Economy

Vietnam Airlines pilots disembark from a flight from Taiwan at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi in March, 2020.
Economy

Vietnam receives flight from Seoul amid hopes for business rebound

Regular commercial route resumes, with Japan, China and Taiwan to follow

25 September 2020
Startups in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park are exempted from land leases for 50 years. (Source photo by Reuters)
Economy

Vietnam to drive high-tech startups with new incentives

After COVID, Hanoi aims to boost country's growth potential

24 September 2020
With exports plunging, Vietnam's garment makers change course to produce personal protective equipment, including surgical masks, instead.
Trade

Vietnam revamps as 'world's mask factory' to offset COVID hit

Hanoi expects garment sector to still gain from China migration post-pandemic

16 September 2020
Cranes are seen at Tanjung Priok port amid the coronavirus outbreak in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 3.
Economy

Emerging Asia set for 1st recession in six decades, says ADB

Nobel laureate Stiglitz signals the end of region's labor intensive growth model

15 September 2020
Images taken from video provided by VTV show Association of Southeast Asian Nations' foreign ministers remotely watching Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh, center, deliver a speech in Hanoi, Vietnam, during the opening of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting on  Sept. 9.
South China Sea

Vietnam stresses South China Sea security issues at ASEAN meeting

Draft communique calls for joint work on COVID vaccine development and delivery

9 September 2020
Hit by a resurgence of coronavirus from July, Vietnam has halved its GDP growth target this year and will not increase minimum wage next year.
Economy

Vietnam to halve 2020 GDP growth target due to pandemic

Hanoi will not raise minimum wage in 2021 for the first time in decades

7 September 2020
Ho Chi Minh City Hall with a statue of Ho Chi Minh. The city's first phase goal as a financial center will be to provide financial services to neighboring countries Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Economy

Ho Chi Minh pitches itself as regional financial hub after COVID

Proposal to Hanoi comes as Vietnam seeks to emerge from economic slump

31 August 2020
Economic Ministers from the 15 countries taking part in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks met online on Aug. 27. (Photo courtesy of the ASEAN Secretariat/Kusuma Pandu Wijaya)
Trade

India's absence looms over 'progress' on RCEP Asian trade deal

Members aim to sign pact at November summit, but New Delhi stays aloof

27 August 2020
India pulled out of the RCEP negotiations over concerns that the pact would hurt the South Asian country's domestic producers. (Nikkei montage/source photos by Reuters and Rie Ishii)
Trade

Talks on Asian trade megadeal RCEP resume in COVID shadow

India likely to remain absent as Vietnam leads push for year-end agreement

26 August 2020
Vietnam's commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City is in line to receive increased financial support from the national budget as authorities seek to boost its economy. (Photo by Toyoaki Fujiwara)
Economy

Vietnam to boost Ho Chi Minh budget for first time in 18 years

Engine of the economy to get a lift to help country deal with COVID impact

25 August 2020
A medical personnel uses a bag-mask valve at an isolation facility in Metro Manila on May 1: few problems are insurmountable when collaborative science rise to the occasion.
Opinion

Reimagining Asia's response to COVID-19

Purpose-driven leadership, digital transformation and collective effort are critical

19 August 2020
An employee displays a ventilator at a VinSmart factory near Hanoi. Medtronic will buy components made by VinSmart for ventilators to be sold in the U.S. and Ireland.
Economy

Vietnam courts EU investment in medical and drug supply chains

Vingroup's ventilator parts deal with Medtronic seeks third pillar of manufacturing

14 August 2020
A steel plant in Vietnam. The country has been seeking to boost its steel output in order to be less dependent on China, but a global glut has stymied those plans.
Materials

Vietnam steelmaker scraps blast furnace plant due to China glut

Hoa Sen's $10bn project had potential to double country's output

12 August 2020
Health care workers talk to a Hanoi resident near the house of a coronavirus patient as they investigate infection links on July 30. 
Coronavirus

Vietnam tries new local lockdowns to stop COVID but not economy

PM Phuc balances case counts with business activity in new coronavirus wave

7 August 2020
People wait for COVID-19 tests in Hanoi on July 30. 
Coronavirus

Vietnam deploys elite team to Danang to curb new wave of COVID-19

Hanoi tightens border control as illegal Chinese migrants reportedly surge

5 August 2020
Hanoi’s move to repatriate COVID-infected workers comes as the country tries to contain its first locally transmitted infections in three months in central Vietnam.  
Coronavirus

Vietnam rushes to repatriate COVID-infected workers

First plane carrying over 200 from African dam project arrives in Hanoi on Wednesday

29 July 2020
The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which has 57 founding member states, is making its first loan to Vietnam, as Beijing looks to further its Belt and Road Initiative, analysts said. 
Belt and Road

AIIB makes first loan to Vietnam bank amid South China Sea tensions

Bank's $100m offer to VP Bank is Beijing's olive branch to Hanoi, analyst says

24 July 2020
Vietnam's first metro line was originally scheduled to begin service in September 2017.
Transportation

Vietnam's China-built metro line falls 2 years behind schedule

Coronavirus restrictions also take toll on $900m project in Hanoi

20 July 2020
Petrolimex is the top gasoline seller in Vietnam, but it owns no refineries. (Photo by Tomoya Onishi)
Energy

Vietnam bid to invest in Japan refinery stalls

Petrolimex's venture with Eneos stuck ahead of Hanoi leadership shuffle

9 July 2020
Passengers check in at Narita Airport near Tokyo for the charter flight to Vietnam on June 25.
International relations

Vietnam welcomes first Japanese business flyers since reopening

440 corporate reps and engineers set to arrive in Southeast Asian nation by Saturday

25 June 2020
A video conference with ASEAN leaders in April: Friday’s virtual summit will be chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. 
International relations

ASEAN to devise post-COVID plan for 'long-term immunity'

Vietnam will chair online summit that will also discuss South China Sea dispute

25 June 2020
Vietnam Airlines crew members and passengers arrive at Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi, Vietnam. 
Interview

Europe urges Vietnam to restart flights as FTA takes effect

EU and EuroCham see country as gateway to enhancing Southeast Asia links

23 June 2020
Hanoi enjoys a rare no-traffic day in April, before Vietnam's coronavirus lockdown was lifted. The Southeast Asian nation is looking to maintain a high pace of economic growth.
Economy

Vietnam speeds up big projects to heal economy from pandemic

Newly approved $9bn resort had been waiting for approval for years

18 June 2020
Vietnam is anxious to resume international flights, especially those between important trade and tourist partners, in hopes of restarting its stalled economy.
Economy

Vietnam to resume flights to Guangzhou, Taiwan, Seoul and Tokyo

Hanoi to make crucial step to reach 5% GDP growth target to rise from pandemic

11 June 2020
Workers piece together clothes at a factory in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam ranks as the world's third-largest apparel exporter.
Trade

Vietnam greenlights EU trade pact in bid for China-exit deals

Unanimous vote, despite absentees, bodes well for apparel and auto parts exports

8 June 2020