New circular to help boost Vietnam-China border tradeA newly-issued circular on foreign exchange management is expected to promote border trade between Vietnam and China. Payment can be made through banks or in cash in dong or yuan, according to the circular. Vietnam has seven provinces sharing the border with China, including Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Lao Cai, Cao Bang and Dien Bien. The Chinese yuan and Vietnamese dong are only used for payment in border areas of these provinces. Vietnam has overtaken Malaysia to become the largest trade partner of China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Female scientist dreams of finding medicine to treat Alzheimer’sVietNamNet Bridge - Dr Tran Thi Phuong Thao from the Hanoi University of Pharmacy is synthetizing new Glutaminyl cyclase enzyme-inhibiting derivatives to treat one of the causes of Alzheimer's. The research Thao is pursuing is synthetizing the substances that inhibit Glutaminyl cyclace (QC), the enzyme in the human body involved in disease formation. The research Thao is pursuing is synthetizing the substances that inhibit Glutaminyl cyclace (QC), the enzyme in the human body involved in disease formation. When carrying out the research, Thao does not think she must succeed. RELATED NEWSFemale scientist helps create camera for space satelliteVN female scientist receives L’Oreal-UNESCO prize for nano silver researchThanh Mai

Thanh An Island, a hidden beautyVietNamNet Bridge – Not a tourist destination famous for beautiful landscapes, Thanh An Island in Can Gio District, 70km from the centre of HCM City, is nevertheless attracting more and more local and foreign visitors thanks to its peacefulness and wildness. Island time: More and more local and foreign tourists come to Thanh An Island in HCM City’s Can Gio District for its peacefulness and wildness. Visitors can catch a boat to Thanh An from Can Thanh Town from the ferry terminal located next to a Co-op supermarket. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh VuHave it all: Indulging in nature and tasting fresh seafood-- what more could you want? — VNA/VNS Photo Manh LinhOcean’s bounty: Visitors should not miss fresh and cheap seafood on Thanh An Island.

Should Vietnam accept small foreign-invested projects? The five largest FDI projects in the first seven months of the year had average registered capital of $25-70 million. Meanwhile, some foreign investors registered projects capitalized at several thousands of dollars only. J&P, a consultancy firm, for example, has registered capital of $3,000, Learntalk Vietnam from the Philippines $3,000, and Streamy from Ireland $2,600. The five largest FDI projects in the first seven months of the year had average registered capital of $25-70 million.

Where are the top 10 exam scorers studying? At first, Thuan registered to study at the Information Technology Faculty of the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences. Hoang got 9.8 scores in math, 10 in chemistry and 9.75 in biology at the national high school finals. Hoang said studying at the medical school was his dream, and he had made every effort in his three years at high school. Unlike other high scorers, who are from schools for the gifted, Hoang is from a high school in Gia Dong commune in Bac Ninh province.

Viet Tri leader detained for wrongdoing in land managementVietNamNet Bridge – Police in the northern province of Phu Tho’s Viet Tri City issued a decision to prosecute the deputy chairman of city People’s Committee for wrongdoing related to land use management in the locality. Le Sy Hong, deputy chairman of Viet Tri City People’s Committee in Phu Tho Province, is detained for prosecution of wrongdoing related to management of land use in the locality. - Photo viettri.gov.vnDeputy chairman Le Sy Hong was detained on the charge of “abuse of position and power while on duty", regulated in Article 356 of the Penal Code, the Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer) online newspaper reported on Monday. The local investigation agency also issued a decision to prosecute three other people who are leaders and officials of the committee for the same behavior, the report said. According to initial information, Hong and his co-defendants were prosecuted and detained for investigation due to mistakes related to land management in Viet Tri City, including the conversion of land use purpose for many land lots in violation of regulations.

Vietnam develops vaccines for human diseasesVietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam is striving towards producing its own vaccines that can rival foreign ones both in terms of quality and costs by 2020, deputy health minister Nguyen Thanh Long said. Experts believe that vaccines have been effective in preventing and curing many diseases in Vietnam during the past years. The Prime Minister-approved National Vaccine Product Development Programme towards 2020 has approved of 11 tasks, which focus on research, production and development of vaccines for human diseases. Currently, Vietnam produces 10 types of vaccines for human diseases, of which eight vaccines were used in the National Expanded Vaccination Programme. Deputy health minister Long stressed that Vietnam is actively working on the development of many more different vaccines against human diseases.

82% of tech staff want to get startup goingEighty-two per cent of people taking part in the “Vietnamese Tech Staff in the Face of New Technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain” survey conducted by the Navigos Group indicated an intention to get their own startup off the ground and more than half would consider relocation overseas in an opportunity presented itself. Of the 82 per cent, 41 per cent have already tried to get a startup going while 58 per cent have never done so. “We should build more playgrounds for the tech community to exchange, learn, and practice new technologies,” he said. “To lessen the danger of a tech ‘brain drain’, we should also focus on talent retention policies, creating sound conditions for product innovation and the chance to work with new technologies.”In addition, tech staff tend to become specialists more than supervisors. The survey was conducted in July on 1,100 respondents now working in IT / high tech and technology in general.

Vietnamese goods absent from Thai-owned supermarketsVietNamNet Bridge - The shelves at Thai-owned supermarkets such as MM Mega Market and Big C are full of foreign-made products, while the products bearing Vietnamese brands are sparse. The director of a fish sauce company complained that his products had been ‘dislodged’ from the MM Mega Market. The shelves at Thai-owned supermarkets such as MM Mega Market and Big C are full of foreign-made products, while the products bearing Vietnamese brands are sparse. The discount rate is ‘too high’ said Lam, who believes that if the supermarkets raise the discount rate, Vietnamese enterprises cannot bring their goods to the supermarkets. Previously, the sale through MM Mega Market and Big C brought 30 percent of Saigon Food’s revenue, but now brings 20 percent only.

Northern mountainous localities warned of further flash flood and landslide risksVietNamNet Bridge – The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting has warned northern mountainous provinces of the imminent threat of flash floods and landslides. A flooded section of road in Muong Bang Commune in the northern province of Dien Bien’s Tua Chua District. Hanoi is also forecast to experience heavy rains combined with thunderstorms high winds today and Thursday. Traffic paralysedLandslides triggered by heavy downpour in the northern province of Dien Bien since Monday night have disrupted traffic on a number of routes. Due to the high risk of flash floods, local authorities are evacuating dangerous areas.

Lan qualifies for final round of women’s 200m in ASIADVietNamNet Bridge – Top Vietnamese sprinter Quach Thi Lan qualified for the final round of the women’s 200m hurdles at the Asian Games (ASIAD) 2018, held in Indonesia on Tuesday. Strong performance: Quach Thi Lan (second from bottom) qualified for the final round of the women’s 200m hurdles at the Asian Games (ASIAD) 2018. Lan will compete on Wednesday in the final round in the women’s 200m hurdles. Previously, she failed to compete in the final round of the women’s 100m dash with a total time of 11.76secs in the second run. In the final round of the women’s 800m dash, Vu Thi Ly from Ninh Binh Province was also disqualified after falling behind other athletes in the first 300m.

Vietnamese diplomats wish footballers the best ahead semifinalsA delegation of the Vietnamese Embassy and Vietnam’s Mission to ASEAN visited Olympic Vietnam footballers and coaching staff in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 28 to congratulate the team on its victory and give them the best wishes for the upcoming semifinals. Ambassador to Indonesia Pham Vinh Quang and head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to ASEAN Tran Duc Binh (both in black, centre) pose for a photo with the Olympic Vietnam football team. The entire nation and the Vietnamese community in Indonesia give full support to the team, he said. According to Duong Vu Lam, head of the national sport delegation to ASIAD 2018, the recovery of Vietnamese footballers is quite challenging. This is the first time Vietnam has entered the semifinals of an ASIAD.–VNA

E-commerce helps SMEs boost online exportsVietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese SMEs are using e-commerce to export products at reasonable costs. E-commerce helps SMEs boost exportsAfter a month of exchanging information via Alibaba, Vegetexco 1 has exported a consignment of cucumbers to a client in Estonia. On Alibaba.com, about 1,000 Vietnamese enterprises pay fees of between VND30 million and VND135 million a year to obtain Gold Supplier membership. However, analysts commented that many Vietnamese enterprises still cannot take full advantage of all the features offered on Alibaba.com or Amazon.com. Prestigious e-commerce websites all have a market data analyzing system.

VN Central Bank needs to speed up bad debt resolutionThe State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) needed to speed up the resolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) to bring down the bad debt ratio of the entire banking system – including both NPLs owned by credit institutions and the Viet Nam Asset Management Company - to below 3 per cent by 2020. According to Du, thanks to the regulations, measures to settle bad debts and prevent new ones from arising had been taken synchronously, contributing significantly to improving the quality of loans and reduce the bad debt ratio in the CI system. Despite initial positive results, the central bank has identified shortcomings during the process of resolving bad debts. This resulted in a misunderstanding of collateral between presiding agencies, making it difficult to deal with collateral under Resolution 42. In addition, industry insiders also said that settling NPLs had been easier since the application of Resolution 42, but detailed guidance was still needed.

Overseas Vietnamese artist nurtures love for Hanoi through sketchesVietNamNet Bridge – For painter Etcetera Nguyen, Hanoi is like a lively painting that brings endless inspiration to artists. Nguyen began finding information about late painter Bui Xuan Phai because he really enjoyed his paintings of Hanoi. “Phai’s sketches are an integral part of the Hanoi culture,” Nguyen said. Seeking inspiration: Painter Etcetera Nguyen wandering in Hanoi to paint. I’m sure that overseas Vietnamese will be also interested in the video clips that I have recorded and posted on the Vietweekly.com.