Long Chau, an affiliate under Vietnamese tech group FPT (Photo: VNA)- As the coronavirus pandemic has spread through Vietnam, so has the number of drugstores operated by major chains, Nikkei Asia reported on August 24.The number of drugstores run by the three major chains has increased eightfold since 2019 as Vietnamese residents become more health conscious in the wake of the pandemic , the newspaper said.According to Nikkei Asia, mom-and-pop stores were once the go-to for medicine in Vietnam, known for their attentive customer service. However, they were also known for an opaque pricing system that often forced buyers to purchase medicine at a verbal quote.Rising income levels and changing consumer habits are creating growth tailwinds for drugstore chains in Vietnam, it said.There are now about 2,400 outlets between Vietnam's three biggest drugstore chains. Pharmacity, the biggest, has roughly 1,100 locations.Meanwhile, Long Chau, an affiliate under Vietnamese tech group FPT, has roughly 700 locations; and An Khang, acquired by electronics retailer Mobile World Group, fields approximately 500 stores.Nikkei Asia quoted CEO of Pharmacity Chris Blank as saying that by 2025, half the Vietnamese population will be able to reach a Pharmacity store within 10 minutes by motorcycle. The company plans to expand the network to 5,000 stores by that date./.

Official backs Vietnam’s priorities at UNNewly-appointed UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam Pauline Tamesis expressed her support for priorities that Vietnam promotes at the UN, during a meeting with Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, on August 23. Later the same day, Politburo member and Chairwoman of the Vietnam – Japan Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group Trương Thị Mai received the young parliamentarians. Bac Giang province has arranged practical activities to make the Vietnam - Laos Friendship Year 2022 more meaningful, especially activities to help Sayxomboun, he said. Vietnam attends China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week 2022Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son on August 23 joined remotely from Vietnam a roundtable for education ministers from ASEAN and China, held as part of the 15th China-ASEAN Education Cooperation Week (CAECW) underway in Guizhou, China. During the holiday, Vietnam Airlines will offer over 400,000 seats on domestic routes, up over 50% from 2019.

The organizers will select 10 representatives to honor at the Techfest Vietnam which will be held in the mountainous Northern Province of Lai Chau on August 29. VFF plans to invite another Asian national team to participate in friendly eventThe Việt Nam Football Federation (VFF) plans to invite another Asian national team to replace India to participate in the upcoming friendly tournament in Việt Nam. Furthermore, the Indian national team will not play in any international matches, including the friendly tournament in Việt Nam. Việt Nam is No 17 in Asia so if Việt Nam has many friendly matches with good results, Việt Nam can move up in the rankings and have many advantages in the World Cup. Most likely, Việt Nam will welcome the return of defender Đoàn Văn Hậu after nearly a year of absence due to injury as well as Bình Định’s rookie Đặng Văn Lâm.

ATVs are popular in many developed countries around the world. Thanks to their ability to adapt to conditions, ATVs have been popping up in mountainous areas in Vietnam and driving them has become a holiday experience for tourists, especially young people. ATVs are suitable for the terrain around Mu Cang Chai, and perfect for tourists looking for adventure. Most of the local roads are steep hills and narrow muddy roads. The introduction of ATVs as a tourism offering will also help create jobs for local people./.

Vientiane (VNA) - India is seeking to extend the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam in order to increase regional connectivity, Vientiane Times reported. The route will be further expanded from 1,400 to 3,200 km, helping boost trade between India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The increased connectivity will enable India's northeast region to export more natural resources to ASEAN countries, especially natural gas and oil. India is the seventh largest trading partner and the seventh largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) among ASEAN dialogue partners in 2020. Trade value between ASEAN and India has increased steadily over the years, reaching more than 91 billion USD last year./.

Participants at the meeting (Photo: VNA)Tokyo (VNA) - Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura co-chaired the 5th meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Committee on Cooperation in Industry, Trade and Energy in Tokyo on August 23. At the meeting, the two sides agreed on measures to strengthen regional and global supply chains, improve industrial competitiveness, promote cooperation in energy transformation towards carbon neutrality, and accelerate the progress of a number of important energy projects. Notably, the Japanese side agreed with Minister Dien’s proposal on Japan's continued support for Vietnam in training industrial human resources and improving industrial competitiveness, and the early signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in energy transformation to concretise projects to support Vietnam in energy transition with funding from the Asia Energy Transition Fund. Japan will also support training and share experience related to liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Vietnam. They reaffirmed the important role played by the joint committee mechanism, which was established in July 2015, in removing business difficulties and ensuring stable and continued growth of trade and investment./.

At the talks between Vietnamese Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long held talks with his Lao counterpart Phayvy Siboualypha in Hanoi on August 22 (Photo: VNA)Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long held talks with his Lao counterpart Phayvy Siboualypha in Hanoi on August 22, during which they agreed to raise the efficiency of cooperation between the two ministries and diversify cooperation formats.The collaboration will focus on information-technology application and the exchange of experience online.The Vietnamese Ministry of Justice stands ready to support its Lao counterpart in institutional perfection, Long affirmed.The Lao Ministry of Justice will continue to send students to Vietnam , and actively work with the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports to dispatch its officials to Vietnam for training programmes.The two ministries consented to intensify collaboration to handle nationality cases relating to Vietnamese and Lao citizens.Regarding Vietnam’s official development assistance (ODA) to the Lao Judicial Academy, they agreed to coordinate closely to conclude the project in December, meeting the Lao side’s demand for personnel training.This is the first official visit to Vietnam by the Lao Minister of Justice since he took office in April 2021./.

Hanoi, VNA - The following is a list of selected news summaries last weekend by Vietnam News Agency. Giang affirmed that Vietnam will actively join and contribute to promoting the common agenda of the international community, as well as seek solutions to global challenges. Read full story-Solutions to improve the teaching and learning of Vietnamese language among overseas Vietnamese children were tabled for discussion at a seminar in Hanoi on August 20. Minh said his company also plans to donate food and other necessities to families of victims. Tran Khanh Linh, Nguyen Quang Minh and Nguyen Linh Chi will be the Vietnamese representatives at the event in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, from August 31 to September 3.

Even in her last days, she still joined various events on Vietnam, especially those in support of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. Vietnam, UK promote ties in various areasThe Vietnam – UK Friendship Association of Hanoi held the fourth Congress on August 20 and set out orientations for the 2022-2027 tenure. Friendship exchanges celebrating the National Day of Vietnam, anniversaries of bilateral diplomatic ties, and other political events of the two countries are also planned. In line with this strong comeback, the Korea National Administration of Tourism in Vietnam organizes a Hello Korea campaign on the TikTok platform from August 20 to September 20, 2022. Miss Vietnam 2022 beauty pageant launchedThe biennial national beauty contest Miss Vietnam 2022 has now opened for Vietnamese young women aged between 18 and 27.

Vietnam is one of 13 countries where Asian elephants still live in the wild. The central highlands and southern region are the habitat of most elephants in Vietnam. Particularly, the Vietnam Administration of Forestry and Humane Society International has provided support for a project on protecting Asian elephants in the southern province of Dong Nai through solutions to reduce and prevent human-elephant conflict sustainably. According to the summary report of the General Department of Forestry, the number of elephants in Vietnam has reduced by 95%. In Dak Lak province alone, at least 23 wild elephants died in the period 2009-2016, accounting for about 25% of the total current herd./.

Head of the Vietnamese Trade Office in South Africa Pham Thanh Hai attends a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Vietnamese trade offices overseas on August 19. (Photo: VNA)There are plenty of opportunities for Vietnamese goods to enter South Africa and the regional countries, and for the two sides to boost business in multiple areas, Pham Thanh Hai, head of the Trade Office in South Africa, told Vietnam News Agency on August 19.South Africa has been the African country with the largest two-way trade volume with Vietnam, he said on the sidelines of a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Vietnamese trade offices overseas.The annual bilateral trade stood at over 1.3 billion USD, with Vietnam’s exports to South Africa exceeding 800 million USD and imports, nearly 500 million USD.Hai outlined three fields that the two countries should focus on in order to strengthen bilateral relations – trade of fruits, investment, and trade of fuel and materials.To boost fruit exports to South Africa, he advised Vietnamese exporters to pay more attention to processing and selling high value-added products, such as canned juices, dried fruits, jams, and fruit teas.Vietnam has imported a large volume of coal from South Africa as input for thermal power plants over the last several years, he said, adding that the Vietnam ese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the South African Department of Mineral Resources and Energy will sign a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in mining in the coming time.He noted that it is the highest official agreement in mining between the two governments, expected to facilitate bilateral trade in mining and energy./.

The film by Japanese director Masako Sakata depicts the daily life of Tran Thi Hoan, a young woman born without legs and one of her hands as her mother had been exposed to the toxic chemical in a field during her pregnancy. It also features the difficulty of many other AO victims and a court battle in France by a former journalist against US chemical firms that manufactured AO used in the war. Sakata went to Vietnam in 2004 to learn about the consequences of the toxic chemical and made the first film on the matter. Her husband died nearly two decades ago as a result of his exposure to the AO during military service in Vietnam. In 2017, she received a Friendship Order from the President in recognition of her contribution to the movement “Action for the victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam”./.

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang (R) and President of the UNGA's 77th session Csaba Kőrösi (Photo: baochinhphu.vn)New York (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, held a working session with President of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Csaba Kőrösi on August 19 to discuss UNGA’s working priorities as well as Vietnam’s issues of concern. Giang affirmed that Vietnam will actively join and contribute to promoting the common agenda of the international community, as well as seek solutions to global challenges. Kőrösi said major priorities during his tenure will be hastening the settlement of conflicts by peaceful means, upholding multilateralism, highlighting the UN’s role, strengthening solidarity among UN member states, promoting sustainable development, climate change response, sci-tech application, and ensuring human rights. On the occasion, he congratulated Vietnam on being elected as one of the Vice Presidents of the UNGA’s 77th session. He also said he wishes to work closely with Vietnam./.

Vietnam, UK promote ties in various areasThe Vietnam – UK Friendship Association of Hanoi held the fourth Congress on August 20 and set out orientations for the 2022-2027 tenure. Friendship exchanges celebrating the National Day of Vietnam, anniversaries of bilateral diplomatic ties, and other political events of the two countries are also planned. Webinar marks Vietnam’s National Day in CanadaThe Canada – Vietnam Friendship Association (CVFS) held a webinar on August 19 marking the 77th anniversary of August Revolution (August 19) and National Day (September 2). Of the total student number, 26.6% were offered scholarships under agreements between the Government of Vietnam and foreign governments. The Vietnam National University (VNU) Hanoi attracted the largest foreign enrollment, with more than 1,000 from 74 countries and territories.

The Swedish singer-songwriter Tamela Hedstrom collaborated with director Lê Quý Dương in composing a song inspired by the Vietnamese classic epic Lục Vân Tiê. The poem is written by the famous poet Nguyễn Đình Chiể in the early 1850s of the 19th century. Tamela shared that she thinks the poem is “beautiful and enthralling” after she read the English version of the piece. Therefore, Lục Vân Tiê inspired her to write a song lyrics that include features and details of the poem. The musician first performed her song in July of 2022 and she also is working on presenting the song Lục Vân Tiên to a wider audience in the near future.