President Tran Dai Quang visits Indian state of BiharPresident Tran Dai Quang, his spouse and the high-ranking delegation of Vietnam on March 2 visited Bodh Gaya city in the state of Bihar, the first destination in their three-day State visit to India. President Tran Dai Quang (R) meets with Prem Kumar, Minister of Agriculture in the Government of Bihar on March 2The Vietnamese leader came to Bihar state before arriving in New Delhi later the same day. Receiving Minister of Agriculture in the Government of Bihar Prem Kumar, President Quang expressed his delight visiting Bihar state, one of the most sacred places of Buddhism. The visiting leader also asked Bihar state to bolster cooperation with Vietnamese localities in the fields that it is strong at. The same day, the spouse of President Quang, Nguyen Thi Hien, visited the Siddhartha Compassionate School in Bodh Gaya.-VNA

Vietnam start-up investment rises 42%Up to US$291 million was poured into Vietnamese start-ups last year, a year-on-year increase of 42 per cent, according to a recent report by Topica Founder Institute (TFI). Among investors, 500 Startups led in successful investment deals, with 11 acquisitions, followed by ESP Capital, a new homegrown venture capital firm. Specifically, there are 21 e-commerce investment deals conducted with a total value of $83 million last year. In particular, Tiki has received a Series C investment up to $54 million from investors JD.com and STC Investment. Meanwhile, Sea, which is well-known for managing and operating popular games, is taking over two Vietnamese start-ups in this field.

Officials applaud successful Vietnam-US relations in 2017Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh and local officials highly valued the outcomes and achievements of their countries’ relations in 2017 at a banquet held on February 28. Thornton affirmed that her country always attaches importance to the cooperation and partnership with Vietnam, in both bilateral aspects and regional and international issues of common concern. She and Ambassador Vinh agreed to continue promoting the two countries’ relations in all fields in 2018, thus helping to implement high-level agreements and enhance the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership. The Vietnamese Embassy and the US Department of State will also keep close coordination to support the countries’ cooperation activities, they added. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, Vinh offered the best wishes to Acting Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy, and the staff of the US department.-VNA

Of which, the most noteworthy was a 1.2 billion USD dairy cattle breeding and milk processing plant invested by TH Group. In February, the locality recorded trade turnover of 220 million USD, up 18.98 percent against the previous month. Foreign investors also made outright purchases of over 4.3 trillion VND (189.2 million USD) and outright sale transactions of more than 4 trillion VND (176 million USD). They made repo buys of over 207 billion VND (9.1 million USD) and repo sales of over 205 billion VND (9.02 million USD). “We are very happy that Endurance Capital Vietnam I has become a major shareholder in Nafoods,” said Nafoods chairman Nguyen Manh Hung.

$30,000 in grant for best startup tourism initiative in MekongStart-up tourism firms will have a chance to get a cash grant and a six-month intensive training course worth 30, 000 USD in total when joining the “Mekong Innovative Startup Tourism” (MIST) programme in 2018. The “Startup Acceleration” will receive registrations of businesses from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam between now and March 10. The best project will be financed 15,000 USD in support of market access activities. MIST is the cooperation programme between MBI and the Destination Mekong, which is funded by the Australia Government, the Asian Development Bank, and the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO). It aims to promote development of potential tourism markets in the Mekong Sub-region, towards boosting sustainable tourism growth, and encouraging innovative ideas serving the industry’s development.-VNA

Vietnam leads in implementing AEC commitmentsVietnam is among the leading nations in implementing the commitments to the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), said a Vietnamese official. According to him, Vietnam has actively collaborated with ASEAN countries in developing the Trade Facilitation Index (TFI) to measure the level in each member state. The AWSC will help Vietnamese entrepreneurs self–certify their products to ship to nine other ASEAN nations rather than to several ones, which helps save them time, costs, and resources. During the two-day retreat, ASEAN economic ministers reached agreements on priorities designed by the host to promote e-commerce, trade facilitation, services and integration, thus creating a favourable business climate via realising the targets of the AEC Blueprint 2025. ASEAN, or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.-VNA

Festival commemorates Hung Kings’ teaching of rice cultivationA festival commemorating the legendary Hung Kings’ teaching of rice cultivation to people was held in Minh Nong ward of Viet Tri city in the northern midland province of Phu Tho on March 2 (the 15th day of the first lunar month). The Hung Kings’ teaching of rice cultivation is re-enacted at the festivalThe festival featured rituals performed by local elderly people, the re-enactment of Hung Kings’ teaching of rice cultivation, a rice planting competition, and folk games. The rituals took place at “Dan Tich dien” (Ploughing platform), which is located in the land lot believed to be the place where Hung Kings taught local people how to grow wet rice. The Hung Kings are believed to have founded the first nation in history of Vietnam, called Van Lang, in Phong Chau (now Phu Tho province). The worship of Hung Kings was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2012.-VNA

Vietnamese boats’ overseas illegal fishing down significantlyIllegal fishing in foreign waters by Vietnamese boats has declined considerably as a result of drastic efforts to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, said an official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). The EC also proposed nine recommendations that Vietnam should immediately implement in six months (from October 23, 2017 to April 23, 2018). The "yellow card" is followed by a "green card" if the problem is resolved or a "red card" if it isn’t. Dung said over the past month, the whole political system, from the central to local levels, and fishermen of Vietnam have taken drastic actions to prevent and combat IUU fishing. Regulations relevant to IUU fishing are featured in almost all chapters and articles of the law, from the chapter on general regulations to the ones on fishery resources protection, management of fishing activities, fishing boats and fishery ports, and responsibility of authorities at all levels.

NA Standing Committee to pilot immediate question-and-answerThe Standing Committee of the 14th National Assembly will pilot an immediate question-and-answer (Q&A) session during its 22nd sitting, which is scheduled to take place on March 21. At a Q&A session - Illustrative imageAccording to the NA Standing Committee’s Plan No. 252/KH-UBTVQH14 issued on March 1, the Q&A session will focus on two groups of issues. How to promote law dissemination and education and to improve the efficiency of law enforcement will also include in the first group of issues. Apart from members of the NA Standing Committee, the session will also be attended by representatives from the National Assembly Council of Ethnic Affairs, the NA’s committees, the Standing Committee’s agencies; the NA Office, the Party Central Committee’s Office, the State President’s Office, the Government Office, the State Audit Office, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and relevant agencies.-VNA

HNX-listed stakes in heavy demand in FebThe Hanoi Stock Exchanges (HNX) said stakes put on auction in the bourse were in heavy demand in February with the total buy orders almost doubling those available for sale. HNX-listed stakes in heavy demand in Feb. (Photo: Vietnam Finance)In some auctions, the number of shares ordered was even five times higher than those on sale. Over 91 percent of the volume, or 39.4 million stakes, were sold to investors for 470.9 billion VND (20.86 million USD), 46.2 billion VND (2.04 million USD) higher than the starting price. SeaBank successfully sold all the available 33.4 million shares to six organisations and 42 individuals for about 333 billion VND (14.75 million USD). All 1.6 million shares were sold out to raise over 53 billion VND (2.35 million USD) with the average bid price nearly three times higher than the starting price.-VNA

Indonesia craves Vietnamese coffeeIn a bid to sate Indonesia’s growing thirst for coffee, the nation’s coffee firms are rushing to Vietnam to seek partners in order to secure a stable input of raw materials. Asia Mina Sejahtera is one of 16 Indonesian coffee firms that came to Vietnam for the first time in early February to look for Vietnamese partners to import Vietnamese coffee and forge partnerships. They include big names, such as Harro Coffee Group, PT Sabani Internasional, Gabungan Perusahaan Petani Indonesia, and PT Pamora Coffee Indonesia. They directly met with many Vietnamese firms such as Me Trang Coffee, Minh Tien Coffee, Thai Hoa Coffee, IDD Vietnam, Cuong Anh Import-Export, and Hapro Distribution. Indonesian coffee consumption is forecast to grow from 3.32 million bags of coffee last year to 3.4 million bags in 2018.

Northern festivals remembering Tran Dynasty draw public crowdsTran Thuong Temple’s food-distributing festival in northern Ha Nam province and Tran Kings temple’s seal opening ceremony in the other northern province of Nam Dinh took place on March 1, the 14th day of the first lunar month. Tran Thuong temple is dedicated to Tran Hung Dao (1228-1300), the supreme commander of Vietnam in the Tran Dynasty, who repelled three major Mongolian invasions in the 13th century. In honour of the past event, a food-distributing festival is held annually at Tran Thuong Temple on the 14th day of the first lunar month. The ceremony re-enacted a custom dating back to the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400), when mandarins took out their seals after the lunar New Year holiday (Tet) to resume administrative activities, including conferring titles. As is tradition, this year’s event opened with a procession to take the seal from Co Trach temple to Thien Truong temple, where 14 kings of the Tran Dynasty are worshipped.

Vietnam intensifies non-cash payments for public servicesPrime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a scheme to intensify payments for public services via banks, including tax, electricity, water, hospital and learning fees. Specifically, by 2020 80 percent of tax payment transactions in central-level and provincial-level cities are hoped to be implemented via banks, while all State treasuries will have cashless payment devices. The scheme also targets non-cash payments being accepted by 70 percent of power companies, 70 percent of water companies, 100 percent of universities and colleges and 50 percent of hospitals in major cities. According to the State Bank of Vietnam’s Payment Department, non-cash payment is becoming a trend in Vietnam as the use of cash is falling. There are some 60 organisations providing internet banking payment services and 30 organisations providing mobile banking payment services.

Report gives recommendations on water pollution controlA report on water pollution in Vietnam was announced in Hanoi on March 2, providing an array of policy recommendations, including the building of a law on water pollution control. The report was jointly implemented by the Coalition for Clean Water and the Centre for Environment and Community Research (CECR) under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Organisations in four years. He stressed the urgent need to build a law on water pollution control and execute measures to manage water pollution. Meanwhile, CECR Director Nguyen Ngoc Ly said that the report includes careful research and analysis of legal policies on protecting the surface water environment, building a model to approach the ecosystem and promote measures to prevent and control pollution. Environment experts lauded the report for touching a wide range of issues, including the current situation and impacts of water pollution to people’s health and the economy, shortcomings of the legal system in managing water pollution, as well as international experience in the field.

Mobile call rates slashed by 20 percent from May 1Mobile network providers will cut mobile call rates by 20 percent from May 1, according to a circular issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications in December, 2017. According to Circular 48/2017/TT-BTTTT dated December 29, 2017, the fee a mobile network has to pay when its user makes a voice call to a number on another network will range from 400 – 440 VND per minute, 20 percent lower than the current fee of 500 – 550 VND per minute. In addition, the circular regulates that if a landline network subscriber calls a mobile number, the mobile network operator will be paid 320 VND per minute, exclusive of VAT. The Ministry of Information and Communications also restricts the maximum top-up bonus to 20 percent instead of the previous ceiling of 50 percent of the top-up value, effective from March 1. The move aims to ensure the rights of post-paid subscribers and promote a health competition between domestic mobile network operators.-VNA