Vietnamese and Australian experts gathered at an international workshop in Hanoi on March 13 to share experience in building mining policies.

The Mekong Delta province of Long An expects to attract more investments from Japan, and commits to creating favourable conditions for the East Asian investors to operate their long-term business in the locality, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Ut has said.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has asked ministries and central agencies to work closely with localities to remove obstacles for particular projects, thus speeding up public investment disbursement.

Information on investment procedures and incentives were updated to businesses and investors at a dialogue organised by the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City on March 31.

The capital city of Hanoi is planning to start construction of 43 industrial clusters in 2021, which were set up during the 2018-2020 period.

The Department of Planning and Investment in Da Nang has pledged to continue working with relevant units to accelerate the completion of investment procedures for projects, with a view to helping businesses implement them and speed up the economic recovery.

The People’s Committee in the central coastal province of Quang Binh had asked B&T Windfarm JSC to complete investment procedures in order to start the construction of a wind farm cluster no later than October 10 this year, according to the provincial portal.

Disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) in the first half of the year was estimated at more than 4.17 trillion VND (179.7 million USD), accounting for only 6.9 percent of the National Assembly’s plan and 12.7 percent of that assigned by the Prime Minister, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI).

The southern province of Dong Nai posted a year-on-year growth rate of 7.5 percent in gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in the first half of 2018, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Tran Van Vinh said.

State corporations and groups have been found to have committed violations worth nearly 350 trillion VND (15.5 billion USD) in State capital usage and management during the 2011-2016 period, according to the Government Inspectorate.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK Tran Ngoc An and representatives from the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange and Vietnamese businesses on March 7 attended the opening session of the London Stock Exchange, one of the largest stock markets in the world.

The People’s Committee of the central province of Quang Tri has decided to build a hydropower plant worth nearly 600 billion VND (26.4 million USD) in Huong Hoa district.

Businesses in Beijing and Tianjin and Hebei provinces in China want to promote investment and trade with Vietnamese partners, according to the Tianjin Foreign Economic and Trade Promotion Association.

An investment handbook in different languages is being compiled by the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority to provide firms with necessary information on investment procedures.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested Cabinet members raise the national GDP growth rate target from 6.7 percent to 7 percent in 2016.

The Indonesian Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), launched a three-hour investment permit service on January 11.