Hanoi (VNA) –♍ The following is a list of selected news summaries reported last weekend by the Vietnam News Agency.

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 9 urged Hoa Phat Group to produce high-quality steel in service of railway projects, particularly the North-South high-speed railway project.

Visiting the Hoa Phat Dung Quat Iron and Steel Production Complex located within the Dung Quat Economic Zone in the central province of Quang Ngai, the leader conveyed the regards and wishes from Party General Secretary To Lam to the group’s staff, and noted confidence that it will maintain double-digit growth in the coming years. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered Quang Ngai to strive for an economic growth target of 10-10.5% in 2025 while working with local leaders on February 9 as part of his visit to the central province.

At the event, he laid stress on the need for innovative thinking, long-term vision, and bold action to transform Quang Ngai’s economic landscape, calling on the province to renew its traditional growth drivers – investment, export, and consumption – while embracing new economic models, including green economy, digital economy, circular economy, knowledge-based economy, night-time economy, and culture industry. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has issued an official dispatch, demanding comprehensive reports on delayed investment projects and those with challenges so as to craft measures to remove the bottlenecks for immediate implementation, helping bolster socio-economic development and prevent wastefulness.

In the dispatch, sent to ministers, heads of ministerial-level and Government agencies, and Chairpersons of the People’s Committees of cities and provinces, he highlighted the lackluster response to earlier reporting mandates, noting that only 33 localities and nine ministries and central agencies submitted their reports to the Ministry of Planning and Investment as of February 7, well past the January 20 deadline. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked Quang Ngai to push ahead with the programme to eradicate temporary and dilapidated housing, as well as key transportation infrastructure projects during his working visit to the central locality on February 9.

PM Chinh and his entourage visited the family of Tran Trung Kien in Duc Chanh commune, Mo Duc district, who have received partial financial support from the Government, along with assistance from socio-political organisations to renovate their home. Read full story

- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 8 requested enterprises in the central province of Quang Nam to make efforts to help the whole country achieve an 8% GDP growth rate in 2025 and a double-digit rate in the coming years.

PM Chinh paid a working visit to HS Hyosung Group, listed among the Top 30 largest economic groups in the Republic of Korea (RoK). The group began investing in Quang Nam in 2018 and has since poured a total of 452 million USD into the locality. It has stably operated two projects that employ over 1,000 direct employees. Its annual revenue reaches over 200 million USD. Read full story

- Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Deputy PM Heng Swee Keat have applauded contributions by the Vietnamese community to the city state while meeting with visiting Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang, Chairwoman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (OV) Affairs.

Hang led a delegation of the committee on a working visit to Singapore from February 6 to 8, during which they took part in the traditional Chingay Parade. Read full story

- The Vietnam-Korea Plus Joint Working Group held its third online meeting on February 7, focusing on measures to enhance cooperation and achieve the goal of raising bilateral trade to 150 billion USD by 2030.

The meeting, which took place in Seoul, was attended by Kim Jong Cheol, Director-General for the International Trade Relations Bureau under the Republic of Korea (RoK)'s Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy; and Do Quoc Hung, Director of the Asia-Africa Market Department at Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade, among other officials. Read full story

- All the 63 provinces and centrally-run cities across the country will organise ceremonies from February 13 to 15 to see tens of thousands of young people off for military service in 2025.

Accordingly, seeing-off ceremonies will be held in 52 localities nationwide on February 13. Meanwhile, the remaining localities will organise similar ceremonies on February 14 and 15. Read full story

- China Railway Nanning Bureau Group Co., Ltd. reported an extraordinary increase in freight transport between China and Vietnam in January, with Guangxi province exporting 3,062 TEUs of goods to Vietnam, a year-on-year increase of 760%.

Freight transportation from Nanning station in China to An Vien station in Vietnam takes only 14 hours – an advantage in both time and cost efficiency. Read full story

- Trade revenue between Vietnam and the US exceeded 11 billion USD in January, with Vietnam enjoying a trade surplus of 8.5 billion USD, a year-on-year fall of 3.5%, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam.

In the month, Vietnam’s export to the country accounted for 9.8 billion USD, while import stood at 1.3 billion USD./. Read full story