Domestic travel

Oxalis, the only private company licensed to explore and conduct adventure tours in the central province, welcomed 6,000 Vietnamese nationals last year, increasing thrice against the previous years. The total number of cavers, however, was down 50 percent from the previous year to 7,000 as inbound tourism plunged due to travel restrictions. Of the 7,000 visitors, 1,000 were foreign cavers who had entered Vietnam prior to the government halting international flights in late March last year to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Nguyen Chau A, CEO of Oxalis, said the company, with about 500 employees, focuses exclusively on adventure tours to explore caves in Quang Binh, including Son Doong, the world's largest cave, and Tu Lan. With international flights and foreigner entry remaining suspended except for special cases , local businesses are focusing on boosting domestic tourism. Currently, around 185 slots remain available to tour Son Doong in 2021, and 287 Tu Lan tours are up for grabs, according to Oxalis. Son Doong opened to tourists in 2013. It comprises at least 150 individual caves, a dense subterranean jungle and several underground rivers. British magazine Conde Nast Traveler named Son Doong one of seven must-explore wonders of 2020. Tu Lan, a popular setting for film shoots, was discovered in 2010, with two entrances stretching 2.2 kilometers. Tourists usually explore Tu Lan along with other caves in the system, including Chuot, Hung Ton, Ken, and Kim. To ensure safety, the company does not receive visitors from pandemic-hit areas as recommended by the Ministry of Health. Cavers joining the tour are required to submit medical declarations. Vietnam has recorded 831 Covid-19 community transmission cases in 13 localities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, since Jan. 28 when its latest outbreak began after a 55-day clean streak. …

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* China and India should firmly follow the right path of mutual trust and cooperation between neighboring major countries, and not go astray with suspicion and distrust nor fall back on a road of negative retrogression, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday. Wang made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, stressing that the two sides should maintain the strategic consensuses reached by their leaders. * As COVID-19 transmission rates seemingly decline across the European Region, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge expressed health concerns over "long-COVID" or "post-COVID" symptoms at a virtual press conference on Thursday. * Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Armenia in a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday, the Kremlin said. * The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the US military had conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria. The Pentagon called the operation a "proportionate military response" carried out after consultations with coalition partners. * China approved two more vaccines for public use, raising the number of domestically produced vaccines that can be used in China to four. * Japan on Friday is preparing to lift the state of emergency over COVID-19 for five prefectures where the situation has improved, although the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area will likely be kept under the emergency period for the time being, according to government sources. * The Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines reported on Friday 2,651 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase since Oct. 17 last year, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 571,327. * Leaders of the European Union (EU) called for an accelerated production and delivery of COVID-19 …

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With five groups of solutions and 25 tasks, the plan puts forward that by 2030, the State’s management methods will be reformed in a fundamental and comprehensive manner and aligned with international principles and practices in a bid to create a favourable business climate for all economic sectors, thereby helping achieve all targets relevant to the private economic sector as stated in Resolution No 10-NQ/TW, developing the private economic sector into an important driving force of the socialist-oriented market economy. During the course of the three years implementing the resolution, Vietnam’s private economic sector has seen robust development and has gradually become a driving force in promoting national economic growth. Private businesses, particularly large scale ones, have made remarkable strides in establishing their roles and position in the national economy. Many private enterprises have shown performance levels as effective as or even more so than State-owned and foreign-invested enterprises. More and more major private corporations and domestic joint stock companies have invested abroad in developed countries to expand their markets and promote their brands such as Vingroup, Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company, Truong Hai Auto Corporation (Thaco), T&T Group, Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk), and FPT Group. Private enterprises made up only 20% of the 500 largest enterprises in Vietnam (VNR500) in 2017, the figure then reaching 57.8% in 2019. The proportion of overall revenue from private enterprises also increased to 37.51% in 2019 from 27% in 2016. These figures were made possible thanks to the efforts of enterprises themselves as well as Government policies designed to create a favourable and equal business environment in recent years. However, according to the General Statistics Office, private enterprises only contribute about 9.1% of GDP. To address the problem, the 13th National Party Congress’s Resolution was …

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