Vietnam Today

The circular economy model has become a sound alternative to the linear model at this point in time, helping overcome rising resources use and supply disruptions while limiting waste that negatively affects the environment. According to analysts, the concept of a “circular economy”, which was included in the Law on Environmental Protection in 2020, is a breakthrough in Vietnam’s environmental policy.

The government has issued preferential policies to support businesses to innovate and catch up with development trends, while the Ministry of Planning and Investment is developing a program to support digital transformation at enterprises, cooperatives, and household businesses in the 2021-2025 period. In the Global Innovation Index 2021, Vietnam ranks 44th out of 132 countries and territories, leading the group of 34 low middle-income countries.

Some of the opinions shared at the “Ho Chi Minh City: Building urban local government and improving the investment environment” seminar on December 13 noted that the city possesses a range of favorable conditions but also potential risks, challenges, and pressure from a rapidly increasing population. A modern urban government is therefore needed for Vietnam’s most populous city.

Under the “Promoting the application of information technology and digital transformation in trade promotion activities in the 2021- 2030 period” project, which has been approved by the government, all trade promotion organizations and businesses, cooperatives, and business households will exploit shared platforms and share data with the Digital Trade Promotion Ecosystem more than 500,000 times by 2025. Ten key export industries will also be connected to the database of ten key export markets.

After seven years of negotiations, Vietnam and South Korea signed an agreement on social insurance on December 14. Vietnamese workers will be able to continue to pay insurance contributions when going to work in South Korea and likewise for South Korean workers coming to Vietnam. This is Vietnam’s first comprehensive bilateral social insurance agreement.

Vietnam’s total import-export turnover reached $602 billion in the first eleven months of 2021, with a trade surplus of nearly $1.5 billion posted. The US remained Vietnam’s largest export market, with turnover of more than $86 billion, while China was again the largest import source, with more than $99 billion.