Vietnam will promote cooperation with partners in the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) while working with relevant agencies and localities to increase development chances, especially technological application in the COVID-19 fight, the Ministry of Construction said at the fourth annual meeting of the ASCN which was held in the form of videoconference on August 30.

Vietnam is one of the active members of the Eastern Economic Forum and its engagement will contribute to the success of the upcoming 6th edition, said Grigory Trofimchuk, Chairman of the Council of Experts of the Eurasian Research Fund.

Vietnam has ranked ninth among the ten friendliest countries in the world, the World Population Review quoted a survey conducted by InterNations.

For the first time, a representative of Vietnamese youth has attended and delivered a speech at a special plenary session held by the Conference on Disarmament (CD) on the occasion of the International Youth Day (August 12).

German journalist Gerhard Feldbauer has said Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's article "Several theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the pathway toward socialism in Vietnam" has offered deep and thorough insights into the road chosen by Vietnam following the 1945 August Revolution, drawing public attention.

The Chairman's Statement of the 28th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) has called for the maintenance of security and freedom of navigation in the East Sea, and acceleration of talks for the prompt signing of the Code of Conduct in the waters (COC).

The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) on August 6 reported 10,623 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,638,345.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son suggested quickly spending 10.5 million USD earmarked from the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund to buy vaccines while speaking at the 29th ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC) Meeting on August 2.

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh has addressed the session "Catalyzing Country-led Innovation to Transform Food Systems" during the Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit held online on July 27.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China on July 19 marked the 30th anniversary of their dialogue relations.

Hessen state and the Messer Group GmbH of Germany on July 15 presented 160,000 rapid COVID-19 test kits worth 500,000 EUR (590,300 USD) to help Vietnam in the fight against the pandemic.

Vietnam has responded to COVID-19 clusters and cases with vigorous actions and it is on the right track in addressing current outbreaks, said Dr Kidong Park, Representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Vietnam.