Press digest – January 25

January 26, 2016 7:45 AM GMT+7

List of candidates for 12th Party Central Committee approved

Delegates to the ongoing 12th National Party Congress on Monday continued personnel work discussions and approved a list of candidates for the 12th Party Central Committee at the fifth working day.

The delegates representing more than 4.5 million Party members will take part in the vote scheduled on Tuesday to select the new Party Central Committee comprising of 180 official members and 20 alternate ones.

The official list will comprise those nominated by the 11th Central Committee and the list of candidates named by delegates attending the 12th National Party Congress or who nominated themselves.

Delegates applaud draft documents at 12th National Party Congress

Delegates to the ongoing 12th National Party Congress have lauded political reports presented at the event, saying they are prepared thoroughly and gather together the opinions of Party members nationwide.

The Congress also outlined tasks for the next five years which will continue the restructuring of economic sectors dovetailed with growth model reform, focusing on investment overhaul – beginning with public investment.

235 congratulatory messages sent to National Party Congress

The 12th National Party Congress received many congratulatory messages from European, American, Middle Eastern, African countries, diplomatic corps, and many other international organizations and friends.

As the Congress entered its fifth day working on January 25, a total of 235 messages of congratulations were delivered to the Congress from Parties, organizations, and diplomatic corps worldwide.

Gov’t prepares for Tet festival

PM Nguyen Tan Dung has recently issued a publictelegraph on preparations for the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival.

The Government chief tasked ministerial and local leaders to drastically realize Directive 31/CT-TTg, dated December 24, 2015 on enhancing the management and administration work to stabilize market and price and ensure social order and safety on the 2016 Lunar New Year Festival.

January CPI reaches a plateau

The consumer price index (CPI) remained unchanged in January and saw a year-on-year growth of 0.8%, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO).

Out of 11 groups of goods and services, nine witnessed rising prices. A downward trend was also recorded in the costs of construction steel and public transport services.

In January, gold prices dropped 0.23% in line with global prices, which were under pressure due to the US Federal Reserve (FED)’s decision to raise interest rates in December. On the otherhand, USD price went up 0.18%.

Health Ministry works to curb contaminated food

The Viet Nam Food Administration under the Health Ministry set food poisoning among its priorities to tackle in 2016.

According to head of the department Nguyen Thanh Phong, investment will be channelled to boost the capacity of the human resources and equipment deployed in detecting and addressing contaminated products.

The agency is applying e-governance technology and implementing the ASEAN’s single-window mechanism.

VN has attractive retail market in 2016

The liberalization of the retail sector has turned Viet Nam into an extremely attractive market.

A series of famous retailers have flocked to Viet Nam, including Aeon Mall and Auchan. The competition at the retail market has become hottest than ever.

According to an analysis of Statista, a Germany-based online statistics portal, the market would value US$100 billion in 2016.Thus, big retailers from Japan, Thailand, Germany, and France hoped to penetrate the market.

New flight path to connect HN, HCM City

The Ministry of Transport is preparing to open a new flight path connecting Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The new flight path, approved by Prime Minsiter Nguyen Tan Dung late in 2015, aims to serve increasing air traffic on the country’s busiest route.

Chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam Lai Xuan Thanh said the new flight path would run parallel with the current route. The distance between the two flight paths would be about 30 kilometers, he said.

The route was designed to serve northbound flights from HCM City, while the current flight path would be used in the opposite direction, he said.

Bloomberg: VN to be one of the fastest-growing markets

While the world’s largest emerging economies such as Russia, Brazil and China falter, Vietnam’s steady economic growth at nearly 7% this year will make it among the fastest-growing markets in the world, Bloomberg said in a recent article.

According to Bloomberg surveys, Viet Nam’s economy is expected to expand 6.7% this year, the same pace as in 2015.

Freezing weather causes damage to northern localities

The severe cold weather in recent days has caused damage to numerous localities in the northern part of Viet Nam.

According to the steering committee for natural disaster prevention and search and rescue of Lao Cai province, losses from the snowfall on January 24 amount to ove VND 5 billion (US$225,000).

Sa Pa district was the hardest hit with all of its communes and towns blanketed by snow, causing an estimated economic loss of around VND 2.3 billion (US$103,500). As many as 47 cattle froze to death, including 40 in Sa Pa, and the remaining from Bat Xat and Muong Khuong districts. Furthermore, some 205 hectares of provincial crops were also affected./.

(Source: VGP/VOV/VNA)