Day: December 5, 2022

 

GeneStory, a start-up in the healthcare sector, has become the winner of VietChallenge 2022, the biggest fund calling contest for Vietnamese startups around the world held at Nasdaq, the second biggest stock exchange on the globe.

 

Launched in May, GeneStory, founded by Vingroup with the participation of leading scientists from many countries such as the US, the Netherlands and Germany, aiming to care for the public health through genetic decoding, surpassed five other competitors in the contest’s final round to win a cash prize of 25,000 USD.

 

Speaking to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA)’s resident correspondents after the competition, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong said that VietChallenge 2022, the seventh edition of its kind, was jointly held by the ministry’s National Innovation Centre and VietChallenge Inc., a US-based non-profit organisation, to seek outstanding startups with advanced technologies in many areas.

 

Highly valuing the capacity of the six finalists, Dong said that he hoped Vietnamese startups around the world will connect with each other through this contest to build a common innovation ecosystem and help Vietnam rise to the world and grow stronger in the future.

 

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Vietnam to the UN, highlighted the strong entrepreneurship spirit of Vietnamese young people, and hailed the efforts of the organisers and competitors in the contest which drew great attention of both Vietnamese and US business communities.

 

Held annually from 2015, VietChallenge has so far seen the competition of more than 800 Vietnamese startups from more than 20 countries worldwide./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

 

The annual Homeland Spring, a run-up to the Lunar New Year Festival, will be held at Maizuru Park in Fukuoka, on January 7 and 8, 2023, serving as a get-together for Vietnamese people living in Japan in general and Fukuoka and its surrounding prefectures in particular.

 

The programme, the fourth of its kind, is expected to have the largest scale and the biggest number of participants.

 

It will be a highlight among the first activities in celebration of the 50th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties next year.

 

The programme will include a forum on trade and investment connectivity between Vietnamese businesses at home and Japan, and Japanese enterprises, and the final rounds of Kyushu Got Talent 2023 and Miss Vietnam-Japan Friendship 2023./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Two tonnes of fresh Vietnamese pomelos, the first batch of its kind, have been exported by air to the US.

 

After over five years of negotiations, the US Department of Agriculture officially licenced the import of the fruit earlier this year, making it the seventh fresh fruit of Vietnam permitted to enter the market, following mango, longan, lychee, dragon fruit, rambutan, and star apple.

 

Chanh Thu Fruit Import – Export Group Joint Stock Company in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre’s Cho Lach district is the exporter of the first batch of pomelos.

 

In the US, the Vietnamese pomelos will be initially distributed on the supermarket systems in the Washington, Maryland, and Virginia states and Philadelphia in the state of New Jersey.

 

Vietnam’s pomelo plantations cover 105,400 ha in total, yielding nearly 905,000 tonnes annually. Of the total area, Ben Tre accounts for about 10,000 ha with an annual productivity of more than 200,000 tonnes.

 

The province has so far been granted 25 planting area codes to export green-skin pomelos to the US and the EU. The 11 codes serving the US market span 156.76 ha and produce 3,135 tonnes on an annual basis.

 

The US’s annual fruit consumption demand is up to 12 million tonnes./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on December 5 visited the University of Waikato in Hamilton city and attended an education forum there as part of his official visit to New Zealand.

 

At his meeting with the university’s leaders, Hue said education-training is one of the most important and effective cooperation areas between Vietnam and New Zealand.

 

Among the Southeast Asian nations, Vietnam is the third biggest source of students to New Zealand, with 2,700 students, he added.

 

Hue congratulated the University of Waikato on being named among the top 1.1% of universities and the top 1% of business schools in the world, expressed his delight that more than 200 Vietnamese students have graduated from and 50 others are studying at the university.

 

The university’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley, who is also President of the New Zealand-Vietnam Friendship Association, pledged that the university will make greater efforts to promote educational cooperation between the two countries.

 

Hue said Vietnam has great demand for personnel training and development, and expressed his hope that the university will launch projects on higher education in Vietnam, covering such areas as university administration, scientific research and digital transformation, and conduct the exchange of lecturers and students in the areas of its strengths like business, education, economy, communications, finance and accounting.

 

The top legislator also suggested the University of Waikato cooperate with Vietnamese government agencies in personnel training, and open training centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

 

Chancellor of the University of Waikato Anand Satyanand, who is former Governor-General of New Zealand, said the Vietnam-New Zealand education forum would offer an opportunity for the two sides to exchange experience and promote cooperation in important areas, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

 

Vietnamese automaker VinFast, a member of private conglomerate Vingroup, on December 5 officially opened its first two stores in Cologne of Germany, and Paris of France.

 

These outlets are the first of its kind in VinFast’s European retail network of over 50 stores, affirming its strong commitment to driving the revolution of sustainable mobility.

 

As the 1S model in the retail network, VinFast Cologne and VinFast Madeleine focus on product display and sales purposes. Customers can explore the interior and exterior designs of the stunning Pininfarina-designed VF 8 and VF 9 models, experience advanced technologies, and receive support from VinFast’s electric vehicle experts.

 

In addition to advanced online shopping technologies, the brick-and-mortar retail store will be a direct link to create seamless online-to-offline experiences and peace of mind throughout the VinFast EV ownership journey.

 

Ho Thanh Huong, CEO of VinFast in Europe, said that the opening of VinFast Cologne and VinFast Madeleine stores is only the starting point of the firm’s retail network across Europe. It strongly affirms not only the brand’s official presence in the European market, but also the sternness of realising VinFast’s commitment to the company’s customers.

 

The opening of the first VinFast stores in Europe was celebrated at VinFast Cologne. This is an important location in VinFast’s retail network plan for Germany, alongside Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Oberhausen. In addition, the network of 50 stores across Europe will soon be launched in Marseille, Rennes, Montpellier, and Metz (France), and Amsterdam, Den Haag, and Rotterdam (The Netherlands) in 2023./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Ministries and agencies of Venezuela, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have organised the 5th ASEAN Day in Venezuela, aiming to boost tourism cooperation between the South American nation and the ASEAN countries.

 

The event was held within the framework of the Venezuela International Tourism Festival 2022 (FITVEN 2022).

 

Speaking at the opening, Venezuelan Tourism Minister Ali Padron highly appreciated the presence of the ASEAN countries at FITVEN 2022 as well as their cooperation to organise the ASEAN Day 2022.

 

According to the minister, with typical landscape features, the two sides have many potential and opportunities to attract tourists. Tourism promotion activities and enhanced information exchange among tour operators will contribute to promoting and realising these potential and opportunities.

 

He said that the Venezuelan government attaches great importance to the role of tourism in development. The FITVEN events held in recent years have demonstrated Venezuela’s efforts to promote and make tourism an important economic sector.

 

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Capaya Rodriguez said that the ASEAN countries brought a new, unique Southeast Asian space to the tourism festival.

 

The ASEAN Day 2022 event marked the success of the Government of Venezuela and the ASEAN Committee in Caracas (ACC) in promoting multifaceted cooperation between Venezuela and the ASEAN member states.

 

Rodriguez affirmed that the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs always attaches importance to promoting relations with the ASEAN countries and looks forward to soon joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC).

 

Vietnamese Ambassador to Venezuela Le Viet Duyen introduced an overview of Vietnam’s tourism and the role of the tourism industry in the country’s economy in recent years.

 

He also talked about the attraction of Vietnam’s tourism such as destinations, the diversity of landscapes, regional cultures and typical foods that are well-known all over the world.

 

Visitors to the event had a chance to enjoy Vietnamese fan and hat dances and traditional foods such as spring rolls, shrimp chips and boiled pork coated in toasted rice powder.

 

Also on this occasion, Venezuelan Deputy Minister of Tourism Leticia Gomez officially announced a special publication of the tourism magazine Viajes Venetur with the theme of ASEAN. The publication delivers messages from the heads of representative offices of the ASEAN countries in Venezuela as well as articles about the countries’ tourism./.

 

Source: Vietnam News Agency