VnExpress.

Of the patients recorded so far in the latest wave starting late April, 837,585 have recovered and 22,496 have died.

By Sunday, 28.7 million of Vietnam's 96-million population have received two Covid vaccine doses.

Vietnam, France strengthen defense cooperation

The Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and the Ministry of Armed Forces of France will strengthen cooperation in existing areas, find solutions to promote projects in the field of defense equipment and seek new cooperation opportunities.

The agreement was reached during talks in Paris between Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, Deputy Minister of National Defense of Vietnam and Geneviève Darrieussecq, Minister Delegate for Remembrance and Veterans of the Ministry of Armed Forces of France. The talks took place during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s November 3-5 visit to France.

The two sides expressed their delight at the positive development of defense cooperation within the framework of the strategic partnership between the two countries. They agreed to work closely to successfully organize the second session of the Vietnam-France strategic dialogue and defense cooperation, to help promote mutual understanding and lay the foundation for stronger defense relations.

Chien affirmed Vietnam attaches great importance to France’s role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a member of the European Union (EU) and many other important international organizations.

Minister Delegate Geneviève Darrieussecq (L) welcomes Deputy Minister Hoang Xuan Chien in Paris on November 4 before their talks. Photo: qdnd.vn

He said Vietnam expects to receive France’s continued support to fulfill its role as a non-permanent member of the UNSC for the 2020-2021 term, and to strengthen cooperation with the EU, especially during France’s EU Presidency in early 2022.

Vietnam supports France’s positive and constructive efforts to maintain peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region, said Chien, stressing Vietnam is ready to serve as a bridge for France to strengthen its relations with ASEAN.

The two sides welcomed the results of their cooperation, especially in the fields of personnel training and UN peacekeeping, and the success of goodwill visits by French Navy ships in Vietnam, according to VOV.

For her part, Darrieussecq affirmed that France highly appreciates Vietnam’s position in the region and wishes to promote cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation to contribute to peace, stability and development.

The two officials witnessed the signing of a Letter of Intent on military medical cooperation between the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and the Ministry of Armed Forces of France.

It is expected that the two sides will sign a cooperation agreement on searching for soldiers missing in action and exchanging war memorabilia in the coming time.

15-year WTO membership: Vietnam affirms position in international integration

Since being admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) 15 years ago, Vietnam has made big strides on the path of international integration, confidently joining the global playground.

With 17 free trade agreements (FTAs) whose negotiations have been completed or underway, Vietnam has become an open economy with a trade to GDP ratio of up to 200%.

According to the Agency of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Vietnamese firms have maximized advantages to boost exports and penetrate into new markets.

The country’s total export-import value rose from US$84.7 billion in 2006 to US$545.3 billion last year. In the first 10 months of this year, the figure was US$537.31 billion.

Vietnam has always recorded a trade surplus, from US$1.77 billion in 2016, to US$2.1 billion in 2017, US$6.8 billion in 2018, US$10.9 billion in 2019 and US$19 billion in 2020.

Photo: VOV

The structure of exports has been improved significantly, with the turnover of processed industrial goods increasing from 80.3% in 2016 to 85.1% in 2019 and 85.2% last year.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh cited a report by the WTO last year as saying that among the top 50 merchandise traders, Vietnam recorded the biggest increase in the world's rankings, leaping from the 39th place in 2009 to the 23rd position in 2019, reported VOV.

The numbers reflect that Vietnam is an open economy after joining the WTO and seriously realizing its commitments, he stressed.

Moreover, the signing and implementation of FTAs have helped the country attract more foreign direct investment (FDI), creating momentum for the national economy, the official added.

Ngo Chung Khanh, Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Multilateral Trade Policy Department, said apart from reducing administrative procedures, the ministry will continue with the communication work to raise domestic firms’ awareness of the FTAs.

Notably, the ministry will speed up the building of the FTA Portal (FTAP), he said, adding that more than 20 ministries and agencies will join a working group to operate and upgrade the portal.

Deputy Minister Khanh affirmed that Vietnam will further promote trade policies comprehensively and synchronously to boost economic development in tandem with sustainable development.

Vietnam will work harder to effectively implement the present international commitments and FTAs, while seeking potential partners to conduct negotiations on new FTAs, thereby helping to expand trade ties in the future, he said.

Quang Ninh gears up to resume tourism post-pandemic

Northern Quang Ninh province is one of the localities that have well-controlled the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost no cases of infection in the past 3 months. Utilizing many solutions to catch up with the “new normal”, it is gradually recovering its tourism industry by making domestic travelers a focus.

In order for the tourism industry to regain its growth momentum, Quang Ninh is using many methods.

Visitors are entitled to free tickets to visit Ha Long Bay, the Yen Tu tourism site and Quang Ninh Museum from now until the end of 2021, as well as subsidized bus fares from Van Don airport to Doc Do, Uong Bi City, and vice versa.

Local tourism and travel businesses are preparing the necessary conditions to resume operations as soon as possible and developing programs to promote safe tourism.

According to the Director of the provincial Tourism Department Pham Ngoc Thuy, 50 events are going to be held across the province to stimulate travel demand from now to the end of 2021.

Ha Long Bay is a famous UNESCO World Heritage site featuring thousands of beautiful limestone karsts. Photo: VNA

The highlight will be events to welcome visitors to “Yen Tu - An Autumn Journey to Buddha Land” festival, Ha Long Bay Heritage Marathon and Winter Carnival 2021, cited VNA.

In addition, the province will also organize events for tourism at the district, town and city level and announce stimulus products to increase tourism.

Tourist destinations are prioritized to welcome visitors who have been fully vaccinated, as well as offer closed-loop sightseeing services and stays on the bay with small groups of guests.

All cruise ships are fully equipped with masks, antiseptic, and facilities for medical declarations by scanning QR codes for visitors at attractions near Ha Long Bay. They are also encouraging night tours on the bay that use all-in-one services and do not cause pandemic risks.

Along with that, the province has also organized a large-scale vaccination campaign in all localities.

As a result, more than 1 million doses of vaccine have been given, reaching over 85.47 percent of the target, making Quang Ninh become one of the earliest localities to complete the first shot in the country.

Vietnam’s commitments at COP26 well received

Vietnam’s strong commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), held in Glasgow, Scotland (the UK), have been well received by the international community.

Many of the UK’s newspapers, including the Financial Times, the Guardian and the Independent, have reported Vietnam’s commitments to net zero by 2050 and to phase out coal power between 2030 and 2040.

Vice Chairman of the Vietnam-UK Network Paul Smith said Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s speech at COP26 was positive and well received. He said it does not matter Vietnam is a low emitter. What matters is Vietnam’s leadership in South East Asia and the world in the global fight against climate change.

Smith pointed out that PM Chinh, in his speech, has laid out an achievable plan for Vietnam to reach net zero by 2050. It was a real commitment from a country predicted to be one of the top 20 economies by 2050, he said, adding if Vietnam does not start the plan now, by 2050, it could be a leading economy and thus become a significant carbon emitter.

Smith also spoke highly of Vietnam’s key values delivered by PM Chinh, which are “discuss, work and win” and a bubble of unity, saying PM Chinh’s speech is a call for unity, which is needed in the global fight against climate change.

William Young, an environmental security expert at the Council on Geostrategy, said Vietnam’s commitments at COP26 have opened people’s eyes around the world about the leadership Vietnam is achieving in its fight against climate change, as well as the opportunities in Vietnam for economic growth on this subject.

Young said the Vietnamese PM is right when saying finance and technology are decisive. The commitment of leadership by a nation is not only made domestically, but also needs international support for that country to make progress.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh delivers his speech at COP26. Photo: VNA)

Young said the green transformation will create opportunities for collaboration in trade, business, export and others, and countries, industries and businesses that capitalize those opportunities will become the most successful, VNA reported.

He pointed out that to tackle climate change, Vietnam should get wealthy and it will and can do this by building industries and export capability. Vietnam, as one of the countries in the world hardest hit by climate change, needs to make economic grow green and make it fast. And this will be one of the greatest protection against the risk for rising sea level and increased extreme weather.

Smith agreed that the move to sustainability in energy and lower carbon emissions will generate tremendous opportunities in many areas, including research and development, innovation, and manufacturing in a clean way that will itself create an economic boom. Given Vietnam has a young, bright and clever work force, the country is an ideal place to develop technology.

Speaking about the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership relationship, Smith stressed that this is not only an economic relationship, but also the friendship and trust relationship. The Vietnam-UK strategic relationship for security is also very important because that security stability will enable Vietnam to move forward as the player in the economic world in the future.

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