Vietnamese shares completed a week of gains on both local exchanges yesterday as investor confidence was kept positive and market trading liquidity soared on advance-negotiation deals.

Cuba is calling for investment from many countries, including Việt Nam, in various sectors like agro-forestry, sugar, industry, tourism, energy, mining, biotechnology among others, a Cuban diplomat told a conference held in HCM City last Friday.

Việt Nam imported more than 9.7 million tonnes of coal valued at US$600 million over the past eight months, almost double the quantity in the same period last year, according to the latest statistics from the General Department of Customs.

So far this year the State Bank of Việt Nam has bought over US$10 billion in foreign exchange, increasing the country’s reserves to a record high of more than $40 billion.

Vietnamese shares may decline this week as investors reap profits from a five-day rally aided by unchanged US and Japanese interest rates, securities firms said.

The Vietnamese Government has taken a variety of measures to facilitate the work of foreign investors, including those from Germany, Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng affirmed during his September 22-26 viisit to the European country.

The consumer price index (CPI) in September has bounced back with an increase of 0.54 per cent from the previous month, ending the declining trend of the monthly CPI growth rate which has been recorded since May.

Việt Nam’s leading retailer of mobile phones, Thế Giới Di Động, has closed 22 outlets it had at the now Thai-owned Big C supermarket after failing to strike a deal.

The Israel’s Guide for Startups Conference held Wednesday discussed key requirements for building a strong startup economy and how to apply these elements to Việt Nam’s startup ecosystem.