Vietnam News Highlights for April 20, 2023

Vietnam sports contingent leaves for SEA Games 32

The Vietnamese sports contingent at the departure ceremony held in Hanoi on April 19. Photo: Hoang Quan/The Hanoi Times

The Vietnamese sports contingent will leave for the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 32) in Cambodia on May 5-17.

The delegation includes 1,000 people, the record high at a SEA Games, including 700 athletes. Vietnam targets to bag 90-120 gold medals and finish in the top three.

The departure ceremony was held in Hanoi on April 19 with the attendance of Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai.

Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Hanoi on April 19. Photo: VGP

Vietnam urges the US to open the market for farm produce, including coconut and passion fruit which are under final procedures for import. The request was made by Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Hanoi on April 19.

The PM expected US support in setting up irradiation facilities in the north to facilitate the export of litchee, mango, pomelo, and dragon fruit and in building material zones to meet the US requirements for agricultural product hygiene. Meanwhile, Vietnam encouraged US businesses to invest in agriculture and boost the import of US farm produce.

The European Commission will inspect the implementation of recommendations on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Vietnam next month. The investigation is scheduled on May 24-31, with a possible stop in the central coast province of Phu Yen.

Phu Yen is home to a large volume of tuna and swordfish exported to Europe.

In 2017, the EC issued a “yellow card” warning against Vietnamese seafood exports after Vietnamese fishermen broke IUU regulations.

The Korean Culture Festival 2023 will take place at the South Korean Embassy in Hanoi on April 22 to 23, with an array of activities to provide an overview of Korean culture.

The event will cover activities related to food, Hanbok, tourism, creative content, traditional crafts, Korean traditional games, and the K-pop singing and dancing competition in Hanoi (K-pop Lovers Festival), among others.

Vietnam Brand Day, which falls on April 20, honors Vietnamese leading brands and Vietnam’s image while promoting the national efforts to build brands in development.

Launched in 2003, this year’s program themed “Positioning the Green Vietnamese National Brand” covers a series of activities to highlight local brands' contributions to the country’s economy and encourage operations in this field.

Thanks to this program, the number of national brands has increased, reaching 32 worth US$431 billion in 2022. The country targets to have more than 1,000 national brands by 2030.

Vietnam will launch Humanitarian Month in May to better support vulnerable people and places of economic difficulties in the annual program that began in 2018. 

In the launching ceremony opened on April 19, the Vietnam Red Cross said this year’s goals are building public works or houses and doing charity in local areas in all parts of Vietnam. Over the past five years, the program supported more than 4.3 million people with support and property worth VND2 trillion (US87 million).

Vietnam started issuing electronic birth and death certificates in Hanoi and the northern province of Ha Nam. The Ministry of Justice began the pilot on April 17.

This is part of the country’s efforts to boost digitalization with a focus on administrative procedures.

Northern and central Vietnam suffer the first hot waves, according to statistics by the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting, showing that temperatures today will increase to a maximum of 35°C (degrees Celsius) in the Northwest and Northeast, 34°C in Hanoi and 38°C in the central region, including Danang.

A Summer day in Hanoi. Photo: Pham Hung/The Hanoi Times