Vietnam Today

During a phone call with his Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo on August 25, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed that the Belgian Government create favorable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products, especially rice, coffee, cocoa, and fruit, to be exported to the country and to the EU. The Prime Minister also reminded the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the “yellow card” on Vietnamese seafood. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Belgium reached $1.9 billion in the first seven months of 2021.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has sent Express Dispatch No. 8849/BGTVT - VT to the People’s Committees of cities and provinces under the central government, asking that they ensure the implementation of safety regulations for pandemic prevention and control and abolish any inappropriate regulations hampering transport and goods distribution.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $58 million loan to improve the climate change resilience of transport and water supply infrastructure in south-central Binh Dinh and central Quang Nam provinces. It is expected that about 243,000 people, including 126,300 from ethnic minority groups, will benefit from the project.

Vietnam Airlines’ flight VN9 from San Francisco landed safely at Noi Bai International Airport on August 25. This was the first cargo flight in history between Vietnam and the US, carrying more than 6.2 tons of medical equipment and supplies worth $1 million, sent by overseas Vietnamese in the US.

Vietnam has received some 23 million doses of vaccines so far under the COVAX mechanism, signed contracts, and support from other countries. In a letter to World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom, however, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said the country is facing a major outbreak of the Delta variant and suggested the organization give it priority in the upcoming COVAX vaccine distribution.

India is to present Vietnam with the Molnupiravir antiviral medicine to help it with Covid-19 treatment. Molnupiravir effectively reduces the virus. After five of days of treatment, 78.3 per cent of those in the experimental group for testing and 48.4 per cent in the standard care group tested negative for Covid-19. The tenth and 14th days of treatment also saw excellent results, with the remaining patients testing negative.