Vietnam Today

At a meeting on June 27 between Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong, who is visiting Vietnam, the two said it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between Vietnam and Australia, especially in fields that have been strongly affected by the pandemic, such as tourism, education, and labor. They also agreed to promote cooperation in new fields of potential, such as climate change, green growth, and sustainability.

On June 28, during his official visit to Hungary, National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The two sides are determined to increase trade turnover in a balanced and sustainable direction, create conditions for goods to access each other’s markets, and encourage businesses in the two countries to strengthen investment cooperation.

On June 28, at the “Kick-off conference to develop a national plan to implement the circular economy”, Ms. Caitlin Wiesen-Antin, UNDP Chief Representative for Vietnam, offered five recommendations to help the country promote the circular economy and realize its goal of reaching net-zero emissions, including integrating the circular economy in the development of smart cities and coastal areas, and accelerating the development of renewable energy.

While receiving Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on June 27, who is visiting Vietnam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed the Australian Government continue to promote trade and investment cooperation with Vietnam, create more favorable conditions for goods to access each other’s markets, including Vietnamese agricultural and aquatic products, and continue to maintain its ODA for Vietnam. Ms. Wong affirmed that Australia attaches great importance to Vietnam’s role and position in ASEAN, the region, and the world.

On June 27, at a meeting in Budapest between the Chairmen of the National Assembly of Vietnam and the legislature in Hungary, Hungarian Chairman László Kövér affirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of Hungary in Southeast Asia and suggested that it strengthen trade relations with Europe in general and the group of four Central European countries - VISEGRAD - in particular. The two sides agreed to promote trade cooperation towards balance and sustainability on the basis of exploiting the strengths and markets of both.

Despite being one of the fields to have grown very quickly over the past two years of Covid-19, Vietnam’s education technology (edtech) market is yet to have a unicorn (a company with a valuation of $1 billion or more). According to stakeholders and analysts at the WISETALK discussion on edtech development in Vietnam on June 22, developing Vietnamese edtech products in international markets requires additional policy support.