The processing and manufacturing industry in Việt Nam has not integrated into the global production network and value chain despite its high growth rate of 14.5 per cent in 2017.

The listing of nine commercial banks in 2018 is expected to boost the banking sector, as well as the entire securities market.

After focusing on exporting large volumes of unprocessed goods for a long time, more and more Vietnamese companies are now turning to export of processed and value-added products and improving their quality to penetrate global markets.

Việt Nam has seen a boom in renewable energy projects, in a bid to meet the nation’s future demands for power, after the Government scrapped plans to build a nuclear power plant in Ninh Thuận Province.

Local authorities and farmers who grow coffee under Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGap) in Gia Lai Province are seeking a better selling price for their coffee because of its higher quality.

As Việt Nam struggles under the weight of its bad debts, it has improved its legal framework to handle the situation. By issuing a resolution (42/2017/QH14), the first-ever on the settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs), it has adopted a pragmatic solution to handle bad debts. CEO of HSBC Bank Việt Nam, Phạm Hồng Hải, spoke to Việt Nam News reporter Nguyễn Linh Anh about the effectiveness of the resolution.

Commercial banks are expecting the revenue from fees and retail banking services to become their main income sources this year, as a result of rising market demands.

Việt Nam is trying to tackle the weakness of the pig industry, including the processing and distribution of pork, to promote the export of high-quality meat products to the world market.

With the eagerly anticipated conclusion of talks on the Comprehensive Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership’s (CPTPP) in late January, Việt Nam embarked on a still more difficult path. The country must improve productivity and administration and demonstrate an overall commitment to the free trade conditions of the agreement, lest its benefits are wasted on a workforce and business community that are not yet ready to meet global standards.