Hanoi (VNA)✅ - The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.

– State President Luong Cuong presented decisions granting the title of Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to five officials and diplomats at a ceremony held in Hanoi on January 2.

The title recipients were Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Thanh Binh, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Hai, Deputy Director and Deputy Chief of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Office Ngo Toan Thang, and Nguyen Vu Tung, a senior lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. Read full story

– Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on January 2 chaired the 7th meeting of the Government's steering committee for the review of the implementation of Resolution No. 18/NQ-TW, adopted by the 12th Party Central Committee in 2017, which aims to continue reform and re-organise the political system to ensure that it is streamlined and operates more efficiently and effectively.

The steering committee reported that all 30 ministries, ministry-level and governmental agencies have submitted their organisational restructuring plans and summary reports on the resolution implementation as requested. Read full story

– One year after Vietnam and the US upgraded their ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership, the two countries have enjoyed thriving cooperation across multiple domains, US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E.Knapper told the Vietnam News Agency.

“The partnership upgrade itself is a strong testament to how far we have come over nearly three decades. Whether it's our economic relationship, trade and investment, defense, health, climate, energy, education, and security, we had made so much progress, and so the upgrade seemed like a natural reflection of that progress and of our achievements. The elevation was also meant to send a very powerful message to the two peoples about how much confidence we have in the future and in each other,” according to the ambassador. Read full story

– Vessel CSB 8005 under the Command of Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) Region 3 has successfully completed a working mission with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in Kochi city, Kerala state of India.

Col. Nguyen Minh Khanh, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Command of Coast Guard Region 3, and head of the Vietnamese delegation, said the December 3-31 trip reflected desire to foster deeper cooperation, trust and mutual understanding in maritime law enforcement between the VCG and ICG, for the benefit of the two countries’ people and for peace and stability in global and regional waters. Read full story

– Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, who is also deputy head of the National Steering Committee for Semiconductor Industry Development, emphasised that the committee will continue to settle difficulties and bottlenecks to turn the semiconductor industry into a major driver of Vietnam’s growth in the new era.

The ministry, as the standing agency for the steering committee, has held discussions with top global tech firms such as Qualcomm, Google, Meta, LAM Research, Qorvo, and AlChip, and is actively working on plans to shift supply chains to Vietnam, establish research centres, and expand production and business operations in the country, the minister said. Read full story

– Vietnam Airlines is using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for all flights departing from Europe, starting January 1, 2025, becoming the first Vietnamese carrier to do so.

These flights use SAF at a rate of at least 2% which will gradually increase to 6%, 20%, and 70% in 2030, 2035, and 2050, respectively. Read full story

– Vietnam’s imports of computers, electronics and components in 2024 surpassed the 100 billion USD mark for the first time in history and were the highest level since 2013, according to statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

As of December 15, 2024, the country spent 361 billion USD importing goods from around the world, a 15.6% increase compared to the same period last year. Of the 53 main import categories, 47 have a turnover of over 1 billion USD. The category of computers, electronics and components led the turnover at 102 billion USD, a 21.4% annual increase. Read full story

– Vietnam’s agro-forestry-aquatic product exports see ample room for growth in 2025 after achieving a record high revenue of 62.5 billion USD in 2024, insiders have forecast.

This year, Vietnam eyes an agricultural export value of 64-65 billion USD. Read full story

– As many as 92,080 business establishments had registered to use e-invoices generated via cash registers by the end of 2024, rising 2.3-fold from the previous year, heard a recent conference reviewing finance and state budget affairs.

Accordingly, the number of e-invoices from cash registers surpassed 1.3 billion in 2024, a 13-fold increase compared to 2023, when 105 million e-invoices were reported. Revenue recorded through this system reached 686 trillion VND (over 26.9 billion USD) last year, 7.4 times higher than the 93 trillion VND in 2023. Read full story./.