Where are leopards spotted

    By Hari Chathrattil* “Việt Nam News is my first family here.” This is something I have repeated innumerable times ever since I first walked into the newspaper’s office 26 years ago and met Nguyễn Khuyến, the paper’s first Editor-in-chief, an encounter as fresh in my mind today as it was then. Yesterday, an inseparable part of those halcyon days left our family forever. Robert Bicknell became a part of the Việt Nam News family as a proofreader back then, and Khuyến being Khuyến, spotted his talent and made him a columnist whose disarming, humour-laced writing unfailingly entertained all of us, not to mention legions of readers, week after week, for almost three decades. I am not a fan of golf being played in tropical countries, and Robert and I went head to head on this account, not to mention several other political issues where we never saw eye to eye on. A friend who waded into one of our heated … [Read more...] about Farewell to golf columnist Robert Bicknell, forever part of the Việt Nam News family

Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien at SEA Games 30 (Photo: VNA)   Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese swimmer Nguyen Thi Anh Vien on December 6 pocketed two more gold medals at the ongoing 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 30) in the Philippines. Vien triumphed in the women’s 200m backstroke, clocking 2:15.32, followed by swimmers of Indonesia and the hosts Philippines. This is the fourth consecutive time the Can Tho-born swimmer has brought home a gold medal in this category. She earned a gold medal in the 200m freestyle earlier the same day and another in the 200m individual medley on December 4. Vietnam won a total of seven gold, six silver and 11 bronze medals on December 6. However, these achievements could not help the country retain its second place on the medal tally as it dropped to the third position with 131 medals, including 38 golds, 41 silvers and 52 bronzes. The Philippines maintained its top spot with 176 medals, including 71 golds, 55 silvers and … [Read more...] about SEA Games 30: Swimmer Vien bags two more gold medals

This was an important event in Vietnam-US relations and demonstrated the joint efforts of overcoming the war aftermath in Vietnam for the two countries, contributing to realizing the Joint Statement of the Vietnamese and US senior leaders during the official visit to Vietnam in 2017 by US President Donald Trump. Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh speaking at the event Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh confirmed that the Party, State and government of Vietnam always consider overcoming consequences of war an urgent task. Such humanitarian and human activities help ensure a healthy and safe life, a clean environment for the Vietnamese people and contribute to the sustainable socio-economic development of the nation. The Vietnamese governmental leader highlighted the dioxin remediation project at Bien Hoa Airbase as a vivid illustration of the US’s strong commitment to joining hands with Vietnam in the post-war … [Read more...] about Work starts on Dioxin Remediation of Bien Hoa Airbase Project

Despite such problems, the efforts of the government and relevant ministries in recent times have yielded positive results and Vietnam’s business climate has improved remarkably so far. There has been a rapid increase in the number of enterprises and the quantity of registered capital, while the proportion of businesses ceasing operations or dissolving has also seen a sharp decline. Notably, a number of sub-licenses have been removed while administrative reforms and customs procedures have also been reduced. Showing the success of reforms, 99% of enterprises have paid their taxes online. A report on the implementation of resolution 19 on tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and the global competitiveness report 2017 by the World Economic Forum has shown that Vietnam’s competiveness moved up five places in 2017 compared to 2016 when it was placed in55th position out of 137 economies. The business environment index also climbed up 14 spots while the … [Read more...] about Radical reform needed to improve business climate