Why environmental protection is important

Ceremony to mark the 20th founding anniversary of Vietnam Environment Protection Fund (Photo: VNA) Quang Ninh (VNA) – The Vietnam Environment Protection Fund (VEPF) has contributed importantly to protecting the environment and reducing pollution over the past 20 years. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 20th founding anniversary of the fund on June 26 in the northern province of Quang Ninh, its Director Nguyen Duc Thuan said that in the past two decades, VEPF has provided preferential loans for nearly 400 projects with a total disbursed capital of nearly 3 trillion VND (129 million USD). It has also financed over 100 billion VND to help localities deal with post-disaster environmental pollution, received combined deposit amount of 250 billion VND from over 360 projects to ensure the restoration of the environment after the projects are completed, and mobilised a non-refundable aid worth 84 million USD from the Global Environment Fund. Deputy Minister of Natural … [Read more...] about 20-year-old fund helps protect environment, reduce pollution

Peter Bernhardt, team leader of the ARISE+ Vietnam project Since coming into force in August 2021, the EU - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has become an effective tool for boosting trade ties between the EU and Vietnam. What should Vietnam pay attention to in order to benefit more from this deal? I agree that the overall picture of EVFTA performance in this starting period, where exporters and government authorities from both sides have to adapt to the new situation, looks definitely promising. The EVFTA is the most ambitious FTA that the EU has ever signed with a developing country. The deal will mutually lift about 99 per cent of the tariffs within 10 years. Duty was lifted from 65 per cent of EU exports to Vietnam and 71 per cent of Vietnamese exports to the EU, immediately after the EVFTA came into effect. As most Vietnamese exporting products are consumer products, the real challenge Vietnam exporters will face to comply with EU consumer protection regulations is … [Read more...] about EU supporting comprehensive implementation of the EVFTA

Part of Van Don district in Quang Ninh province (Photo: VNA) Quang Ninh (VNA) – The northern province of Quang Ninh posted an estimated growth rate of 10.66% in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in the first six months of this year, which is 2.64 percentage points higher than the rate in the same period of 2021. In the period, the province has effectively implemented its overall strategy on containing COVID-19 and safely and flexibly adapting to the pandemic, thus facilitating development in the new normal situation. Quang Ninh collected over 27.18 trillion VND (1.17 billion USD at current exchange rate) for the State budget , an increase of 18% year-on-year. Total social investment in the period is estimated at 42.3 trillion VND, up 10.9% from the same period last year. The tourism industry of Quang Ninh has also enjoyed a stable recovery, serving 5.5 million visitors in the six-month period, a 2.2-fold rise year-on-year. The figure also showed a 19.57% increase … [Read more...] about Quang Ninh posts 10.66% economic growth for first half