Author: Le Minh Khanh

Berlin (21/09 – 40) His Excellency Ranil Wickremesinghe, President of Sri Lanka, spoke at the General Debate of the 78th Session of the General Assembly on 21 September 2023, reflecting on the theme of ‘Rebuilding trust and reigniting solidarity’ and its relevance to Sri Lanka’s recent challenges. President Wickremesinghe said that amidst multiple global crises in 2022, his country experienced its most challenging period in recent times. “Nevertheless, we succeeded in bringing about a democratic political transition, due to our deeply entrenched and resilient democratic traditions,” he added. Turning to technological and scientific advances, he said they offer boundless new…

Vietnam is holding talks with companies that manufacture semiconductors for the electronics industry to increase investment in the country. Two business officials, who did not want to be identified, spoke to Reuters news agency. They said Vietnam aims to build its first factory for computer chips. U.S. industry officials, however, have warned about the high costs. The Southeast Asian country is already a center for electronics. U.S. technology company Intel says it has its largest semiconductor packaging and testing plant in Vietnam. The country is home to several chip designing software companies. Vietnam is working on a plan to bring in more semiconductor investment, including foundries.…

At least 29 people, including children, have been killed in an artillery strike on a displaced persons’ camp in north-east Myanmar, near the Chinese border. The camp is in an area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of several ethnic insurgent groups which have been fighting for self-rule for many decades. All the victims were civilians, a KIO spokesman told the BBC. It is one the deadliest attacks in the 63-year-long conflict in Kachin State. Kachin officials say the armed forces have scaled up attacks on KIO-run areas over the past year because of growing Kachin support for…

ANN/THE STAR – The Vietnamese government is striving for a six per cent economic growth this year. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has encouraged increased expenditure to stimulate domestic economic activity. The Cabinet set a target of achieving six per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth, considering it as the most optimistic scenario, as revealed in statements on the government’s official website following a meeting led by the prime minister. The worst-case scenario was for a five per cent expansion, it said. The government agreed to prioritise growth, especially focusing on industrial development including manufacturing, according to one of the…

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack will travel to Vietnam this week on a mission to boost trade and diplomatic links. He will be joined by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), in a drive to boost the Vietnamese export market.  Vietnam has strong business and educational links to Scotland, and 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the UK and Vietnam establishing formal diplomatic relations. Mr Jack will undertake a packed programme in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which will include: Alister Jack said: “It is a real honour to promote UK interests in Vietnam – particularly this year which marks 50 years…

Customs officials at Tan Son Nhat and Da Nang airports have seized 42 iPhones 15 Pro Max that air passengers carried from Thailand and Singapore without declaring them. Officials at Da Nang International Airport in central Vietnam on Monday found a Thai man arriving from Bangkok with “suspicious signs.” They checked his carry-on luggage and found 20 iPhone 15 Pro Max phones with boxes and accessories hidden inside which were estimated to be worth VND700 million (US$28,676). He had failed to make customs declaration for the phones and could not show necessary papers to prove their origin. Passengers arriving in…

The Vietnamese subsidiary of Bangkok, Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand Foods has partnered with Nichirei on a project aimed at rehabilitating shrimp ponds in Vietnam through the replanting of hundreds of mangrove trees. On 10 August, 2023, C.P. Vietnam partnered with Japanese seafood conglomerate Nicherei on an expansion of the project into Vietnam. Nicherei Fresh launched the mangrove restoration effort in 2006 in Indonesia and has since expanded its work into Thailand and Vietnam. It estimates it has planted 380,000 trees in areas previously cleared for shrimp farming, and said it hopes to plant an additional 380,000 trees by 2030. “When the world faces climate…

A new Thai restaurant is coming to the Near Southside, and that’s never a bad thing. Three blocks west of neighborhood mainstay Spice, the new Ko Thai will open a two-story showcase restaurant in a new space at 721 W. Magnolia Ave., on the corner across Travis Avenue next to Brewed. Ko Thai is an expanded and dialed-up version of Koracha Thai, a family-run restaurant in Bedford. The first floor will hold a craft cocktail bar with Thai-infused cocktails,with dining on the second floor overlooking Magnolia Avenue, partner “Nick” Thana Pornin said. Koracha Thai, 229 Harwood Road, and family members’ older restaurant, Thai O’cha in Kerrville,…

Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital coordinated with the International University of Health and Welfare of Japan (IUHW) and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy to organize a Vietnam – Japan international medical cooperation conference marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Attending the conference were Deputy Secretary of the HCMC Party Committee cum Chairman of Vietnam – Japan Friendship Association in HCMC Nguyen Phuoc Loc, Parliamentary Deputy Minister, Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan Shiozaki Akihisa and Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong. At the conference, the…

Former Vietnamese ambassador to the U.S. Pham Quang Vinh has said that relations between the two countries have “ripened” to a degree that they can be deepened for mutual benefit. “The past 10 years was the period of strongest and most substantial development of Vietnam and the U.S.’s relations in all fields,” said Vinh, who assumed office as Vietnam ambassador to Washington in November 2014, more than a year after the countries upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Partnership. Although Vietnam and the U.S. normalized relations in 1995, they did not have a suitable framework to reach cooperation agreements until they…