The northern province of Thái Nguyên hopes to co-operate with businesses from Ostergotland Province of Sweden in various fields, Như Văn Tám, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said.

The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, one of the country’s four largest State-owned commercial banks, plans to open subsidiaries in Laos and Cambodia this year, a bank official said.

The State Bank of Việt Nam has approved plans by two additional commercial banks, OCB and Bắc Á Bank, to set up subsidiaries specialising in providing overseas remittance services.

Việt Nam’s export value for leather and footwear gained stable growth every year during the 2011-16 period to reach US$57.5 billion in total.

The Hà Nội-based IB Securities JSC plans to issue VNĐ600 billion (US$26.67 million) worth of bonds in 2017.

The benchmark VN-Index bounced back above 710 points yesterday, boosted by strong investments in property stocks as investors sought new opportunities in speculative shares.

Despite good liquidity in the banking system, the peculiarities in Việt Nam’s monetary policy management has prevented the decline of interest rates on deposits, a central economic report said.

Four Vietnamese steelmakers--including China Steel Sumikin Vietnam JSC, Phuong Nam Co. Ltd., Nam Kim Steel JSC, and Dong A Steel JSC-- continued to demand new measures to prevent coated steel sheets shipped from mainland China and South Korea from being sold at cheap prices in the market.

With demand for environmentally friendly cars increasing in Việt Nam, local automakers and traders are going green to win market share.