VIETNAM TODAY

About 30 delegations from foreign parliaments and international organisations arrived in Hanoi for the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-parliamentary Union, according to the Organising Committee’s Sub-committee on Reception-Event.

Ninh Thuan has given priority to attracting investment in the energy sector in an aim to become Vietnam's clean energy centre, the chairman of the province's People's Committee said at an investment conference held yesterday in HCM City.

With a raft of free trade agreements on the way, a checklist of equitisations, and new legislation in place to support foreign investment, a new wave of M&As are forecast to sweep across Vietnam.

The number of traffic accidents in rural and mountainous areas is rising more than in other regions, highlighting the need to disseminate more traffic safety information, said Khuat Viet Hung, deputy chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee.

The Ministry of Transport has asked the Government to further extend the deadline for cutting exhaust fumes of motorbikes to the beginning of 2017.

At least 14 workers died and dozens injured when a huge scaffold at Vung Ang Economic Zone in Ha Tinh Province collapsed on March 25 evening.

Vietnam has become the world’s top outsourcing location for the first time in terms of costs, risks and operational conditions, according to new research from global real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield (C&W).

Authorities in Hanoi say plans to cut down trees in Hanoi were aimed at removing sick trees or those at risk of falling, and to clear areas designated for urban transport projects.

Vietnam will do its utmost to prepare for and make the 132nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly a success, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assured IPU President Saber Chowdhury during a reception in Hanoi on March 25.

The Security World 2015 Conference and Expo was held in Hanoi on March 25 to work out measures to deal with information security risks.

While there were few new cases of tuberculosis in Hanoi last year, a strain of the disease resistant to a variety of drugs had complicated treatment, health experts said at a recent conference.

Ho Chi Minh City will open 363 training courses on business start-ups and administration at a total cost of 25 billion VND (1.2 million USD) in 2015.

Vietnam River Network has called for the cancellation of a residential development on 8.4 hectares of reclaimed land beside the Dong Nai River in southern Dong Nai Province.

The 11th Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival 2015, themed “Impression of World Heritage in Vietnam”, will kick off on March 26.

A lecturer from Hanoi University of Technology has won a huge following on social media because he keeps "escaping" hospital so he can continue to teach classes despite his poor health.

A photo exhibition is set to open at the Vietnam Art Gallery in celebration of the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between America and Vietnam, and the 40th anniversary of the end of the war.

Foreign direct investment disbursement in the first quarter of 2015 was estimated at US$3.05 billion, up 7% over the same period of last year, the Foreign Investment Agency has reported.

Vietnam and Thailand convened their ninth bilateral conference on drug prevention and control cooperation in Hanoi on March 24, resolving to employ stronger measures to work towards creating a drug-free ASEAN region.

The US Government is preparing to finalise inspection regulations that require all producers and processors of catfish to abide by the same food safety standards.