Vietnam Today

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Canada’s Chief Trade Commissioner and Assistant Deputy Minister at Global Affairs Canada Sara Wilshaw signed an MoU on January 11 establishing a Joint Economic Committee between the two countries. They aim to establish a comprehensive cooperation framework through the joint committee mechanism to facilitate trade and investment and support enterprises from both countries.

A series of activities in celebration of National Tourism Year 2022 will be held in central Quang Nam province and elsewhere and will mark the recovery and development of Vietnam’s tourism industry. Severely damaged by Covid-19, the tourism sector faced many challenges in 2021, with domestic tourists totaling just 40 million, down 29 per cent compared to 2020.

Ho Chi Minh City has developed a socio-economic development plan for 2022 with 19 targets, of which gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth is to reach 6-6.5 per cent. Other targets include restoring the service economy, promoting industrial development, developing transport infrastructure, and speeding up housing construction, among others.

Amendments to the Law on Housing are a “large and difficult” issue because they need to promote development investment, but if not done properly could cause losses of land resources, according to Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung. He proposed developing a separate pilot project, for submission to the National Assembly in May.

The government will focus on implementing the pandemic prevention and control program and the program for socio-economic recovery and development during 2022, with three main tasks: restoring and promoting production and business, boosting exports, and accelerating the disbursement of public investment capital and mobilizing all resources to develop infrastructure, especially strategic infrastructure.

On January 8, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh on an official visit to Vietnam. The two sides focused on exchanging measures to raise economic cooperation and promote links between the two economies, including infrastructure links and logistics development.