A ceremony to hand over peacekeeper training equipment donated by the Australian Department of Defence to the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations was held in Hanoi on December 14.
Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs showed that Vietnam enjoyed growth in rice exports in three consecutive months, with month-on-month rises of 19 percent in volume and 20.5 percent in value recorded in September. Compared to the same period last year, rice exports in September rose 54.5 percent in volume to 593,624 tonnes with value of 293.15 million USD. In the January-September period, Vietnam shipped abroad 4.57 million tonnes of rice, earning 2.42 billion USD, down 8.3 percent in volume and 1.2 percent in value. However, the price of Vietnamese rice rose 7.8 percent in the period. Experts attributed the drops to impacts of COVID-19 to the harvesting and transport of rice in the Mekong Delta region – a major rice bowl of Vietnam. However, they predicted that rice sector will recover fast when the pandemic is controlled. According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), Vietnam is anticipating a great chance to increase expor