Hanoi, (VNA) - The following is a brief review of the day’s events asreported by the Vietnam News Agency.

- President Vo Van Thuong on February 20 signed a decisionapproving the extension of the disbursement deadline of a project on basicinfrastructure for comprehensive development of four central provinces of NgheAn, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri, using loans from the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB).

Under the decision, Agreement No.3634-VIE andAgreement No.3635-VIE (COL) related to the project will be amended on the basisof the Government’s request to extend the implementation time to September 30,2025.

– The UK’s magazine The Banker has run an articlehighlighting optimistic opinions of experts on Vietnam’s economic outlook in2024.

Vietnam saw gross dꦜomestic product growth of 5.1%in 2023, which is forecast to rise 6♉–6.5% in 2024, making Vietnam one of thestrongest growth environments in Southeast Asia, the article noted.

– Developing logisticsservices for offshore fishing is a key solution that the central province ofQuang Nam will implement this year to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated(IUU) fishing and promote sustainable fisheries development. Director ofthe provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Pham Viet Tichsaid that the marine economy has become a spearhead economic sector of thelocality.  – E1, an importer anddistributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under the Republic of Korea’s LSGroup. announced on February 21 that it has signed a joint contract with VenusGas, the largest LPG importer in northern Vietnam, to build an LPG terminal inBac Tien Phong industrial complex in Vietnam's northern coastal province ofQuang Ninh.

The facilitywill have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of propane and 30,000 tonnes of butane.Construction on the project is expected to kick off in the first half of thisyear for the warehouse to be put into operate commercially in 2025. E1 plans tosupply more than 1 million tonnes of LPG annually to the Vietnamesemarket.  

– The Hanᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚoi People’sCourt has received appeals of 12 defendants in the case𝐆 relating to Viet ACompany over one month after the first-instance trial. 

Specifically,Phan Quoc Viet, General Director of the Viet A Company, and Nguyen Thanh Long,former Minister of Health, appealed for reducing their penalties. Vu Dinh Hiep,Deputy General Director of the Viet A Company asked the court to reconsider thecharge on him.

 -The Vietnam Stock Exchange (VNX) reported revenue of over 1.92 trillion VND(78.26 million USD) in 2023, down nearly 44% compared to the previous year.

Of the figure, nearly 1.86 trillion VND, or 97%came from investment activities in the two subsidiary companies - the HoChi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE)  and the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX),which contributed over 1.39 trillion VND and nearly 462 billion VND, respectively.

– Asmany as 531 billion VND (21.7 million USD) under the 120 trillion VND creditpackage for social housing development has been disbursed, according toDirector General of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s Department of Credit forEconomic Sectors Ha Thu Giang.

At a conference on credit growth on February 20,Giang said that in 2024, the SBV will continue to direct credit institutions todrastically implement credit programmes and policies under the direction of theGovernment and Prime Minister, including the 120 trillion VND package, as wellas coordinate with ministries and ag🌜encies to remove obstacles during theimplementation process./.